A Time For Review
A Brother Lost
A Time For Review
On February 5th veteran firefighter Glenn Allen (LAFD) died in the hospital, two days after he was pulled out without a heart beat from the rubble of a burning Hollywood Hills home where the ceiling had collapsed. Glenn was 61 year old. He spent 38 years on the job and, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from injuries sustained when the ceiling of a 6,000 square foot home fell in one piece on him and five other firefighters. The other five firefighter’s injuries were minor to moderate.
The stubborn fire apparently started in a fireplace but spread to the walls and attic. Unknown to on scene firefighters, the blaze had burned through sprinkler pipes in the attic and filled the space with water, collapsing on a drop ceiling held in place by 2-X-4 inch wood struts burying Allen. We know this building structure type as “Light Weight Construction.” Allen had no pulse when firefighters used chain saws to cut him free, but paramedics revived him with CPR before he was taken to the hospital.
Those of us who knew Glenn knew he was a fearless, committed firefighter. Now we grieve for our fallen brother firefighter and our hearts are heavy.
So now what? Well, when the fire investigation is over and all the contributing factors that led to his death are identified, along with recommendations made to prevent another similar tragedy we should all pay attention. It would be a fitting tribute to Glenn if we all operated safely during fire emergencies.
When I was in the Navy I was a submariner. Whenever a submariner was killed or seriously injured the entire fleet was required to stop all routine activities and review all the boat safety procedures. This might be a good time for the fire service to do the same thing.
For starters I suggest we review the following:
Firefighter safety and survival benchmarks
The emergency personnel accountability system
The concept of operational effectiveness
The safety benchmarks are the risk vs. benefit decision all officers must make at incidents. We will take a big risk if there is a big benefit like the chance to save a life. We will risk less to save property. We will risk little to save little.
The emergency accountability system is designed to account for all firefighters on the fireground. When used properly the incident commander knows the location of all units inside a burning building. All members during a fire incident have the responsibility to properly employ the system
The concept of operational effectiveness includes donning safety equipment in the required time frame without safety errors or task errors. Try this timed training activity. Have all the members of your crew start this activity from the apparatus tailboard with their Class B uniform. On “go” have them quickly get their full fire gear on with breathing apparatus, as if ready to enter an IDLH atmosphere. The finish line is back at the tailboard. This is a good exercise to determine the operational effectiveness of your crew. Remember, fire moves quickly and so should your crew.
These reviews are a good start to keep firefighters safe. Remember to “train as if your life depends on it— Because it does.
That’s my pitch for this month
VIVI BENE–LIVE WELL
RIDI SPESSO–LAUGH OFTEN
E AMA MOLTO–LOVE MUCH