Mar./April 2004

Texas Fire World

Consultant Answers Questions About Water System Credits

Related to ISO Public Protection Classification, dry hydrants and tanker operations can be important in setting the residential and commercial property insurance rates for a rural community. In a recent conversation with TFW publisher David White, Mike Pietsch of Mike Pietsch, P.E. Consulting Services Inc. tried to eliminate some of the confusion related to water system credits.

D.W.: Can I get a credit for my water system using a dry hydrant or for having a fire truck loaded with 1,000 feet of 6-inch hose?
M.P.: The answer is yes. But you’ve got to draw from a water source that will have water in it during a 50-year drought.

D.W.: How is that determined?
M.P.: You can have an engineer certify it, or a soil conservationist, geologist or a representative of the forest service. It has to be someone qualified to determine that during a 50-year drought the water source will have at least 30,000 gallons. That’s not the official minimum, but I wouldn’t want to try and meet the schedule with less than that.

D.W.: How far can the dry hydrant be from the farthest building to get credit for it?
M.P.: It has to be within the distance of a 1,000-foot hose lay for credit without an alternative water supply.

D.W.: The new thing out there is called the turbo draft. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It allows you to draft at higher or lower elevations than normally possible.
M.P.: Turbo drafts are a good thing for filling tankers. If you’re taking suction out of a pond with a hard suction, you’ve got to have an all-weather road to that site and then some kind of pad to park on. With turbo draft, you can draft from a pond 50 plus feet off the road that you normally couldn’t draft from. What works best is when you turbo draft and fill portable tanks, then do a tanker shuttle using a fold-a-tank.

D.W.: If I have a dry hydrant, do I have to do annual maintenance on it?
M.P.: You have to back flush it semi-annually. You have to keep records that show this was done in order to receive an ISO dry hydrant credit.

D.W.: What flow is that hydrant required to have?
M.P.: Two-hundred-and-fifty gallons-per-minute for 2 hours.

D.W.: How does a big fire truck with a large amount of large-diameter hose affect my ISO rating?
M.P.: In an area that depends on what the ISO refers to as “alternate water supplies,” ISO is going to pick certain target hazards and put a gallons-per-minute requirement on them. If it’s a home, it’s going to be somewhere between 500 gpm and 1,500 gpm. In most of these “alternate water supply” districts, you rarely exceed a 2,000 g.p.m. fire flow.

The schedule takes that flow and then works backward to estimate how much water the fire department can get to the firesite to utilize. It doesn’t matter how that water gets to the scene — tankers, large diameter hose or dry hydrants.

My suggestion, because of the expense involved, is to have a supply-side pumper and a fire-side pumper. To get the minimum 250 gpm for two hours, you’re normally going to need at least three 1,500 gallon tankers if your suction point is within one mile or less of the fire site. That will meet the 250 g.p.m. for 2 hours requirement theschedule mandates. With this tanker shuttle depending on so few vehicles there is usually a problem achieving over 300-gpm at the fire site. There is also a time limit. To meet the ISO requirements, you’ve got to be flowing 250 gpm within five minutes of the first fire apparatus arriving on scene.

Otherwise, your alternate water supply is not credible. What you can do is start pumping out of a booster tank or make do with a little fold-a-tank to get that 250 gpm within five minutes. ISO will then give you 10 additional minutes to maximize the flow rate. If you can equal or exceed this flow rate (achieved after 15 minutes) for an additional one hour and forty-five minutes, that is what ISO will credit as available for fire fighter purposes at the fire site.
One rural department I consult for had an ISO rating of six that was reduced to three using the fold-a-tank shuttle technique. Today, mutual aid tankers play a big role in water shuttles. Not mutual aid pumpers, but mutual aid tankers. The ISO water shuttle calculations will measure all available tankers shuttling for 2 hours to see if the fol-da-tank will remain sufficiently full to eliminate any whirlpooling of the strainer at the bottom of the fol-da-tank. Tanker speed is 35 miles per hour. Fill times and dump times are also measured. Mutual aid tankers coming in during the second hour of the exercise can prove valuable. Instead of failing 60 or 70 minutes into the exercise, the shuttle exercise continues successfully.

If your community has at least five dry hydrants, it is possible to establish your ISO rating without a water shuttle, then later establish a shuttle effort to eliminate areas that ISO rates as class 9.
To contact Mike Pietsch, call (972) 271-3292.

• FEMA Announces New Publication, Page 2

• Firefighter Charged in
Crash Page 2,

• Large Beginnings for
Beaumont Fire
Museum, Page 3

• Bush Signs New
Homeland Security
Directives, Page 3

• Ridge Announces Funds
For States and Localities,
Page 4

Fire Outrages Citizens

On a warm spring morning in March 1911, 145 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory died when fire raged through their workplace.
Within two days after the fire, city officials began announcing preliminary conclusions concerning the fire. Fire Marshal William Beers said the fire probably began when a lighted match was tossed into either waste near oil cans or into clippings under a cutting table.
Locked doors, inadequate fire escapes and overcrowding were cited for the deaths. Much of the public outrage fell on owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, who were tried for manslaughter, but found not guilty.
The fire led to the creation of a nine-member investigating committee which undertook an examination of conditions in New York factories.

News Briefs

FEMA Announces New Publication
Washington, D.C. - The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced today the availability of a new U.S. Fire Administration publication specifically designed for community leaders of first responder organizations. The Citizen Corps Opportunities for America’s First Responders brochure is the result of a successful joint effort among federal, state, local, and private fire-service personnel, including FEMA and USFA staff.
This new material contains a comprehensive list of suggested citizen volunteer activities to support fire and EMS department efforts. Also included are brief overviews of the Citizen Corps mission, initiatives, and program components such as Community Emergency Response Team training, Medical Reserve Corps, Volunteers in Police Service and Neighborhood Watch, and basic information about Citizen Corps Councils.
The U.S. Fire Administration has a mission to reduce life and economic losses due to fire and related emergencies through leadership, advocacy, coordination and support. The USFA’s role in Citizen Corps is to promote awareness and community support, and to provide technical assistance. This brochure is a valuable tool and should provide an understanding of Citizen Corps initiatives that involve America’s fire and EMS departments. The brochure, publication number FA-263, can be obtained through the U.S. Fire Administration’s Publications Online Catalog at www.usfa.fema.gov/applications/publications.
Citizen Corps is part of President Bush’s USA Freedom Corps intiative that is administered by the Department of Homeland Security, Office for Domestic Preparedness. It is designed to bring awareness, public education, training and volunteer opportunities to the local level so that communitties are safer and better prepared to handle threats of all kinds including crime, disasters, emergencies, and terrorism.
For more information regarding Citizen Corps opportunities for American’s first responders, contact Marjean Meyer at 301-447-1871.
Study: Public Access to AEDs Can Double Survival Rates
A new study presented at a recent American Heart Association Scientific Session showed that AEDs in public places, combined with training, can double cardiac arrest survival rates.
The number of survivors of sudden cardiac arrest markedly increased when the victims were helped by community volunteers trained

Claims should be submitted to the Administrator
U.S. Fire Administration
16825 South Seton Avenue
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
and marked “fire fighting claim.”

WMD Videos Now Available

The Office of Domestic Preparedness/ Department of Justice recently produced two videos related to the use of incident command and unified command for WMD incidents.

They will provide a copy to officals from state and local agencies. A request of agency letterhead is required.

Send requests to:
Director
VIDEO REQUEST
Office for Domestic Preparedness Support
Office of Justice Programs
810 Seventh St. NW
Washington, DC 20531

DFW to Discontinue Cross-Training

Dallas - Effective October 1, the DFW airport Department of Public Safety has announced that it will no longer utilize cross-training.

Officials said that after 30 years they have found the” concept to be a less than efficient way to run their business and that their employees have become so specialized and focused on their core mission of firefighting and law enforcement that it has become a burden to ensure proficiency in both disciplines.”

Forest Service Runs Out of Funds

Washington, DC - The Forest Service said it would begin transferring money from other accounts to continue putting out fires, including more than two dozen large wildfires burning in the western United States.

Underfunding is a perennial problem for the agency and has been drawing criticism from lawmakers and watchdog groups.

The announcement came less than a week after President Bush’s request for $289 million in emergency spending to fight wildfires was rejected by Congress.

The Fire Fighter Safety Series is a multipart instructional package developed by Firewise for small community fire departments to address the problems faced by structural and wildland firefighters when fighting fires.

The complete instruction package contains three videos:

1. Fire Behavior in the Wildland/Urban Interface
2. Structure protection Strategies in the Wildland/Urban Interface
3. Firefighter Safety in the Wildland/Urban Interface, an Instructor Guide

The package also contains a computer-slide presentation corresponding with the videos, and a set of overhead transparency masters to aid instruction when a computer is not available to run the computer presentations. The computer-slide presentation has been designed so that the program can be instructor-led in the classroom or self-paced for the individual student.

For more information on ordering the Fire Fighter Safety Video Series visit: http://www.firewise.org/catalog/audiovisual.

New Fire Code Video Available

A new educational video by the Garland Fire Department discusses new internal fire codes and why things are and aren’t allowed. “The Fire Code: What Every Educator Needs to Know” is a video designed for fire departments to show to school administrators and teachers.

The main purpose of the video is to establish principles of what the International Fire Code is and how it applies to educational facilities.

Contact:
Christopher Balanciere
Public Education Specialist
Garland Fire Depatrment
618 W. State
Garland, TX 75040
972-205-2271 or fax request to 972-205-2989 to receive a copy of the video.

Brian Sossaman, emergency response/security manager for Lyondell Chemicals and Equistar Chemicals LP has been appointed to the Texas A&M Advisory Board.

Sossaman serves as Chairman of the SFFMA Industrial Emergency Service Board and is a member of the North Channel LEPC, Specialist and Past Chairman of CIMA (Channel Industries Mutual Aid.

He is also an instructor at the Annual Texas A&M Industrial Fire School and is a Past Fire Chief of the Highland Volunteer Fire Department. He is a past member of the San Jacinto Junior College EMS Advisory Board.

Houston Chief Steps Down

Chris Connealy announced recently that he will be retiring from the Houston Fire Department.

Chief Connealy’s retirement is effective January 6 but he will be using accumulated leave until then, Assistant Chief Hector Trevino will serve as acting chief until a new mayor fills the position.

Chief Connealy has been instrumental in making historic changes in the Houston Fire Department. He has raised Houston’s ISO rating to 1, a difficult task for any city.

The Texas Fire Chiefs Association recognized Chief Connealy as the 2002 Texas Fire Chief of the Year.

West University Seeks Fire Chief

The city’s fire chief reports directly to the city manager and participates as a member of the city’s executive team. The ideal candidate will be a professional who is committeed to customer service, community interaction and have personal professional ethics. The new chief must possess excellent administrative skills; have exceptional oral and written communications and provide effective leadership of 24 fire personnel.

Salary range $73,437 to $98,406 (midpoint $85,921). Excellent benefit package offered including monthly auto allowance.

To review job description or to download an employment application visit www.westu.org. Applications and resumes may be mailed to:
City of West University Place
3800 University Boulevard
West University, TX 77005
Attn: Linda Moore

Study: Public Access to AEDs Can Double Survival Rates

A new study presented at a recent American Heart Association Scientific Session showed that AEDs in public places, combined with training, can double cardiac arrest survival rates.
The number of survivors of sudden cardiac arrest markedly increased when the victims were helped by community volunteers trained to perform not only CPR but also to use an AED, according to the results of a large multi-center study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in collaboration with the American Heart Association.

Over an average 21.5 months, there were 29 cardiac arrest survivors to hospital discharge in the group assigned to CPR plus AED compared to 15 survivors in the group assigned to CPR only.

It is known that defibrillation by trained public safety and EMS personnel is a highly effective lifesaving treatment for cardiac arrest. However, it has not been known whether placing AEDs in the community and training lay persons to use them would prevent additional deaths.

An important next step in research on the use of AEDs is to test the safety and effectiveness of home use of these devices. The NHLBI is currently funding a multi-center 7,000 patient study designed to evaluate whether providing the devices to families of heart attack patients will improve survival if a cardiac arrest occurs in that person’s home.

Firefighter Charged in Crash

Fort Worth - Two people were seriously injured in a car crash when a van driven by a Fort Worth firefighter rear-ended their pickup.
Michael LaDuke, 46, was arrested for DUI but later posted bond, police said.
According to the district attorney, this is LaDuke’s second DUI. Fire department officials said LaDuke is now on leave.

Features

EMA Supports CPSC Release of Carbon Monoxide Guidelines for First Responders

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has joined with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in announcing a new document to help first responders being called to residential carbon monoxide incidents. The new document, titled: Responding to Residential Carbon Monoxide Incidents-Guidelines for Fire and Other Emergency Responders is available at: http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/FOIA04/ os/Resident.pdf.

This CPSC guideline is designed to help emergency response pernnel act quickly and accurately when responding to carbon monoxide emergencies, said U.S. Fire Administrator David Paulison.
The new document will help responders:
• ensure their own protection from carbon monoxide when entering an occupancy;
• confirm whether a carbon monoxide hazard exists;
• make a preliminary assessment of potential sources of elevated carbon monoxide;
• give advice to the occupants on how to prepare the home for re-entry;
• promote carbon monoxide awareness and safe practices throughout a community.
Contact the U.S. Fire Administration for turther information at www.usfa.fema.gov.

Bush Signs New Homeland Security Directives
President Bush has signed directives establishing new policies on assessing the vulnerability of critical infrastructure and the nation’s preparedness to respond to a terrorist attack. The first directive requires federal agencies to coordinate with state and local officials as well as the private sector to identify critical infrastucture vulnerabilities across all sectors, including information technology, telecommunications, chemical and transportation systems. The directives also require the homeland Security Department to continue to coordinate national cybersecurity efforts. The second directive requires Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to establish a national preparedness goal to create guidelines for spending on preparedness equipment. The official said spending on preparedness increased by 1,000 percent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The policy will lead to establishing standards for emergency responder equipment.

Volunteer Firefighter Pleads Guilty in Traffic Accident
A Rosehill firefighter plead guilty to criminally negligent homicide with a deadly weapon in the death of a mother of five.

Samuel Lee Maglitto, 52, was in his own vehicle driving to the scene of a non-life-threatening grass fire, driving 86 mph with his emergency lights flashing on June 4, 2002 when he broad-sided Vickie Lynn McKinney, 40, near her home.

McKinney was almost home when she was killed. The firefighter was trying to pass several cars in a no-passing zone when he hit McKinney’s car.
Maglitto was indicted on a charge of manslaughter, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Grant News

Ridge Announces $1.7 Billion for State and Localities
Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge announced that nearly $1.7 billion is being made available to the states, localities and U.S. territories through the Office for Domestic Preparedness as part of the State Homeland Security Program. These funds represent the Administration’s continued committment to first responders and will help state and local public safety and law enforcement personnel pay for planning, training, equipment and exercises and other costs associated with enhancing the capabilities on a state and local level to prevent, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks.
These funds are being made available in addition to $2 billion that was awarded through the State Homeland Security Grant program from the FY 03 budget and the FY 03 Supplemental Budget. In addition to states and localities receiving more funding for its first responders for planning, training and exercises, there is also an expanded approved

Abilene Receives Communications Grant

Of the 26.7 million dollars the Federal Government provided, through FEMA, to the State of Texas in the 2003 Fire Act grant funding cycle, Abilene received the second-largest amount. A check totaling $473,550 was presented to fire Chief Brad Fitzer at Fire Headquarters. The money is to used to revive an old and ailing communications system.

Assistance to Firefighters Program Guidance Document is Now Available

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Domestic Preparedness and United States Fire Administration have announced to the nation’s local fire departments the availability of the 2004 Assistance to Firefighters Program Guidance document. The progam Guidance Document is now available to download from the USFA web site at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fire-service/grants/afgp/prgguide.shtm.

FEMA and USFA Announce New Job Aid for First Responders

The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced the availability of the new Emergency Response to Terrorism Job Aid to assist emergency response personnel in identifying a possible terrorist/WMD incident and implementing initial response and recovery actions. The document includes both tactical and strategic issues to assist all first responders, including line personnel, unit officers and initial incident commanders.The Emergency Response to Terrorism is not a training manual. It is expected and assumed that personnel using these materials already have the appropriate training and experience to address the identified tactics.
The Emergency Response to Terrorism Job Aid should serve as a reminder for those who already have completed the appropriate level of tactical and strategic training, such as the Emergency Response to Terrorism courses developed by the USFA for classroom and self-study.
For a complete copy of the Emergency Response to Terrorism for download go to:
www.usfa.gema.gov/fire-service/c-terror/download-jobaid.shtm.California Requires Same Standards for Both Volunteer and Career Firefighters
A new state law that went into effect January 1 says volunteer firefighters in California must meet the same OSHA training and safety standards as career firefighters.
The California State Firefighters Association sponsored the legislation to ensure that all firefighters have the proper equipment and training for the types of calls they respond to.
Some firefighters are worried because they just learned about the new law from local news reports because they are unclear about what they would need to do and whether they would have time and how they can afford it. According to the new law, the state is required to reimburse local agencies for mandated costs.

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