Hazmat Awareness

by Brad Banz

In our world, we are surrounded by chemicals. From the fuel we use to power our vehicles and cook our foods to the pesticides used to keep insects away from crops, chemicals are everywhere. Chemicals benefit all of us, unless they are used improperly or released from their containers when they shouldn’t be. That’s when they become hazardous materials. As first responders, all of us need to know how to recognize possible sources of hazardous materials and signs that a release has occurred.

I want to start by introducing some locations to be aware of that might have the presence of hazardous materials. As a first responder, it is important to be knowledgeable of your response area. If you are dispatched to a specific occupancy, you should have an idea they may have hazardous materials just by recognizing their name and address. Perhaps you may even know what types of materials are involved.  Chiefs and station officers, it’s your responsibility to preplan. Occupancies to watch for include factories, processing plants, warehouses, agriculture, transportation routes, and water treatment. These are not the only ones, but the most common. Sometimes potential hazardous materials at some of these occupancies may be identified by the type of manufacturing or processing they do. That’s why it’s important to preplan your area. Roads can even be preplanned by doing vehicle counts for container types and placard information at specific locations. Agriculture will have pesticides and herbicides, which are poisons. They will also have fertilizers and fuel. Water treatment facilities will have chlorine gas. 

Different kinds of vehicles may have different materials inside.

Sometimes large container shapes can help us determine what product type might be inside. At fixed facilities, there are several different types of tanks to be concerned about. A tank with rounded ends will contain liquified, compressed gas such as LPG. A spherical tank could contain the same products as well. Sloped roof tanks can contain liquids of any type. The occupancy type may help determine the type of product in the tank. Large, round tanks with a floating roof indicate petroleum storage. A cylindrical, vertical tank at a medical facility or manufacturing plant indicates a cryogenic such as oxygen or nitrogen.

Trailers with rounded ends indicate the presence of a liquified, compressed gas. An oblong-shaped trailer usually carries petrol, diesel, or jet fuel. Small diameter, tube shaped trailers with reinforcing rings and splash protection on top are indicators of an acid. Larger tanks with splash protection on top may contain combustible liquids, bases, toxic liquids, or waste material. 

Forms of non-bulk packaging you might see include drums, boxes, bags, carboys, bottles, and dewars. Drums can contain flammable, toxic, corrosive, and waste materials. Boxes can carry the same types of materials, as well as oxidizers, explosives, and radioactive materials. Bags will hold explosives, toxic materials, and fertilizers. Carboys and bottles can carry corrosives. Bottles will also hold toxic materials as well.  Dewars typically contain cryogenics. Labels and shipping papers are very important when attempting to identify contents in non-bulk packaging.

Senses are important in detecting a possible release. Hearing a boom, a hiss, or a loud roaring sound are all clues. Seeing sights such as a vapor cloud, liquid on the ground or water, dead fish, dead animals, or dead vegetation are indicators. If you smell a peculiar odor, it may be time to relocate.

I alluded to shipping papers and labeling earlier. Placarding and labeling on large and small containers are very important. They can have the 9 hazard classes, which can help guide you to initial actions.    Containers may have a 4-digit UN number. Shipping papers, such as manifests, are also very helpful because they will tell you exact product information. These can be found with a vehicle driver.

I would like to discuss the US DOT Guidebook briefly. The DOT Guidebook is a reference for first responders and is used as a guide for initial actions in a hazmat incident. It can be found in paperback form as well as online and in Google and iPhone apps. Products can be researched by container shape, hazard class, product name, or 4-digit UN number. Spill information, fire information, PPE information, first aid, and evacuation distances can all be found. The online address is: www.phmsa.gov/hazmat/training. The app for Android phones is in the Google Playstore-ERG for Android. The app for iPhone is in the iPhone App Store-ERG for iOS.

Finally, if you have identified a hazmat release, I want to share some initial response actions. Your responsibility as a first responder is not to mitigate the incident but to help keep the public safe. To keep the public safe, you must stay safe. If you are responding in an outside area, approach the scene from an uphill and upwind direction if possible. In a building, stay out of the suspected area. Your responsibility is to secure the area. In an outside area, set a perimeter. A good starting point is 100 meters, although common sense must be exercised to either increase or decrease the size as necessary. If you have access to the Emergency Response Guide, use it as a reference to establish your perimeter. In a building, isolate the room or floor as necessary.  Inside your perimeter, make sure that all occupants are evacuated. It is also your responsibility to notify additional resources to help with the incident.

This is a very quick size-up of what any first responder should expect when assessing for a possible hazmat release. If you suspect a possible release, always be cautious about your size up and response. Thank you and stay safe out there.

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Recently, Brad Banz led a virtual training session about Hazmat Awareness. If you would like to learn more about this topic, listen to the AFM virtual training session here. For additional virtual trainings, subscribe to our YouTube page and register for our virtual trainings today!

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Brad Banz has been involved in the fire service for 40 years, serving with the Colwich Fire Department as a volunteer from age 20, including a 10 year term as Chief. Brad Banz has served with AFM on several mission trips.

The After-Action Review

by Nicholas J. Higgins

The size-up is, for all intents and purposes, our game plan or battle plan against the structure we are working at. The size-up is where firefighters and fire officers gather information in order to make safe, efficient, and effective fire ground decisions. Fire ground decision making, as we know, is meant to be quick, with an emphasis on safety and ensuring the tactics are done efficiently and effectively.

One aspect we do not stress enough is the fact we do not take into account the culmination of the incident. After fire command is terminated and all units are back in quarters and in service, we must remember the pre-planning is not over just because we cleared the incident and everyone is back in the station and safe. This is where the add-value work is put into place and now it is time for the after-action review or post-incident size-up.

Firefighters review a building’s fire prevention equipment

After-Action Review

During the after-action review (AAR), firefighters and fire officers can discuss and share information obtained from the alarm and also discuss the success and failures they have experienced during the incident. This is a time to ask a few questions:

• What did we expect to happen?

• What actually occurred?

• What went well and why?

• What can we improve upon and how?

The benefit of asking these questions allow for strengths to be easily identifiable, making it easier to uncover areas of weakness. By uncovering areas of weakness, you can develop ways to improve them!

If you do not identify what went wrong, how could you ever expect to improve? On the contrary, if you do not understand what went right and why, duplicating that same success in the future will not be easy. Ensure necessary changes discussed in the AAR are implemented sooner than later, as the longer it is on hold, the likelihood of any changes being implemented diminishes. 

The size-up as a whole is a valuable step by step process for all firefighters to obtain knowledge of their response district, riding assignments, and strategy and tactic implementation. By beginning this process, formally or informally, it will allow for continual growth for each firefighter and fire officer. The key to success as an individual and team is to get ahead of the game and prevent ourselves from being reactive, rather proactive.

Until next time, work hard, stay safe & live inspired.

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Nicholas J. Higgins is a firefighter and district training officer for Piscataway Fire District #2 in Piscataway, New Jersey. He is a New Jersey State Level 2 Fire Instructor, a National Fallen Firefighters Foundation state advocate, and a member of the Board of Directors for the 5-Alarm Task Force—a 501 (c) (3), non-profit organization. Nick is also the founder and a contributor of The Firehouse Tribune website and has spoken at various fire departments and fire conferences nationwide. He is the author of both “The 5-Tool Firefighter,” a book that helps firefighters perform at their highest level and the companion book, “The 5-Tool Firefighter Tactical Workbook” along with being the host of “The 5-Tool Firefighter Podcast”.

Advocacy and Action After Disaster

by Mike Kull

If you've been in the Fire Service for long enough, your Fire Brigade has experienced an incident that overwhelmed your capabilities. It's happened to all of us. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t perform at the level we wanted, or the level we were expected to perform at. It may have been a technical rescue that you didn't have the proper equipment to make the rescue, or it may have been a large fire that you couldn’t stop because you didn’t have enough fire engines, enough manpower, or enough water. The result after the incident may be the loss of life or a large value of property damage. So, what do we do now?

Fire Brigades everywhere are facing challenges with funding, equipment and manpower. Some places are much better off than others but there are very few places in the world where firefighters will tell you they have everything they need. A Fire Brigade must be prepared for every possible disaster or emergency that you could ever imagine. Accidents, vehicle crashes, fires, electrical emergencies, agricultural emergencies, industrial accidents, weather related emergencies, victims trapped or lost, water rescue -- the list goes on and on. It is almost impossible to have specialized equipment and training for absolutely every type of incident you may be called to. Again, we must ask ourselves, what do we do now?

One of the first things that we need to do is to take care of ourselves. The job of a firefighter is stressful and can be very detrimental to our mental health. We need to look after each other, we need to talk to someone if we are feeling depressed and we need to support each other in both our professional and personal lives. Make sure everyone is alright and staying healthy, both physically and mentally. Once we are sure everyone is alright, we need to make ourselves better.

Learning is a lifelong process. There will always be new skills and new knowledge to learn. Technology is always changing, and the world is always changing so there will always be something new that will help us to be better firefighters. There is a vast number of resources available to firefighters that have access to the internet. Simple internet searches will turn up large volumes of information on every topic imaginable. Read and learn as much as you can about the types of threats you will face. After an incident where you’ve faced something new or something you’ve never seen before, you need to research it. Learn as much as you can about it so that you are better prepared to handle it in the future. This makes for some great Company Level Drills during which you can share this knowledge with everyone in your Fire Brigade.

Finally, what can fire service leaders do after an incident that overwhelms your Fire Brigade. The first step is to ensure that you utilized all the resources that you had available. Ensure that you have mutual aid agreements with other resources in your area that may have equipment or resources that you may need. This could include other Fire Brigades, police agencies, military units or civilian resources with access to heavy machinery, water bowsers or other resources. Arrangements should be made to outline how to activate or call upon these resources and other details such as how billing or payments will be managed if necessary.

Once you have ensured that all local resources available have been accounted for, advocacy must begin. Many times, these types of incidents will be reported in the media and on social media. The Fire Brigade may be blamed for the outcome of the incident even if they have done everything to the best of their ability. It is critical to accurately document every shortcoming experienced. Did you have enough manpower? How many more were needed? Did you have enough of the proper equipment? What equipment do you need to change the outcome? Did you have enough resources such as water? What would have helped with a lack of water?  Everything must be documented, and that list of needs must be provided to the local authority having jurisdiction over the Fire Brigade. To supply you with the equipment you need, the local government must know exactly what your needs are, as well as having justification for the expense. Try to find reports or news stories about other similar events that had a better outcome due to the Fire Brigade having the resources it needs. Use these as an example of how your incident could have had a better outcome with the appropriate resources. Advocate for whatever your needs may be, whether it is more manpower, more fire engines, more fire hose, breathing apparatus, rescue tools or an adequate water supply. Make your list and prioritize it, starting with the needs that will have the biggest impact. Provide information about locally available resources that can be quickly acquired.  Give them as much information as possible so that they can make informed decisions and stress the need for a plan to reach full operational readiness.

Fire Brigades may face incidents that overwhelm their resources, leading to significant loss of life or property due to insufficient funding, equipment, or personnel. To mitigate these issues, it is essential for firefighters to prioritize their mental and physical health, pursue continuous training, and document deficiencies encountered during emergencies. Fire service leaders are encouraged to optimize local resource use and advocate for improvements by clearly communicating their needs to local authorities. By highlighting documented gaps and comparing them with better-resourced responses, they can underscore the necessity for adequate support to improve operational readiness for future incidents.

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Mike Kull is a retired Fire Chief from Central Pennsylvania. Mike has over 25 years of experience in the fire service and teaches firefighting in both the US and Africa. Mike now serves as Programs Director for Africa Fire Mission and as a firefighter at his local volunteer fire company.

Facing Electrical Issues

by Brad Banz

As firefighters, we respond to a wide variety of scenarios involving electrical hazards. Immediately, downed lines calls come to mind to most responders because of the obvious hazards they pose. In this article, I would like to discuss other types of incidents in which electrical hazards could be encountered and address our response as first responders.

Since I started the conversation by bringing up the topic of downed electrical lines, what should you do if you encounter such a situation? As in many other emergency situations, your job is to secure the area and keep people out. Electrical lines can carry many thousands of volts of electricity, with cross-country transmission lines carrying up to 345,000 volts. What does that mean to you? That means that you don't have to be in contact with the line for an electrical path to be established. Electricity from energized high voltage lines can jump several meters to things such as ladders if they are establishing a path to ground. The area around an energized downed line can also form a ground gradient, an area which is energized, and which will still be a shocking hazard.  That's why it's important to secure the area in between poles and keep all ladders a minimum of 3 meters away from energized lines. Treat all lines as energized. Also have the contact number available for your local electrical utility so they can be notified of the situation. If electrical lines are downed across vehicles, have the passengers jump to become free from the vehicle if they can do so. If they cannot, then make them stay in the vehicle until the electrical lines have been shut off by the electrical utility. 

Structure fires are another common instance when electricity can be an issue. While electrical service may not always be involved in the fire, regardless of cause, it's a good idea to secure electrical power to ensure that it doesn't become a hazard. Electrical power can usually be secured by turning it off at a circuit breaker if safe to do so. If electrical service is a major issue, the electrical utility must be notified so they can secure power outside the structure. The utility company should also be notified in areas such as informal settlements where illegal wiring arrangements are involved. The illegal wiring can be dangerous, especially with the iron sheet construction of many of these homes. Finally, one last consideration is hidden fire. If you have an electrical fire, or suspected electrical in wiring, open the wall up. 

Many machines, especially in industrial settings, use lots of electrical power. Many times, an electrical fire or smoldering electrical fire can be controlled by simply securing electrical power to the machine. Even if the machine has any fire involvement at all not involving the electrical systems, it's still good to secure power. If power cannot be secured, a powder extinguisher suitable for electrical fires should be used. One set of machines in which powder should not be used on are computers or other types of electronics. Many computer centers have their own halon extinguishing systems. CO2 extinguishers are the preferred agent for use on computers and electronics. 

While there are other electrical issues that you as a first responder may run across during your career, I tried to come up with the ones that you would be most likely to come across. I hope that everyone has gained something from this article. As always, stay safe out there.   

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Brad Banz has been involved in the fire

service for 40 years, serving with the Colwich

Fire Department as a volunteer from age 20,

including a 10 year term as Chief. Brad Banz

has served with AFM on several mission trips.

Water Rescue Safety Information

by Tyler Prater

Water rescue operations are a very dangerous, highly technical operation. With water covering over 70 percent of our world, as first responders we are bound to respond to a water emergency. One of the biggest hazards is flash flood and swiftwater emergencies. Swiftwater is described as water moving more than 1 nautical mile per hour (Knot). NFPA 1006 standards breaks swiftwater rescue into 3 parts.

1. Awareness, meaning that the responder is aware of the hazards but is not trained to mitigate.

2. Operations, meaning that responders can take a defensive role using throwbags or throwable flotation and have been trained in self rescue defensive swimming techniques.

3. Technician level training, meaning that the responder is equipped and properly trained to respond to in water emergencies using a “Go” rescue.

It's also important to note the water rescue order of operations. Remember the saying “Reach, Throw, Row, Go.”

Reach - To reach for the victim trapped in the water. Long Sticks, ladders, poles, or anything sturdy enough to reach into the water to get to the victim.

Throw - Throw a rope or a flotation device to your victim trapped in the water.

Row - Use a boat to row your way to the victim.

Go - The most dangerous and last resort in water rescue: to send a rescue swimmer into the water.

As in all rescue operations, PPE is an especially important factor for water rescue. Making sure anyone operating near the water knows how to swim and has proper flotation in place. If making a “Go’ rescue it is imperative that the PFD the rescuer is wearing has enough flotation for both the rescuer and the victim. When responding to emergencies in fire apparatus, remember that we are not invincible to the power of water. It only takes a few inches of water to float and move a vehicle. Turn around, don't drown. Flood water is also a known health hazard. As water floods a village or city it picks up all waste and hazardous materials and flows it across the city. If vehicles or sewage facilities are involved, fuels and biohazards could enter the water. Treat all flood water as hazardous water and make sure to thoroughly decontaminate your body and all equipment used in the water. Multiple bystanders die each year trying to rescue victims in flood water. Tying yourself to a rope that you cannot break free from is also another hazard that is commonly misunderstood. If a rope is tied around a rescuer and that rescuer gets hung up, or reaches the end of the rope the power of the current will push the rescuer under the water.

Understanding and treating water rescue events as a high hazard, low frequency event will make both the rescuer and victim safer in the long run. Public education of the hazards of flash flood and swiftwater hazards is also imperative to preventing water emergencies. Remember to follow your level of training. Rescuers must have the appropriate PPE and resources available to make an in water rescue. For more information on this topic and to learn more about training standards, reference NFPA 1006 - Professional qualifications of technical rescuers, or check out TDISDI.com / ERDI and search for swiftwater rescue.

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Tyler Prater is a 8 year member of the St. Louis Fire Department and currently serves as a rescue squad member. Tyler is also a water rescue specialist and instructor for Water and Dive Rescue.

The First Five Minutes

The First Five Minutes

by Mark van der Feyst

Every day in North America, fire departments are responding to structure fires that involve residential buildings. The bulk of the workload for the fire department will be the residential home as statistics show that every 86 seconds a fire department is responding to a residential fire. Once a fire department arrives on scene, they need to act quickly as the number one priority on the fire scene is life safety. This involves the occupants inside the residential building as well as the responding personnel. In 2014, there were 2,860 civilian fire deaths attributed to a structure fire.

The time a fire department’s first arriving officer and crew have to affectively size up situation and decide on what action to take in order to address the life safety priority is less than 2 minutes. Within that timeframe, many factors need to be considered, evaluated, processed and then decided upon based upon priorities. The first five minutes are crucial to any fire ground operation and sets the tone for the remainder of the call – it will either set the tone for a successful outcome or it will set the tone for a not so favourable outcome.

Studies have shown that fire grows at a rate that doubles in size every minute. Modern fuel loads and heat release rates add to the fire’s intensity. Every minute that we are indecisive on scene is another minute of rapid-fire growth. By using information gathered during pre-planning and from Dispatch updates, coupled with situational awareness and a strong size-up, the Incident Commander should be able to formulate tactical decisions that have positive influence on truck placement and task assignments taking into consideration manpower issues that face many smaller departments.

The First Five Minutes starts with how to correctly size-up an incident scene, and then how to get the information clearly and concisely to incoming units and Dispatch. As we all know, size up begins when the call comes in and ends when all are back at the station. How can we prepare ourselves ahead of time so that our size up will be streamlined and efficient when arriving? We can do this by sizing up our response districts during our down time or when we are driving around in our response areas. By observing the present clues that are in front of us on a daily basis, we can build a data bank within our minds of what we know exists within our boundaries.

One such area is knowing your response district and the types of residential buildings that comprise it. Knowing the common construction types, the common layouts, the average age of the homes and so on will help with creating different rescue profiles. By having these different profiles, the firefighter and company officer can gauge ahead of time what exactly they are dealing with and when the call comes in, they will have a better understanding of where they are going to and what they are getting into.

Another factor that can be added into the equation of knowing the area is with the demographics. Knowing who in terms of average age, in terms of type of population such as seniors or retirement type of people or maybe students will help with creating a rescue profile. This can be accomplished by searching for this information from local government or from just observing the response district.

Other aspects of the size up is with knowing common locations of where fire victims are found within the residential structure. They are usually found in exit areas such as windows, doors, top of stairs, bottom of stairs, middle of stairs, and in the hallways, at the fire location or in their beds depending upon the time of day. Knowing these common locations helps with the effective rescue and where to begin the search or which tactic to use.

The fire apparatus is another area that can be addressed for the first five minutes. One focal point is with the equipment options available to the membership. This involves setting up the apparatus for quick and easy access of required hand tools for any rescue operation. This involves utilizing compartment space effectively and placing certain tools on the right side of the apparatus.

Along with this is the aspect of combat ready tools. This is where the fire department can have certain tool combinations pre-made or pre-arranged and then placed in a spot on the apparatus that will be sensible and quickly grabbed. Such examples may be the hailgan and the axe, the haligan and the roof hook, the haligan and the maul, or the hailgan and the water can. There are many different tool variations that can be pre-arranged ahead of time.

Having pre-arranged seating assignments is also a good idea to quicken the rescue operation. This is where no matter who sits in what certain seat in the back or the front of the apparatus, they have a specified job function that is standard. This cuts down the time and decision making ability on who will do what – instead allowing firefighters to react based upon their assigned function.

One last area that can be looked at is our tactical options. There are many tactical options that are available for any one fire department to use – it is just a matter of using the right one for the right situation and being efficient with it. Tactics starts with training and becoming familiar with how they are beneficial, the reasons why they are different from each other and how they can be incorporated into the department’s operational capabilities.

Tactical options include things such as VES or VEIS, PPA, tactical ventilation, transitional attack, offensive attack, defensive attack, fast attack, blitz attacks, all hands rescue and so on. Tactics are a great tool for the firefighter and enable them to be effective on the fire ground – but only work when they are trained on time and time again. The place to use a tactic for the first time is not on the fire ground, it is to be used for the first time on the training ground.

By focusing upon these areas and others such as communications, the culture of the department, rescue plans and SOG’s and SOP’s, the fire department can be effective within the first five minutes.

Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 working in both Canada and the USA. Currently he works for the Fort Gratiot Fire Department in Michigan after taking early retirement from his career department at the end of 2020. He is an international instructor teaching in Canada, USA, India and many large and regional conferences such as FDIC, Firehouse World & Expo. He holds an MS in Safety, Security & Emergency Management from Eastern Kentucky University and has been providing virtual training sessions for Africa Fire Mission for two years.

Serving In Nigeria with FCT Fire Service and IHVN

It was great to be back in Abuja, Nigeria in January and early February!

An AFM team of six provided training to FCT firefighters, IHVN staff and partners from the “Committee of Stakeholders on the General Safety & Security of Cadastral Zone C00 Abuja FCT.” The training allowed the AFM team to assess the capabilities of the firefighters as well as gain a better understanding of the community’s perspective of firefighters. Training for the FCT Fire Service focused on enhancing fire response capabilities, promoting utilization of available equipment and tools for firefighting, and enhancing community awareness.

Team member Mike Kull elaborated that “we were able to provide quality training on a wide variety of topics - Breathing Apparatus, Ladders, Hose Drills - Firefighters from FCT Fire Service were eager to learn and we expect to see rapid and positive results from this training. We realize that development is a slow process but we have high hopes for the firefighters here in Nigeria.”

Head of Operations, FCT Fire Service, Engr. Adesina Abioye, stated that the training has updated Fire Service Staff with modern professional ways of rescue and firefighting, and served as a refresher course on fire prevention and administration for the Senior Staff who participated. “The importance of the partnership cannot be overemphasized; it has brought tremendous benefits to the partners and the stakeholders community. What would have cost the FCT administration a huge sum of money was made available at no cost due to partnership,” he said.

AFM also conducted a needs assessment to identify tools and equipment needed to further develop the FCT Fire Service and donated firefighting equipment. This equipment included firefighting coats, boots, gloves, suspenders and helmets for enhanced effectiveness in responding to fire incidents and saving lives, property, and critical infrastructure.

We are grateful that IHVN is committed to collaborating with FCT Fire Service to enhance the capabilities of the fire service and look forward to continued collaboration in Nigeria.