Using Water Efficiently to Put Out Fire

by Edward Collet

Jackson Township Fire Department Firefighter/EMT, Ohio; Ohio Fire Chiefs Association Water Supply Technical Advisory Committee Co-Chair

Using Water Efficiently to Put Out Fire

The question of what to do when water is limited has plagued firefighters since the first bucket of water was thrown on a fire.  Early on the full bucket of water was used no matter how many more were available.  All available resources were used to extinguish the fire as fast as possible.  Even before science told us about the need to match the thermal energy released by the fuel with the energy absorption of water, early firefighters knew a big fire needed a lot of water.  Over time firefighters became hesitant to ever run out of water fearing they would look bad.  This lead to low pressure, low flow nozzles (high pressure low flow is another topic) and smaller hose, often a 1” (25mm) “red” line from a hose reel being the weapon of choice to fight most fires.   Fire departments stopped running out of water, but fires burned longer and more property was destroyed. 

All fires go out, they either run out of fuel and/or oxygen, or enough heat is absorbed by water to lower the temperature below the ignition temperature.  The question we must ask ourselves as firefighters is “are we overwhelming the fire with water to cool it or is the fire consuming fuel till the energy is low enough for our stream to extinguish the flames.”  If we are effective in our job, we will put enough water on the fire to absorb all the energy being released and maybe a little more so we are the ones putting out the fire.

I experienced this dilemma first hand.  A call came in for a garage on fire during one of our monthly trainings.  Something like this never happens, a fire when there are enough people at the station to put two fully manned engines, a squad, and the tender on the road.  Unfortunately, the tender was at the other station requiring two firefighters to drive to the station on the north side of the township to retrieve it.  The fire was on the south side of the township, so it would be some time before the extra 3000 gallons (11,356 liters) of water arrived.  Until then we would have to make due with 1,000 gallons (3,786 liters) on one engine and, 1250 gallons (4,731 liters) on the other.  While we were still a distance from the scene a glow could be seen on the horizon letting us know this was a major fire.  When we arrived, command instructed both engines to pull quick attack monitor and hit the fire.  Our quick attack monitor flows 500 gallons (1,900 liters) a minute so our water was gone in roughly 2 minutes.  But the fire was knocked down from a massive inferno to a minor fire.  The building was already a loss when we arrived but using all our water to overwhelm the fire helped to protect nearby exposures.  Had we been worried about looking bad by running out of water a couple 1 ¾” attack lines would have been pulled to put 300gpm (1,135lpm) on a fire needed over 750gpm (2,840 lpm) to quench it.  The fire would have burned much longer placing exposures in greater danger.   

Use the water you have to put the greatest portion of fire out as fast as possible.   Firefighters must apply water in quantities great enough to overwhelm the fire; otherwise we are just wasting water waiting for the fire to burn down to match our fire flows.   Always ask, am I putting out the fire or is the fire burning down to meet my flow.  

It may seem counter intuitive to use higher flows when water will run out compared to using low flow and conserving water.  Putting more water on the fire will put it out faster and protect the exposures.  Train on techniques to stream application to become more proficient at using the available water.  

Stay safe, train hard, and always ask is there a better way to do the job. 

Media and the Role of a Public Information Officer

By Chief Robert Rielage, retired

Chief Rielage is the former State Fire Marshall of Ohio and Fire Chief of Wyoming Ohio. He currently serves the community of Colerain Township, Ohio.

Media and the Role of a Public Information Officer

Have you ever wondered after a really serious fire, why your fire department has not gotten the credit that it deserved for doing a great job of controlling the fire and its spread to other areas?

After a mass casualty incident, whether a major automobile accident, a mass shooting, or a civil unrest where your department played a critical role in medical patient care, have you wondered why credit was not given to the fire department or even worse that no member of the fire department even took part in the press conference?

The answer may be that your department needs to have a Public Information Officer (PIO) – a person authorized by the Chief Fire Officer to make statements to the news media on the roles you play at major fires or medical incidents.  This person must know what can and what cannot be released to the press, but is authorized to comment and give details on the contributions your fire department made by delivering timely professional services to those affected by the incident.

What does a PIO do?  Here is a brief list that can help raise the awareness of the public that you do far more than fighting fires:

1)    In most cases, the PIO is a regular firefighter or fire officer with an outgoing, and friendly nature; the ability to write a simple press release, collect the email addresses or twitter accounts to send releases to news outlets or reporters, and to be able to speak clearly and precisely in front of a camera. (That comes with practice and can be learned – you just have to try)

2)    Being the official spokesperson on major fires, motor vehicle accidents or other emergency incidents who explains the role or roles that the fire service provided.

3)    Being properly dressed when acting as the PIO, either in a uniform or your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including at minimum your helmet and turnout coat.

4)    To issue timely fire safety messages in advance of holidays or other celebrations that may bring an increase in fires or other safety hazards to the general public. 

5)    To convey regular safety messages using social media, and keeping the public informed via a – Facebook, Twitter, or other platforms in the name of the fire department.  Examples may be posting after visiting a school to instruct students on safety, or just covering a training session showing firefighters practicing their skills.

6)    Sending out a press release on any honors given to the department or individuals for outstanding service such as a Firefighter of the Year recognition.

7)    To build relationships with other governmental departments, outside agencies such as the Red Cross, hospitals, faith-based organizations and other community or civic agencies interested in the safety or welfare of citizens.

While this may sound like a significant amount of additional work, once the PIO has established his or her self with these individuals or groups, the interaction becomes almost second nature.

By way of example, here is a video of Fire Lieutenant Jonathan Baxter after a recent significant fire along the wharf in San Francisco, California. The fire lieutenant’s comments start at @ 1:16 minute mark, end at 4:40, and then he comes back at @ 8:38 minutes until it concludes. Note as well, his several references to the department’s postings on social media that help explain the tactics deployed at this fire.

Please look at his appearance - he’s dressed in his PPE; his demeanor – very friendly, informative and knowledgeable; and the way he answers questions – by first repeating the question and then giving the answer in clear and concise statements.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/4562891-fishermans-wharf-pier-45-fire-sffd-news-conference/

What steps can you improve the image of the fire department in your area?   

Partnership highlight - Fellowship of Christian Firefighters International

The Fellowship of Christian Firefighters International and Craig Duck - Missionary/President has been partnering with AFM since 2015. Their ministry has allowed AFM to provide bibles and devotional books to the Fire Service in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia and Ukraine. Through FCFInternational, firefighter Chaplains have been trained in Zambia and weekly bible studies are taking place with firefighters in Kenya.

FCFInternational is currently having a membership drive. Firefighters - we encourage you to get involved to help FCFI continue their work! Memberships are $35/year and helps the ministry of both AFM and FCFI continue across the world!

Craig Duck gives this invitation: Would you like to see God glorified in the fire department He has called you to? Then FCFInternational wants you. February and March are our Recruitment and Retention Campaign. We are asking you to join our ministry and take the Gospel message to your department. There are several different levels you can sign-up for. The funds raised help us to produce the Encourager Magazine, place Bibles and devotion books in the hands of firefighters and in stations all across the world, and provide resources to help firefighters and first responders grow in their faith. Sign up today and make a difference in your department. For more information: https://www.fellowshipofchristianfirefighters.com

Reflections on AFM’s first Virtual Fire Training Symposium

by: Hank Clemmensen, Board Member AFM; Retired Fire Chief, Palatine Rural Fire Protection District, IL

What a year 2020 has been in the United States, from COVID-19 to the protests and riots to some of the worst Western wildfires and hurricanes in the golf shores.  At times, we forget that it hasn’t been any better in other parts of the world and some of those places are not as prepared to handle these types of disasters.  

This is one of driving forces behind what we do at the Africa Fire Mission, why since 2012 we have traveled halfway around the world to help support the fire service in Africa. I’ve been participating in team trips with AFM since 2015.  During the fall of 2019, I spent more than 5 weeks in Africa working with fire fighters in Zambia and Kenya, sharing leadership skills that I have learned in the United States during my career in the fire service.  As difficult as that was for 5 weeks being in different countries and away from family, I would almost prefer it then teaching virtually.  

Although Kenyans speak English, they prefer to speak Swahili with their own dialytic.  When teaching in person, you pick up quick on their expression when you say something that they don’t understand.  However, when doing a virtual class, not until you get their homework or quiz back that you realize they missed some of main points of the lecture.

It was not until late summer that the final decision was made that we would not be traveling, and we were going to do a virtual symposium for the firefighters in Kenya.  Now how do we this virtual online training with volunteer instructors, no budget for IT support, little or no experience with putting together a virtual training symposium, and about 4 months to put it all together.  Not to mention the 9-hour time difference and the limited internet access in Kenya.

My first thought was that if my grandkids can do remote learning at home, I should be able to handle one forty-hour class.  A big thanks to Nancy Moore and the hours she put into setting up Google Classroom for this virtual learning.  The first challenge was to learn all I could about Google Classroom, and then figure out how to record the training since it would not be practical to try to do this live with the time difference.  Then of course, editing of those videos we recorded, which was a real learning process.   Let us not forget we had to come up with the class content, quizzes, and homework.  Now I remember why I gave up on secondary education and went into the fire service.

The good news was that most of the instructors for the different classes worked in teams.  I was fortunate enough to have Chief Kevin Milan, with the South Metro Fire Rescue in Colorado and Rick Best from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation working with me on the Leadership class.  We created are videos with Zoom, which allowed us to have guest speakers join in and with some of my new video editing skills, it looked like we did it all in one take.

Another big issue was Internet access for our students and having enough band width to play all the videos and being to download the Google Classroom documents.  It appeared that most of the students used their cell phones to access Google and complete their homework assignments/quizzes.  It was amazing to see how hard they worked to make sure that homework was completed and submitted.  Although we may have better Internet access in the US, the firefighters in Africa really have the drive to make the technology work for them.

Being the first virtual Fire Symposium in Africa by Africa Fire Mission with more than 600 students from around the world (more than 16 countries represented), 20 volunteer instructors, and in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic, I believe it was a great success.  Firefighters in Africa have proven again that they are extremely motivated to continue their mission to learn and improve the fire service their countries.  Every year I make new friends and learn so much from our brothers and sisters in Africa which is why I look forward to returning to Africa in the Fall of 2021.

For more information about AFM’s Mission’s in 2021 check out: Join a Mission

COVID-19 Vaccine - information for individuals interested in traveling with AFM

Dear AFM Team Members and Partners:

As the COVID-19 Vaccine is becoming available to many of us, we have received a number inquiries from team members about that vaccine and AFM's position/policy on the vaccine.  I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you AFM's policy on vaccinations and the information that AFM is receiving from our partners around the world. 

AFM does not require or proscribe that team members receive certain or any vaccinations to be a part of a team traveling overseas.  We provide all team members with the CDC recommendations for vaccines for the area a team will be traveling and encourage each team member to consult with their personal doctors and make the decision they feel best suits them individually.  

The only time a vaccine is required to be a part of a team is when it is required as a condition of entry into a country our team will be working in.  For example: many countries do require proof yellow fever vaccine for entry.  In those cases, a team member would need to have the correct yellow fever vaccine to be a part of the team so that they could enter the country.

At this time, no country we are working in requires the COVID-19 Vaccine for entry, although almost all require a quarantine period upon arrival.  The feedback AFM is receiving from our partners in many of the countries we are working in is that in the near future, the COVID-19 Vaccine may well be required for entry into the country or to enter the country without having to first go through a quarantine period.

I wanted to share the information that we are receiving from our global partners with you so that you may consider this information as you make your decisions about taking the COVID-19 Vaccine when it becomes available to you.  

We are optimistic that we will be able to put a team or two on the ground in Africa in the autumn of 2021.  AFM is actively working with our partners to stay up to date on entry and other requirements for the countries we are serving in and we will pass that information on to potential team member so that they can make informed decisions. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.  We know that many questions do not have definitive answers yet but we will do our best to find answers to questions you may have.

 Thank you for all you're doing to support AFM and firefighters across the world.

Sincerely, Dave Moore, Executive Director

For additional information on the COVID-19 Vaccine and other travel related Health and vaccine questions we recommend visiting the Center for Disease Control, Traveler’s Health

The New Normal: Virtual Fire Training Symposium

Errol Sianga, ICT Fire and Rescue, Kenya

14 December 2020

The year 2020 began on an extremely high gear and as in previous years, I was looking forward to having a great and wonderful experience in the world of firefighting.  Suddenly the world was hit by the strange virus known as the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) that affected and infected many people and countries making the whole world come to a standstill because of the rapid spread and highly contagious virus.

Traveling was impossible and social gatherings were also not happening.  Everyone was restricted and advised to STAY AT HOME, wash their hands with soap and water, sanitize as well and not forget to put on their mask, so that became the NEW NORMAL.

Life took a different turn in which I had to adjust my way of life. The coronavirus was spreading like a wildland fire.  I was trying to be safe and at the same time many countries were trying to figure out what type of a virus it is and the rush to come up with a vaccine started.

At this point, Africa Fire Mission began weekly VIRTUAL classes that were being held each Wednesday.  The weekly virtual classes were very informative and very refreshing. As the weekly classes were ongoing that is when the major announcement was made for the AFM VIRTUAL FIRE TRAINING SYMPOSIUM that was going to be held in the month of NOVEMBER from 16th-20th.  I was so excited and very anxious and looking forward to attending my first ever virtual symposium ever.   So, we were urged to register for the class through GOOGLE CLASSROOM.

The virtual symposium was very exciting with great and very knowledgeable instructors and wonderful reading materials. The sessions were very engaging and not forgetting the HOMEWORK part that was a good indicator to gauge how well I understood the subject and the content being delivered.

The awesome experience I gained from the symposium was a unique one and a memorable one in my firefighting career.  It was also a great networking platform. I have been sharing with my friends and colleagues the materials that I got from the symposium and the notes that I gathered from the symposium. I am looking forward to next year and more virtual training from Africa Fire Mission.

AFM Receives Motorola Solutions Foundation Grant

Africa Fire Mission Receives Motorola Solutions Foundation Grant

October 15, 2020

We are pleased to announce that Africa Fire Mission has received a grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions. Through the grant, Africa Fire Mission will continue training efforts across Africa with fire training symposiums aimed at increasing the capacity of the fire service in Africa.

AFM’s Executive Director Dave Moore is grateful for this grant award “This funding will allow us to increase firefighter education and knowledge in several developing countries; and in addition to our traditional programs we will be able to focus on COVID 19 prevention as well. Many of our programs have transitioned to virtual due to the global pandemic, so this funding could not have come at a better time to help support these important programs in a virtual format.”

The Motorola Solutions Foundation awards grants each year to organizations, such as Africa Fire Mission, that support and advance education initiatives in public safety and technology and engineering. Additionally, the Foundation has a long-standing commitment to supporting programs that benefit underrepresented populations, including females, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans and others.

“This year, the Foundation’s grants will support programs that help millions of students, teachers, first responders and community members around the globe,” said Karem Perez, executive director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with organizations like Africa Fire Mission that are actively making a positive difference in their communities.”

About the Motorola Solutions Foundation

The Motorola Solutions Foundation is the charitable and philanthropic arm of Motorola Solutions. With employees located around the globe, Motorola Solutions seeks to benefit the communities where it operates. The Foundation achieves this by making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships and fostering innovation. The Motorola Solutions Foundation prioritizes its funding on public safety education, technology & engineering education, disaster relief, and employee volunteerism. For more information on Motorola Solutions corporate and foundation giving, visit our website: www.motorolasolutions.com/foundation

About Africa Fire Mission

Africa Fire Mission is a 501(c)(3) committed to increasing the sustainable capacity of fire department in developing communities. We accomplish this through training, empowerment, support and encouragement.  Africa Fire Mission leverages our knowledge of the fire service, non-profits, humanitarian development, social justice, public administration, and social work to create unique and innovative transformation in the fire services and communities where we are working. For more information on Africa Fire Mission visit our webpage https://www.africafiremission.org

Mission Critical: Recognizing our Volunteers

On October 10, 2020 Africa Fire Mission during our Annual Fundraiser, Africa Fire Mission was pleased to honor Amelia Smith and Jonathan Seastone.   (watch the 2020 Chama on Facebook >)

Africa Fire Mission thrives on volunteers.   Volunteers are really the heart of our organization.   We have dozens and dozens of volunteers. We have volunteers from all across the United States, Africa and Europe that help to make AFM run on a daily basis.   In 2019, Africa Fire Mission logged 8851 volunteer hours!   These men, women, firefighters, civilians and children are all a vital part of Africa Fire Mission being able to achieve its goals and objectives. 

Amelia Smith – Volunteer of the Year

Amelia is resourceful, relentless, takes on tasks with little direction, helps us to implement new projects that expand our mission.   Amelia traveled with LifeSpring Christian Church and Africa Fire Mission to Kenya several years ago and since then has been a dedicated volunteer along with her husband, Andy.  Thank you Amelia for all that you have done and all that you will do for Africa Fire Mission and those that we serve around the world.  Amelia says:  “It has been great to watch Africa Fire Mission grow and adapt through the years.  I’m grateful to be able to support AFM behind the scenes.”

When Africa Fire Mission travels with a team to provide training in Africa or other parts of the world, our team members volunteer their time, talents and treasures to provide world class training to our partners.  Our instructors, undergo training in advance of the trip to prepare of the mission and prepare the lessons that they will teach in our week long fire training events.   We have been fortunate to have many instructors return year after year and continue to build each year on the training that they have been providing as well as to build strong relationships with firefighers and our overseas partners. 

Jonathan Seastone, Trainer of the Year Denver Fire Department –

Jon has gone above and beyond the call of duty.  He has been on multiple missions and has recruited instructors for our work in Kenya, Zambia and Ukraine.   He has led new instructors to challenge themselves to teach the right material at the right level for the firefighters we serve.   Jon pushes and encourages the firefighters he teaches at our training events to push themselves beyond their limits, to be stronger than they think they are.   Jon is not afraid to hold Chief Fire Officers, in the countries where we serve, accountable for safe and advanced training for their firefighters so that their firefighters are able to serve their communities and to protect themselves from the dangers of fire. Jon and his wife Shandy, who serves as AFM’s volunteer Mission Teams Coordinator, have both helped to grow AFM’s programs in countless ways.   Jon says: “With every trip I’ve wanted to something bigger (with the training) and we are accomplishing that.   This award means alot.” 

Interested in volunteering with AFM in administrative roles or as one of our international instructors?

Project HAND UP

By Josh Hamilton, AFM Communications Director

I’m excited to share that Africa Fire Mission is partnering with Project HAND UP to teach more children about fire safety!

In 2019, our curriculum reached over 3,000 community members. Through this partnership, we estimate that our curriculum will reach 1 million children and mothers through a single TV show! Project HAND UP (PHU) is developing a new kids TV show for children 5-12 years old based on an existing set of characters called Dr. Pamoja and Bali. Based in Kenya, Project HAND UP will provide families with informative and engaging educational content pertaining to fire safety.

With the consultation on local educational directives from AFM and the technical knowledge and strong track record for children’s education from PHU, we propose to create five episodes on fire safety geared for the Kenyan context. These episodes will both be part of the TV show and also serve as stand-alone videos that AFM can use for their own education programs in perpetuity.

Together, we can teach children how to save lives--one episode at a time.

Thank you your part in the movement to provide fire safety for children!

Will you consider a donation as a part of AFM’s 2020 Chama to help us reach our $20,000 goal to fund this project?

Experience the Magic of Africa!

Silent Auction Item: South African Safari for 2 People -  valued at US $5,950

Silent Auction at the Chama - See details below to bid. Silent Auction for the Safari will close at 10/11/2019 at 7PM

Safari Details:

• 6 days and 6 nights - accommodation for two people in a standard room at Zulu Nyala Heritage Safari Lodge/Tented Camp.  These facilities are situated in the heart of Zululand and St. Lucia/Sodwana Bay Marine reserve/Lubombo corridor - one of the richest wildlife conservation regions in Africa.

• Location:  KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

• Includes: Full board, which is three delicious meals per day, prepared by the finest international chefs - with an African flavour of course.

• Two Game Viewing activities per day, guided by your own professional game rangers in open game viewing vehicles, in Zulu Nyala game reserve. (The filming location of "I dreamed of Africa" starring Kim Basinger)

• Value: US$5950

• ·This donation is valid for the period of THREE years from your auction date (until 10/11/2023) and bookings can be made for any period in the year.  

• Does not include airfare, transfers, side trips, personal beverages, or phone calls. 

• Additional Information about the Safari location and accommodations:  http://zulunyala.co.za.

• If you would like more specific information about this package, please contact  tech@africafiremission.org

Bidding

Pre-bidding is open:  Opening bid:  $2500; minimum amount to raise:  $100; to prebid on the Safari, email tech@africafiremission.org or text (513) 620-4236 with your bid.   AFM will post updates online and also send email/text updates to bidders. 

Bid during our virtual Chama on Facebook at: Facebook

You can also bid by e-mailing nancy@africafiremission.org or texting (513) 620-4236   When you let us know you want to bid at the event, set a max for your bid and we will “assign a bidder” on your behalf at the Chama – if you’re max has been outbid at the event we will send you a text to offer you to go above your limit. 

We will post bidding updates on the Chama’s event page on Facebook - and beginning 10/5 you can bid online the event page.

 Donated by Trevor Shaw, Owner Zulu Nyala 

**The Zulu Nyala auction package is non-transferable and non-refundable, may not be given to any other person or organization.  

Importance knowing the Fire Department Emergency Contact

By Kelvin, Seru Kenya EMR

Picture how you would react in your local area, home, learning institutions, office or work one day when a fire broke out and you hadn’t the faintest clue where to start, what to do or who to contact about the situation. Imagine running to the area local administrator, manager or director’s office to obtain a point-of-contact information about the fire department only to be told there is none available.

Or maybe you are headed home and a fire broke out. Concerned bystanders try to help and would like to contact the Fire and Rescue Services but no information is found. This is often the case for many in Kenya, Africa.

Fire emergency contact information and numbers are very important for every individual, institution and organization to know, yet it is easily overlooked and forgotten by many—both employees and managers. Fire emergency contacts are the phone number or numbers for your local Fire and Rescue Services (access emergency numbers for Kenya here) . It is also important to know what to say when you call, using 4WCT.

W- who you are

W- what you need

W- what happened or is happening

W- where the incident is

C- confirmation of the information

T- time the incident took place

It is important to ensure each employee, local community group or volunteer, organization, institution, and office has accessible, well-written fire department emergency numbers placed at every corner; and also an action plan which indicates a step-by-step procedure of what to do in case of a fire outbreak. Also, having individuals who are trained as fire marshals in your local community, company, organization or institution will help in a long way.

From experience, it is also advisable for every County’s fire service to have a toll-free Emergency number for everyone in the community to reach them.

Most of the time the fire department would respond to a fire late due to the delay in contacting the fire department. As a result, the fire engine ends up being stoned by the local community and even at times even stealing items from the fire engine. Community members tend not to understand our response time starts from the time we receive the call but not when the fire starts. It is critical that we educate community members on the local contact numbers (see Kenya fire brigade numbers here)

For every individual, community volunteer, organization head, and institutional management: please make this a part of your monthly announcements to your employees and the general public the importance of having with them their respective area’s fire department emergency numbers, which will make it easier for everyone to reach First Responders.

As a Chinese proverb says, “Better a thousand times careful, than once dead”, so please do what you need to do to be safe, rather than sorry.

#TogetherForSafety

Collaborating During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Kevin Milan, Assistant Fire Chief, South Metro Fire Rescue Authority, Colorado, USA

The lessons learned as an Africa Fire Mission instructor are many. Arguably, I learned much more from the Kenyan fire chiefs attending leadership training in November of 2019 than they possibly could have learned from me. I also learned a great deal teaching alongside Chief Hank Clemmensen who essentially wrote the book on emergency service leadership. What I didn’t realize while immersed in the Kenyan experience was the lessons learned were preparing me to deal with the COVID-19 virus as a leader in my fire department. Establishing common goals, aligning vison, and increasing respect are lessons from a leadership ‘game’ in Kenya that applied directly to managing our pandemic response. 

Through a leadership exercise Hank lead, the Kenyan Fire Chiefs tried to Win All You Can. Small groups worked together to choose options and negotiate with other teams to maximize their returns. The short-term gains and losses in the first rounds showed the Chiefs they could anticipate, but not guarantee success by looking out for their own best interest. One simple change of heart or decision by an individual dramatically altered the ‘plan’ and often ended in disaster for several groups. The final round brought the realization that only through cooperation and collaboration can everyone benefit. An attitude of winning collectively paid far greater benefits than winning for your team. 

Fast forward 90 days from Kenya, and I attended the first planning meeting for my agency’s response to COVID in the United States. The Win All You Can game was replaying before my eyes. The attitude in the meeting was we had to win; win N-95 masks, gowns, personal protective equipment, even toilet paper. The group schemed ways to end run systems, triple order, and even considered paying 800% mark ups for hard to get resources. The short-term losses and disappointments showed us very quickly that winning as a department was not going to benefit the collective response to the pandemic.  

I was able to share the lessons I learned in Kenya in a non-threatening manner. I explained how the Kenyan Chiefs learned to work together for the common good. We even ran an abbreviated version of Win All You Can with our incident support team. This ultimately led us to looking across disciplines, industries, and borders to take care of all responders.  

We were able to share the supplies we had in excess and accept alternatives proven out in private industry. We shared our strategies with hospitals and came to a common understanding: We are all in this together. This collaborative attitude with goals, vision, and respect is a recipe for success. I am forever in debt to my Kenyan sisters and brothers for teaching me a lesson of a lifetime. Thank you, AFM, for all you do – you are making a difference every day.   

Improving Water Supply for the Fire Service in Africa

Edward Collet, Jackson Township Fire Department Firefighter/EMT, Ohio; Ohio Fire Chiefs Association Water Supply Technical Advisory Committee Co-Chair

I spent a week in November 2019 as part of the Africa Fire Mission’s training cadre teaching at the 2019 Kenya Fire and EMS Symposium.  Brian Burkhardt from Greenville, Indiana Fire Department and I taught water supply and pump operations.  Wow, what an experience!  It definitely made me appreciate all we have available to us both as firefighters and in everyday life.  Unfortunately, the fire service in Kenya does not have the level of respect and support from the community we enjoy.  People will throw rocks and cut lines when they feel the fire department takes too long to respond or runs out of water.  But the firefighters I met are not deterred by this.  Just like us, in the United States, the job is a calling to serve the community.   This was a driving force for the level of participation at the training symposium put on by Africa Fire Mission and its local partners.  There were over 300 participants for fire and EMS classes and roughly 30 in the pump operations and water supply class wanting to learn how to better service their communities.  It was an awesome week of training and learning for the students and the instructors. 

The Kenyan firefighters were eager to learn how water supply is managed in the US.   Few departments have hydrants and rely on wells and storage tanks for water.  They are very reluctant to use lakes and rivers as water sources to avoid contaminating the tanks on the fire apparatus.  Many students were drinking from the tanks, so this probably a reason they only want to use clean water.   Tanks on engines are normally 3000 liters, about 800 gallons, and tenders carry 11,000 liters, 2,900 gallons.  Pumping operations are done mainly from the tank, fortunately the tank to pump plumbing is roughly 4” which allows full pump capacity to be supplied form the tank.  When the engine’s tank runs dry, tenders fill the attack engine’s tank through one of two direct tank fills.  Unfortunately, engines have larger pumps than tenders meaning the tenders were the limitation in flow.  Due to this difference in pump capacity, I broke the cardinal rule of offloading one tender at a time during our high flow scenario.  To keep the engine’s tank level over a quarter full while flowing roughly 750-1000gpm we had to fill the engine’s tank with two tenders at once.  This is not a tactic normally used in the US, but it worked well to maintain a high flow with these apparatus.   This emphasized a key concept of the class, know your apparatus, how to optimize what it can do to minimize the impact of things it cannot.

Standpipe hydrant

Pump plumbing

Schematic

Tank Interior

Relay pumping was something new to most students.  None of the apparatus at the training had an adapter to go from the large threaded pump inlet to the quick release style 65mm (2 ½”) supply line.  The students said their departments did not have these adapters.  Most apparatus do not carry any adapters since both 65mm and 35mm hose use the same 65mm couplings.  I was fortunate to find the proper adapter in the airport training facility.  The students were intrigued by relay pumping as it demonstrated the additive potential of centrifugal pumps.  While it is not a tactic they will normally use, it was a good learning experience.  Several students even said they were going to get the adapter for their fire brigade in the future. 

 We had access to a self-supporting dump tank for drafting practice.  This was the first time many students drafted from an external source.  Self-supporting tanks are not something I normally work with so there was a bit of a learning curve for everyone.  It would definitely be difficult to fill with a rapid dump chute like US tenders have.  The tank had a connection for a fill line at the bottom.  We used this connection to fill the tank using the tender’s pump.  This limited the flow rate to that of tender’s pump.  This tactic will suffer from the same issue caused by the difference in tender and engine pump capacity seen when nurse the engine.  Equipment configuration definitely requires rethinking tactics we tend to take for granted. 

Engine

Hose Couplings

Low level strainer

Priming pumps

The closest thing to a low-level strainer available was a river strainer with a check valve.  These are made to hang vertically in a river or pond from a bridge.  Without a swivel it was difficult to keep the strainer upright.  Once it tipped over, it drew air if the water level was not over 12” high.  Without a means to support the suction hose it crushed down the side of the tank limiting the fill level. Priming the pumps was different from priming American style pumps.  These pumps have an automatic priming system using two diaphragm pumps connected to the fire pump.  The priming pumps engage when air entered the fire pump.  Since the operators had never drafted before, getting a prime was a learning experience for all.  Back filling the pump and suction hose from the tank, increasing RPMs, and feathering the tank to pump valve till the prime took ended up being the best method we found to get a prime.  

We integrated drafting, nursing, and relay pumping into one drill to allow students a better understanding of how all the elements of water supply fit together.  They learned a water supply evolution does not come together quickly.  But with teamwork they were able to put everything together very few issues.   

The students took a lot away from this class.  Many said they would use things they learned to improve the water supply for their fire brigade.  I am grateful for this opportunity to join Africa Fire Mission and to represent the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association Water Supply Technical Advisory Committee and pass knowledge of water supply to the firefighters of Kenya.  I learned and grew as a firefighter, instructor, and person from this experience.  It is hard to describe the impact of seeing students gravitate to a subject and start teaching others in the group.  The work AFM is doing in Kenya and other countries is having a positive impact on empowering firefighters to improve their ability to serve their communities. 

Drafting and relay evolution setup

Be Wise about Maintenance

By: Brian E. Burkhardt; Chaplain, Retired Greenfield Firefighter/Paramedic, City of Greenfield Fire Territory Indiana, USA.

Our job as a firefighter, engineer, officer and commander is hard enough without having equipment failure.  We can prevent many of these failures by preventive, continuous and routine maintenance.  We know how hard it is when we cannot respond because our apparatus is out of service. We also do not provide the proper level of service to our community. Here’s a simple and useful system to follow and implement:

Be WISE.  

W- Walk around the apparatus.

I- Inspect the apparatus.

S- Start and run all the systems.

E- Operate all the Equipment.  

Let’s look at each letter on an individual level.

W - Walking around the apparatus we can tell if there are any major problems. Is there a leak of fluid, a smell or odor, a sound, or anything that was not there the last time we operated the apparatus.  During this walk around we are using not just our eyes but all of our senses to look for issues to address.

I - Inspection of the apparatus.  This is when we start looking at all the systems individually.  Checking the systems before we operate them is an important step.  We need to check all the fluids and belts. We want to check all the possible areas of failure before we start the equipment.  

S - Start and operate each system. Drive train, Pump, Emergency warning system, Doors, Windows, Compartment doors.

E - Operate all Equipment. If it has moving parts, operate them. It if runs, start it. If it requires fuel or oil check and fill them, If you find a problem or it does not work. Fix it or mark it out of service and notify the person in charge that can get it fixed.  

Note that we need to keep a journal of the maintenance we preform and any problems we find.  This can help us recognize failures that occur more than once.  When you journal, list the date, time, and who was performing the apparatus check. If you fix repair or remove something from service document it.

Only document facts not opinions. This journal is where your are going to look in the future to see if there is a common problem that occurs on a regular time schedule or after a common emergency.  

If you have a maintenance program, review and update it at least once a year. If you do not have a program it is never to late to start!  

Please post any thoughts or comments about this article on the AFM Africa Firefighters Networking page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/africafireservicenetworking/

Recommendations to Keep Your Workplace Safer During the COVID-19 Pandemic

by: Brad Banz- Retired Fire Chief, Colwich Fire Dept., Retired Captain Wichita Fire Dept.

Greetings! I pray that everyone is doing ok right now.  I would like to share some ideas on what first responders should be doing around their workplaces to keep themselves safer from COVID-19.  Although things are starting to relax in some areas, this doesn’t mean we can let down our guard, as the virus has not suddenly left and will continue to be a part of our lives for some time to come.  Many first responders live with each for an extended period of time, especially firefighters.  That’s why it’s so important that we do what we can to keep from sharing COVID-19 if one of us is unfortunate enough to contract it.  Some of the things I’m about to share may seem basic -  and I am sure many of you are already following many of the ideas.  The purpose of this article is to stimulate thinking and help you as responders to come up with some new ideas if you haven’t thought of them.  Please feel free to share other ideas in your response as well.

Probably one of the easiest things we can do is handwashing.  Everyone should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.  Don’t use the same bar of soap and don’t share the same towel to dry with.  Because first responders make frequent contact with the public, they should also wash their hands after contacting the public.  If possible, keep hand sanitizer on your vehicles.  

Next, lets discuss habits in our quarters.  The first item I would like to discuss is social distancing.  This may be the hardest for firefighters to comply with, because most firefighters love to interact socially.   We need to take steps to minimize the number of firefighters in each space so as to comply with social distancing requirements.  The solution to this would be to move activities to a larger area, outdoors perhaps.  Keeping our quarters clean and sanitary should also be important – washing bedding and towels frequently.  Take the time to clean and sanitize areas, especially surfaces with a disinfectant solution at least once a day, and preferably more.  This should occur in the bedrooms, toilet facilities, showers, kitchen, common areas and officer.  Finally, keep contaminated PPE away from common crew areas such as sleeping and eating areas and decontaminate it as soon as possible after responding to a medical emergency.

Although we are public servants and need to make ourselves accessible to the public, in these times we also have to be careful to protect ourselves, while still providing some type of public access.  We must make it clear to the public that any visits to a fire brigade/fire department facility must be for business or emergency purposes only.  The members of the public who are visiting must be required to wear a mask or be issued one upon entering.  Only a limited number of visitors should be allowed into the facility, and then only to a restricted area. 

Finally, training is one of the most important things that firefighters do.  Reading these posts may be a part of your training.  Sometimes our hands on training requires us to do things that put us into situations that break social distancing guidelines.  Station officers and chiefs, we know how important it is to have good, comprehensive training for your crews.  Right now, however, please try to plan your training so that your firefighters are doing activities which won’t compromise their health.  There are still plenty of drills which can be conducted that don’t require your firefighters to be in close proximity to one another.  

    To summarize, we started off by discussing a basic but simple concept:  handwashing.  Next we talked about some things we could do in our quarters to help keep them cleaner.  Restricting public access is important, and finally we wrapped up by making suggestions for changing training requirements.  As I stated, many of these things may be already implemented by you already.  Please feel free to share ideas you have with the group.

Kenyan First Responders join hands with communities to educate about menstrual hygiene.

Persisting taboos and stigma around matters concerning menstrual hygiene are prone in girls across the world. Girls are forced to stay at home for the days they are experiencing their flows because they are either not provided the sanitary towels or their parents cannot afford the basic items to continue normally with their daily chores. During the time they are going through their monthly flow, they are either locked in their rooms without any know how on how they should deal when nature calls, or told to stay in the house with no movement outside.

A group of older girls in Kenya East of Nairobi called “Marafiki Drive”, who have a heart of the girl child, and know girls who undergo such challenges, approached first responders, to come participate in distributing hygiene products to the girls. This was in line in celebration of the World Menstrual Hygiene day held every year on the 28th May 2020. On analyzing the opportunity, I thought this was a great opening for firefighters to reach out to the girls with knowledge of extinguishing fire, evacuating the house and calling the fire brigade for help when an emergency situation presents itself. This move was necessary considering the girls are usually home alone. During this time, the girl is in pain and may forget to turn off a stove or to put out a candle while they take a nap.

Firefighters and Emergency Medical Technicians from around Kenya rallied together to give in cash or kind donations to make a difference in girl child’s life. We managed to raise more than 10,000 Kenya Shillings ($100USD) and AFM and Missions of Hope International printed 200 flyers with emergency numbers with instructions on how to put out different types of fires inside the homes. Through that reach out program, we got to connect with 314 girls  and distributed three packs of Sanitary towels to each girl containing twenty four pads that will last them for two months if they are having a normal flow. 

As first responders, we are very grateful to have participated in the event and are looking forward to the next event in order to partner with communities and increase their quality of life and connection with the fire service.

Firefighter community outreach - International Firefighters Day 2020

Firefighters in many parts of Africa are disrespected by their communities. Community members don’t understand them and will often throw stones at the firefighters when they arrive on fire and rescue scenes. Firefighters are frequently injured and equipment severely damaged. Yet firefighters continue to respond to serve their communities. In Kenya, firefighters have been working hard to educate their communities about how to prevent fires and how to respond to fires (things like knowing to call the fire brigade and knowing the number to call).

In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic a group of career and volunteer firefighters decided to celebrate International Firefighters Day (May 4th) by reaching out to a slum community - their goal was to build relationships between the firefighters and the community.

On May 9, 2020, a group of 18 firefighters and 12 community volunteers (from Jiamini Self Help group) collaborated with the Kiambu Fire Brigade in Thika to fumigate the Kiandutu slums with COVID eradication solution and spray bedbug eradication solution in homes. The firefighters and volunteers reached 15,000 people and were able to share life saving fire safety information!

This event was fully supported by the firefighters - the firefighters contributed their own time, talents and finances to the event. As others saw their commitment, the Kiambu County Government and other people and organizations got involved too. Firefighters across Kenya those employed and volunteering, contributed money to purchase bedbug killer. The Kiambu Public Health department provided COVID-19 fumigation solution that cleans the streets and the Kiambu Public Works who offered mist generator, fire truck and a utility pickup to transport the tools of trade to the activity area. Missions of Hope International provided supplies for the event as well.

This activity may be the first of many in this area as the community is excited to learn more about the fire service after these acts of kindness. It is a great example of community driven development and how AFM’s CHE model can be put into action by the fire service. Much can be done with little to improve the fire service in Africa and the communities around them. What can you do to improve your own community?

Fire equipment delivered to Ukraine

On May 8, 2020 a container of 700 sets personal protective equipment and jaws of life (used for vehicle extrication) was delivered to the State Emergency Services of Ukraine, Kherson Region. We are grateful to our partners at  Tavriski Christian Institute and at IDES that have helped to make this possible.

While our team training trip to Ukraine for 2020 has been postponed until 2021 due to COVID-19 we are grateful that our connections to the fire service in Kherson can continue.

AFM's opportunity to serve in Ghana

March 2020 was a month of growth for AFM!   We were privileged to go to Ghana to work with Medical Ambassadors International (MAI) and to begin exploring partnerships with the Ghana National Fire Service.   

With MAI – we participated as trainers in their program at the Africa Internship Center in the North Tongu District.   For five weeks, individuals representing ministries from all of West Africa participated in Community Health Education (CHE) internships and AFM was asked to provide a 2-day workshop on our CHE community fire prevention and sensitization programs.  

There were ministry leaders from:  Togo, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Benin, Liberia, and Cape Verde.   80% of those leaders had had a traumatic experience with fire in their lifetime, many of them had more than one traumatic experience.  We had the privilege of training the them in basic fire safety and response with our Fire Safety curriculum 

These leaders are now also trained trainers of our curriculum and are prepared to take the lessons out into their communities.    We look forward to hearing stories of changed lives in West Africa!

We were able to provide training to 40 firefighters in the North Tongu District and West Ada District and were able to collaborate with fire service leadership in Winneba, Ghana and at the National Fire and Training School.    We were also honored to meet with National Chief Fire Officer Edwin Ekow Blankson.  Chief Blankson explained the structure and current status of the fire service in Ghana and we had a highly productive discussion of how AFM can help to empower, support, train and encourage the Ghana National Fire Service.   

The fire service in Ghana has over 7500 firefighters, 200 fire stations and a large well-organized fire service and training academy.  However they lack ongoing firefighter development training and their personal protective equipment (PPE) is very scarce.   AFM is working to engage the Ghanaian fire trainers in advancing their knowledge allowing them to be able to expand the trainings that the firefighters receive as well as expanding the availability of PPE in Ghana. 

Plans for future work in Ghana are ongoing even during this time of pandemic shutdown and uncertainly.  We look forward to being able to fully implement plans for PPE and training support when travel is once again safe.  

Recommendations for First Responders Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa and other Developing Nations

by: Brad Banz- Retired Fire Chief, Colwich Fire Dept., Retired Captain Wichita Fire Dept.

Last November when I was in Kenya with Africa Fire Mission, I delivered training on responding to mass casualty incidents and response to biological and explosives terrorism incidents.  Who knew that only a few short months later that we would be dealing with a pandemic situation that in many ways parallels what we might expect in a biological incident.  I am not an expert on COVID-19, I don’t think anyone is, it is a rapidly changing situation.  I would like to try my best to offer a few suggestions that may help deal with this crisis.    I actually have several things to discuss, so let’s get started.

SYMPTOMS: 

The first thing we need to talk about are the symptoms of COVID-19, or the Coronavirus, as some are calling it.  The most common symptoms are a high fever, dry cough and tiredness.  Severe cases will develop into difficulty breathing, usually some type of pneumonia.  There are certain groups of people that should be protected as they are at a higher risk of contracting the disease and developing more severe symptoms.  High risk groups include the elderly, those with heart conditions, high blood pressure and diabetics. Also, anyone with already weakened immune systems are at high risk.

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE):

COVID-19 can be spread very easily.  It is important that you protect yourselves.  One of the most basic things you can do is hand washing.  Use hand sanitizer often and hand washing often.  Wash your hands for 20 seconds using soap and clean water.  My other safety concern for all providers is wearing protective equipment.  I know for many of you it will be a struggle.  Even in the US there is a shortage of proper PPE.  In this regard, I have been praying for all of our responders to be provided with what they need. PPE necessary to protect you and it can help to protect in spreading COVID-19 to other patients.  Please wear disposable gloves, eye protection (a face shield would be even better) and if possible an N95 mask.  These are at the very least.  If you have a patient that is coughing and especially if you don’t have the N95 masks or adequate protection for yourself, at least try to place a regular dust mask, an oxygen mask if you have one, or have them hold something over their mouth to keep their cough contained.  If you have access to gowns, please dawn them as well.  Firefighters, if you are responding and you have a patient with COVID-19 symptoms, wear your PPE, including your breathing apparatus if you don’t have a proper mask.  Firefighter PPE should be properly decontaminated at the end of the incident.   If you do not have access to PPE as a responder, consider the risk and the ways that you can protect yourself as best as possible – for instance, change your clothes after responding to the incident, wash contaminated clothing and take a hot shower as soon as possible.

TRIAGE:

Triage is going to become an important part of managing patients as we work our way through this crisis.  You will not only be doing triage in the community on emergency scenes, but as the number of patients increase and resources become limited at the hospitals, triage will be more important there as well.  Proper patient assessment and triage in the COVID-19 crisis is also essential to help keep COVID-19 patients isolated from other patients and hopefully keep the disease from spreading.  For those workers who are assisting in the hospital setting, it is essential to establish triage on the very front end of the emergency department or hospital entrance.  This is important so as to be able to triage and isolate potential COVID-19 patients away from other patients as soon as possible.  EMS workers who are delivering patients in from the streets by ambulance, if you have a patient that is exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, please take all safety precautions and advise the emergency department on arrival of a suspected COVID-19 patient so they can take proper precautions with PPE and isolate the patient.  

Concerning triage priorities, please use normal triage priorities for all medical patients, here is a quick review of color coded triage priorities:

·       black is obvious deceased or in a mass casualty incident a victim who is not breathing who is declared deceased because of resources. Remember in normal situations when you have the resources (manpower) you may attempt resuscitation on a non-breathing patient. If you don’t have resources they are to be triaged black.  

·       blue is pulseless and not breathing but is not used in mass casualty incidents; 

·       red is for critical patients who are suffering from potential life threatening illness or injury and is usually indicated by airway, breathing or circulatory distress; 

·       yellow patients are patients with potentially serious medical or trauma, but who are stable and can be delayed but still need care at the emergency room.  

·       green patients are non-life threatening emergencies.  

A NOTE TO EMERGENCY MANAGERS:

You are a big part in helping out with getting through this crisis.  If not, Fire or EMS managers may have to take dual roles.  Emergency managers, it is your role to make sure that everyone works together with the end goals being to stop the crisis from getting bigger and taking care of who are sick.  Emergency managers you will need to appoint a team to coordinate all that is involved.  One of the biggest concerns that you will have as the situation grows is medical professionals.  You must coordinate with the medical facilities and the government to make sure that you have proper staffing and that they are in the right places.  The same goes with ambulances.  You must work with the ambulance services to coordinate their care levels and transport destinations so hospitals aren’t overloaded.  What facilities do you have available and what is their care level?  Will you need to need to make temporary facilities for the overflow or for isolation?  Is an option to make temporary facilities near informal settlements?  Logistics is a big issue.  You have to make sure that everyone has the supplies and equipment that they need.  Consider how you will integrate with all levels of government, private industry.  Think about coordinating with agencies such as the Red Cross, the UN, local community groups, community leaders and NGOs.  

COMMUNITY SENSITIZATION: 

Community involvement is of utmost importance.  Africa Fire Mission has been deeply involved in promoting community sensitization through the fire service. Right now, the fire service and EMS should be in the community providing accurate information on COVID-19. While maintaining social distancing and adhering to emergency rules in place.  Provide information about symptoms, and information about how to keep the disease from spreading.  Information that can be helpful is such things as:

·       Handwashing often and for 20 seconds at a time with soap and water or using hand sanitizer.

·       Cover your cough.  

·       Social Distancing: Keeping a distance of at least 2 meters from each other whenever possible. 

·       If you have symptoms, do not go to work.  People in risk groups (mentioned above)  should stay away from others.

·       If someone in your home has been diagnosed, everyone living in the home should stay at home.

·       Avoid large groups as much as possible.  

I know that some of these things may be extremely difficult to do for many community members.  I know that water costs money.  Perhaps you can enlist community organizations to help pay for water and soap so that families can afford to wash. 

SUMMARY:

To summarize we talked about symptoms and risk groups, first responder safety, triage of both COVID-19 patients and medical patients in general, emergency management and involving the community.  

First responders, a lot of responsibility is going to be on you during this pandemic.  At Africa Fire Mission, we want to provide you will accurate and realistic information and response strategies based on what your situation might be on the ground.   Hopefully I’ve passed on some information that may be useful.  We are all still learning as we go.