RESPONSE SAFETY

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Permalink Reply by John A. Van Doren on March 8, 2008 at 5:22am

Search Fire Engineering Magazine under John A. Van Doren and you will find an excellent article called "Leading in a Tactical Paradise" The article addresses exactly what you seem to be searching for.

Hope it helps,
John

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Permalink Reply by Jack Sullivan on March 9, 2008 at 5:06pm

Stacy, I can suggest a great resource for information related to roadway incident safety and related procedures and training. Try the respondersafety.com website. There is a sample SOP about safe positioning near moving traffic that might be helpful. Also check the training cone for other resources that you might be able to use.

Jack

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Permalink Reply by Dave Diehl on March 12, 2008 at 8:03pm

Hi Stacy,
Im curious as to why you didnt include radio communication and size-up. Often times, during the response to an alarm, first in companies will report conditions and make requests that will alter the priorities and sometimes even the route a piece of equipment would normally take to the fire will change with a good size-up and condition report. Additionally, fire officers will often give instructions to thier crews, enroute, based on those same reports. This may include but not limited to; how they intend to lay supply lines, what tools that are needed and or what assignment they have been given. All of which can increase the intensity inside the cab of the unit as it proceeds to an alarm.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Stacy White on March 12, 2008 at 9:02pm

Dave,
You make an excellent point. It is easy to assume that the only things related to response safety are those things that we do routinely when stepping into an Engine [fastening seat belts, driving responsibly, etc]. As you said, many things can change the dynamics of the run based on other things that are or are not happening, all of which can either decrease or increase the stress while enroute. It is also important to note that often we sometimes forget that the run starts not when the bell sounds, but also well before hand [incident pre-plans, training, etc], which can also lower the tension and stress. It is easy to get "caught-up" in the moment and let adrenaline take control, when this happens decisions are sometimes made without proper "think-thru." I think that this just emphasizes why it is so important to include training on incident response as a part of our yearly training.

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Permalink Reply by Stacy White on March 12, 2008 at 9:03pm

Jack
Thank-you! this was a great website and I will reference it in my report!

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Permalink Reply by Stacy White on March 14, 2008 at 8:42am

John. I was able to find the article and it WAS exactly what I was looking for and was noted as a resource for my report. It is such a great article that I would like to post a link to it here, but wanted to ask your permission first. Thanks and Be Safe! Stacy

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Permalink Reply by John A. Van Doren on March 14, 2008 at 2:59pm

Thank you Stacy. You may post links to any of my articles any time....anyplace. That was the intent.

Hope your report helps a lot of people.

Good luck,

Stay safe!

John

May I check out the finished product?

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Permalink Reply by Todd McKee on March 25, 2008 at 11:46am

Hey there! I am unable to help you with your research, but I can let you know what we do on my day. Our driver will not move the truck out of the bay until all firefighters are buckled up. The first thing the driver asks is "Everyone buckled?" The new guys are so excited to get on the way the way that after a run or two of us waiting on them to buckle up, they are usually the first to be buckled. Furthermore, we stop at every light and stop sign and communicate between the trucks we approaching an inersection when both stations are responding. As for Driver safety, all drivers must drive every truck for 15 hours each and take an Emergency Driving Class of 8 hours.

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