Dave Donohue's Blog (18)

Hazardous Materials Hot Line ^© October 25, 2024

New Helmet Standard for Roadway Response

A member of the Lubbock (TX) Fire Department has worked with ASTM to develop a new standard for protective helmets for roadway…

Whether active or not, every community in the United States has a Local of Tribal Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC).  Created as part of the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA), these committees provide valuable planning resources to emergency responders and can offer gateways to identifying community gaps and remedies.  At the very least,…

In the fire service, our leadership is drawn from the rank and file.  Firefighters train and become drivers, then company officers.  Later they may move to managing officer, managing organization divisions, then chief level officers, and, perhaps, chief of department.  This development model has served us well in the past; however, it has several weaknesses, which disadvantage the fire service.  This blog is putting forth a new model for professional development which develops future…

The ABCD’s of Writing Learning Objectives

All training begins with the end in mind.  In the fire and emergency service, training frequently revolves around the performance of tasks and even our knowledge-type training frequently manifests in performance metrics.  To define the end state of training, trainers and content developers assemble learning objectives.  Terminal Learning…

Traditionally, hazardous materials teams are focused on emergency response and training. While these are critical functions, are teams missing the boat by not expanding into other service areas where their expertise can be of benefit to the organization? I believe by performing additional, values-added services, hazardous materials teams may improve the level of support from their organizations, develop additional funding sources, increase staffing, improve responder health and safety, and…

PACE Planning

As we all know, planning is why we got into emergency services in the first place.   While we tend to shoot from the hip, planning is essential to successfully completing our mission safely and effectively.  PACE Planning is a model to provide for alternatives and external influences on our actions.  Drawn from military…

 While the fire and emergency services community often claims that it possesses “all-hazards” response capabilities, the ability to actually respond to all hazards is questionable. While fire and emergency services will deploy to all hazards, the ability to maintain proficiency across disciplines, including training, staffing, and equipping, is a herculean task. If the response community is truly honest, we do not possess the capability or capacity to provide levels of service that the…

Created from the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, the National Fire Academy (originally envisioned as the National Academy for Fire Prevention and Control) was charged with training fire, and now EMS, personnel, developing model curricula, develop entrance and promotional examination materials, and encourage fire prevention and detection for builders, contractors, and architects.  Since that time, the NFA has created and distributed a wide variety of training programs…

The recent proposal to update the fire brigade standard has brought heartburn to many departments and communities.  One of the loudest arguments coming from the volunteer fire service has been that communities will no longer be able to afford to support a fire department.  This may be a valid argument in many communities.  Rather than seeking to block the passage of regulation designed to improve the health and safety…

Hazardous materials emergency services, like many special operations in many departments, is funded by a variety of alternative funding mechanisms including fee for service (cost recovery) and grants (public and private).  One funding mechanism that may be overlooked is an idea that comes out of South Florida – garbage fees.

In this case, every garbage can and commercial dumpster is assessed at a nominal fee.  Individually, these fees come to a few dollars per year, but when…

The federal government, through a variety of mechanisms, funds home purchases and rentals throughout the nation.  At the same time, it funds programs to reduce the risk and impact of fire.  Yet, the federal government does not economically incentivize residential fire sprinkler systems in the homes, in rental units, nor in off-base funding for military personnel.  Is it time for the federal government to really address this issue?  If so, I am putting forth the following for…

FEMA Update ICS PTBs

FEMAs NIMS Integration Center has released updated Position Task Books and Guidance to assist jurisdictions with aligning with the National Qualification System.

Discussion:  For agencies that seek to work during emergencies and disasters, having a benchmark for determining capabilities and capacities is necessary for…

With the current debate over the proposed changes in the OSHA Fire Brigade Standard, which will be discussed in the future, is it time for the fire service in the United States to rethink the AFG and how we have used the funds.  Since 2001, the AFG has provided much needed funds to departments, however, the impact has been limited.  Intended to balance…

In the early 1970’s, Ludwig Benner, a chemical engineer working for the National Transportation Safety Board identified a model of container behavior in hazardous materials incidents that provides impact points for risk reduction actions and provides a model for container and product behavior to help guide emergency response.  The General Hazardous Materials Behavior Model  is a chain of events from the start of an incident…

Emergency response is the cornerstone of hazardous materials teams. While response is important, there are other activities that hazardous materials teams can be involved in that further integrate hazardous materials into the organization, provided added benefits, and open routes to potential new funding streams.

Support at Fire Scenes

The hazardous materials team is capable of providing support at fire scenes with actions that will improve the health and safety of responders.…

Whether your organization is career, volunteer, or combination, it is likely having difficulty finding qualified individuals to fill its ranks.  While recruiting new members has been an issue for some time, the changing demographics of the nation are being skipped as an underlying cause.  Consequently, we are missing some opportunities for identifying and guiding folks…

Hazardous Materials Hot Line^© July 4, 2024

CSB Issues Statement on Hurricane & Weather Preparedness

The U. S. Chemical Safety Board has issued a statement cautioning facility owners to prepare for an active hurricane season.

Discussion:  The CSB has previously released reports on two incidents that resulted from hurricane & tropical weather.  The…

Ask your self, “why do we, the fire and emergency medical services exist?”  If you are like most of us, your answer will be something like, “to respond to calls to make the community safer and to save lives.”  You aren’t wrong, but the question you should be asking is, “why does the community want us to exist?”.  That answer is a little different and it is one that we need to answer if we want to communicate our needs in meeting their expectations. 

The reality is that communities…