Keeping It Safe Robert Tutterow

Before getting into the issue of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and firefighting foam, I wish to pay a brief tribute to the late Chief Bobby Halton.

Chief Halton unexpectedly passed on ahead of us just prior to Christmas this past year. He was editor in chief of Fire Engineering and vice president of education and training for Clarion Fire & Rescue—best known for the annual FDIC International in Indianapolis. For those of you fortunate enough to attend FDIC, you always knew that Bobby would deliver a keynote address that was the most passionate and energizing speech you would ever experience. He was a true patriot in every sense of the word and loved firefighters. Thank you, Chief Bobby Halton, for your contributions to our noble profession.

As Chief Halton was always an advocate for firefighter health and safety, having battled cancer himself, it seems appropriate that this column address a key health concern facing today’s fire service—PFAS and firefighting foam. PFAS is known as the “forever” chemical because it takes many decades, if not centuries, to break down. It is a known health hazard to all forms of life. There are thousands of these “forever” PFAS chemicals, and they are found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products. As you have likely heard, they are in the materials used to make our firefighting coats and pants. [The National Fire Protection Association technical committee for personal protective equipment (PPE) has a task group working aggressively to develop a revision to existing standards to eliminate PFAS. As of now, PFAS-free PPE has major durability problems to overcome.] However, they are most prominent in firefighting foam, and consequent exposures are greater to the firefighter and for soil and ground water contamination.

• IAFF Files Suit to Halt Toxic Turnout Gear Testing Standard
• Bill Would Require Labels for Firefighting Gear with PFAS
• Keeping It Safe: PFAS, What Can We Do Now?

The current dilemma facing the fire service is what to do with existing foam as viable PFAS-free foams are entering the market. The only way to dispose of foam containing PFAS is through incineration at a temperature of at least 1,000°C. This is something fire departments are not equipped to do, but there are companies that are developing systems (both fixed and portable) to incinerate foam.

So, what should fire departments do? First and foremost, never release it into the environment. The biggest fear of the “forever” chemical contamination is getting it into the ground water. Hopefully, there are no departments that will just dump it down a storm drain or into a sanitary sewer. Move as quickly as possible to acquire PFAS-free foam so you do not have to use PFAS foam in an emergency incident. You might say, “We’ll just set up training evolutions and use up our inventory of foam that way.” Do not try to get rid of your PFAS foam by using it for training. The possibility of soil/water contamination, in addition to firefighter exposure, is an unnecessary

Danko—Lincoln County (MO) Fire Rescue rescue. Ford Super Duty F-550 crew cab and chassis; Power Stroke 6.7L 4V OHV V8 Turbo Diesel 330-hp engine; Waterous 2515 75-gpm pump; 12-foot rescue body; UPF Poly 300-gallon water tank; 12-gallon foam cell; Scotty 4171 around-the-pump single-agent foam system; TFT EF1 front turret monitor. Dealer: Steve Borts, Danko Emergency Equipment, Snyder, NE.

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Emily Andersen
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
(TNS)

Mar. 28—CEDAR RAPIDS — Drones, or unmanned aircraft systems, have become increasingly popular tools used by police departments and fire departments in Eastern Iowa.

The drones are used for everything from tracking suspects or missing people to investigating bomb threats to helping firefighters see through smoke when fighting a fire.

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department and the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, for example, used a drone earlier this month to pinpoint the location of a smoldering fire after a grain elevator exploded at the Archer Daniels Midland plant in southwest Cedar Rapids.

The Decorah Fire Department in northeast Iowa has been using drones since 2014 — longer than most departments in the state.

At the time, the city had to get a special certificate to own and pilot a drone because the Federal Aviation Administration hadn’t yet created the remote pilot certification process.

Now, all drone pilots must be certified under the FAA’s small unmanned aircraft systems rule (part 107). Drone pilots in law enforcement and public safety often have additional training on how to use the drones appropriately in their work.

River rescues

One reason Decorah firefighters wanted a drone was because of the numerous river rescue calls the department receives about people tubing and canoeing the Upper Iowa River, which lows through the city.

The drones have drastically decreased response times to those calls, according to Zach Kerndt, one of the department’s four drone pilots.

The drones “give us a much better idea of where people are, generally, because the information we receive from our dispatch center is very vague,” he said.

“The information we usually get is, they put in at this spot or this bridge, and they’re getting out at this bridge, and they’re somewhere in between.

“Having a drone really cuts down on the man-hours it takes to find someone because we can find them with the drone … and come up with a plan,” Kerndt said.

The department has two drones, which are used about 20 times a year, Kerndt said.

The drones also are used during fires and in missing person cases.

Since the drones have infrared cameras, they can see through smoke in a fire and can help firefighters on an aerial truck better aim water on what’s burning.

Linn County

In law enforcement, the devices are often used to help officers get a clear picture from above of a crime scene or crash scene.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office has four drones — two large ones, two small ones — and nine trained pilots, according to Lt. Dave Beuter.

“It’s a real-time depiction of the scene, of the environment, whether there’s snow on the ground, whether the trees have leaves on them,” Beuter said.

“Especially with criminal investigations, it’s nice to have those images from the drone,” he said. “You can go up in the air, even like 10 feet up in the air, and do an angle shot back into whatever you’re looking at. It’s a lot better depiction of what’s seen than what just a simple photograph does.”

The Sheriff’s Office started using the drones in 2017, after Beuter and another lieutenant won a drone at a conference and then sought out training so they could use it.

The Iowa State Patrol started using drones in 2020, when it bought 10 drones. It now has 21 drones, which it primarily uses for crash reconstruction, according to the patrol’s public information officer

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