Keeping It Safe Robert Tutterow

The more we learn about sleep deprivation, the more we realize the negative impact it has on people’s overall health. This is particularly true for firefighters. A couple of years ago at the IFSTA Research Symposium, a question was asked to a panel of fire service researchers: “What is the biggest research challenge facing the fire service?” Each panel member said it was sleep deprivation.

The issue is twofold. First, we are just learning about the impact of sleep deprivation and measures to deal with it. Second, and most challenging, is that the fire service is likely not receptive to the solutions. Most career firefighters love their shift schedule with the days off for adventure and second jobs.

What are the negative health impacts of sleep deprivation? The list seems to grow as more research is conducted. I was told about firefighters from a metro fire department who had two serious motor vehicle accidents within a year when the firefighters, who were driving home following shift duty, fell asleep while driving and crashed. Without a doubt, a sleepy person is not as safe as a person who is not sleep deprived. And, lack of sleep impacts negatively on productivity.

There is also a growing list of health problems related to lack of sleep. Research has shown that it is linked to cancer, obesity, suicide, reproductive health, Alzheimer’s, and a weakened immune system. It also impairs one’s cognitive abilities.

According to Business Insider, the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) is researching ideas “to help tired pilots and worn-out combat troops get better sleep but also stay awake when it’s needed most.” A watchdog report last year found “that lack of sleep contributed to military safety mishaps and multiple deaths.” The report cited that troops complained about “shoddy barracks mattresses” as a deterrent to quality sleep. DARPA does not conduct its own research but sets priorities for contracts with universities and companies to study the issue.

Obviously, an emergency call that disrupts sleep is part of the job whether you are career or volunteer; however, there are some steps that can be taken to improve sleep quality. The layout of a station’s sleeping quarters is controversial, but research has shown that bedrooms are considered better for sleep than the open dorm concept or the partial partition design.

Those who advocate against individual bedrooms say that it has a negative impact on camaraderie. I have often wondered how camaraderie can be developed or harmed while sleeping. Another negative reaction to individual bedrooms is that firefighters will spend tim

Hannah Kaufman – Morning Sentinel, Waterville, Maine
(TNS)

Aug. 23—A former Fairfield resident has given the fire department a $367,600 donation, after first responders helped his parents through health conditions.

Allie King III, 67, of Westport, Connecticut, donated the money in honor of his mother and father, both lifelong residents of Fairfield who relied on local emergency medical services.

“My father had a heart problem,” King said. “Anytime they needed to call rescue, they were always so efficient and effective and showed up, and were so great with everything they did.”

King was raised in Fairfield and attended Fairfield Junior High and Lawrence High School. He grew up playing hockey with former fire chief Duane Bickford, who looked after King’s parents when they struggled with health complications later in life.

King established the Al King Family Foundation to support important causes in town, making annual donations to the fire department and food pantry. But after Bickford’s death in 2024 and the closure of Waterville’s Northern Light Inland Hospital in June, he said he wanted to do something more.

“It just seemed like the ingredients were there for something bigger,” King said. “That’s when I started to think: ‘I wonder if they need another rescue unit or an ambulance?'”

The grant will fund a 2025 ambulance. King’s donation follows months of failed attempts for the town to purchase a used ambulance, which began when the motor on Fairfield’s lone medical pickup truck failed in October, making it difficult to respond to calls until the truck was fixed. The truck, Med-One, carries medical supplies and equipment that allows for basic or paramedic services while waiting for emergency transport services to arrive.

Fire Chief Travis Leary said King’s offer came as a shock.

“It’s right out of the blue, for sure,” Leary said. “It’s kind of funny, we always joke around about stuff like that, about: ‘I wish somebody would donate us some money.’ Then it actually happened.”

Councilors voted to accept the donation on July 23. It can take years to secure and build an ambulance in central Maine, but Leary said the department was lucky to find one at a shop in Bangor. He hopes to order it in September and have it in use by fall.

It could last the town 10 to 15 years, he said.

The ambulance can carry more equipment than the pickup truck, which will be turned into a utility vehicle, and will provide shelter for patients and first responders who would otherwise be forced to wait outside for Delta Ambulance, the region’s transport service.

Unlike Waterville and Winslow, Fairfield does not have a license to transport patients to the hospital. Instead, it contracts with Delta. But some residents say Delta’s heightened fees and unreliable wait times are not worth the expense, and that the ambulance donation could be an opportunity for Fairfield to go out on its own.

Fairfield has no immediate plans to start its own transport service, said Michelle Flewelling, Fairfield town manager.

“Of course, we did promptly tell people that just because they’ve accepted the purchase of this, in no way, shape or form means that we would instantly start transporting,” Flewelling said. “That’s a conversation that needs to still continue to happen.”

The town approved three new firefighters in the budget and has filled two of those full-time positions.

King has reflected on his time in Maine ever since he le

Four of West Chester (OH) Fire Department’s seven pumpers were out of commission recently, local12.com reported.

The solution, according to a West Chester fire official, is to buy additional vehicles. The department bought a demo truck from Vogelpohl Fire Equipment and a gently-used 2024 rig from Tyler Mountain Volunteer Fire Department in West Virginia.

The two apparatus totaled $1.6 million, the report said. The vehicles will be paid for through the township’s tax incremental funding (TIF) districts.

The fire official said the department gets two relatively new engines that will serve them well into the future, according to the report.

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Kaitlynn Myers
Kokomo Tribune, Ind.
(TNS)

Kokomo Fire station No. 6 is getting a new home, but it won’t be any time soon. The station has been demolished and a new, two-story facility is being built on the same site.

The Kokomo Board of Public Works and Safety met earlier this week and approved a request from the fire department for funds to get set up in the new space and for the demolition of the old space.

Station No. 6 was originally built in 1963. Updated restrooms and a new HVAC system were installed in 2013.

The old station officially closed in July, and the firefighters have been temporarily relocated to a building that had housed Adams Auto Group. That’s just two blocks west of the station site, so the department remains within its original respond district.

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The board approved the department’s request for $150,389.75 to cover the demolition and the expenses of setting up shop elsewhere while the new station is being built. The entire project is estimated to run nearly $9 million.

Fire Chief Paul Edwards said the entire project should take anywhere from 14 to 18 months.

“That is what we’re being told right now,” he said, “but that’s all dependent on the weather.”

The Kokomo Fire Departments currently has about 90 career firefighters manning six stations.

© 2025 the Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Ind.). Visit www.kokomotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Jack Lakowsky
The Day, New London, Conn.
(TNS)

East Lyme — For years, the fire department has relied on inflatable boats and help from neighboring departments when people were in trouble on the water.

But not much longer, First Selectman Dan Cunningham said Tuesday. The fire department’s 1969 Boston Whaler will return to service in the next few weeks, fitted with a new engine that cost about $19,000.

The engine should last 10 years, Cunningham said.

Recent incidents compelled Cunningham to make buying the engine a priority, he said. One was a 2 a.m. rescue of a boater who got stranded off of the Giant’s Neck beach neighborhood last winter.

Another rescue that brought attention to the need for a functioning rescue vessel, Fire Chief Bill Bundy said, was of a couple in the Niantic River. In July, East Lyme and Waterford emergency services responded to Powers Lake when a family’s canoe capsized.

Last August, the nighttime rescue of four women from the dock at Cini Memorial Park drew a huge response, with emergency crews and K-9s from East Lyme, Waterford, Stonington, Old Lyme, the Coast Guard and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection responding. Officials launched a marine rescue when the darkness caused them to lose sight of a woman, who was intoxicated and refused to leave the water. She was located about 2 a.m.

“It’s still a small response boat, so we’ll have to rely on mutual aid, but it increases our capability to respond,” Bundy said. “We’ve had some occasions where we could’ve deployed it.”

The department has relied on inflatables, Cunningham said, which work in a pinch but can tear.

Used extensively by Navy Seals and the U.S. Coast Guard in the Vietnam War, Boston Whalers are known for their indestructible hulls, thanks to a revolutionary design, Cunningham said.

“It can’t sink,” Cunningham said. “And ours is in great shape.”

The department has another 2021 rescue vessel and, Bundy said, is in the process of finding a vendor for another, more modern apparatus expected to cost about $250,000, taken from the town’s capital budget.

j.lakowsky@theday.com

© 2025 The Day (New London, Conn.). Visit www.theday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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