In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Joe Knitter

Chief

South Milwaukee (WI) Fire Department

Fighting Fires in Fast-Food Restaurants                  

Thursday, April 21, 3:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m.

The impetus for this class was the line-of-duty deaths of Houston Firefighters Lewis Mayo III and Kimberly Smith in the McDonald's Restaurant arson fire on Valentine’s Day of 2000. After reading incident reports and watching the American Heat video produced about this fire, I was left with far too many questions about the “why” behind their deaths.  

Those questions led to my researching areas such as the causes of fast-food restaurant fires; the techniques and products used in the construction of these free-standing, lightweight buildings; and the operational considerations necessary when responding to fires in these structures. My research led me to develop this program that provides “cues and clues” for every rank of line personnel and raises their awareness about these occupancies.                                                          

A fire chief who had attended this program a year ago stated that as soon as he heard a dispatch alert to a fire in a fast-food restaurant, this program “popped into his head” and everything discussed in class came back to him as he responded to the scene. He read the building, predicted the location of the fire and its travel, and ensured that his personnel survived the fire.

Other attendees reported, “We never look at one of those occupancies in the same way after attending your program. My response:  “Mission accomplished.”

Accident reconstructionists have released the results of an investigation into the cause of an April 3 accident involving a fire truck. Mississippi Highway Patrol Cpl. Eric Henry said in a release Monday that the Lake Harbor fire truck involved in an accident that killed a 10-year-old boy and sent the other four members of his family to the hospital, most in critical condition, did not yield the right of way to the Ford Escape in which the family was traveling.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the clarion-ledger

The Ingram Volunteer Fire Company was basically fired by a 6-1 vote of borough council tonight, prompting angry citizens and Ingram firefighters to ask who would now respond if a fire broke out. The city of Pittsburgh’s paid professional firefighters would be answering calls, Ingram Council President Sam Nucci said.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fresno Fire Chief Kerri Donis isn’t happy with a recent news release from Holly Carter, one of four candidates for the District 6 Fresno City Council seat. Carter highlighted the Fresno Fire Department in the release – and not in a positive way. The release late last month was headlined: “The Condition of Our Fresno Fire Department Creates a Public Safety Threat!” In the release, Carter says that, among other things, the department’s budget has been cut “an astonishing” 25 percent since 2009, daily staffing “is down nearly 20 percent,” and calls for service “have increased 20 percent since 2011.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: fresno bee

PHOTO - Cats aren’t the only pets that get stuck in trees. Just ask the firefighters who rescued a Great Dane from a high bough in rural Louisville, Nebraska, late Saturday night. “You’re not going to believe this,” one Plattsmouth firefighter said to another after receiving the call for help about 10:10 p.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Omaha World-Herald