By USDD Staff

When fire chiefs and safety officers think of firefighter safety, they don’t often consider it in relation to their fire stations’ alerting systems. The stress that firefighters are exposed to, however, begins with the incident dispatch they receive in the fire station.

The United States Fire Administration study, “Fire & Emergency Service—Hearing Conservation Program Manual” (FA-118/1992), states the following:

“Studies have found noise to be a causative factor in stress-related illnesses, such as hypertension, ulcers, allergies and neurological disorders. Noise has been shown to cause nervousness, fear, and psychosomatic illnesses as well as to disturb sleep.

“One theory indicates that noise, like other stressors, triggers a startle response, which induces a widespread change in the body’s activities. These changes may include a rise in blood pressure, a rise in pressure inside the head, and increased sweating. Normally, these physiological changes are brought about by intense sounds of sudden onset, much as a firefighter would experience going from a relaxed state in the station to an alarm response.

“Studies of firefighters’ reaction to the alarm signal indicate that the onset of both physiological and psychological stress induces measurable biological effects. Although the physical activity necessary to get into a truck following an alarm signal should not increase the heart rate to more than around 100 beats per minute, studies have found that heart rates, particularly those of younger firefighters, increased to as much as 130-150 beats per minute. Several studies have shown increases in pulse rates following an alarm signal from between 47-61 beats per minute.”

The soft-start alerting tones used by the Phoenix G2 system minimize the stress on firefighters by increasing the volume of the tone slowly—from off to full volume—over a longer amount of time. In addition, because the system includes many speakers located throughout the fire station, the volume levels for each speaker can be much lower than in other systems. A day/night feature in the Phoenix G2 system lowers the speaker volume during the quieter nighttime hours to further mitigate the “startle response.

The Hearing Conservation Manual also states: “The primary factors that determine if noise can inflict hearing loss are intensity, frequency, exposure pattern, and duration…Noise levels in the frequencies above 1,000 Hz are also more damaging that those in the frequencies below 1,000 Hz.”

US Digital Designs’ Phoenix G2 Fire Station Alerting System uses alerting tones at 850 Hz and below to alert firefighters to dispatches. This, along with dramatically reduced volume levels, eliminates hearing damage due to dispatch audio in the station environment.

NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, if adopted by the local department, requires a fire department to establish a hearing conservation program that identifies potential sources of harmful noise and seeks to reduce or eliminate them. Implementing the Phoenix G2 system can be a part of that program as it can reduce the sound levels necessary to alert firefighters to a dispatch.

For more information, visit www.stationalerting.com.

By Frank R. Myers

When I worked at my department’s training center, we made it a habit to perform a bunker gear inspection for in-service crews that were coming to do drills. We would have the crews stand in a line and then inspect their boots, soles of their boots, pants, suspenders, jacket/coat, Nomex hood, gloves and helmet. To our surprise, we could not believe the number of issues we encountered.

Many culprits were the more senior firefighters. They had become lax. Basically, these were the Ladder/Aerial personnel and/or Drivers. Since their run load was minimal compared to the ALS units and/or Pumpers, I assume that they felt there was no need to update or report anything that was wrong with their gear.

Newer firefighters were up to speed. They committed to getting the newer style firefighting boots and were assured that they had the “latest and greatest” the department had to offer. The newest gear was and is always available to all firefighting personnel! It was just a matter of going to the quartermaster and getting it surveyed or replaced.

Some issues were pants with no suspenders; ill-fitting gear because of weight gain/loss; cuts in the boots and soles; shell integrity compromised in either the pants or jacket; no Nomex hood; helmets without chinstraps or face shields; holes or cuts in the gloves or improper, nonapproved, or nonfirefighting gloves; and dirty gear.

It is important to have gear that fits correctly. This is because there needs to be a thermal layer or air space between your body and your gear. Being too tight or too loose also can compromise one’s mobility. Remember, the majority of active firefighting is done crawling on all fours or working in confined spaces.

I am not saying that our department didn’t provide replacements for all these issues. What I am saying is it was just laziness. We had policies in place stating that on the first of the month, the shift commander was required to make sure that all drivers’ licenses were valid and that all bunker gear was fit for duty. It is definitely not enough to say “Is everybody’s license and gear good?”

Everyone must don their gear and physically inspect it with a second set of eyes or an officer’s eyes, along with physically seeing the driver’s license and checking its validity online. The officer may need to order those who have issues to go get the faulty items replaced immediately via the quartermaster, accompanied by a signed survey form. Uniform checks were only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while PPE was Monday through Friday during regular business hours.

There can be no compromise when it comes to personal safety. Even though you can say to yourself that “nothing is going to happen,” in our business, it eventually will, and you may get injured. Direct flame can enter through a tear in your pants, jacket or boots, eye protection can be compromised if no shield is in place and no SCBA is donned, especially during forcible entry operations. Good gloves are a must as hand protection is crucially important.

The days of dirty gear showing one’s seniority are over! While a single event can trigger job-related illnesses, repetitive donning and doffing of dirty gear coming in contact with our skin is another culprit. Subsequently, we get complications through exposure or absorption. Much is still unknown about many products that are everywhere and how their chemical composition changes when exposed to fire. Whatever it is, we all know that when these different materials burn, the combustible products and gases, smoke, and by-products are generally not good for us.

Our department purchased special extractors and Read more

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