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Coffee Break Training: Jockey Pump Safety Recall
"Jockey pumps are installed on fire protection systems to maintain system pressure so the main fire pump does not start until it is needed. One jockey pump manufacturer recently had some of its products recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Some jockey pumps manufactured by a New York firm have been recalled for potential failures. A mechanical part on these pumps was not fully tightened, which can lead to the pump failing during use. If pumps sold with fire suppression systems fail, the risk of fire damage increases. The pump itself does not pose a fire hazard. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. According to the recall notice, about 18,300 of the pumps were manufactured by Water Technology, Inc., of Auburn, N.Y. The company has received one report of a pump failing to start during a system test. No injuries have been reported."
United States Fire Administration
2006-08-29
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Coffee Break Training: Fire Service Features of Buildings and Fire Protection Systems
"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States Department of Labor has just published an excellent and easy-to-read fire services reference document for property owners and managers. Entitled 'Fire Service Features of Buildings and Fire Protection Systems,' the manual is intended to increase building occupants' and emergency responders' safety by streamlining fire service interaction with building features and fire protection systems. The information in this manual will assist building and fire protection systems designers to understand better the needs of the fire service when called upon to operate in or near the built environment."
United States Fire Administration
2006-08-08
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Coffee Break Training: Finger-Jointed Trusses
"The attached picture is from a presentation making the e-mail rounds accompanied by dire fire safety warnings about trusses without gusset plates. But what are the facts? These 'gusset-less' trusses were introduced in 1989 and are used primarily to support floors. They usually are found in residential construction, but can be used in any construction type that allows wood floor joists. The trusses shown here are made using a glued finger-joint process. Finger-joints can occur wherever two wood members need to be joined. The adhesive used in these trusses is phenol resorcinol. Phenol resorcinol adhesive's autoignition temperature is approximately 1,130 °F (610 °C) compared to wood's 520 to 880 °F (270 to 470 °C). The glue does not soften, lose bonding capabilities, or break down chemically at temperatures below the wood's charring temperature."
United States Fire Administration
2006-07-06
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Coffee Break Training: Liquefied Petroleum Gas Hazards
"The recent tragic explosion in Ghent, West Virginia, is a sad reminder of some of the hazardous properties of LPG and the danger that may occur when investigating reported leaks. Liquefied petroleum gases make up a family of hydrocarbon products that includes propane, butane, isobutane, propylene, and butylenes. Most commercial applications employ propane or butane. Commercial grades are not chemically pure, and can contain small percentages of other constituents."
United States Fire Administration
2007-02-01
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Coffee Break Training: Fire Control in the Wildland-Urban Interface
"With more than 200 wildland fires currently burning in 10 Western States, the annual late summer fire season is a good reminder of the importance of planning and protection in the wildland-urban interface, even in those areas not traditionally considered fire-prone."
United States Fire Administration
2006-09-08
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Coffee Break Training: Fire/Arson and Explosion Investigation Curriculum: Preparing for Trial
"Preparing for trial is a key, and often overlooked, aspect of the fire investigator's job. For you to successfully present your investigation and conclusions to the jury requires more than just being prepared. How well you compile and organize your case file affects every aspect of how the case is prosecuted. The demonstrative aids you make--or don't make--can make a big difference in how well the jury understands your testimony. Proper, professional presentation of your credentials lays the foundation of credibility for your words. Your ability to communicate your systematic approach to the fire scene is the key determining factor in whether you survive a 'Daubert' challenge. The quality of your pretrial conference with the prosecutor will determine how well-prepared you are for both direct and cross examination. And, your command of the facts, the legal process, and your own demeanor determine how well your trial testimony will go. This module provides guidance in how to complete each of these important pretrial tasks that you can use to effectively discharge your investigative duties."
United States Fire Administration
2012-02-09
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Coffee Break Training: Fire Investigation: Report Writing -- Part 1
"One of the most important elements of fire and arson investigation is the written report. Written reports may be used by other investigators, courts, insurance agencies and regular citizens. As 'Kirk's Fire Investigation' inquires, 'If I were to die tomorrow and this report were the only information on this incident, how completely and accurately would it reflect what I know about this fire?' If you were no longer able to express your thoughts and opinions regarding a specific case, would your education and credibility as an investigator be reflected in the documentation of your investigation? Not all arson cases go to trial and it is impossible to predict which ones will be prosecuted and within what time schedule. As a result, oftentimes an investigator may be subpoenaed to testify on an incident that occurred years prior. The written report is the investigator's best tool when preparing a case for court that captures what happened and will help the investigator recollect the incident and its specific details. Charles and Gregory O'Hara write in the 'Fundamentals of Criminal Investigations,' 'The effectiveness of an investigator is judged in large measure by the reports of investigations. If an otherwise satisfactory investigation is poorly reported, the reputation of the investigator suffers.' The report must include and the investigator must be able to explain, simply, what event(s) were brought together to cause a fire. A complete and detailed report containing photos, diagrams/charts, sketches, evidence log, photo log, witness interview logs, incident report, etc., is an investigators best tool when preparing a case for court."
United States Fire Administration
2010-09-16
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Coffee Break Training: Building Construction: Part 2: Fire Investigations: Building Loads and Fire Spread
"Building loads of concern to investigators include dead load--the weight of the building and any permanently attached equipment, live load--which is produced by use and occupancy of the building, and impact load--which could be created by an investigator jumping onto a floor. A load-bearing wall is a wall that supports a vertical load, such as a floor or roof, in addition to its own weight. Failure in walls and other components can depend upon the composition material or materials. Combustible construction will burn, reducing mass and load-carrying capacity. Steel begins to weaken at about 600 °F (316 °C). It is estimated that at approximately 1,100 °F (593 °C), steel will lose about 60 percent of its load-carrying ability. Concrete is noncombustible and typically is strong in compression but weak in tension. It may be plain or reinforced. Plain walls include unreinforced brick where the effects of fire and fire suppression may cause failures. Reinforced walls can also fail, especially if the reinforcing elements become exposed to the effects of fire."
United States Fire Administration
2010-07-01
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Coffee Break Training: Building Construction: Part 1: Fire Investigations: Building Construction Types
"Understanding building construction is critical to the safety of fire investigators. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 921, 'Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations,' states: 'Many structural hazards are easily identified without the need to have specialized technical assistance, but in complex scenes or heavily damaged scenes the investigator may want to consider the assistance of a structural engineer.' Understanding structural integrity is critical for fire investigators. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) investigated a case where a chimney fell on a New York fire investigator and killed him. NIOSH's report concluded: 'Personnel should conduct an assessment of the stability and safety of the structure, e.g., roofs, ceilings, partitions, load-bearing walls, floors, and chimneys before entering damaged, e.g., by fire or water, structures for the purpose of investigations.'"
United States Fire Administration
2010-06-24
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Coffee Break Training: EMS Multipatient Medical Transport Vehicles
"The National Integration Center (NIC) has developed resource typing definitions for the Multipatient Medical Transport (MPMT) vehicle, as well as other emergency medical services (EMS) resources. Ordering resources that have been typed using these definitions makes the resource request and dispatch process more accurate and efficient. The currently-typed MPMT vehicles are typed based on their capability and capacity. The MPMT provides basic medical transportation services during a large-scale evacuation. The MPMT is only expected to provide basic life support (BLS) care due to personnel safety and patient access concerns."
United States Fire Administration
2012-02-08
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Coffee Break Training: Fire Investigation Health and Safety
"Fire investigation health and safety covers a wide variety of issues that are too often ignored or not practiced within the investigative community. All fire investigative personnel should define safety as 'attitude and behavior.' The number one threat to personnel at a scene is 'complacency,' which should never occur, with the number one priority of everyone being 'your personal safety.' The only one responsible for your personal safety is 'you.' To ensure this from the outset, the basis for selection of personal protective equipment (PPE) at a scene is 'hazard and risk assessment.'"
United States Fire Administration
2009-05-14
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Coffee Break Training: EMS Resource Type Definitions
"Resource typing is one of the five components of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Resource typing is the categorization and description of response resources that are commonly exchanged in disasters through mutual-aid agreements. By using standardized typing and terminology for all incidents and events, smoother interoperability will exist for multiagency/ multijurisdiction incidents and events. The National Integration Center (NIC) has developed and published over 120 resource typing definitions. Resource typing definitions can give emergency responders the information they need to make sure they request and receive the appropriate resources during an emergency or disaster. Ordering resources that have been typed using these definitions makes the resource request and dispatch process more accurate and efficient."
United States Fire Administration
2012-02-01
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Coffee Break Training: Building Construction: Part 3: Fire Investigations: Fire Protection Systems and Codes
"Today, fire protection systems are an integral part of many structures. These systems can activate to control or mitigate a fire or its effects. These systems include automatic sprinklers, special suppression systems including commercial kitchen range hood systems, fire alarms, smoke alarms, standpipes, and smoke management systems. The design of fire protection systems may include methods to notify the occupants and/or fire department. Failures in these systems may be due to either accidental or intentional reasons."
United States Fire Administration
2010-07-08
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Coffee Break Training: EMS Mass-Casualty Support Vehicles
"The National Integration Center (NIC) has developed resource typing definitions for the Mass-Casualty Support Vehicle, as well as other emergency medical services (EMS) resources. Ordering resources that have been typed using these definitions makes the resource request and dispatch process more accurate and efficient. The currently-typed Mass-Casualty Support Vehicles are based on their equipment capability to treat patients. Mass-Casualty Support Vehicles are not patient-transport capable, but are specifically for equipment and supplies."
United States Fire Administration
2012-02-15
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Coffee Break Training: Exploring Invisible Web Resources: Part I
"It's hard to imagine that a search engine returning many thousands of hits on a topic you're exploring might not actually have access to all that's out there on the Web. Experts estimate that actually some 80 percent of authoritative content on the Web is invisible to search engines. The Invisible or Deep Web is many times larger, in fact, than the 'surface Web' we have access to via search engines like Google. To better grasp what we mean by the term 'Invisible Web' let's first consider what is visible. Basically, the visible or 'surface' Web refers to any online content that can be found and accessed by a search engine. Search engines send out robot programs or spiders, as they are sometimes called, to crawl the Web looking for pages to add to a search engine database. These pages then get passed to the search engine's indexing program which stores the content in its database. This database in turn is what you're actually searching when you use a Web search engine."
United States Fire Administration
2009-05-06
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Coffee Break Training: Exploring Invisible Web Resources: Part II
"In the previous Coffee Break Training on the Invisible Web we discussed how a lot of valuable content is not available through a typical Web search engine. One of the reasons for this is that search engine spiders aren't able to log into a password protected resource. LLIS [Lessons Learned Information Sharing] is a good example of a Web resource containing original content that is password protected. LLIS is an online resource that allows some 40,000 emergency responders to share and find information critical to their work. LLIS original content is 'invisible' to search engines."
United States Fire Administration
2009-06-10
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Coffee Break Training: Learning Resource Center (LRC) WorldCat - Part 1 of 2
"You can quickly and easily find training, funding, tactical response, prevention, and many other materials via our NETCLRC [National Emergency Training Center Learning Resource Center] WorldCat site. NETCLRC's WorldCat is an experimental alternative to the NETCLRC catalog. WorldCat is the world's largest database of library materials and we've established our own local version of this search that only looks at items that we own."
United States Fire Administration
2010-11-10
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Coffee Break Training: Exploring Invisible Web Resources: Part III -- Learn about the Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)
"The HSDL offers a wide variety of materials cutting across all disciplines within Homeland Security and first responder communities including the fire service. Its collections are divided into a broad general collection searchable by the general public and a restricted repository. The general collection consists of over 65,000 fully downloadable documents of all kinds. Typing in the word 'fire,' for example, in the title keyword box retrieves over 500 full text titles ranging from after-action reports to fire prevention tips and factsheets."
United States Fire Administration
2009-12-17
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Coffee Break Training: Learning Resource Center (LRC) OpenSearch Web Browser Plug-ins
"Search quicker/smarter. An OpenSearch Plug-in is simply a tool that allows you to access a search engine directly from your browser. If you're using Firefox 2.0 or Internet Explorer 7.0 (IE 7) you may already be familiar with the small browser window in the upper right-hand corner of your screen. The default search engine is typically either Google or Yahoo!. In addition to these search options you can now add U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), Learning Resource Center (LRC) Catalog, LRC Fire Search, and other site searches into your array of ready search engines on your IE 7 or Firefox 2.0 browser."
United States Fire Administration
2010-11-03
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Coffee Break Training: Medical Group Versus Medical Unit
"In the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the Incident Command System (ICS) is an organizational structure that allows responders to match the complexities and demands of each incident while allowing all responders to know their roles and work together across jurisdiction and agencies' boundaries. The medical components of the ICS organization fill two key roles. One is external; the management of patients generated by responding to the incident/event. The other is internal; the management of responders requiring medical attention."
United States Fire Administration
2012-01-25
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Coffee Break Training: Quick Tips for Searching the Learning Resource Center (LRC) Online Catalog
"The LRC [Learning Resource Center] has one of the most comprehensive collections of materials relating to the fire and emergency medical services in the U.S. It's your one-stop source for identifying books, Executive Fire Officer papers, reports, government documents, and magazine articles that cover a topic in which you're interested. However, to ensure a successful search experience with the LRC Online Catalog, you'll want to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with these simple, but essential, search techniques."
United States Fire Administration
2008-12-10
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Coffee Break Training: You Can Search but Can You Find? Part I. Get Better Results -- Google Search Advanced Techniques
"Today's coffee break training will provide you several important tools for better controlling the kind of search results you get when using the Google search engine."
United States Fire Administration
2008-12-17
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Coffee Break Training: How to Find Executive Fire Officer Program Applied Research Project Papers
"The Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP) helps provide senior fire leaders in fire and emergency services an understanding of the value of research and its application in meeting challenges encountered in the practice of their profession. Leaders committed to lifelong learning likely are to be better prepared to both critically analyze problems and find innovative solutions by drawing upon not only their own knowledge but also from the shared insights, experiences, and knowledge of others. EFOP participants must complete an Applied Research Project (ARP) that relates to their organization within 6 months after the completion of each of four required courses. Most EFO papers published since FY98 are now available to download or read online in their entirety via the LRC Online Catalog. Also, you'll see hyperlinks in our online catalog citations to the PDF versions of these EFO papers as they become available. There's a backlog in scanning current year papers, so the most recent titles may still be unavailable online."
United States Fire Administration
2009-02-18
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Coffee Break Training: Firetalk -- Staying Abreast of Fire Service Trends and Topics Via Podcasts
"This lesson builds upon the Coffee Break Bulletin 'Harnessing the Power of RSS.' The rapid growth of broadband Internet connectivity in recent years has helped make the distribution of rich media, such as audio or video broadcasts, quick and easy. The fire service community has seized upon this capability by offering a variety of highly informative, easily accessible audio programs otherwise known as podcasts. Podcasts are nonmusical audio files that are distributed over the internet automatically through Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Although podcasts were originally developed for the Apple iPod, you don't need an iPod to listen to podcasts. In fact, all you need is a computer. When you click on a link to a podcast your PC's audio software such as Windows Media Player will begin playing the MP3 file automatically. (An MP3 file is a popular compressed format for audio files). Transferring the podcast to a portable MP3 player is optional."
United States Fire Administration
2009-04-08
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Coffee Break Training: Understanding How Information is Organized -- Subject Searching
"Chances are you've undoubtedly used the yellow pages somewhere along the line. The key, of course, to finding what you're looking for in the yellow pages is knowing under what topic heading it's listed. And that's not always obvious. Say you're looking for paint for your car. Do you look under Paint -- Automobile? Paint -- Car? Well, actually, in my phone book it's found under Automobile -- Parts, Services, and Accessories. The benefit of grouping things under these categories is that once you've found the right term to look under, you can be assured that everything fitting your particular interest can be found there. Searching for things by subject in a database such as the Learning Resource Center (LRC) Online Catalog is really no different. Just as with the yellow pages, you may not always find your topic categorized by the term that seems most obvious to you. If, for example, you browse the LRC Online Catalog subject listing on the topic 'municipal fire protection' you'll find instead that you'll need to look under the term 'urban fire protection.'"
United States Fire Administration
2009-03-04
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Coffee Break Training: Learn How to Manage your Information by Harnessing the Power of Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
"You've no doubt heard of RSS by now. You've probably seen those funny orange icons on Web sites? Maybe you've heard coworkers talk about it, but still have no idea yourself what RSS is? Have no fear, there are a lot of other people who haven't either, but this is changing. RSS is not only transforming the way news, media, and Web site owners share information, but it's also rapidly changing the way we all consume it. RSS allows us to get updates to the content of RSS-enabled Web sites without having to visit these sites repeatedly ourselves. Instead, information from such Web sites (typically the title and a description) is piped to us in a process known as really simply syndication."
United States Fire Administration
2009-01-28
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Coffee Break Training: You Can Search but Can You Find? Part II. Get Better Results -- Google Search Advanced Techniques
"This session builds upon the Google Search Basics we learned about in an earlier lesson. We can avoid information overload by using the following search techniques to better refine our results."
United States Fire Administration
2009-01-07
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Coffee Break Training: Working With the Media
"Media interviews are opportunities to communicate life-saving fire safety and prevention information. Tell your community how to stay safe. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a rookie at media relations, it's always a good idea to keep these interview pointers in mind: 1. Carry the 'Fire Spokesperson's Pocket Media Guide' with you. Quickly scan it before you begin an interview. 2. Determine the one or two safety and prevention tips you want to mention in addition to the facts of the story. 3. Prior to the interview, mention to the reporter that you would like to provide a fire safety and prevention tip or direct people to additional information. 4. Look at the reporter, not into the camera, during television interviews. 5. Avoid answering the reporter's questions with only 'yes' or 'no.' Always speak in full sentences. 6. Remove sunglasses and chewing gum and turn off your phone before conducting the interview. 7. Ask for the reporter's name and contact information, and the name of the media outlet so that you can follow up with more information or suggest a feature story about fire safety and prevention. 8. Provide your name and contact information in case the reporter has questions or needs more information. 9. Emphasize the importance of including a safety and prevention message to the reporter. This may prevent the message from ending up on the cutting room floor."
United States Fire Administration
2011-12-01
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Coffee Break Training: Assessing Vulnerability in Your Community
"The purpose of this training is to explain the concept of vulnerability and its relationship to overall community risk from a firefighting perspective. Each hazard must be viewed from the community's vulnerability. Vulnerability is the susceptibility to suffer harm or loss from an event. Vulnerability may vary based on numerous factors such as preparedness, capability of emergency services, etc. Vulnerability also may vary for the same hazard from area to area in the same community."
United States Fire Administration
2011-09-29
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Coffee Break Training: Making the Most of Teachable Moments
"Public Information Officers (PIOs) play a major role in communicating fire safety and prevention information to the public after residential fires. To make the most of these teachable moments, it is important to know what to do and say before, during, and after an interview with the news media."
United States Fire Administration
2011-11-17
