William Shatner knows firsthand how dangerous turkey fryers can be—so do the firefighters with the Illinois Fire Service, who staged some of the common mistakes, with explosive results. Watch William Shatner's story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYkRF_FmD40 Safe Turkey Frying Tips 1: Avoid oil spillover--don't overfill the pot. 2: Turn off flame when lowering the turkey into oil. 3: Fry outside, away from the house. 4: Properly thaw the turkey before frying. 5: Keep a grease-fire-approved extinguisher nearby.
Every year, approximately 2,600 Americans die in home fires. Over half of these deaths (52%) occur between the hours of 10:00pm and 7:00am, when residents are typically sleeping. Smoke and toxic gases from a home fire are as deadly as heat and flames. Just two or three breaths of toxic smoke can render you unconscious. The majority of fire victims die or are injured from exposure to smoke and toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, not actual burns. In addition, smoke obscures vision, decreasing your ability to escape.
Smoke alarms save lives, prevent injuries, and minimize property damage by detecting fires early and alerting residents, allowing crucial time to escape. The risk of dying from a fire in a home without working smoke alarms is twice as high as in a home that has working smoke alarms.
What types of smoke alarms are available?
There are many different brands of smoke alarms available on the market but they fall under two basic types: ionization and photoelectric.
Ionization alarms sound more quickly when a flaming, fast moving fire occurs.
Photoelectric alarms are quicker at sensing smoldering, smoky fires.
There are also combination (dual sensor) smoke alarms that combine ionization and photoelectric into one unit.
Because both ionization and photoelectric smoke alarms are better at detecting distinctly different yet potentially fatal fires, and because home residents cannot predict what type of fire might start in a home, theU.S. Fire Administration recommends the installation of both ionization and photoelectric or dual sensor smoke alarms.
In addition to the basic types of smoke alarms, there are alarms made to meet the needs of people with hearing disabilities. These alarms may use strobe lights that flash and/or vibrate to assist in alerting those who are unable to hear standard smoke alarms when they sound.
How long will my smoke alarm last?
Most alarms installed today have a life span of about 8-10 years. After this time, the entire unit should be replaced. It is a good idea to write the date of purchase with a marker on the inside of your alarm so you will know when to replace it. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for replacement.
Unless you’re scanning the web for this kind of information, you’re probably not aware that on a fairly regular basis huge trucks with no driver inside the cab roll away from where they were parked. This usually happens because the driver neglected to engage the parking brake or because someone either purposely or inadvertently released it. The so-called rollaway accidents that result are often both costly and deadly. In April, a tractor trailer rolled across 10 lanes of expressway traffic in Columbus, GA and plowed through a store, causing $200,000 in damage. In 2006, an eight year-old girl was killed in New York City after being pinned on the sidewalk by a runaway school bus. Witnesses saw an eight year-old boy entering the empty bus prior to the tragic accident.
Now a mechanic with just a year of community college under his belt has unveiled a system to prevent rollaways. 44 year-old Tom Accardi (right) managed to create the system and bring it to market without the help of venture capitalists or companies that prey on aspiring inventors.
Accardi lives in the village of Yaphank, New York in the suburbs of Long Island. He spent close to six years working on his device, which sells for $2,500, and comes with a lifetime guarantee. A patent is pending.
Here’s how it works: less than two seconds after the driver has gotten out of the seat, a sensor in the seat sends a signal to the system’s controller box, which also receives data on the truck’s speed. If the controller detects motion of between 2 and 3 mph, it sends current to a solenoid that has been installed on the supply line to the air brake, cutting off the air. That, in turn, causes the parking brake to kick in.
Accardi parks a truck in the driveway of his home in Yaphank, opens the driver side door, releases the brake and the truck starts rolling in reverse. He sits in the driver seat for a moment with his legs hanging outside the cab, watching the truck roll down the driveway, then quickly climbs out of the moving truck. A second or so after his butt is off the seat, we hear the air brakes hiss and the truck stops rolling. In another segment of the video a truck with the anti-roll away system is seen rolling down a steep suburban street. Then Accardi opens the door and jumps out of the moving truck, which quickly brakes seconds after he is out of the driver’s seat. It’s dramatic stuff.
In the video Accardi makes reference to the personal injuries, deaths, property damage and resulting insurance claims from rollaway accidents and then declares: “The system we have is going to put an end to all of that.”
A self-taught mechanic who says he never had the money to go to mechanics school, Accardi has worked on trucks since he was 15 years old. He worked his way up from mechanic to administrator at Waste Management, the giant private carting firm. While he was there, Accardi says, he got weekly safety updates that indicated between two and five rollaway incidents took place almost every week. In one, a Waste Management employee was crushed to death between two trucks, causing Accardi to remark, “There’s no need for this to happen. I can make something to prevent this.”
When a colleague dared him to go ahead and try, Accardi spent the next two nights in his garage making a tabletop model of his anti-rollaway system. The Craftsman tractor he sat on as he mowed his lawn was something of an inspiration.
“Look at your standard garden tractor,” Accardi said in an interview. “They all have a seat switch so that if you get up out of your seat, it shuts the motor off.”
Which is why he pulled the seat off the lawnmower and attached it to a used beer delivery truck he bought for $5,000 solely for the purpose of perfecting his anti-rollaway system.
Accardi resisted the overtures of a firm that describes itself as America’s leading inventor service company. He says it wanted him to cough up $10,000 before it would help and took months to return one of his calls. He also spent many months doing a dance with venture capitalists, who he says “wanted almost the whole company. If I would have given every VC what they wanted, I’d be working for them for the rest of my life.”
Accardi says he had some promising meetings with the giant auto part manufacturer Delphi but there were personnel changes and no deal was reached. So he reluctantly decided to market the device himself. They key engineering challenge was an electronic one: programming some sort of controller with a microprocessor that would use inputs on the truck’s motion and absence of a driver to make the air brakes go on.
“Everybody wanted large amounts of money to do engineering before they got involved and did anything,” Accardi recalls.
Initially he was told there would be between $200,000 and $500,000 in engineering costs to launch the business. But eventually Accardi found a firm called Electro Motive Designs on Long Island. The firm does work turning garbage trucks and buses into hybrids, so Accardi’s project was right up their alley. Instead of a six figure tab for programming the controller box, Accardi paid Electro Motive Designs in the low five figures.
“They told me they would hack right into the truck’s computer, and then bing, bang, boom, they did everything we wanted,” Accardi recalls.”They had already done the hard work on their previous jobs.”
Dana Demeo, Electro Motive Designs’ VP of Engineering, says, “I was impressed with Tommy from the get go. He understood the problem and how to solve it.”
Demeo says Accardi can now connect the controller to his computer with a USB cable and program it on his own. Thus, the amount of time that the system allows before engaging the brakes can be varied. Because the box has flash memory, it can record incidents where the anti-rollaway system was activated and store the data for later download to a computer. Future programming and hardware tweaks would enable truck owners to get a GPS reading on exactly where such incidents took place and either email or text the data to management.
The 3″ X 4″ programmable controller box is about an inch thick and was purchased “off the shelf.” The controller can be installed in either a truck’s cab or under the hood, as long as it’s no more than four feet from the vehicle’s diagnostic port. Accardi says that installation takes between two and four hours and can be done by truck manufacturers, companies with a fleet of trucks or “anyone who can fool with air brakes.”
A volunteer fireman for more than 20 years, Accardi’s day job is supervisor of a waste transfer station. He is clearly proud that all but one part of his anti-rollaway system was manufactured in the US.
“It’s a great country,” he says. “I want everything made here.”
With a $2,500 price tag, the system may seem pricey for the prevention of accidents that are somewhat rare, but as HTK Engineering’s marketing director, Victor Yannacone III, points out, a rollaway accident can be quite costly for an insurance company: a single accident involving a fatality can result in millions of dollars of liability and injuries or property damage can cost hundreds of thousands. HTK expects insurance companies to offer premium reductions around 5% to 10% to truck owners who install its anti-rollaway system. For owners who shell out $20,000 to $30,000 a year for insurance, such savings would pay for the cost of the unit in two or three years.
While returning from a trailer fire I heard GFD tone out for a reported car fire in the area of 20th and Chase, a thick black header was visible from a mile away. Crews from Engine 4 put a quick knock on the fire and nobody was hurt. While they were working, a rubbernecker slammed head-on with another vehicle just down the street. GPD was on scene asap, it appeared there were no injuries at the crash.
(video link below, they wouldn’t allow embedding it) Wonder Why?
Denise Crosby: Beware of hot trends that could burn down your house
After followed the instructions carefully: After washing the spud, she wrapped it in a paper towel and placed it inside the blue and orange cloth glove. Less than three minutes later, the inside of her microwave was on fire.
Turns out the word is out ... sort of. There are lots of kudos to be found online about these trendy potato bags. But mixed with the accolades are plenty of cautionary tales: About the mitts and microwaves — even vent hoods — catching on fire .
And don't forget, a microwave potatobag makes a great gift for any occasion: housewarming, birthday, Christmas, welcome, going away, whatever.
How To Make Potato Baker Bags : TipNut.com Perfectly baked potatoes using a microwave and a fabric bag? Great! Here’s the idea: Sew a bagmade with cotton fabric that is padded with cotton batting (both ... tipnut.com/make-your-own-potato-baker-bags
Jan 3: Eighty-one U.S. firefighters died as a result of incidents that occurred in 2011.
This represents an almost seven percent decrease from the 87 fatalities reported for 2010.
EMMITSBURG, MD — The United States Fire Administration (USFA) announced today there were 81 on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2011. This represents an almost seven percent decrease from the 87 fatalities reported for 2010. The 81 fatalities occurred in 33 states, one U.S. territory, and one overseas U.S. military facility. Texas experienced the highest number of fatalities (seven). North Carolina experienced six firefighter deaths and was the only other state with five or more firefighter fatalities.
The Fire Rescue TV staff has created a safety video to remind you to be alert this weekend during Halloween. Children may be wearing dark colored costumes.
The United States Fire Administration (USFA) Reports Eighty-seven on duty firefighters from 31 states lost their lives as the result of 83 fatal incidents that occurred in 2010. This is the second consecutive year of substantially fewer firefighter deaths in the United States.
Emmitsburg, MD. – The United States Fire Administration (USFA) today released the report Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2010 (PDF, 2.5 Mb). The report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of on duty firefighter fatalities. The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all on duty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year.
Illinois experienced the highest number of fatalities with nine firefighters killed; New York and Ohio had the next highest totals with eight firefighter deaths each.
On December 22, 2010, a 47-year-old male (Victim # 1) and a 34-year old male (Victim # 2), both career fire fighters, died when the roof collapsed during suppression operations at a rubbish fire in an abandoned and unsecured commercial structure. The bowstring truss roof collapsed at the rear of the 84-year old structure approximately 16 minutes after the initial companies arrived on-scene and within minutes after the Incident Commander reported that the fire was under control. The structure, the former site of a commercial laundry, had been abandoned for over 5 years and city officials had previously cited the building owners for the deteriorated condition of the structure and ordered the owner to either repair or demolish the structure. The victims were members of the first alarm assignment and were working inside the structure. A total of 19 other fire fighters were hurt during the collapse.
Collapse scene as viewed from building rear facing building front. Note portion of bowstring truss leaning against wall at right side of photo. (Photo courtesy of fire department)
Contributing Factors
Lack of a vacant / hazardous building marking program within the city
Vacant / hazardous building information not part of automatic dispatch system
Dilapidated condition of the structure
Dispatch occurred during shift change resulting in fragmented crews
Weather conditions including snow accumulation on roof and frozen water hydrants
Not all fire fighters equipped with radios.
Key Recommendations
Identify and mark buildings that present hazards to fire fighters and the public
Use risk management principles at all structure fires and especially abandoned or vacant unsecured structures
Train fire fighters to communicate interior conditions to the Incident Commander as soon as possible and to provide regular updates
Provide battalion chiefs with a staff assistant or chief's aide to help manage information and communication
Provide all fire fighters with radios and train them on their proper use
Develop, train on, and enforce the use of standard operating procedures that specifically address operations in abandoned and vacant structures
With this summer's extreme heat in most of the country, and many areas experiencing triple digit temperatures, it is essential that you - and all of the fire service working in it - take care. Hydration before dehydration is key: do not allow yourself or those responding with you to place yourself at risk for heat related illness. Also, keep a lookout for your fellow firefighters.
Another critical function that needs to be established in this heat wave is emergency incident rehabilitation. Emergency incident rehabilitation is designed to ensure that the physical and mental well-being of firefighters and other emergency responders operating at the scene of an emergency does not deteriorate to the point where it affects their safety. It can prevent serious and life-threatening conditions such as heat stroke and heart attacks from occurring. Rehabilitation is not just for incidents, it is also a must for operational training.
Fire departments should be in compliance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1584 Standard on the Rehabilitation of Members Operating at Incident Scene Operations and Training Exercises.
USFA has resources to assist you and your department in establishing an effective emergency incident rehabilitation program, including a comprehensive guide on Emergency Incident Rehabilitation (PDF, 5.6 Mb) which was developed through a partnership with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). Additionally, the USFA website provides comprehensive information on this topic.
A little old but I had not seen this. Good prior to arrival video of this single family home. Good tactics and strategy video. Deck gun put into operation, that’s what it’s for. No tenable victims, probably not. Save the exposures, save what's left.
Free or at low cost and Online Educational Resources from the Home Safety Council
The Home Safety Council stocks the Expert Network with home injury prevention information, teaching materials, links and downloads. The site is updated regularly and is available on demand.
EMMITSBURG, MD - The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report today examining the details of firefighter injuries sustained on the fireground or while responding to or returning from a fire incident. The report, Fire-Related Firefighter Injuries Reported to NFIRS (PDF, 945 Kb), was developed by USFA's National Fire Data Center and is further evidence of FEMA's effort to reduce the number of firefighter injuries through an increased awareness and understanding of their causes and how they might be prevented.
Those of you that haven’t seen, taken the course or even aware of it. This is must take class to take, video below is recent fire that shows a good example of what the class can provide you in the way of knowing the conditions that surround the fire scene. Learn when to commit! This stuff is basic fire science use it. Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?
LINKS:
Art of Reading Smoke PowerPointArt of Reading Smoke PowerPoint. Share · Tweet. Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Thanks to Dave Dodson for providing this download to FirefighterCloseCalls.com
Art of Reading Smoke - Fire Training On Youtube 2 min - Jun 20, 2007 - Uploaded by FireEngineering. Dave Dodson shows how us how to "read" the smoke that fire fighters encounter on the fire scene. From Fire Engineering.
Carbon monoxide -- CO -- the silent killer. You can't see it, you can't smell it, and it's the #1 cause of poisoning deaths in the world. The people most at risk? Firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs - first responders who are called on to risk their lives to save others, everyday. It's a medical fact that CO exposure -- even moderate levels - can impact your short and long-term health. This film will motivate you to lower your CO risk by taking important precautions at the scene of a fire, so you can live longer and healthier and be around to enjoy life's most precious moments. Narrated by Randolph Mantooth, known for playing Johnny Gage on the hit TV show Emergency! Content of this video endorsed by the IAFF, IAFC, and FDNY. For more information
Guess we still need to beat some sense into some of us. Officer should have stopped this before it started. Come on not wearing SCBA at a car fire. Though that this was settled this back in the 70’s Car fire are no different from another fire. They contain hazards that are not always apparent. so if you got it wear it! EVERY TIME!
From You Tube engine139 — April 27, 2010 — Evansville Indiana Close Call Magnesium Explosion Car Fire
What? air packs and no mask, no vehicle fire is ever routine, you need to wear all PPE.
FEB 07 2008 ARL HTS, IL -- Car fire: camera man arrives seconds before Arlington Heights Fire Department Engine 4. Two explosions from air bag canister. One canister became a projectile and was found across the parking lot directly behind the car (against the building shown in the video -- about a 50-foot trajectory of approximately 7-pound sharp metal object).
Now a mechanic with just a year of community college under his belt has unveiled a system to prevent rollaways. 44 year-old 
