Establishing Response Standards Case Study
“In 2004 The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) was tasked with promulgating the initiatives throughout the fire service, and developing material to support their implementation.” When NFF determined they had to do this they organized the “Everyone goes home program, with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is a program that emphasizes the safety of our firefighters and urges everyone to be safe as safe as possible not only when on the fire ground, but at all times. With the establishment of the Everyone goes home program came the 16 life safety initiatives. The most important of the 16 is number 11 Response Policies also known as Establishing Response Standards. This initiative brings in minimum
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activities or procedures that need to be taken in order to ensure the safety of all firefighters while performing duties. There are a large amount of standards that have been created by the NFPA, but unless adopted by the department they do not have to be used. “The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a global nonprofit organization, established in 1896 compromised by more than 6,000 volunteers who are trying to reduce fire losses.” it is “widely known as a codes and standards organization” This organization writes standards, that if later adopted become codes to prevent loss. Not only do they write standards and codes for building safety and technical codes, but they also write codes fire departments have to follow, to keep their firefighters safe. All these standards and codes can be adopted by cities counties and hopefully are adopted by the United States to unify everyone so we can try to achieve a greater amount of national standards so we can all be safer as a community, but it will be hard to do with such a variety of standards to look at, because not all may apply to everyone. Some of the codes influence us directly in day to day events, while other codes may influence us the one and only time we are called to a building. For example NFPA 13 Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems cover how, where, when and which sprinklers must be installed to properly sprinkle the house in an attempt to contain a fire. If those sprinklers cannot successfully contain and extinguish the fire they will reduce the fire size allowing for us to use more offensive strategies to try to save as much property as possible. If it cannot be contained standard 257 Standard on Fire Test for Window and lass Block assemblies can help us, but we have to be careful because this is a double bladed sword. While helping us by containing a fire it may compromise our ability to break through the windows should we need to break it for one reason or another. It will always be breakable, but it might take longer to break, which can kill us if we need to take longer to get out in the situation of having to run out of the fire. Windows are not always our only way out though, because if NFPA 101B: Code for Means of Egress for Buildings and Structures we should have at least one way to egress from the building as this code emphasizes the need for a means of a prompt escape should anything go wrong. If more of these codes are adopted and used on a national level buildings can essentially be safer for us to enter and provide us with different ways to look at a fire and how to deal with it. apply directly to buildings we have to be in, so the building being to code is imperative to us. Regardless of how safe a building may or may not be we still have to take action towards whatever it is we are encountering. Some actions may be acceptable in some places, but not in other places. How is it we can determine what is okay and what is not, what is a better more efficient and safe practice compared to another one, a different department may claim to be better. Two departments may train the same drill with a minor difference, but that that difference may make it compliant to a standard or not. If one department is doing everything under compliance with NFPA 1401 Recommended Practice for Fire Service Training Reports and Records and the other is not, the department being compliant will most likely be safer and if not should something happen they run less risk of being reprimanded for being ignorant of a national standard. If all departments follow this standard there is less chance of things happening, because when the standard is created it is voted on and looked over by thousands of people with a lot of experience and knowledge. For the days we have to fight fire we should all be meeting if not exceeding NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting if we are not meeting this standard on a national level we are putting ourselves more in harms way than needed to on any level. This standard is designed to make sure we are equipped with the right equipment to protect us from the environment we are involved in. When wearing PPE that are compliant you are assured it has met the standard, it means that it has gone through performance and design testing to make sure that when put through even the most extreme conditions it should be capable of doing it’s job. When in any smoke-involved situation especially in structure fires, NFPA 1981 Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services should be met, even with the SCBA on you still run risk of being encountered smoke issues down the line these problems are aggravated by not being compliant with this standard. These standards are designed to minimize the loss of life, and property, which is why we should nationalize these standards, they are here to better us and the majority of the time they are reactive to an incident, so we should be compliant to this standard so we do not make the same mistake a second time. It is not possible to Nationalize every standard, because not all firefighters are in the same area of the country, so it wouldn't be convenient for someone in the country to train for high rise scenarios or vice versa. There are many positive aspects to nationalizing standards, but not all standards can be nationalized.
Since not applicable to all there is a system in place to separate standards that everyone should follow, standards that should be followed by different departments, and standards that should be followed in case of special events. FEMA has established levels of policies and procedures to divide up these standards into three different categories. The first category is known as series one or S1, which are standards that are already current on a national level. Standards that are to be followed by department or known as S2 standards. The S2 category is more of a template than anything allowing departments to construct around that template making an SOP specific to their department. This allows for other departments to work closely with the department, because they may have not identical but hopefully similar SOP’s. Whereas the series three SOP’s are completely specialized to the department and are very specific on how things have to be done, for example permanent trench rescue, or things that are specific due to weather hazards, or even due to high risk targets where there may be a safety factor present that you constantly have to be thinking about. There are many different standards that calls for different departments to do things differently, but the more standards that are nationalized the better we can be as a service
industry. National standards help unify the firefighting community and do everything together hopefully to a higher standard, but at the very least helps us do it in the same way, therefore making working environments safer not only to us, but even possible bystanders. There are several ways this will help the firefighting service. If a lot of what you're doing is meeting a national standard then you increase your chance for efficient interoperability. When this is presented it allows for a smoother more efficient and more importantly safe working ground. If everyone already has the same goal in mind, to save laves and as much property as possible, if we are able to do it in the same matter it will increase productivity. On a fairground it can avoid any possibility for discussion on how to do something and just make it happen by predicting what is needed and what has to happen next. For example if two departments have different strategies or procedures on how or when to vent if this were a national standard and we all trained and executed this in the same manner it would be safer, because not only could we help one another we could foresee what is going to happen and be ready for everything and know what tool may be needed. If we all plan to ventilate the same way even though we would need to communicate what is going on, but say if for some reason we miscommunicate we would still be capable of foreseeing what will happen. If we are to all operate in the same way as a well oiled machine, we do not have to worry about a different departments protocols contradicting each other’s and possibly creating unneeded risks. Say if we adopted a parking standard when first arrived on scene there would be a smaller chance of engineers parking randomly, and compromising how a different engineer was planning on executing his plan. It would maximize visibility of what is going on to avoid others blocking imperative points of views. If more standards are nationalized we have to be careful to not become stuck in a culture we cannot change to advanced into better strategies for when they do become reality. These standards would have to be live standards that allow for easy change at the highest level so if they need to be tweaked for the better they can be changed to improve on what we have. If more standards are to be nationalized we have to make sure we all train in the same way and know exactly what each standard requires so we all can be on the same page on how to do certain things to better the service it is we are providing.
activities or procedures that need to be taken in order to ensure the safety of all firefighters while performing duties. There are a large amount of standards that have been created by the NFPA, but unless adopted by the department they do not have to be used. “The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a global nonprofit organization, established in 1896 compromised by more than 6,000 volunteers who are trying to reduce fire losses.” it is “widely known as a codes and standards organization” This organization writes standards, that if later adopted become codes to prevent loss. Not only do they write standards and codes for building safety and technical codes, but they also write codes fire departments have to follow, to keep their firefighters safe. All these standards and codes can be adopted by cities counties and hopefully are adopted by the United States to unify everyone so we can try to achieve a greater amount of national standards so we can all be safer as a community, but it will be hard to do with such a variety of standards to look at, because not all may apply to everyone. Some of the codes influence us directly in day to day events, while other codes may influence us the one and only time we are called to a building. For example NFPA 13 Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems cover how, where, when and which sprinklers must be installed to properly sprinkle the house in an attempt to contain a fire. If those sprinklers cannot successfully contain and extinguish the fire they will reduce the fire size allowing for us to use more offensive strategies to try to save as much property as possible. If it cannot be contained standard 257 Standard on Fire Test for Window and lass Block assemblies can help us, but we have to be careful because this is a double bladed sword. While helping us by containing a fire it may compromise our ability to break through the windows should we need to break it for one reason or another. It will always be breakable, but it might take longer to break, which can kill us if we need to take longer to get out in the situation of having to run out of the fire. Windows are not always our only way out though, because if NFPA 101B: Code for Means of Egress for Buildings and Structures we should have at least one way to egress from the building as this code emphasizes the need for a means of a prompt escape should anything go wrong. If more of these codes are adopted and used on a national level buildings can essentially be safer for us to enter and provide us with different ways to look at a fire and how to deal with it. apply directly to buildings we have to be in, so the building being to code is imperative to us. Regardless of how safe a building may or may not be we still have to take action towards whatever it is we are encountering. Some actions may be acceptable in some places, but not in other places. How is it we can determine what is okay and what is not, what is a better more efficient and safe practice compared to another one, a different department may claim to be better. Two departments may train the same drill with a minor difference, but that that difference may make it compliant to a standard or not. If one department is doing everything under compliance with NFPA 1401 Recommended Practice for Fire Service Training Reports and Records and the other is not, the department being compliant will most likely be safer and if not should something happen they run less risk of being reprimanded for being ignorant of a national standard. If all departments follow this standard there is less chance of things happening, because when the standard is created it is voted on and looked over by thousands of people with a lot of experience and knowledge. For the days we have to fight fire we should all be meeting if not exceeding NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Ensembles for Structural Fire Fighting and Proximity Fire Fighting if we are not meeting this standard on a national level we are putting ourselves more in harms way than needed to on any level. This standard is designed to make sure we are equipped with the right equipment to protect us from the environment we are involved in. When wearing PPE that are compliant you are assured it has met the standard, it means that it has gone through performance and design testing to make sure that when put through even the most extreme conditions it should be capable of doing it’s job. When in any smoke-involved situation especially in structure fires, NFPA 1981 Standard on Open-Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) for Emergency Services should be met, even with the SCBA on you still run risk of being encountered smoke issues down the line these problems are aggravated by not being compliant with this standard. These standards are designed to minimize the loss of life, and property, which is why we should nationalize these standards, they are here to better us and the majority of the time they are reactive to an incident, so we should be compliant to this standard so we do not make the same mistake a second time. It is not possible to Nationalize every standard, because not all firefighters are in the same area of the country, so it wouldn't be convenient for someone in the country to train for high rise scenarios or vice versa. There are many positive aspects to nationalizing standards, but not all standards can be nationalized.
Since not applicable to all there is a system in place to separate standards that everyone should follow, standards that should be followed by different departments, and standards that should be followed in case of special events. FEMA has established levels of policies and procedures to divide up these standards into three different categories. The first category is known as series one or S1, which are standards that are already current on a national level. Standards that are to be followed by department or known as S2 standards. The S2 category is more of a template than anything allowing departments to construct around that template making an SOP specific to their department. This allows for other departments to work closely with the department, because they may have not identical but hopefully similar SOP’s. Whereas the series three SOP’s are completely specialized to the department and are very specific on how things have to be done, for example permanent trench rescue, or things that are specific due to weather hazards, or even due to high risk targets where there may be a safety factor present that you constantly have to be thinking about. There are many different standards that calls for different departments to do things differently, but the more standards that are nationalized the better we can be as a service
industry. National standards help unify the firefighting community and do everything together hopefully to a higher standard, but at the very least helps us do it in the same way, therefore making working environments safer not only to us, but even possible bystanders. There are several ways this will help the firefighting service. If a lot of what you're doing is meeting a national standard then you increase your chance for efficient interoperability. When this is presented it allows for a smoother more efficient and more importantly safe working ground. If everyone already has the same goal in mind, to save laves and as much property as possible, if we are able to do it in the same matter it will increase productivity. On a fairground it can avoid any possibility for discussion on how to do something and just make it happen by predicting what is needed and what has to happen next. For example if two departments have different strategies or procedures on how or when to vent if this were a national standard and we all trained and executed this in the same manner it would be safer, because not only could we help one another we could foresee what is going to happen and be ready for everything and know what tool may be needed. If we all plan to ventilate the same way even though we would need to communicate what is going on, but say if for some reason we miscommunicate we would still be capable of foreseeing what will happen. If we are to all operate in the same way as a well oiled machine, we do not have to worry about a different departments protocols contradicting each other’s and possibly creating unneeded risks. Say if we adopted a parking standard when first arrived on scene there would be a smaller chance of engineers parking randomly, and compromising how a different engineer was planning on executing his plan. It would maximize visibility of what is going on to avoid others blocking imperative points of views. If more standards are nationalized we have to be careful to not become stuck in a culture we cannot change to advanced into better strategies for when they do become reality. These standards would have to be live standards that allow for easy change at the highest level so if they need to be tweaked for the better they can be changed to improve on what we have. If more standards are to be nationalized we have to make sure we all train in the same way and know exactly what each standard requires so we all can be on the same page on how to do certain things to better the service it is we are providing.