Modern Day Firefighter

Prior to that, there is evidence of fire-fighting in use in Ancient Egypt. The first Roman fire brigade was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus. He took advantage of the fact that Rome had no firefighters. Crassus creating his own brigade of firefighters who rushed to burning buildings at the first cry for help. Upon arriving at the fire, the firefighters did nothing while their Crassus bargained over the price of their services with the property owner.

If Crassus could not negotiate a satisfactory price, the firefighters simply let the structure burn to the ground.

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In AD 60 Emperor Nero formed a group of firefighters called the Vigiles to combat fires using water buckets and pumps. The Vigiles patrolled the streets of Rome to watch for fires and served also as a police force. When there was a fire, the firefighters would line up to the nearest water source and pass buckets hand in hand to the fire. In Britain the first organised firefighting is believed to have originated during the Roman invasion in AD Even then, fighting fires was often limited to nothing better than buckets of water. Once the Romans left, firefighting took a backward step as communities fell into decline.

During the middle ages many towns simply burned down due to the lack of firefighters and most buildings were easy to burn being constructed of wood. Eventually, some parishes organised basic firefighting, but no regulations or standards were in force. The Great Fire of London, in , changed things and helped to standardize firefighting. It set in motion changes that laid the foundations for organised firefighting. Using a ranch house as an example, the first line can be placed in many locations based on the location of the fire, information determined during the size-up, staffing and many other considerations.

If getting water on the fire is a top priority, the discussion about tactics is narrowed. The fire appears to be a room-and-contents fire upon arrival, but grows exponentially as the crew prepares for their initial attack. An offensive attack must be initiated by deploying handlines inside directly to the seat of the fire—right? UL experiments in a two-story house call that belief into question. Fire is showing from the second floor of side A examples 5 and 6.

Traditional tactics call for the hoseline to be charged in the front of the house prior to entry but water is usually not flowed onto the fire prior to entry. Even if the interior path to the fire is known, flowing water directly onto the fire is faster from the outside than it is from the inside. A common reason why this is not done is because the conditions beyond the fire would be made worse. In this experiment, temperatures were measured in the hallway just outside the room and in the other bedrooms on the second floor. Twenty-five gallons of water directed off of the ceiling of the fire room from the exterior decreased fire room temperatures from 1, degrees F to degrees F in 10 seconds; the hallway temperature decreased from degrees F to degrees F in 10 seconds.

Another tactic that commonly surfaces when discussing pushing fire: You cannot push fire with water. A previous UL study yuzbwbfqb included the concept of pushing fire in the data analysis; it subsequently generated a lot of discussion. In many of the specific fires discussed in this and other studies, in the study, the firefighters were inside the structure and in the flow path opposite the hoseline. In most cases the event being described occurred while fire attack crews were advancing on the inside and not applying water from the outside into a fully developed fire.

All of the UL experiments were designed to examine the operations and the impact of the initial-arriving fire service units, so we did not, do not and will not suggest that firefighters should be positioned in a flow path opposite the hoseline. However, there are times when this may happen, so the experience of these firefighters should not be discounted. We also did not simulate water being applied from inside the structure by an advancing hoseline, even though we understand this happens on most fires.

We identified four events that could have created the appearance of pushing fire. Flow path is changed with ventilation, not water application. When the firefighters are opposite the hoseline, in many cases they entered from a different point than the hoseline and left the door or window open behind them. This flow path is entraining air low, where the firefighters are crawling, and hot gases are exiting over their heads. As the fire reacts to the added air, the burning moving over their heads increases, and conditions could deteriorate quickly.

However, the fire was just responding to the air and the added flow path, not water flow. Often this occurs close to the time water is applied, and without coordination Example 7.

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A flow path is changed with water. A common measure fire departments have taken to prevent this is to require firefighters to wear a bright yellow reflective vest over their turnout coats if they have to work on a public road, to make them more visible to passing drivers.

Firefighters have sometimes been assaulted by members of the public while responding to calls. These kinds of attacks can cause firefighters to fear for their safety and may cause them to not have full focus on the situation which could result in injury to their selves or the patient. Firefighting has long been associated with poor cardiovascular outcomes. In the United States, the most common cause of on-duty fatalities for firefighters is sudden cardiac death.

In addition to personal factors that may predispose an individual to coronary artery disease or other cardiovascular diseases , occupational exposures can significantly increase a firefighter's risk. Historically, the fire service blamed poor firefighter physical condition for being the primary cause of cardiovascular related deaths. However, over the last 20 years, studies and research has indicated the toxic gasses put fire service personnel at significantly higher risk for cardiovascular related conditions and death. For instance, carbon monoxide , present in nearly all fire environments, and hydrogen cyanide , formed during the combustion of paper, cotton, plastics, and other substances containing carbon and nitrogen.

The substances inside of materials change during combustion their bi-products interfere with the transport of oxygen in the body. Hypoxia can then lead to heart injury. In addition, chronic exposure to particulate matter in smoke is associated with atherosclerosis.

Noise exposures may contribute to hypertension and possibly ischemic heart disease. Other factors associated with firefighting, such as stress , heat stress , and heavy physical exertion, also increase the risk of cardiovascular events. During fire suppression actives a firefighter can reach peak or near peak heart rates which can act as a trigger for a cardiac event. For example, tachycardia can cause a plaque build up to break loose and lodge itself is a small part of the heart causing myocardial infarction , also known as a heart attack. This along with unhealthy habits and lack of exercise can be very hazardous to firefighter health.

A retrospective longitudinal study showed that firefighters are at higher risk for certain types of cancer. Firefighters had mesothelioma , which is caused by asbestos exposure, at twice the rate of the non-firefighting working population.

What Research Tells Us about the Modern Fireground - Fire Rescue

Younger firefighters under age 65 also developed bladder cancer and prostate cancer at higher rates than the general population. The risk of bladder cancer may be present in female firefighters , but research is inconclusive as of This link is a topic of continuing research in the medical community, as is cancer mortality in general among firefighters. Firefighters are exposed to a variety of carcinogens at fires, including both carcinogenic chemicals and radiation alpha radiation , beta radiation , and gamma radiation.

As with other emergency workers, firefighters may witness traumatic scenes during their careers. They are thus more vulnerable than most people to certain mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder [28] [29] and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Mental stress can have long lasting affects on the brain. Another long-term risk factor from firefighting is exposure to high levels of sound, which can cause noise-induced hearing loss NIHL and tinnitus.

The time of exposure required to potentially cause damage depends on the level of sound exposed to. This time period considers that no other high level sound exposure occurs in that hour time frame. In addition to high sound levels, another risk factor for hearing disorders is the co-exposure to chemicals that are ototoxic.

There are also high rates of hearing loss, often NIHL, in firefighters, which increases with age and number of years working as a firefighter. In Germany, even the smallest villages are required to have a volunteer fire department, called the "Freiwillige Feuerwehr", by law. Even the biggest German city, Berlin, with more than 3. However, due to urbanization and a shrinking population , very small villages may be exempt from this requirement if the area can be covered by the fire department from a neighboring town. If this is not the case, a compulsory fire department is established by conscripting every able-bodied inhabitant between 18 and 63 years of age.

A career fire service is mandatory for towns with more than , inhabitants. Consequently, only German cities have a career fire service, called the " Berufsfeuerwehr ", but in all of these cities a volunteer fire service exists too. In cities with a career fire service, volunteer fire brigades support the career fire service in the case of several emergencies at once, bigger fires, accidents and disasters. In a few of the bigger towns usually more than 35, inhabitants a large volunteer fire department could consist of a core of career firefighters supported by true volunteer firefighters.

However, the official title of those departments is nevertheless "volunteer fire service". The structure in Austria is similar to Germany. As of , some 4, volunteer fire departments, the back-bone of the Austrian fire service, could rely on about , men and women voluntary firefighters as active members. In Venezuela , there are, beside the types mentioned above, university firefighters.

They attend any emergency inside the campus and the zones around; however, their most important job is to develop new technologies in this area, thanks to the high level of education of its members: There are fire headquarters and 3, volunteer fire corps. These have a total of , active career firefighters and 21, vehicles with 4, fire houses; [ citation needed ] , volunteer firefighters share an additional 51, trucks.

In Romania , the Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is responsible for fire fighting and civil defense.

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In Singapore , the Singapore Civil Defence Force is responsible for fire fighting and emergency response. In addition to career firefighters, there are conscripted firefighters, generally young adults between the ages of , that join under the national service scheme see Conscription in Singapore.

In India municipalities are required by law to have a fire brigade and participate in a regional fire service. Each city has its own fire brigade. The main functions of firefighting services in India are provision of fire protection and of services during emergencies such as building collapses, drowning cases, gas leakage, oil spillage, road and rail accidents, bird and animal rescues, fallen trees, appropriate action during natural calamities, and so on.

Industrial corporations also have their own firefighting service. Each airport and seaport has its own firefighting units. Chile is the only country in the world where all firefighters are volunteers.



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This institution works with all the companies in the country, coordinating, guiding and serving as a link between the government and the Corps. The expedient and accurate handling of fire alarms or calls are significant factors in the successful outcome of any incident. Fire department communications play a critical role in that successful outcome. Fire department communications include the methods by which the public can notify the communications center of an emergency, the methods by which the center can notify the proper fire fighting forces, and the methods by which information is exchanged at the scene.

One method is to use a megaphone to communicate.

What Research Tells Us about the Modern Fireground

A telecommunicator often referred to as a dispatcher [ citation needed ] has a role different from but just as important as other emergency personnel. The telecommunicator must process calls from unknown and unseen individuals, usually calling under stressful conditions. It is the dispatcher's responsibility to bring order to chaos. While some fire departments are large enough to utilize their own telecommunication dispatcher, most rural and small areas rely on a central dispatcher to provide handling of fire, rescue, and police services.

Firefighters are trained to use communications equipment to receive alarms, give and receive commands, request assistance, and report on conditions. Since firefighters from different agencies routinely provide mutual aid to each other, and routinely operate at incidents where other emergency services are present, it is essential to have structures in place to establish a unified chain of command, and share information between agencies.

All radio communication in the United States is under authorization from the Federal Communications Commission FCC ; as such, fire departments that operate radio equipment must have radio licenses from the FCC. Ten codes were popular in the early days of radio equipment because of poor transmission and reception. Advances in modern radio technology have reduced the need for ten-codes and many departments have converted to simple English clear text.

The role of a firefighter

Many firefighters are sworn officers with command structures similar to the military and police. They do not have general police powers some firefighters in the United States have limited police powers, like fire police departments, while certain fire marshals have full police powers, i. The basic American fire department unit is a small unit called a "company", a group of firefighters who typically work on the same engine.

Commonwealth fire services are more likely to be organized around a "watch", who work the same shift on multiple engines. Ranks amongst Canadian firefighters vary across the country and ranking appears mostly with larger departments:. The active officers are the captain, and two or three lieutenants, these three active officers are distinguished by their red helmets. Most fire brigades in Commonwealth countries except Canada have a more "civilianised" nomenclature, structured in a traditional manner. For example, the common structure in United Kingdom brigades is:.

French civilian fire services, which historically are derived from French army sapper units, use French Army ranks. The highest rank in many departments is full colonel. In Germany every federal state has its own civil protection laws thus they have different rank systems. Additionally, in the volunteer fire departments, there is a difference between a rank and an official position. This is founded on the military traditions of the fire departments.

Every firefighter can hold a high rank without having an official position. A firefighter can be promoted by years of service, training skills and qualifications. Official positions are partly elected or given by capabilities. These conditions allow that older ordinary firefighters have higher ranks than their leaders. But through this ranks are no authorities given Brevet. The CNVVF task is to provide safety for people, animals and property, and control the compliance of buildings and industries to fire safety rules. The CNVVF also ensures public rescue in emergencies that involves the use of chemical weapons, bacteriological, radiological and materials.

Since the Corps uses its own rank titles dating from with matching military styled insignia in honor of its origins. In the CNVVF has been committed in forest firefighting activities together with the regional forest agencies, following the suppression of the National Forest Guards, which were merged into the Carabinieri firefighters were integrated into the CNVVF. In Iran, every city has its own fire department, but ranks are the same in the whole country, and are as follows:. In Ireland , the traditional brigade rank structure is still adopted. Below is the common structure for most brigades, Cork and Dublin Fire Brigade have additional ranks:.

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Japanese Fire Department's rank insignias are place on a small badge and pinned above the right pocket. Rank is told by stripes and Hexagram stars. The design of the insignias came from older Japanese style military insignias. Officers and Team Leaders could wear an arm band on the arm of fire jacket to show status as command leader.

Sometimes rank can be shown as different color fire jacket for command staff. The color whites and gray are reserved for EMS. Orange is reserved for rescuer. In New Zealand , rank is shown on epaulettes on firefighters' station uniform, and through colors and stripes on firefighter helmets. As the nation only has a single fire department, the New Zealand Fire Service , ranks are consistent through the country. In the Russian Federation , the decals are applied symmetrically on both sides of the helmet front and rear. The location of the decals on the special clothing and SCBA is established for each fire department of the same type within the territorial entity.

The following ranks are used by State Fire Service civilian personnel, while military personnel use ranks similar to those of the Police of Russia , due to their pre history as the fire service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation before all firefighting services were transferred to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.