About History And Importance Of The Fire Service

History of the fire service started back in Jamestown, Virginia, under the command of Captain James Smith. One of the founding fathers Ben Franklin was even a member of the bucket brigades who passed buckets of water to fires in order to turn them out. Certain towns adopted curfews with ‘Rattle watch’ walking the streets at night, monitoring homeowners to turn out lanterns since fires more common when families were sleeping. Later in the years a Union organized group of volunteer firefighters emerged in Philadelphia, insurance companies would pay volunteers to salvage property and be the first to the scene extinguishing a fire out.

This drew major competition between volunteers and as city water systems were developed from wooden logs, volunteers would have kids run in advance to the fire hiding plugs so other volunteers could not have access to the wooden water main.

The culture of the fire service derives from when it was first created and the safety habits that were established.

Some will say culture has to do with the clothing, hard hats, and vehicles or even the use of wooden ladders. Culture does involve symbols like the Maltese Cross of St. John, but when I envision culture in the fire service, I think of the cultural safety habits established within the fire service and how some departments may or may not resist to change. It is an ongoing battle with technology, and tactics, many of the veterans of the fire service who have been in for a long time are used to doing things a certain way because of the culture and may struggle to adapted to newer methods and techniques to attack fires or conduct a task.

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The basic components of a fires chemical reaction are Heat, Fuel, and an Oxidizing agent (Oxygen). In order for a fire to be ignitable all three elements need to be present with a balanced mixture of each one of the elements. If one of the elements were to be removed the chemical chain reaction is broken, the removal of heat by cooling with water or a foam agent, the removal of a fuel i.e. solid metal drums with solvents, shutting down gas lines etc. Finally suppressing the oxygen which is feeding the fire, example fanning a room when attacking a structure fire will allow steam to build up suffocating the fire.

The four major phases of fires consist of the following beginning with the Incipient stage, which is the initial stage when heat, fuel and oxygen are combined together resulting in a chemical reaction which may also be known as an ‘Ignition’ with a visual element of a small fire. Free-Burning stage is where the fire load and oxygen combined are used as fuel to keep the fire growing, the architectural design of the structure may also impact growth depending if the structure has large or low ceilings. Flashover stage when everyone must exit the home immediately all furniture and materials have reach ignition temperature and finally when the home has become fully involved and burns we will hit the final stage of Smoldering/Decay stage, this is the where a decrease and limited amount of oxygen or fuel is no longer present. But dangers do lye during the Smoldering/Decay stage because the fire is not fully extinguished it can potentially spark a new fire and if it is in confined space, hallway, room and oxygen is introduced it may resulting in a backdraft.

Fire Service training would typically run at a fire academy for new recruits or even at the fire house with regular firefighters in order to keep skills current with familiarization with equipment and each other. Education can be in the form of achieving a Fire Science degree, completing required training monthly at the fire house on a computer. Even attending the Nation Fire Academy can be seen as a form of education, which leads to the Professionalization of the fire service, which can be a doubled edge sword with no wrong answer pertaining to education. Based on what I have read professionalization of the fire service would be by having more candidates entering the fire service with degrees or certifications prior to applying within the city the seek employment.

Department of Defense by providing fire departments with the required training for antiterrorism and response during incidents. American Red Cross provides shelter, food and assistance to the public and government agency during a state or national crisis. Federal Emergency Management Agency providing coordinated resources to local and federal agencies during a disaster, FEMA also maintains a list of all the USARs rescue teams available and deployed during an event.

The ‘Scope, purpose, and organizational structure of fire and emergency services’ is to allow the Incident Command System (ICS) to be developed in order to take full command in either a single or multi-agency response by increasing the effectiveness of the command and firefighter safety. This is done by assigning task and coordinating efforts with resource elements involved during the fire emergency.

The most common type of fire in the United States would be kitchen fires, class k, because of the oil fats involved in cooking. Electrical fires due to faulty electronic appliances or improper use of electrical outlets or power strips. Heater fires from portable heaters being used during the winter months, and Smoking-related fires caused by individuals who fall asleep with a lite cigarette on a sofa or bed.

Emergency service facilities are Ambulance for immediate trauma care, Hospitals, Air-Medical for transportation. Equipment in which could be used for an emergency service can be stokes basket, M/A system, SCBA, Thermal Imagery. Fire Apparatus can range from a medic truck all the way to ladder truck. Specific apparatuses will be utilized and assigned at the department based on what their main role is within the fire house. For example, a pumper would only be used for provided supplying water to the attack line by using the equipment it was designed to function with and carry, with that being said, a pumper would carry ladders and the necessary feet in hose needed. Quintuple serves as a dual-purpose engine or ladder truck offering the capabilities of being a pumper and having a top rear mounted ladder. Engines can be used as medics or rescue engines.

Effective management is a key component of leaders who are able to distinguish what a firefighter or team will need to either attack a fire or for rescue operations versus a leader who is unable to understand the key components needed to complete a task and wasting useful resources. Management concepts are more in line with a leader who is able to process the planning phase and the appropriate control and direction of personnel within the structured element. Contrast to the above any person who is unable to effectively complete the task listed above by taking control of the scene, assign personnel and equipment is the complete opposite of effective management concepts.

The primary responsibility of fire prevention personnel and code enforcement is to provide routine inspections on structures in order to gain compliance with codes and city ordinances. They are to perform fire, code inspection and are expected to enforce the governing laws adhered to those codes. Public information key role is to provide information to the public pertaining to the specific event being covered, whether it is an emergency crisis or public education, by doing so a PIO ensures a transparent message is relayed to public on behalf of the city, state or federal government. Public and private protection systems primary responsibilities is to protect individual occupancies, their main role is providing an alert system to the building occupants or local fire department during incipient stage of a fire by doing so they may be contributing to reduction in life and property loss.

The Importance of wellness and fitness is crucial in emergency services, a firefighter must be fit and in-shape in order to function with all the required PPE. SCBA and turn-outs are critical during a fire attack, if the firefighter is unable to perform in these stressful conditions due to weight gain he or she may use more air reducing the time inside the structure during the attack. They would also be useless when it comes to carrying another firefighter or victim out of a burning structure. It is critical to be in shape in order to effectively complete the job and be ready to respond to any emergency situation.

The main factors that influence fire spread and behavior start with fuel, oxygen and heat, then the way the fire may spread is based on the conduction, convection or radiation of the heat itself. All three influence the spread of a fire whether it is in the material and design of the structure or if it is a wildland surface fire being spread by crown fires from the radiated heat of the surface to the top of trees. The behavior of the fire will solely be based on the condition of the environment and how it will fuel the fire and what, who is available at the time to extinguish it.