This is what it's all about!!!

As the View's crew tweeted about the brotherhood/sisterhood of today's fire service being in decline, I stumbled upon this heartwarming story.  If this don't show you what type of people sign up to serve as a firefighter.  We all need to keep our focus on what we all are....Family! Shout out to station 1!

Leaders Toolbox!

I would like to send a huge thank you out to Dr. Richard Gasaway for the chance to record a podcast on Hoarding.   Remember  SA does matter ..


http://www.firehouse.com/podcast/10729193/the-leaders-toolbox-heavy-contents-hoarder-homes

Their Last Call Charleston Fire

Five years ago the Charleston South Carolina Fire Department lost 9 firefighters in the super sofa store fire.  I can remember this day just like it was yesterday!  Charleston SC fire department is about like a mirror image of my home department that shares more than just the name.  Honor the fallen by reviewing the report, watching the videos, and saying a prayer for their families on this anniversary of their ultimate sacrifice.

 So others may live!

God bless the fallen and the Charleston SC Fire department!

Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes

 Here is a Guest article from SAMATTERS.COM

Introduction from Dr. Gasaway:

I want to take this opportunity to introduce the Situational Awareness Matters community of readers to an associate and good friend of mine, Firefighter-Paramedic Ryan Pennington with the Charleston (WV) Fire Department. Ryan has been conducting extensive research on the epidemic problem of emergencies in hoarder homes. Emergencies including everything from fires to EMS calls to animal hoarding issues – the whole gamut. Ryan has also developed a knock-out program on hoarder home fires. If you’re jurisdiction is having problems with hoarder home fires, Ryan’s program may be just what you need. Let’s see what Ryan has to say in this guest article on “Heavy Content” Hoard Homes.

Good afternoon and welcome to SAmtters.com.  I would like to take this opportunity to speak to you, the loyal readers of SAmatters, on Hoarder House Fires.  Educating firefighters on the dangers associated with hoarder fires has become my passion, so when Chief Gasaway offered, I jumped at the chance to share a lesson in hoarding with you.  So let’s go into the chamber of hoarders for an article on using the term “heavy contents” while battling a Hoarder Homes fires.

Hoarder Home Size-Up

The duty of the first arriving officer is to size up the situation accurately.  During this process they will use their senses to form a plan of attack by walking around the structure.  During your size up you will need to pay close attention to windows, front yards, porches, and entry ways for signs of hoarded interiors.  If you make this determination you need to announce “Heavy Contents” to everyone on scene and responding to tell them of the conditions.  It’s kind of ironic that I am writing about the use of this term for Dr. G’s website as he was instrumental in developing it.  You see he is the brain science professor that helped me realize the meaning behind these two terms placed beside each other.

The Origins of Hoarding

We all have terms that we use to describe a hoarded home.  From “trash house” to “Collier’s Mansions”, a term derived from the Collier brothers in Manhattan. They made hoarding famous or should I say infamous. We have used multiple versions of describing the same thing. These words have the same meaning behind them but can be harmful to the owners of the homes if they are standing beside one of our radios when the report gets to command.  You see, people who live in hoarded conditions have an emotional attachment to their “stuff.”  A simple stack of newspapers to you might have a deep emotional meaning for them.  You can see how it might cause a problem if they overheard radio traffic describing their belongings as “trash” or their home as a “trash house.”  If you choose to use “Collier’s Mansion” terminology you will need to make sure that everyone who might respond to your scene has a true understanding of its meaning.

Heavy Contents

That is why I developed the term Heavy Contents.  It is politically correct, accurate, and should trigger your brain to start thinking of the increased weight that is added to the structure, even before the first drop of water hits the ground. Hoarded homes often have so much stuff in them that normal living spaces become uninhabitable. If the belongings are occupying that amount of space imagine how much extra weight has been added onto the structure. This is where the term Heavy comes in.  A large amount of belongings equals a large amount of weight and it is a term that anyone can relate to, even if they haven’t been taught it, due to the use of common terminology.

Property Maintenance

Another complication inside a hoarded home is the lack of property maintenance.  Hoarder conditions make it almost impossible to reach all the points of the structure from leaking pipes, busted ceilings, finding termites, or noticing a leaking exterior wall leading to weakened structural members.  This is troubling to us, as firefighters, due to the chances of structural collapse being increased, often without us knowing. This is just another reminder that if we hear the term heavy content called out that we should automatically think of increased collapse risks.

Piled High and Deep

The second of the two words should warn you of the dangers that lie inside.  With hoarder homes you can face belongings that can reach all the way to the ceiling.  Add in a fast-moving fire with thick dark smoke and it’s a recipe for your death.  If you hear the call of heavy content you need to go to a defensive mindset.  Not so much that you need to abandon interior operations, although that would be a wise decision many times, but you need to be more careful in selecting your point of entry, hand tools, and absolutely do not enter without a thermal imagining camera and a hose or search rope to help aid in your exit. In a hoarder home the right and left hand searches are basically useless due to the inability to use the walls. Your only link to the outside is that hose or search line if your TIC batteries fail.

In closing I would like to thank Dr. G for giving me the guidance over the past 20 plus years and the chance to share an article on hoarder home fires with you. You should read this article, return to your department, and share the term “heavy content” with anyone who may respond to a hoarded home in an emergency. It should hammer home the importance that it’s not a basic fire anymore.  Hoarded houses can put you at a higher risk that needs to be identified and adjusted for immediately upon the discovery of heavy content’s.  Using a term developed with Dr. G’s brain science will hammer home to your people the need and hopefully make you remember this article.  Just remember that SA does matter and before you go into your next fire maybe you should spend some time reading Chamber of Hoarders (www.Chamberofhoarders.com) so you will be ready to face the Heavy Contents inside your next hoarder home fire.

Hoarder Home Podcast

Ryan Pennington will be a guest on my Leader’s Toolbox Podcast radio program at Firehouse.com next Wednesday. This is not a live program.  I will send out an announcement via my social media channels to let you know when it goes live, along with a link.

Hoarder Home Webinar

Ryan and I will also be jointly presenting a Webinar on situational awareness and firefighter safety in hoarded environments. The date will be announced soon on my social media channels. If this is a topic that interests you, please post a comment at the end of this article and send me a message on my Facebook Fan page or on Twitter. Thank you! Your participation is very important to the success of Situational Awareness Matters!

FDNY & NFFF: Still Working...So Everyone Goes Home

Every jumpseat rider needs to watch and learn from the FDNY and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundations. We all can learn from their initiatives on safety, survival, fitness, and Situational Awareness.

Huge thank you to the FDNY and NFFF......

Always #jumpseatready!  

Guest article from Chamberofhoarders.com

 Good morning from the Chamber of Hoarders.  The stories from responses in hoarded conditions keep streaming in and there is a tactic that needs addressed.  Many times when a hoarded home is on fire the crews must switch to a defensive fire attack.  This is not new, but will be more complicated due to the amount of belongings inside the home.  It has been well documented that fire departments have called on salvage companies to bring in excavator's to tear the building down. Without these machines the fire may burn for days or weeks.  With this in mind, do you have a demolishing crew in your speed dial.  What if they are needed at o'dark thirty on a sunday morning?  Let's spend some time in the chamber to add another  tool in the tool box.  So back in the chamber we go.....

Building after..

Pre-Plan For This Need 

In the fire service we all know the value of a Pre-Fire plan of our commercial and multi-family dwelling's in our territory.  Have you ever thought about the need to plan for that low-frequency need that you may encounter?  You need to add one more special circumstances to this list.  A demolishing crew needs added  in case of a Hoarder Fire.  With the amount of stuff inside a hoarding environment the rapid fire spread can push firefighters out of the structure is a hurry.  Chosing to go defensive on a fire with these conditions is often a wise choice, even from the beginning.  A problem with the defensive attack is the inability to penetrate deep inside the structure to put out all the fire.

Once you have added gallons and gallons of water in a defensive operations the structure may not be stable enough to send firefighters inside.  Now what? This is where the Incident Commander has some decisions to make.  Is it safe to send firefighters in? Are we going to let it burn?  How are we going to get inside to put this fire out.  This is where often the decision is to bring the building down.  The density of the belongings inside will not allow the fire extinguished completely. One story that has been shared with the chamber's crew, was an example of this, where the houses structural members including wall, roof, and roof trusses burn completely away leaving only the hoarded materials.   

So, now you have decided to demolish the building and you have decided to call in the wrecking crew.  Preparing for this occurrence should be handled before the fire happens for a couple of reasons.  One is who is going to pay for their services?  Often the fire department can be charged for these services unless your agency has access too these types of machines.  Second, this building is still on fire.  The operator needs to be aware and trained to coördinate the demolition with the hose streams. Using elevated streams will be a "best practice" and offer the operator a greater level of protection.  Another consideration for the operator is respiratory protection inside the cab.  One shift in wind or debris can make smoke conditions bad enough to harm the operator.  Training the operators in the use of an SCBA will be invaluable if this happens.

A good working relationship with these crews before the fire happen is key in a successful demolition of a building that is actively of fire.  Fire managers need to be aware of their available resources on any given day of the year.  Training these crews in the tactics used and protection equipment will prepare you both for a hoarder fire that needs demolished.  Reach out to your local business and ask about their services costs, call out numbers, and locations so you will be  #jumpseatready to demolish a house with fire that can't be put out otherwise!

Hoarder Survey Results

  Here are the results of the recent Hoarder fire survey sent out by the Chamber of Hoarders Staff.  Huge “thank you” to the USFA for sharing survey with the fire service community.  The response was overwhelming.

1.       Have you ever responded to a fire with Hoarder Conditions:

Yes: 100%             No   0.00%

2.       How long did it take you to realize that you were facing a hoarder house fire:

Minute: 52.4%               5 Minutes: 35.4                 Start of Overhaul: 11.0%               After Fire:2.4%

3.       Were their occupants trapped:

Yes: 11.0%           No: 89.0%

4.       Did you crew communicate to the incident commanders that they had Hoarder Conditions?

Yes: 39.0%           No: 43.9%            Not Sure: 13.4%                Didn’t Hear: 3.7%

5.       How many personnel did you have on the scene of the Hoarder Home:

5-10: 11.0%   10-20: 52.4%    20-30: 3.7%  30-40: 3.7%         50 or more:1.2%

More than normal: 6.1%

6.       How long did it take to overhaul after the fire was under control?

Longer than normal: 43.9%          10-15 Minutes: 1.2%       30-50 Minutes:  14.6%

60-90 Minutes: 14.6%                     2 Hours or More: 28.0%

7.       Was structure demolition required to extinguish the fire?

Yes: 13.6              No: 86.4%

8.       Would your department benefit from a Hoarder Training Program?

Yes: 79.3%           No: 22.0%

The numbers do not lie that we are all seeing fires in hoarder conditions.   The last two questions are coming soon.  They contained short answer questions and the responses were great.  Stay tuned in to the chamber to see the exciting answers.

 Thank you to all who took part in this survey!

'Hoarder' killed in Bethel Park fire

 By Peter Sullivan / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


 An 83-year-old woman described as a hoarder was killed when her Bethel Park house caught fire this morning -- burning faster because of its contents, fire officials said. The smoke at 85 Highland Road was reported at 5:01 a.m. When firefighters arrived, the blaze was already fierce.


 They tried to force their way in but the heat and smoke pushed them back, Allegheny County Chief Deputy Fire Marshal Don Brucker said. They were able to contain the fire in less than an hour. About 9 a.m., as they demolished the charred remnants of the house looking for its resident, firefighters found Liz Cutone's body on the first floor.


 Bethel Park fire Chief Dave Gerber said having so much fuel only fed the fire. "She was definitely a hoarder," he said. "It makes it harder. It makes it burn a lot faster." Mr. Brucker said there was no sign she tried to escape. Investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire, he said. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/firefighters-comb-bethel-park-wreckage-for-signs-of-woman-638507/#ixzz1waC8khmU

Out on Arrival

Good afternoon from the jumpseat.  During my last shift it hit me the three words that every firefighter don’t want to hear.  “Out on arrival” is three words that take you from being #jumpseatready to the aw man moment.  We all know what's it's like to hear the dispatch of a possible structure fire can clear a station faster than someone cooking with ramps.  We all get on our chosen unit for the day, put our seat belt on, and prepare for the upcoming battle, then those words come and it’s time to take the gear off.

Talk about a letdown, now I hate to see anyone’s property be consumed by fire and the heartbreak that goes along with it is staggering.  But let’s all face it, we like fighting fires.  If there is a fire we want it in our area, unless you the engineer then you want it in your second due so you can fight some fire.  That’s why I chose to work on the west side of my city, to see more fire.  If you repaired air conditioners would you go to Alaska to work, I vote NO. 

With the constant stream of non-fire related calls coming our way you must stay on guard for your next fire. Just remember that when the bell rings, you get dressed and ready just to hear the words Out on Arrival broadcasted over the radio that you shoud take the time to make sure that you place all you PPE and equipment ready for the next fire because you never know where it will be!

Thanks for the stop in the jumpseat!

Bunker up, Buckle in, it’s where we all begin!

Picture is from the Dover DE Fire Department  Rescue 1 

Taken during visit to Delaware in March 2012

Large Church Fire in South Minneapolis

 The Views from the jumpseat crew would like to share this fire with the loyal readers. God Bless the injured firefighters and the Minneapolis Fire Department. 

MAY 28, 2012 · NEWS STORY AND PICTURES COURTESY OF: TWIN CITY FIRE WIRE

May 27 - Five firefighters were injured while battling a three-alarm church fire Sunday night. The blaze lit up the night sky over South Minneapolis as it  burned out of control for almost two hours before it was declared under control.

Fire officials said that one of the five firefighters suffered serious injuries to their upper body. Four others suffered less serious burn injuries and they were being treated at Hennepin County Medical Center where Fire Chief John Fruetel and Mayor R.T. Ryback are visiting with them.

• Audio: Listen here for incident audio. Mayday about 3:00

 The fire at the Walker Community United Methodist Church at 3104 16th Ave. S. was reported around 8:20 p.m. when an initial assignment was dispatched for a report of smoke in the building. According to the church’s website, the thee-story high building was opened in March 1910.

Engine 5 arrived to find smoke in the cockloft of the building and requested a full assignment, according to the Extra Alarm Association’s Facebook page.  Some companies in South Minneapolis were just clearing  of a fire on Sunrise Drive.

An attack line was stretched by Engine 5′s crew to try to find the source of the fire. Engine 17′s crew established a water supply and then stretched a backup line.

While crews were trying to locate the seat of the fire, a Mayday was called. It was initially reported that several firefighters were injured in a flashover.

For continued coverage of this fire and updates visit Twincitiesfirewire.com

Happy Memorial Day from the Jumpseat!

On this special day remember to personally say "Thank You" to someone who is/or has served our country in the Military.  I thought that I would share this AWESOME video of the "Pride of West Virginia" marching bands performance with you.  What a great tribute!   Happy Memorial day....and a Huge Thank you to all the men and women who protect our Freedom!!!!

Hoarder Storage Fire

GLENDALE, Ariz. Courtesy of My Fox Pheonix - Firefighters rushed out to an apartment fire in Glendale and found a unit stuffed with belongings. This occurred near 43rd Avenue and Bethany Home Road. Firefighters said the inside of one unit was just packed with stuff. Apparently, a hoarder was storing belongings there -- but wasn't living there. The unit had a lot of damage to it, but crews were able to keep it from spreading. No one was hurt. From

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/18612810/hoarders-storage-unit-catches-on-fire

A Box of Frustration!

Seems like every time you feel pretty confident about being a firefighter something has a way of humbling you! This box full of wire will do just that! Even the most comfortable person in their gear and air pack will feel like they really are trapped. "Work through your problems," just doesn't seem like a correct statement, but maybe it is. Resisting the natural instincts to rip, cut, and pull can be a very hard to learn.

So does it take a box of wire to teach us just that? I will leave the answer to that question up to you. I would suggest to find or build this prop to place your firefighters into this situation. First ,without being able to cut or displace the wire, then allow them any means to remove themselves. Train, train, and train! Then when you feel comfortable with it switch it up! I personally find this prop hard, so guess what....off to the box I go! Stay focused on training and thanks for the visit to the jumpseat!

We will never Forget!

We will never forget! It is the night before September 11th 2009. It is so hard to believe it has been eight years. Just like everyone else, I can remember that day like it was yesterday. I was home in bed after working a overtime shift on the bolance. My wife came and woke me up to show me what was going on. The first words out of my mouth were "It's going to collapse". Man I wish that I was wrong. God bless the men and women of the FDNY, NYPD, and Port Authority. God bless everyone who lost their life on 9/11. God bless the first responders that protect America everyday! Let's join together on this day to stop and take a moment to remember and honor their sacrifice. Let's also take this time to take to look at our situations and take a step back. From the jumpseat to the front seat let's all make safety our number 1 priority so we can honor the fallen and protect the future. God bless America!

Thanks Pete Mathews from firehouse.com for the use of his picture.