Don’t Get Hurt!

For 22 years of my life I went to work with the prospect of getting either injured or killed on any given day.  I was a Firefighter in the City of Philadelphia and have had stupid thinks happen to me once or twice.  I got burned at a grass fire (wind kicked up blowing hot ash in my face, what a dumb injury).  Was stuck on a third floor with heat building from the fire below (out the window we go).  I have had ceilings fall on me, water dripping from charged electrical wired shocking me and other stuff that at the time was simply annoying but in the right circumstance as any firefighter will tell you could turn into a shit storm in a heartbeat.  I know of at least three guys who had walls fall on them to varying degrees of injury from third degree burns to a fractured skull or a shattered knee.  Only one of these men was no longer able to fight fires and left the department due to his injuries.  During my 22 years in the department 19 men died as a result of fighting fires.  Think about that.  This is not what you would call a safe job.  Almost everyday, for the people of Philadelphia, one or more of these guys do something incredible to save someone.  Running past a fire and up the stairs to rescue a victim is not unheard of, it is, to the men and women of the fire service what we do.  But we do have something Joe Citizen does not.  Personal Protective Equipment.

Let’s have a look at some of it.

 

As you can see the protective equipment provided and mandated by the NFPA should provide what is called an encapsulated environment for the firefighter to work in.   It allows the firefighters to operate in the environment for a longer period of time provided there is no direct flame contact or excessive heat buildup.  Here is the key.  Direct contact with flame due to flash over or even a backdraft (not quite like the movie but still bad) can leave the material used useless and very quickly cause a burn injury to the firefighter. Heat buildup will not be noticed until it is too late, due to the insulation properties of the equipment  Here is the label from a FireDex hood (the style used in the City of Philadelphia)

So FireDex relieves themselves of responsibility for any burns by putting this label inside the hood.  Read bullet points one and two again.  You bet firefighting is dangerous,  And you can rest assured that people will get hurt doing it.  So the question then is this.  If the equipment has potential to fail why would the Philadelphia Fire Department treat injured Firefighters like they did something wrong.  There is a General Memo issued by Ernest Hargett Deputy Commissioner and Lloyd Ayers Commissioner pretty much says that you are guilty of a sin until the department decides you are not, if you get burned.  This policy is enforced by Battalion Chief  Costo.  Let’s meet the players.

Here they are

Commissioner Ayers

Deputy Commissioner Ernest Hargett

Battalion Chief Costo

Don’t they look happy.  Here are three guys who decided that the men and women of the Philadelphia Fire Department go out everyday and try to get burned.  Their mission in life is to make it impossible for the people in the trenches to do their job out of fear of punishment.  I have spoken with one firefighter who was burned and he told me that BC Costo told him flat-out he thinks he is lying about the method of injury.  Why would it matter, a burn is serious and painful injury and not one firefighter I know would willingly expose themselves to that pain for any reason.  One officer I spoke with said that this method of injury evaluation and the General Memo it is based on is causing members to second guess themselves and will eventually lead to the loss of life of either other firefighters or the citizens of Philadelphia.  Here is that harsh GM

 

Once again let’s go back to the label.  You can be burned through the hood without damage to the hood.  What part of this does Battalion Chief Costo, Deputy Commissioner Hargett and Commissioner Ayers not understand?  No they would rather punish the people that go the extra mile for the citizens of Philadelphia.

Let’s go folks write the Fire Commissioner and tell him you think he is being unfair to the people that put their lives on the line everyday and protect YOURS!

Write or call

Fire Administration Building
240 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123

215-686-1300

Just ask for the Commissioner  or ask for Ernie he looks like a nice guy  (Thumbs up Ernie)

If you wan to see the video about the Dupont materials you can see it here