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Don't Forget NFPA 1851 2008 Not to confuse the Issue Texas Turnout Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM By Carrie Cleaveland For seven years, Texas fire departments have been required to comply with NFPA 1851, Selection, Care and Maintenance of Protective Ensembles for Structural Firefighting and Proximity Firefighting. On June 24, the 2008 edition went into effect, bringing with it more rigorous testing requirements and for many departments, more cost. The first edition of NFPA 1851 was released in 2001. It covers eight sections: records, protecting personnel from contamination, selection, inspection, cleaning and decontamination, repair, storage and retirement, disposition and special incident procedures. A state bill adopted the initial regulations of NFPA 1851 in 2001. Since then, the Texas Commission on Fire Protection has conducted routine inspections of fire departments to ensure compliance. The commission has six officers throughout the state inspecting departments every two years. Inspectors ensure the departments have standard operating procedures in place to keep gear in good working condition and check records for any outside testing and repairs that need to be done. Departments themselves are primarily responsible for routinely inspecting their personal protective equipment, making repairs, and retiring worn or out-of-date turnout gear. The 2008 edition of NFPA 1851, however, requires more rigorous tests that cannot be done in-house without training from the manufacturer, and according to Texas Fire Commission Compliance Program Manager Miles Skipper, this could cause headaches for fire departments across the state. The new tests are: Light test A light is held inside the clothing to show either places in the thermal barrier where the material bunches up or is thinned. The light is sized to fit in the sleeve of a coat, should not touch the liner and should not produce heat damage to the liner. The test is performed annually. Puddle test The liner is placed over a 5-gallon bucket, with specific, high-wear areas to be tested. An alcohol/water mixture is poured over the liner to indicate degree of wear. This is performed in years one and two. This was recommended in the previous edition of NFPA 1851, but not required. Pressure test This is a water-penetration barrier evaluation requiring special equipment to test specific areas of the garment. It is performed at year three and every year after. Skinner says that this test has been problematic for some departments. “We're getting reports of a lot of protective clothing failing the pressure test,” he says, “even new stuff. That's a manufacturing problem.” Another problem facing departments is the 2008 edition's mandatory 10-year retirement rule for structure gear. “That caused quite a stir,” says Skinner. “A lot of departments have reserve gear in case of emergency, if a firefighter's gear was torn or needed to be repaired. In the meantime, they would bring out this old gear, some of which was over 10 years old. By the commission adopting NFPA 1851 in total, that required those departments to get rid of it.” NFPA 1851 also mandates that the outer shell of aircraft firefighter gear must be retired after five years, the liner after 10. Retired structure gear still can be used for non-live-fire training. This likely will affect a department's bottom line when it comes to rotating PPE, in keeping the clothing up to NFPA 1851's rigorous expectations. According to the commission, the average cost for a verified independent service provider to re-stitch seams is 50 cents per inch — that may or may not be included in the cost for cleaning and inspection, which is approximately $30 to $35 per piece. The commission suggests that specifying that the thermal and vapor barriers attach to each other in way that would allow inspection without removing stitches could help keep costs down. It is important to consider the cost of purchasing and installing proper cleaning equipment against that of contracting out those services or repairing and replacing gear if improper equipment is used. The initial costs might be high, but departments doing proper in-house cleaning and inspection will save money overall. For small departments with smaller budgets, the commission recommends sharing the costs with several nearby small departments and keeping the equipment in a central location. Skinner says that the commission is granting fire departments extra time to work any necessary changes into their budgets. “Some departments already have five- to seven-year rotation plans, so it will be a lesser impact on them,” he says. “But there will be budget increases. Any time you talk about safety issues, it's tempered with what you can afford. Most people don't drive the safest car on the road; they drive what they can afford with the minimum safety features built in. As you can afford it, you move up and drive a safer car. The same is true with protective clothing. We mandate fire departments do at least the minimum in Texas to meet safety standards.” One Texas fire department meeting more than the minimum safety standard is the McKinney Fire Department. Neil Howard, division chief of administration, has been working to keep PPE in his department at high safety levels for the last eight to 10 years. McKinney is a moderately affluent suburb of Dallas. “Around that time, there were a lot of news reports about firefighters getting burned and there was a big push to better maintain gear and protect firefighters,” he says. “We took that as a warning to stay ahead of the curve.” Howard agrees with Skinner: a department has to start small. “You have to see what kind of cost is involved in doing your maintenance,” Howard says. “If you have a lot of old gear, it will be more cost-effective to replace your gear than to have it tested and repaired. If you have a small department with, say, 60 members, 20 sets of gear is going to be hard to start off with financially. You might have to start out with five or 10 and build yourself up. You might do five every year on a five-year replacement. Five sets of gear will run you $5,000 to $6,000, and even a small department should be able to budget that to put toward gear. It might take five years to get to everyone in the department, but it still keeps them in compliance and it's a small piece of the pie. Take it in small steps. It's like life; we don't always get to live in the big house or drive the fancy cars when we're young, you have to wait till later in life to afford them. You have to crawl before you walk.” Because maintenance and inspection of gear has been a high priority for the McKinney Fire Department, the revisions to NFPA 1851 haven't affected the department too drastically. While it will need to perform the three new mandatory tests, it currently is on a three-year gear rotation plan, which has been a four-year process to complete. “This is the first year where a third of the department will have two sets of gear,” Howard says. “The second set is less than six years old. When we replace gear at the three-year mark, the old gear goes into reserve.” Howard credits then-president of Safety Solutions Jim Evans with helping the department beef up its inspection and maintenance procedures. Two and half years ago, Evans instigated a lot of the changes that are in practice today. “We learned a lot about cleaning properly,” Howard says, “like not hot-air drying the material and trying to keep gear out of the sun.” Five of the department's seven stations have extractors and RAM air dryers. Two of the stations have enclosed storage rooms to keep bunker gear out of direct ultraviolet light. McKinney also has a single employee who inspects and cleans all bunker gear. He reports back to Howard on whose gear needs to be retired and how many sets need to be ordered each year. “You have to have somebody assigned,” Howard says. It has to be a project that someone will take on and treat as theirs.” McKinney's policy requires captains to inspect gear every month, contacting the bunker gear inspector if any problems are detected. The gear inspector will check it over, clean it in-house if possible, and send it out to Safety Solutions for repairs if significant damage is reported. As will most departments, budgets still are a primary issue for McKinney. “We've had limited budgets over the years,” Howard says, “but we started out small, and as the department grows, we add new sets of gear.”

White Plains was informed by ISO in Late may or early June that they received a class 1 rating.

Hurst Hurst Centaur (Lukas) Holmatro® Rescue Equipment (CORE Technology) Amkus Rescue Systems TNT Rescue Systems Which one is better? I get this question all the time. All of these tools will get the job done and they all have plusses and minuses. I think the most important factor with all of these tools is training, training, training if your department has the best and strongest tool but doesn’t train with the tool what’s the point? And I mean train regularly with cars, vans, trucks and busses. Just starting the tool once a week, checking the fluid levels and cleaning the hoses doesn’t count as training that’s maintenance. And don’t forget Modern Car Technology (that’s a subject for another day) Ill concentrate with the top two in my opinion: Hurst and Holmatro You can’t go wrong with either one of these brands Hurst Centaur (High Pressure low Volume 10,000 psi) is the strongest and almost as maneuverable as the Halmatro Tool. If you want to see a nice new setup I think Millwood has a nice setup. Hurst (Low pressure High Volume 5000 psi) almost as strong as the Centaur, Its weight holds it back a little in my opinion. Many departments in Westchester and Putnam have nice Hurst tool set ups, Lake Mohegan’s rescue engines are nice examples of how it can be done. I hear a lot of complaints about the weight With proper training and team work I don’t see that as a negative, and really guys the only time you have to hold the tool for extended periods of time is in training. Holmatro’s Core (High Pressure low Volume 10,000 psi) is a strong tool, the cutters and spreaders weight makes them much more maneuverable than other tools, and the Core Technology couplers are fantastic. The only minor problem I have with Holmatro is the Deadman's handle with positive grip make it possible to get your hand trapped between the car and the handle when the tool starts to torque towards the car under power. (I’ve seen it happen many times) With proper technique and training this can be prevented thanks to Capt. R. Benz FDNR Many Departments in Westchester are switching to Halmatro even the Westchester County Fire Training center has a nice setup on L-7

Chassis: ALF 2007 Eagle Lo-Pro (Custom Tilt Cab) w/ notched roof Engine: Detroit, DDC 60, 515 hp. Transmission: Allison EVS 4000 6 spd. w/ (2) PTO Generator: Harrison 10,000 watt hydraulic w/ Frog D monitor Aerial: LTI Telescopic rear mount, pre-piped, 110'

The Rig is located out of the state of NY, Somewhere out west. If it is really important I can get the address for you and the contact number.

1949 ALF Engine 2

Nice Tool. Pretty pricey Just One problem You never break a tempered glass window in that manner Typically a blow (from a center punch or axe) applied to a corner of the pane will shatter the glass. The rescuer and patient should be protected from possible glass fragments. Often the glass will shatter but remain in place allowing the rescuer to carefully remove the fragments away from the patient.

The picture above is Scott's new AirPak75 http://www.scotthealthsafety.com/Americas/...a/AirPak75.aspx At about $7000.00 a pack. What a bunch of crap! Thats about a 150% price increase.

We just have to look south to FDNY and NYPD, Thats right if we are going to talk about consolidation lets not forget the PD. We are only about a 100 years behind New York City! New York and all the boroughs (which are actually seperate counties) is like a big county government. I'm not up on my New York History but I remember reading some place that back at the turn of the last Century (1900) New York wanted to make Westchester a borough.

Let's make this more accurate. Total runs fire Related Total Runs EMS It might take a while to extract those numbers but it would be interesting to see

Back in the late 1990's Westchester county prepared a study titled Westchester 2000 the author was Dr. Sal J. Prezioso http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...755C0A964958260 This article is a must read for any one interested in consolidation and the daunting task that lay ahead

I couldn't have stated it better Robert. I think one problem is all of the Chief's Which one is going to be in charge, and who is not!!! Do you think any will want to give up their authority ?

First: I would like to ask “What type of tool are you replacing”. Second: “Why”? Third: Can your department justify the cost of replacing the whole unit and all its components? Replacing the whole unit or switching manufacturers just because you think you need to may not be the best use of Tax payer’s dollars. Switching manufacturers creates training issues within the department that have to be addressed before the new unit can be put in service, and don’t forget to include the cost of training on the new tool in your budget. Speaking of training who is going to train you on this new tool? I would have to say that pound for pound Holmatro is the best in our industry today its light and more maneuverable than Hurst. Hurst is absolutely the strongest in the industry and has tools that are light but not as light as Holmatro. Hurst is the standard that all other tools are measured by though. One other thought Hurst Fluid (Phosphate Easter) vs. Mineral oil My department has four front line Hurst Tools and one spare unit 3- 32A spreaders 1- 32B Spreader 1- ML-28 Spreader 4- O-Cutters 1- Extractor Cutter 1- JL-Moc II Cutter 3- Onboard DC Power units 4- 4 Stroke Portable power units And all the assorted equipment that goes with them. I teach AVET for Westchester County and NY State and have the opportunity to use every ones tools and I say with experience that right now POUND for POUND that Holmatro Is a great tool.

1969 Maxim 1000 gpm. 500 gallon tank

Rescue 88 has a light tower and generator and squad 4 has a light tower and a generator. The old light truck was dismantled by the city garage and the chassis was sold.The chassis is at a used car dealer ship off of RT-17 just before you get to the orange county fire training center, the light mast was installed on squad 4.

Count me in too. This is a technique used by many websites. The only concern is that all the information that you acquire has to be kept secure and not for sale, and that should be stated on the application. A registerd screen name and e-mail address might be all that you need. If you have a problem with a screen name you can always block that name from access to your servers, Yes they can always get back in under another screen name and e-mail address but if you have continual problems you could block their IP address. http://support.im1.net/hosting/block_ips.htm

It is not a rumor. There will be a spring, New York State Fire Academy class at Westchester. The projected start date would be March 6, 2006. The canvas letters are already out. As it stands now the class size is 16 confirmed but it is still early, all of the departments haven't responded yet.

Lieut2 is almost 100% correct; the only discrepancies are the dates. I must add that the White Plains Volunteers are mainly a social Group (Company Meetings although I haven’t seen a volunteer in the firehouses in years Christmas parties, cookouts, and Bus trips to foxwood). In the past career officers taught any training that took place, Basic OSHA training and there were only a very few members that actually participated. Last year they were CERT certified by Department of Public Safety Personnel (Police and Fire) and most volunteers are not firefighter I or II certified, at last count there are only two or three members that are actually certified to even drive their engine. Although it does have a brand new paint job. The majority of their membership are approaching senior citizen status or already there