Port Jervis Fire Department

 

Fire Service News

 

   

 

Suicide method poses an officer safety hazard  -  March 2, 2008
There is a method of suicide being publicized around the Internet that can offer a deadly hazard to law enforcement officers and others who may come upon the scene of such an incident.
The information was received through our EMS information channels. Elsevier Public Safety publishes Law Officer magazine, but also JEMS and Fire-Rescue magazines, with corresponding web sites.
The notice came from Dr. Paul Pepe, a professor and chair of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Medical Center at Dallas. It reads as follows:

Recently a new way to commit suicide has been discovered by mixing two chemicals that can be bought over the counter at local stores.  They are, ( DELETED) and (DELETED).  Once mixed, the chemicals produce heat and a flammable, noxious gas that causes the subject to pass out and the heart stop within minutes.  The process appears to be quick and painless.  Two recent cases, one in Pasadena, California and the other at Lake Allatoona in Bartow County, Georgia, involved young men in their early 20's.  Both were found locked inside their cars with the chemicals.  Each left a note on the car warning anyone around of danger.  The car at Lake Allatoona had been taped to prevent gas from escaping.
 
Does this sound like a routine call that most of us would respond to and take similar action?
 
It's Sunday morning 0730 hours, you respond to a person down in auto.  You locate a car in the empty parking lot of a business.  The engine and med unit pull up near the vehicle and personnel see a person inside that appears to be asleep or unconscious.  Wearing safety glasses and medical gloves, you walk up to the car and knock on the window.
 
The patient does not respond to your knock on the window, and the doors are locked.
What action will you take?  Will you hurry to make patient access?  Will you use a lockout tool, center punch, or halligan to make entry?
 
You make access, a rush of warm air comes out of the vehicle and you smell a sharp odor.  You have just become a victim and have been exposed to a noxious possibly fatal gas.
 
What could you have done differently? You are the first-in unit.  How should you respond to this type of incident?

  1. Do not become complacent!  Your response should be similar on every call.
  2. Be well trained, know your job, do your job.
  3. Start your size-up from the time a call is dispatched.
  4. Establish a strong command and control the scene.
  5. Don't go rushing in.
  6. Survey the scene.    
  7. Does the scene look routine?
  8. Do you see anything unusual?  (Example:  A note on the window, containers inside the vehicle and taped windows or vents).
  9. Is the scene safe?
  10. Wear the appropriate PPE.
  11. Establish a Hot Zone.
  12. Develop a plan of action and coordinate activities.
  13. Call for additional resources.  (Hazmat Team, PD, etc.) 14.  Did PD arrive prior to FD and become contaminated requiring emergency decon and first aid?
Worker Visibility Final Rule - 23 CFR Part 634

Sec. 634.3 Rule. All workers within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway who are exposed either to traffic (vehicles using the highway for purposes of travel) or to construction equipment within the work area shall wear high-visibility safety apparel. Firefighters or other emergency responders working within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway and engaged in emergency operations that directly expose them to flame, fire, heat, and/or hazardous materials may wear retroreflective turn- out gear that is specified and regulated by other organizations, such as the National Fire Protection Association. Firefighters or other emergency responders working within the right-of-way of a Federal-aid highway and engaged in any other types of operations shall wear high- visibility safety apparel.

 The Interim Final Rule:
Revises the definition of "worker" to exclude firefighters when they are exposed to flame, fire, high heat or hazardous materials.

Exempts firefighters from the requirement to use high-visibility safety apparel, as defined in this rule, when they are exposed to hazardous conditions where the use of such apparel may increase the risk of injury to firefighter personnel.

The Interim Final Rule is available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-27671.htm

 

Practice Fire Prevention Week everyday

 

Your home should be a safe haven. But do you regularly check for home fire hazards?

If not, there is the potential for danger. Fire departments responded to nearly 400,000

home fires in 2006. That’s why the theme of Fire Prevention Week 2008 was 

 “It’s Fire Prevention Week: Prevent Home Fires!”

FEMA - USFA Kids

Fire Prevention Week Website

Sesame Street Fire Safety and other games, videos, etc.

Looking for Grants for your FD?

The mission of FireGrantsHelp.com is to provide members of the
 first responder community with a comprehensive resource for
grant information and assistance.

Fire Grants Help.com will feature the most extensive fire grant
database ever created, with a library of information not only for
federal grant programs, but also state, local and corporate
grant opportunities.
 
Fire Grants Help.com features a grant database that allows users
to spend less time searching for grants and more time on research
 and grant writing. As it expands, Fire Grants Help.com will also offer
users a multitude of grant assistance tools such as: research
guidance, glossaries of common grant terminology and  abbreviations,
 a grant discussion forum, statistics, news, and much more.
 

 

The PJFD purchases FIT-5 Extinquishers

+   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +

which were used successfully for the 1st time on a fire

at 19 Elizabeth Street on 12/27/07

see story right below:

 

                                                                                                      

 

What is it?

A new kind of fire suppression tool, a Powder Aerosol Generator. The FIT-5 is about the size of a lunchbox, and weighs about nine pounds. Its designed to be carried in Chiefs vehicles and on Fire Trucks. First Responders use it to knockdown fires prior to entering a burning structure.

 

How does it work?

Powder Aerosol devices deploy a huge cloud of super-fine aerosol powder. This powder attacks the fire chemically, interrupting the Fire Triangle. The powder is proven safe for people to be around, and is safe for equipment. Oxygen levels in the room don't change, so any trapped victims aren't harmed. The aerosol acts like Halon, interrupting the flames within seconds.

 

Where can it be used?

You can use the FIT-5 on Class A, B and C fires, any fire in a contained space. A single FIT-5 can protect a 1,700 cubic feet sized room. Heat in the burning room drops from over 1,000° to under 300° within 15 seconds. Deploying a FIT-5 will completely prevent flash-over.

 

Why is it important?

The FIT-5 can save victims trapped in a fire, thousands die this way after every year. The only category of firefighter deaths that's increasing every year is deaths inside structure fires. Using a FIT-5 makes any fire safer to overhaul for firefighters. By reducing water damage the FIT-5 helps protect the cause of a fire, so investigating a fire is much easier.

 

Who's using it now?

The FIT System has been in use in Eastern Europe for over a decade. ARA Safety Inc has been test-marketing the FIT-5 in Western Canada since 2005. Over 90 per cent of Canadian departments invited to test the FIT-5 have purchased the system. The FIT-5 is the most powerful portable aerosol generator available. It's the only portable generator actually in service with fire departments anywhere in the world.

 Click here to see live test video, testimonials and news reports

of the FIT-5 in action.

 

For more information abour FIT 5, click here.

        

 

VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER / EMS TAX EXEMPTION

Changes to law - 10/06

 

        There is a new law that extends an option to receive either the partial tax exemption for your real property

general municipal taxes or receive a tax credit on your Income Tax Return.

 

Important Notice:

          (a)  Volunteer Firefighters and Ambulance worker’s credit. For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007,

                     a resident taxpayer who serves as an active volunteer firefighter as defined in Subdivision 1 of Section 215

                     of the General Municipal Law or as a volunteer Ambulance worker as defined in Subdivision 14 of Section 219-k

                     of the General Municipal Law, shall be allowed a credit against the tax imposed by this article equal to $200.00. 

                     In order to receive this credit a volunteer firefighter or volunteer Ambulance worker must have been active for the

                     entire taxable year for which the credit is sought.

 

             (b)   If a taxpayer receives a real property tax exemption relating to such service under Title 2 of Article 4 of the Real

                    Property Tax Law, such a taxpayer shall NOT be eligible for the credit.

 

             (c)   If the amount of the credit allowed under this subsection for any taxable year shall exceed the taxpayers tax for

                   such year, the excess shall be treated as an overpayment of tax to be credited or refunded in accordance with

                   the provisions of Section 686 of this article, provided, that no interest shall be paid thereon.

 

     Please note some very important facts. 

           As a volunteer you must have been active for the entire taxable (2007) year.  However, this credit may NOT be

       claimed by taxpayers who are receiving real property tax exemptions relative to such service.  In other words, an

       eligible volunteer will have to choose between the exemption and the Tax Credit; you cannot receive both. 

       The credit as to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2008.

 

            If are already signed up, the Assessor’s Office you have until March 1, 2008 to fill out a form to remove the partial  tax exemption

                from your city tax bill.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Assessor’s office at 858-4094