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Another cost is that which relates to what employers of firefighters pay to provide insurance coverage, and for safety training, physical fitness program, and protective gear and equipment. These expenses relate to injury prevention and reduction of severity of injuries. The study incorporated a number of separate indirect costs including prevention, safety and survival training, physical
fitness and wellness programs and applied these expenses to the total number of firefighters, not just the firefighters that were injured. A unique feature of this research project is the workers compensation information that was specific to the occupational codes for firefighters.
The report goes on to identify steps needed to reduce fire-fighter injuries.
Information requirements of new safety and loss control initiatives need to be supported. Better data and research on the severity of injuries to firefighters and the associated costs by level of severity are needed. The time it costs to investigate injuries and to document reports, and the amount of lost work because of injuries need to be documented.
A scientific study on the relationship between the number of firefighters per engine and the incidence of injuries would resolve a long-standing question concerning staffing and safety.
If you have additional questions after reading the report, contact Nelson Bryner, nelson.bryner@nist.gov.
How serious is the issue of water runoff after a major fire? Are environmental impacts increasing, or are people more aware of them? How are the problems being addressed? These are some of the questions that have been raised over time. High impact incidents throughout the world capture the headlines. On November 1986, a chemical warehouse accident at the Sandoz facility in Schweizerhalle, Switzerland (near Basel, Switzerland), captured worldwide attention. Not only were there significant challenges in firefighting tactics, emergency response management and crisis
communications with the two nearby countries (France and Germany), there were also the challenges of air and water pollution in a densely populated area.
A paper presented at the 2004 INTERFLAM conference, Environmental Concerns of Fires: Facts, Figures, Questions, and New Challenges for the Future, discusses the environmental impacts of significant national and international fires, including the Sandoz fire. The authors discuss the long- and short-term impact of the fire effluents (runoff) and the environmental effects.
Better understanding of the hazards from emissions and depositions is needed, and also there is a need to develop scientifically sound tools for identification of the hazards, the assessment of risks, and the usage of fire prevention and protection measures. International efforts have been made to address these issues, including the International Standards Organization’s Technical Committee 92 on Fire Safety, Subcommittee 3 (ISO/TC92/SC3) that will be addressing not only the local effect of the fire effluent on humans but also its effect on the environment.
To learn more about other major fires, their environmental impacts and worldwide efforts to address these issues, contact Dr. Marlair at guy.marlair@ineris.fr.
Smoke plume from a 2002 fertilizer warehouse fire in Murcia, Spain.
Mannequin entering the burn chamber.
Firefighter protective clothing has improved over the years, but developing realistic and repeatable tests for protective clothing that simulate real-fire conditions is still a challenge for researchers.
Worcester
Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Center for Firesafety Studies has
accepted
the challenge and is testing next generation firefighter clothing for the
U.S. Navy’s Clothing and Textile Research Facility in Natick, MA. WPI
students have built a fire test simulator, or burn chamber, to recreate a
number of fire scenarios—from a blazing living room to a brush fire. The 10
foot by 15 foot (3 m x 5 m) steel-framed chamber sits in the middle of a
huge warehouse.
Mannequin ready
for testing.
A mannequin, hanging from a metal track and manipulated by remote control, can be moved close to or through the flames at speeds ranging from half foot up to two feet per second. Heat flux is measured with 40 specially designed copper slug calorimeters (sensors that simulate the skin’s reactions) that are evenly distributed around the mannequin. At the end of a test, students evaluate data from the calorimeters.
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