After a five-year study, a leading research group has concluded that loud, blaring sirens on fire trucks are ineffective at getting cars to clear a path. In response to the study there is a new standard for apparatus sirens that replaces the familiar sirens with a soothing British aristocratic voice that nicely asks motorists to please move over.
If you substitute “fire chief” for “business owner” and “organization” for “business” you will see this article is very relevant to the fire service.
The city says it needs to save millions of dollars and one way is to put the firefighters onto a 24 hour shift. The union argues the move would represent a cut to their hourly pay and also consider the new schedule potentially unsafe, citing fatigue near the end of a 24-hour shift.
Some fire departments have had GPS units in their vehicles for only about a month, and already there is an internal investigation of at least two fire battalion chiefs who were traveling in excess of 100 mph in city-issued SUVs. Firefighters are upset that tracking devices were installed without warning, with no policy in place and without an administrator to oversee what data are reported.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/03/30/police-fire-unions-urge-gps-limits.html
While smoke detectors are key in alerting occupants of fire, they are also a reactive form of fire protection, and can only save those who are able to react. Fire sprinklers, on the other hand are proactive, providing firefighters the time they need to extinguish the fire and help avoid potential tragedies and severe structural damage.
Some fire departments that employ business owner self-inspection programs have found that many were not as compliant as they said they were.
FM Global Insurance has a grant program available to fire departments and other groups for funding in support of fire and arson prevention, pre-fire planning and education and training programs.
Authorities in Texas and other states are beginning to re-examine old cases where defendants were sent to prison for setting fires based on expert testimony about burn patterns and charring that today is considered suspect. Nine years ago Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham for killing his three children in a fire but many experts believe this was a wrongful conviction.
This story says there have been about 200 cases worldwide of spontaneous human combustion. All the research is done on the subject, however, it suggests that there is no such thing and it is simply body fat burning which was usually ignited by an ignition source such as smokers material or a heating or cooking appliance.
Wire harnesses on 2013 model Challengers equipped with V6 engines could overheat from a short circuit and cause a fire. Chrysler is telling customers to stop driving their cars and not to park them “in or near any structures.” Chrysler said it was aware of seven related incidents in which the wires overheated.