Boston Globe Fire report - Summary

[Guest]

Report: Firefighters taking longer to get to fires  

Nationwide, only 35 percent of departments meet 6-minute goal

The Associated Press

Updated: 6:06 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2005

BOSTON - Firefighters from departments across the country are arriving to fires later each year, and barely over a third of calls nationwide meet national standards for response time, according to an analysis by The Boston Globe.

In Massachusetts, only 54 percent of local fire departments were able to reach 90 percent of building fires within six minutes, a standard set in 2001 by the National Fire Protection Association. People waited 10 minutes for firefighters at 214 building fires in 2002, the last year that data was available, and there have been 2,786 such fires since 1990.

Nationwide, only 35 percent of departments were able to meet the six-minute goal in 2002, compared to 75 percent in 1986, when alarm times first began to be collected.

“Fire protection in America is a myth,†said Vincent Dunn, a retired New York City Deputy fire chief and author of books on fire safety.

“These two subjects are the dirty little secrets of the fire service: The response times outside the center cities are too great, and the personnel responding, inside and outside the center cities, are too few. No one wants to talk about that.â€

The Globe reviewed public records of 3.3 million building fires collected by the National Fire Incident Reporting System by 20,000 fire departments nationwide. The newspaper published the findings Sunday in the first of a two-part series.

The report may be the first systematic effort to measure fire department performance using response time data, which has been collected since 1986 under the reporting system kept by the U.S. Fire Administration.

'Every minute counts'

The Globe found that more than 4,000 people died in fires — or about five per week — in which the fighters took more than six minutes to respond. The actual number could be higher, because fewer than half of structure fires are reported to the database, and reporting is voluntary.

The six-minute standard is a guideline, not law, based on the NFPA’s estimates. The association recommends meeting that standard in 90 percent of calls.

It is difficult to tell how many deaths would have been prevented had firefighters arrived sooner. Elaine Allen, a statistics professor at Babson College who reviewed the Globe’s findings, noted that “every minute counts.â€

The standard, however, has not been embraced by all. The National League of Cities and many small fire departments have argued that the benchmark cannot be made to fit every community. The NFPA standard has been endorsed by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

In the 1970s, scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that at that time, people had about 17 minutes to escape before being overcome by heat and smoke. Today, the estimate is three minutes.

“We’ve got to get enough people in there quickly,†said Chief Billy Goldfeder, who heads the fire department of a Cincinnati suburb. “It all ties to money, what people are willing to pay for.â€

Though the number of fires nationwide have declined with prevention efforts, the numbers of calls to departments has double over the last 20 years. Fire chiefs add that firefighters are taking longer to get to blazes because of more work and fewer staff.

The problem is also exacerbated by newer, fuel efficient homes, which burn hotter because the construction holds in the heat. And, fire department budgets are shrinking.

The Globe calculated, using U.S. Census data, that spending for fires went from an average of 6.1 percent of municipal spending in 1987 to 5.7 percent in 2003. In Massachusetts, 800 paid firefighters have been lost since Sept. 2001 through layoffs and attrition.

[Guest]

This article makes for some very interesting reading, Westchester county should really wake up. Response time is everything, but showing up with 1 piece of apparatus with 1 or 2 personel just doesn't cut it. Things won't change until we have a tragic incident somewhere in this county. Because politicians don't like to spend money where it is needed most. PUBLIC SAFETY. ](*,)

[Guest]

The Boston Globe also analyzed investigative reports from fires resulting in LODDs. They looked at 52 fires in the US that killed 80 FFs between '97 and '04. Here are the findings (disturbing, to say the least...):

January 31, 2005 9:21 a.m. EST

   

US Firefighters Overstretched, Underequipped - Report

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

January 31, 2005 9:21 a.m.

BOSTON (AP)--Most firefighters who died fighting fires in recent years were working under substandard conditions -arriving too late and without enough help or resources, according to a Boston Globe analysis published Monday.

And most were entering burning buildings where there was no one inside to save.

The newspaper examined federal investigative reports from 52 fires around the country that killed 80 firefighters between 1997 and 2004.

The Globe found that in just 35 of the 52 fires, departments were able to get one firefighter to the scene within six minutes.

In 27 of the fires, four firefighters were able to get to the scene within six minutes, the minimum force recommended by the National Fire Protection Association.

The manpower standard for safe and effective work at a building fire -15 firefighters arriving within 10 minutes -was met in only 18 of the fires.

In 14 of the 52 fires, there was a suspicion that someone might be inside the burning buildings. In only six of fires was there actually anyone inside.

The deaths studied did not include those from heart attacks or motor vehicle accidents. The incidents involved a mix of volunteer and career fire departments in cities like New York and Memphis, as well as small towns.

Some fire chiefs questioned whether they should stop sending firefighters into burning buildings if they can't get there soon enough and with enough people to do the job safely.

"We're a can-do organization. We give it the old college try," said Chief Ronald J. Siarnicki, former chief in Prince George's County, Md., who keeps count of line-of-duty deaths as executive director of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

"But maybe we need to stop accepting a five-person crew to cover an entire town. Maybe we need to say, 'We don't have the resources to do this job.' We're losing firefighters, and there are so many near misses," he told the Globe.

The number of fires in the United States has declined sharply, but the number of firefighter deaths are steady at about 100 per year, not including Sept. 11. More than half of those deaths were from heart attacks and motor vehicle accidents.

Each death is unique, but delays and low staffing add to the risk, said Vincent Dunn, a retired New York City deputy fire chief who examined the Globe's findings.

"The more firefighters you have, the faster you can put out the fire," he said. "Chances of a firefighter's death increase the longer a fire burns."

In Massachusetts, the firefighters' union estimates the state has lost about 1,000 out of 13,000 firefighters since 1981. That's when a state law took effect known as Proposition 2-and-a-half, which limits property tax increases.

During that time, the population has increased and departments have taken on added duties such as ambulance calls.

The number of full-time firefighters nationwide is essentially unchanged, but the volume of emergency calls has doubled.

Other hazards identified by the Globe include shortages of equipment, such as self-contained breathing apparatus, and use of risky tactics beyond the capacity of small departments. There is also a lack of available backup for weary fire crews, something federal investigators warned of after the 1999 fire that killed six Worcester firefighters.

It was lack of survivor benefits that drew national attention to the 2003 death of part-time firefighter Martin McNamara. Voters in Lancaster, the town where he died, later rejected a tax increase to raise $650,000 in pension funding for his family.

A legislative committee is working on a bill to require death benefits for volunteer firefighters, but there is no move to set state requirements for equipment, staffing or training.

[Guest pentax02839]

now that is good reason to stop cutting fire deparment budgets.