Whiteboard Drawing 2: roof ventilation

Whiteboard drawing detailing roof operations

The drawing above briefly summarizes the roof operations my crew has been training on over the last couple shifts.

By using two roof ladders, firefighters are able to safely cut a vent hole without needing to step off the ladder.

In the drawing, the first firefighter (top left) has finished their cuts and has started to open the roof. The second firefighter (bottom center) has just finished the bottom cut, and is handing the saw off to the lieutenant, then the two firefighters will work together to open the hole with hand tools.

Detail

Another important note is to never lean/pull or put your weight on a chimney, for obvious reasons.

Detail

Whiteboard Drawing

Through the floor firefighter rescue

I read a Fire Engineering article by Chris Piepenburg, then summarized it by illustration. The magic of a whiteboard drawing is that it is only temporary...... unless of course you take a picture of it.

Nicaragua July 2012

Rivas Bomberos in front of the WI engine.

This July I was fortunate enough to spend a little time with some firefighters (bomberos) in Nicaragua. Despite a language barrier, I felt at home with the firefighters of Rivas and Managua, finding that once we started to talk shop, I could communicate effectively with sound effects and emphatic gestures. 

Pumper from Canada

Most of Nicaragua’s fire equipment is inherited from other countries, especially the U.S. and Canada, so they’re working with nozzles and pumps I am familiar with. In fact, one of the trucks at the Rivas station was from Buffalo County WI, which just goes to show how small this world really is.

Fire Station in Rivas

While I was visiting the Station in Rivas I met Cesar Guevara, a Captain of the fire department in Managua, and in charge of Ambulance operations there. On top of that he was a doctor, and spoke English, relieving my friend Riley from her interpreter duties. Thanks again Riley. 

Captain Guevara had brought an ambulance from Managua to staff the medical station at the international master’s surfing competition, and stopped in the Rivas Fire Station to pay his respects. This was incredibly good luck for me, as I was invited to come shadow on the ambulance for the surfing competition.

Ah, the fantastic views offered at an international surfing competition.

 

While watching surfing and taking patients to the nearest clinic for stitches (nothing major) was cool, the best part of the competition was being able to talk to Captain Guevara.

I’ll briefly breakdown some of the firefighting numbers/facts he gave me.

Nicaragua is protected by a government fire department, within which there are professional and volunteer firefighters. This is a country wide system, meaning that there isn’t a Managua Fire Department, or a Granada Fire Department, instead they are all one organization. The exception to this is some volunteer departments, like Rivas, which do not operate under the Nicaraguan government fire organization. 

Although the fire service’s budget is small compared to Police, Immigration, or the Jail system (all four of these systems operate under one branch of government) only the firefighters are popular with the people. I guess some things are the same no matter where you go.      

Bomberos (firefighters) work for 48 hours, then have 48 hours off, work for 72 hours, get 72 hours off and then start back over again with the 48s. So they are at work half of the time.

Nicaragua has a population of roughly five million. During the day (when people are at work) the city of Managua swells to hold two million of those people. And they have seven fire stations. Which isn’t very many…. At all. 

In the end I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with the Bomberos as I would have liked, so hopefully I will return to Nicaragua before too many years go by. Maybe I'll learn Spanish too, who knows.  

Risk/Benefit (Nicaragua 2012)

Captain Guevara and yours truly.

 

Since talking to Captain Guevara, one comment he made has stuck with me. He said, because of the people’s financial situation, he and his firefighters, would take a greater risk while fire fighting then we would/should in the U.S. 

Emergency responders around the world use a system called risk/benefit to evaluate if they committing lives and resources appropriately for different situations.

It works like this: Risk nothing if nothing can be saved. For example, if flames are blowing out of ever window of a house, there is nothing left to be saved, so no action which puts firefighters in danger should be taken. On the flip side, if we know that someone is trapped in a building, we are willing to take great personal risks to help them. Usually the way this breaks down for the U.S. is, lives are worth serious risk to firefighters, whereas viable property is only worth a very small risk. You can buy a new refrigerator, you can even build a new house, but you can’t bring people back to life.

But what if you can’t buy a new refrigerator? Because it took you three years to save up for it, and now your income is barley enough to send your kids to school. What if you can’t build a new house? Because it’s the house your family has lived in for four generations. Unlike the U.S. insurance is pretty much unheard of, especially for the general population. When you lose something, it’s gone. As for a safety net for people that have a fire or a flood? It doesn’t exist.

Captain Guevara’s point was: While they use risk benefit, things have different weights on the Nicaraguan scale then they do in the U.S. He is willing to take serious risks save a closet or even to pull an appliance from a burning building, because those things are so hard to replace.

It raises a difficult question. If U.S. firefighters respond to a fire in the home of a poor family without insurance, should they use more risky/aggressive tactics then would for a family with a good income and insurance? 

Food for thought.