FIRE
Act Grants
Well the wait
continues as DHS continues their normal slow process. Congressmen
Oberstar's office has started asking questions to DHS staff and it
appears that next week may be the start of the award announcements. I
hope!!
Call
to Action: Senate to Vote on Federal/Military Mutual Aid
Senator
Mike DeWine (R-OH) is offering an amendment to S. 1042, the Department
of Defense (DoD) authorization bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, that
would allow federal/military fire departments to enter into mutual aid
agreements with surrounding communities. The IAFC urges fire chiefs to
call their senators to ask them to cosponsor this amendment.
What the Amendment
Would Do
Senator
DeWine's amendment would expand the definition of fire protection in
this section of the law to include emergency medical services,
including basic and advanced life support; hazardous materials
containment and confinement; vehicular and water rescues; and trench,
building and confined space extrications. The amendment uses DoD's
legislative language word-for-word.
What You Can Do
Call
both of your senators to ask them to cosponsor the DeWine amendment to
the DoD authorization bill on federal/military mutual aid. (To find
contact information, visit www.senate.gov .) You may use a
letter of support that the IAFC sent to Senator DeWine by forwarding to
your senators' offices after placing your calls. For that letter, go
to: http://www.iafc.org/government/documents/DOD_MutualAid.pdf.
For the full story click link below;
http://iafc.org/news/article.asp?id=265
First Alert Detectors - Labeling Problem Remedied
Earlier this week, The Home Depot voluntarily removed improperly
labeled smoke alarm products from their shelves in response to an
inquiry from the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) s. The
three First Alert smoke detectors met Intertek Testing Services (ETL)
standards; however, they were not properly labeled.
Wednesday, in a
letter to the IAFC, First Alert assured the association that the three
ONELINK™ products in question had been removed from retailer's shelves
and are being replaced with products bearing the ETL listing “to
eliminate any misconception about the products and their
certification.”
The products in question are a new technology that allows homeowners to
create a network of alarms that “talk” to each other with no wiring
required. When one alarm sounds, all alarms respond, providing an
immediate warning and giving everyone in the home a better chance of
hearing the alarms and reacting quickly.
For the full story on ONELINK click link below;
http://www.firstalert.com/
New York State
- New Law Bars
Insurance Bias Against Residents In Volunteer Fire Districts
It
will soon be illegal in New York state for insurance companies to
cancel or to refuse to renew fire insurance policies on homes because
they are located in areas served by voluntary fire departments.
Gov.
George Pataki has signed a bill, which will take effect in six months,
that prohibits insurance bias against areas without professional fire
services.
Sponsors
said the bill was in response to one insurer's attempt to refuse
renewals on homeowners' policies written in an area of central Long
Island with volunteer fire company coverage.
Legislators said that
since 95 percent of the state outside of New York City is covered by
voluntary fire companies, allowing the Long Island example to stand
would create a "devastating precedent" for fire insurance in New York
state.
Riverside County
Has Suspended Use of AutoPulse Jacket
RIVERSIDE,
Calif. (AP) - Riverside County
has suspended use of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation machine after a
77-year-old man apparently received cracked ribs and later died.
The Palm Springs Fire
Department used the federally approved
"AutoPulse," a lifejacket-like pump device, to resuscitate Fang Joon
Yun after he was pulled from a swimming pool on July 14.
He was revived but later was pronounced dead at a hospital, and a
county medical examiner determined that the AutoPulse jacket "lined up
exactly" with places where the man had cracked ribs and internal
injuries, county Sheriff Bob Doyle said.
However, the cause of death had not been determined, Doyle said.
The
county Emergency Medical Services Agency suspended use of the device
while Yun's case is investigated.
Six hundred AutoPulse devices are being used throughout the country,
company officials said, including by rescue agencies in San Francisco
and Fremont.
Revivant Corp., the Sunnyvale-based manufacturer of AutoPulse, said the
device was not to blame for the death.
"We've been told from the coroner's office that the AutoPulse really
isn't in any way related to the drowning," Chief Operating Officer Bob
Katz said. "The coroner has reported that the cause of death was
asphyxiation, as secondary to drowning."
Doyle said it was premature for AutoPulse officials to discuss the
cause of death.
"I wouldn't take what they say as an official word," Doyle said. "We'll
do our investigation."
Federal
Judge Sends Firefighter Nepotism Case Back To South Carolina State
Court
Federal
judge sends firefighter nepotism case back to state court
JACOB
JORDAN
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A
federal judge sent the case of a Rock Hill firefighter who must quit
his job because he married a captain's daughter back to state court
Friday.
Lawyers for Matthew
Cooper are trying to get a hearing for a second
temporary restraining order Monday, but none had been scheduled Friday.
Cooper,
whose marriage may have violated a nepotism rule, is
scheduled to work Saturday. A 10-day restraining order issued by U.S.
District Judge Margaret Seymour expires Monday.
"We
want Matt to keep his job. There is no justifiable reason to
fire him at this point," said Cooper's attorney Molly Elkin. "I think
we'll hopefully be successful in state court."
Seymour
ordered the case back to state court after Cooper's lawyers removed
federal issues from their complaint.
The
"complaint contains no federal questions and diversity between the
parties does not exist," Seymour ruled.
City
officials have said Cooper must quit after violating a rule
that forbids relatives, including in-laws, from working in the same
department. Cooper last month married Brooke Lowery, daughter of Capt.
Herbie Lowery.
Cooper
had sued in state court, but the city filed paperwork to move the case
to federal court.
"The
policy is lawful," said attorney Paul Dillingworth, who is
representing the city. He would not get into the specifics of the
city's case.
Elkin
said the city has retaliated against Cooper during the past
week, but she wouldn't elaborate. "The city has been up to a bunch of
shenanigans in these past 10 days," Elkin said. "I don't know if
they're trying to make him feel miserable that he'll quit, but he's
standing strong and he's standing on principled ground and he's going
to remain there as long as a court allows him to."
Rock
Hill Fire Chief Mike Blackmon said things have been business as usual.
"Our
department is answering calls as usual. We're professional,"
said Blackmon. "We run into emergency situations, life-threatening
situations everyday, so we're used to dealing with things like this -
of high magnitude."
In
Cooper's lawsuit, he alleges the policy does not apply to
in-laws. Cooper's lawyer, Michael Johnson, has said judges have ruled
that in-laws do not qualify as immediate relatives.
The
city's policy states that immediate family members cannot work
in the same department and explicitly defines in-laws as immediate
family members.
Daylight
Savings Time to Be Four Weeks Longer
Daylight
saving time is going to be extended by four weeks to shorten
the winter, lengthen the summer and save energy. The measure was
approved Thursday by the Energy Conference Committee made up of
Congressional members from the House and the Senate who are working to
harmonize their differing versions of the energy bill.
The legislation was
first introduced by Congressmen
Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, and Edward Markey, a Massachusetts
Democrat.
“Today,
we shed some additional light on the need for
conservation with our daylight saving extension,” said Upton. “Not only
will Americans have more daylight at their disposal for an additional
four weeks of the year, we will also be keeping our energy consumption
as a nation down."
"Kids across the nation will soon rejoice with the
extended daylight on Halloween night that will allow for an additional
hour of trick or treating," Upton said. "Studies by a leading auto
safety group have also shown that extending daylight saving will save
dozens of lives on the roads each year.”
“The beauty of daylight saving time is that it just
makes everyone feel sunnier,” said Markey, a senior member of the
Energy and Commerce Committee and the author of the 1986 legislation
that added three weeks of daily savings time to the calendar.
The legislation would extend daylight saving by four
weeks, starting the second Sunday of March and lasting through the
first Sunday of November.
The extension of daylight saving would become
effective one year after the enactment of the Energy bill. The bill
also calls for a study on the impact of daylight saving on energy
consumption to be conducted no later than nine months after the
enactment of the bill.
“In addition to the benefits of energy savings, less
crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased
economic activity, daylight saving just brings a smile to everybody’s
faces,” said Markey.
FIREFIGHTERS SETTLE CASE OF MISTAKEN CAR IDENTITY
Albany New York
firefighters were
tearing apart a minivan as part of a training exercise when someone
noticed the personal items inside. That's when they realized they had
trashed the wrong vehicle.
This week, Albany
officials
approved the city's share of the 12-thousand-dollar bill for the 2002
Dodge Caravan that was mistakenly ripped open during a drill at a junk
yard a year ago. Officials say the firefighters routinely practice
accident scene rescue techniques by tearing open donated junked cars.
In June 2004, they were supposed to practice on an older vehicle
located on another part of junkyard.
Instead, they used the Jaws of
Life to tear open a three-year-old minivan that was at the business to
undergo repairs. The owner of the junkyard admitted its role in the
mistake and is splitting the cost of the van with the fire department.
(Associated Press)
NFA
Classes Canceled and One Rescheduled
Date Change
- Was in August
September 24- 25,
2005 -
Introduction to Unified Command for Multi-Agency
and Catastrophic Incidents (IUCMCI)
Canceled
- August
27 - 28, 2005 - Preparation for Initial Company Operations (PICO)
Updated MCTO-P
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Solve
your morale problems!
Your
firefighters maybe bored because of nothing to do and the public
doesn't recognize them as heroes. Get them involved in public education
and fire prevention activities where they are helping the public. It
won't be long and they will become recognized heroes for saving lives
in a proactive way.
Thought
For The Week
Is
it just me or does anyone else find it absolutely amazing that the U.S.
Government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right
to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington, and determine
exactly what that cow ate. They can also track her calves right to
their stalls, and tell you what kind of feed they ate. But they are
unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around in their
country, including people that are trying to blow up important
structures in the U.S. My solution is to give every person a cow as
soon as they enter the country. What do you think?
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