HYD #3: Global Firefighting & Old School Tactics

Hey Crew!

Here’s your weekly fire news + we’ve put together some global fire facts in honor of International Firefighters Day.

Have a story from your department to share? Click below.

In This Week’s Issue: 

• 🔥 Fire Station Burns w/Rigs

• 🇺🇸 144 LODD FFs Honored Today

• 🚿 High-Rise Hail Mary?

• 🌏 FD Facts! Did you know?

• 😡 Burnout Bill Allows Early Out.

Bibra Lake, Austalia (🇦🇺): Firefighters in a pickle! A massive auto fire ripped through ‘Pickles Auctions’ car lot in Perth. 70+ Vehicles were torched. In the pic you can see the one lone firefighter going for it.

Lake Norden, South Dakota (🚒+🔥): A fire destroyed this volunteer fire station and most of their rigs. On Wednesday morning, firefighters were unable to get back into the building to rescue the rigs. Fire crews from neighboring towns assisted, but it was a total loss. Brutal. 😢

Indianapolis, IN (🧨): A fire raged at an auto body shop, which housed a "large supply" of fireworks. Companies faced challenges due to the proximity of the interstate & water supply issues. Despite the fireworks “sounding off,” the brothers were able to bring the fire under control within 1 hour and 15 minutes without any reported injuries. Impressive! 👊

Western Canada (🇨🇦/🌲): Record-breaking hot weather in western Canada has led to widespread wildfires in parts of Alberta. By Friday, 78 fires burned across the region. In addition to the fires, rapid snow melt in interior British Columbia has triggered flooding, causing further disruptions and evacuations.

TODAY: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial (🫡 ): This morning, our 144 brothers and sisters who died in 2022 in the line of duty are memorialized.

Basement Tactics in High-Rises (👆): We’ve seen blankets, the ‘HERO’ Pipe, the ‘floor below’ nozzle, etc. to combat wind-driven high-rise fires. All these have their places, but none address the issue of balconies.

Enter the trusty, yet nearly never used basement nozzle. Deploying the nozzle from 2 floors above is surprisingly stable and effective. While the penetration isn’t deep as others, the volume of water in aerated form is impressive.

Get Out Of The WAZE! (🚙): The Penn Hills Township Department is leading the way with an onboard alert system that messages vehicles that emergency vehicles are approaching and they should pull over. The system integrates with GPS systems, like Waze. PFC! Where can we sign-up?

Dallas, Texas: Ransomware knocks out 911 system. A massive digital attack took out much of Dallas’ digital infrastructure, including 911 communications. A group called “Royal” hacked the system and has held it for ransom. Fire and police crews are back to pen and paper. As of this writing, they are still without service.

First Organized Fire Service (🇮🇹): In 60 AD, the Romans established a fire service consisting of seven cohorts, each with 1,000 firefighters. They patrolled the streets and monitored buildings for potential fires, and used a hand-operated pump as their fire engine.

Different Patron Saints (🇺🇸/🇮🇹): We celebrate May 4th as International Firefighters Day, because that is the traditional day to celebrate St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters…BUT even though Florian was a Roman Soldier, Italian firefighters have a different patron saint to protect them, St. Barbara…on December 4th.

Huge Urban Volunteer Dept (🇨🇱: 🇬🇧,🇫🇷,🇪🇸,🇮🇹,🇩🇪): The Santiago, Chile Fire Department, known as Cuerpo de Bomberos de Santiago, is an impressive all-volunteer department that serves over 3 million citizens. The department has 22 stations, including five founded by expats from Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain, and each station uses PPE and rigs from their respective countries.

The Largest Fire Service (🇯🇵): The Tokyo Fire Department (TFD) is the largest urban fire department in the world, with 18,408 career firefighters and an additional 26,490 volunteers. Founded in 1948, it is responsible for protecting Tokyo Metropolis and handles a wide range of emergencies.

Burnout Bill (👿): NJ Assembly votes to allow career firefighters to retire at 20yrs rather than 25yrs. They’re acknowledging that many firefighters are stretched thin. Hanging on to those last five years…or 10+ in other areas often leads to bad performance or mental illness.

Brotherly Love (👨‍👧): In a heartwarming story, Cleveland Lt. Joseph Konys fulfilled a promise made to his late friend, Fire Lt. Dan Sunyak, by donating his kidney to Sunyak's 12-year-old daughter, Lena.

Although Konys' kidney is not a match for Lena, his donation sparked a kidney chain, benefiting multiple recipients in need. Lena is expected to receive her kidney transplant by the end of May

Mental Health Resource? Career departments should have an EAP. It’s surprising how many firefighters are unaware of this resource. But what about volunteers. Try this: Share The Load

I asked AI to create a pic of a firefighter drinking coffee in front of a fire. Not bad, except for that helmet 🙂 — Happy Sunday! ☕️

HYD #2: