WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) recently announced that Oct. 5-11 is recognized as “Fire Prevention Week.” This designation was made possible by the Senate’s Oct. 1 approval of a resolution introduced by Dodd and Collins.
“The designation of Fire Prevention Week helps support the efforts of firefighters throughout the nation to educate families on fire prevention and safety,” said Senator Collins. “I am pleased to continue to support our firefighters’ heroic attempts to prevent the loss of life and property from fire.”
“The best way to prevent fires is through awareness and education,” said Dodd. “Simple things like checking the batteries in a home’s smoke detectors can cut the risk of death in a house fire in half. The brave work of our nation’s firefighters to save lives through fire prevention deserves our strongest support.”
Collins and Dodd, two of the co-chairs of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, have been longtime advocates for fire safety. In 2000, Dodd authored and Collins cosponsored the FIRE Act, a law that gives local fire departments the ability to purchase new equipment and initiate education and training programs. In 2003, Dodd also authored the SAFER Act, a law that gives local fire departments the ability to reduce critical shortfalls in professional and volunteer personnel. Collins currently serves as ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over both the FIRE and SAFER programs.
The resolution was supported by a number of firefighter organizations, including: the National Fire Protection Association, the Congressional Fire Services Institute, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the National Volunteer Fire Council.
House passes Sen. Collins’ legislation helping firefighters
Legislation providing resources for fire departments heads to White House
Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives on Sept. 24 passed Sen. Susan Collins’ legislation providing the United States Fire Administration (USFA) with the increased funding and resources needed to effectively meet the growing demands on the fire service in the new century. The USFA Reauthorization Act passed the Senate the week before and now goes to the President’s desk for his signature to become law. The legislation, which Sen. Collins co-authored with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), also expands the range of training programs offered at the National Fire Academy.
“Since its creation in 1974, the U.S. Fire Administration and its academy have helped prevent fires, protect property and save lives among firefighters and the public,” said Collins. “The U.S. Fire Administration also performs critical work to prepare our nation against disasters, whether natural or man-made. As the principle federal agency for America’s fire service, it is simply invaluable to our nation and its firefighters. Many local fire departments in Maine and the rest of the country benefit from the FIRE Act and SAFER Act grants administered by the Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with USFA. These grant programs provide firefighters, including many volunteers, with state-of-the-art protective gear and other lifesaving equipment and resources needed to support their work.”
“I urge the President to quickly sign this legislation into law to ensure firefighters in Maine and across the nation get the resources they need to help keep our communities safe,” said Collins.
Collins is a co-chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus and has been a longtime advocate for the fire service. In 2000, Collins cosponsored the FIRE Act, a law that gives local fire departments the ability to purchase new equipment and initiate education and training programs. Collins also serves as ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over both the FIRE Act and SAFER Act grant programs.
The USFA provides crucial support to more than 30,000 fire departments across the country through training, emergency incident data collection, fire awareness and education, and research and development activities. Each year, the USFA trains approximately one million fire and emergency medical personnel both at the USFA campus in Emmitsburg, Md., and through distance learning programs. The USFA also offers vital assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Department of Homeland Security in the development of federal preparedness and response policies.
Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE) and John McCain (R-AZ) are original cosponsors of the bill. The measure is supported by the Congressional Fire Services Institute, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Volunteer Fire Council.
Tips for basic fire escape planning
• Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors. Also, mark the location of each smoke alarm.
• Make sure that you have at least one smoke alarm on every level of your home.
• Everyone in the household must understand the escape plan. When you walk through your plan, check to make sure the escape routes are clear and doors and windows can be opened easily.
• Choose an outside meeting place (i.e. neighbor’s house, a light post, mailbox, or stop sign) a safe distance in front of your home where everyone can meet after they’ve escaped. Make sure to mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.
• Go outside to see if your street number is clearly visible from the road. If not, paint it on the curb or install house numbers to ensure that responding emergency personnel can find your home.
• Have everyone memorize the emergency phone number of the fire department. That way any member of the household can call from a neighbor’s home or a cellular phone once safely outside.
• If there are infants, older adults or family members with mobility limitations, make sure that someone is assigned to assist them in the fire drill and in the event of an emergency. Assign a backup person, too, in case the designee is not home during the emergency.
• If windows or doors in your home have security bars, make sure that the bars have quick-release mechanisms inside so that they can be opened immediately in an emergency. Quick-release mechanisms won’t compromise your security — but they will increase your chances of safely escaping a home fire.
• Tell guests or visitors to your home about your family’s fire escape plan. When staying overnight at other people’s homes, ask about their escape plan. If they don’t have a plan in place, offer to help them make one. This is especially important when children are permitted to attend “sleepovers” at friends’ homes.
• Be fully prepared for a real fire: when a smoke alarm sounds, get out immediately. Residents of high-rise and apartment buildings may be safer “defending in place.”
• Once you’re out, stay out! Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning building. If someone is missing, inform the fire department dispatcher when you call. Firefighters have the skills and equipment to perform rescues.
Putting your plan to the test
School: If you live in a dorm, make sure you’re familiar with the building’s evacuation plan and that you participate in building fire drills.
Public assembly: As we learned from the tragic nightclub fire in Rhode Island, when fire strikes a public building, occupants have only minutes to escape.
Smoke alarms: Recent media reports have questioned whether kids wake up at the sound of a smoke alarm. Practice your home fire escape plan twice a year, making the drill as realistic as possible.
• Allow children to master fire escape planning and practice before holding a fire drill at night when they are sleeping. The objective is to practice, not to frighten, so telling children there will be a drill before they go to bed can be as effective as a surprise drill.
• It’s important to determine during the drill whether children and others can readily waken to the sound of the smoke alarm. If they fail to awaken, make sure that someone is assigned to wake them up as part of the drill and in a real emergency situation.
• If your home has two floors, every family member (including children) must be able to escape from the second floor rooms. Escape ladders can be placed in or near windows to provide an additional escape route. Review the manufacturer’s instructions carefully so you’ll be able to use a safety ladder in an emergency. Practice setting up the ladder from a first-floor window to make sure you can do it correctly and quickly. Children should only practice with a grown-up, and only from a first-story window. Store the ladder near the window, in an easily accessible location. You don’t want to have to search for it during a fire.
• Always choose the escape route that is safest — the one with the least amount of smoke and heat — but be prepared to escape through toxic smoke if necessary. When you do your fire drill, everyone in the family should practice crawling low on their hands and knees, one to two feet above the ground. By keeping your head low, you’ll be able to breathe the “good” air that’s closer to the floor.
• It’s important to practice crawling on your hands and knees, not your bellies, as some poisons produced by smoke are heavier than air and settle to the floor.
• Closing doors on your way out slows the spread of fire, giving you more time to safely escape.
• In some cases, smoke or fire may prevent you from exiting your home or apartment building. To prepare for an emergency like this, practice “sealing yourself in for safety” as part of your home fire escape plan. Close all doors between you and the fire. Use duct tape or towels to seal the door cracks and cover air vents to keep smoke from coming in. If possible, open your windows at the top and bottom so fresh air can get in.
Reproduced from NFPA’s Fire Prevention Week Web site, www.firepreventionweek.org.
A Firefighter’s Prayer
When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage; give me the strength to save some life, whatever be its age.
Help me embrace a little child before its too late, or save an older person from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout, and quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me, to guard my every neighbor and protect his property. And if, when I have done my best and am called to thee, please bless with your protecting hand my friends and my family.
What is a Fireman?
He’s the guy next door.
He’s the man’s man with the sharp memory of a little boy who never got over the excitement of engines and sirens and smoke and danger.
He’s a guy like you and me with warts and worries and unfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
He’s a fireman.
He puts it all on the line when the fire bell rings.
A fireman is at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of men.
He’s a man who savors life because he has seen too much death. He’s a gentle man because he has seen too much of the awesome power of violent forces out of control. He’s a man responsive to a child’s laughter because his arms have held too many small bodies that will never laugh again.
He’s a man who appreciates the simple pleasures of life… hot coffee held in numbed, unbending fingers… the flush of fresh air pumping through smoke and fire convulsed lungs… a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling… the camaraderie of brave men… the divine peace of selfless service and a job well done in the name of all men.
He doesn’t wear buttons or wave flags or shout obscenities and when he marches, it is to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn’t preach the brotherhood of man.
He lives it.
