During spring, we have already experienced 90-plus-degree days. Every summer, we hear the tragic stories of children and pets being left in non-running vehicles. We know, from studies conducted, that temperatures can reach and even exceed 130 degrees inside vehicles. The time that it takes for a car to heat up is not as long as one may think. The human body is capable of managing heat, but only to a point. The younger or older a person is, the shorter the time before heat management shuts down and the body begins to heat up. In other words, a person…
Browsing: Fire & Life Safety
There will, undoubtedly, be people that will fall out of boats this summer and drown. If that is true, what must we do to prevent it from occurring? Boating safety is the responsibility of every boat owner. Safety equipment on a boat is required to prevent the loss of life of any person on a boat. The problem is that although a boat has an adequate number of personal flotation devices, they are useless if no one puts them on. There are many people who get on a boat and cannot swim. A personal flotation device may be the difference…
A two-wedding weekend to remember My reason for writing this column is to educate my readers on a plethora of life safety issues. Fires, motor vehicle accidents and medical emergencies are happening every day. However, every once in a while, I get to write about something different. I recently attended two weddings, one that I officiated and one that I was invited to as a surprise guest; the first in Virginia and the second in West Virginia. The wedding in Virginia was at 1 p.m. and the West Virginia wedding was at 2 p.m. The Virginia wedding was a picturesque…
I listened as Chesterfield Fire Chief Loy Senter addressed the attendees at this year’s TRIAD meeting. He said the majority of emergency responses were for medical incidents and that it is important for everyone to ensure that their addresses are readily identifiable from the street. Whether a response occurs in the day or night, house numbers should be visible to emergency responders. The longer that it takes personnel to find your residence, the longer it will be for patient care to begin. If you have a mailbox at the street, then you need to have numbers that are reflective and…
As I watch the news, read posts on social media and read the Daily Business Plan, fires caused by cooking-related issues continue to occur regularly. There is not a day that goes by that a fire department somewhere in this nation is responding to a kitchen fire. Since it happens every day, it’s a problem worth talking about. The large majority of all kitchen fires are preventable, but intentional steps must be taken to do so. We continue to classify these fires as accidental, which seems to lessen the blow. The stark reality is that your kitchen fire is your…
What do I mean by “built to burn?” There are some buildings that simply should not catch fire, for if they do, they will surely be destroyed. Some buildings were built hundreds of years ago before fire and building codes. There are buildings that were built in a location with no thought of fire extinguishment. If you live or own one of these buildings, I am sure that you are paying a lot to insure the building, if you are able to insure it. I will start with the high-rise building that has no sprinkler or standpipe system. A high-rise…
I would like to tell you a story. This story is about the one true God; an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, unchanging and eternal God. This story will come from a book known as the Bible, written by 40 different men over about 1,500 years. God inspired the writing of His book. The Bible is true and reliable. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created from nothing, simply by speaking them into being. He created the oceans, the mountains, the birds of the air and the fish in the sea. God also created angels to worship…
According to an old firefighters’ saying, “when the stick goes up, the building comes down.” The stick refers to the aerial ladder, which is the big ladder on the top of a ladder truck. One method of fire attack is by elevated master stream, which involves an engine supplying an aerial ladder with water unless the truck has its own pump. Last week, a fire at a Harrisonburg apartment complex required two elevated master streams in order to stop the fire in the building of origin. The cause of the fire was determined to be improperly discarded smoking materials. The…
Do you know what is protecting you when you go to bed tonight? Whether you have an alarm system that includes smoke alarms or you have just smoke alarms, if maintained and regularly tested, they are protecting your family in the event of a fire. I think more fires occur during daylight hours, however, most fatal fires occur in the middle of the night when people are sleeping. You would like to think that a fire would wake you up, but the chances are greater that a fire with smoke will render you unconscious. My alarm clock sits right next…
A hotel is a commercial establishment that provides short-term, paid lodging with meals and other services for travelers and tourists. Or so we thought. Last Sunday night, a fire ripped through a hotel in Chesterfield. The fire sent four people to the hospital and displaced 34 occupants. Three of the four who went to the hospital were police officers who arrived before firefighters and attempted to notify occupants. Firefighters said smoke was banked down to the doorknob in the outside corridors. Under normal circumstances, hotel occupants would be travelers with minimal possessions. However, today’s hotels have become another form of…