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Home My WebLink About2013 - Couplings Spring Newsletter wl�Ilmuw>Nrwwwiuwwiuwwww r al r ktto hiliv I - IIIIIIIIIII -� I i- I I i i I ii uiuuuruiuuuuusuUU� CONNECTING H E COMMUNITY WITI THE FIRE DEPARTMENT �J 111111111 1111111111 uuuuu uuuuu uuuuu ��h of 1 After 25 years of continuous service, our 1988 Rescue 1 vehicle has been replaced. It was old and tired, and had been reworked numerous times, but it had finally had enough. Don't worry, though. For those fire calls and vehicle crashes, we will be responding in our brand new Rescue 1 ! Our new Rescue 1 is a 2012 Pierce Dash Heavy Rescue vehicle, capable of all that its predecessor could do, plus so much more! Additional seats to carry personnel, better hydraulics and the capability to fill air bottles on scene are just some of the many advancements this vehicle can bring to us. And best of all for our citizens, the vehicle was mostly funded by grant money. The fire department's grant writer,Engineer/Medic Phil Kamm, was successful in securing $350,000 in federal grants towards this "state-of-the-art" apparatus. The next time you see this beauty riding down the road, give us a wave. We do it all for you! �,u ,srr m'MNh'!�wr �`>�O�iir ,ru/vp J �� - ,'�,lWl;A77)91WPoN0�7NklNiJuir »rr,,w;miry/� r� 1 r rf%//i%�� rrc�r �, 6` , n,•, " /r7nIDDDI1111P,1 1 Vw �v; Is�immm�r r � io / ,.. 1��/�; r� r , F R 0 M IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII�IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIQ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII uuuuuuuuump By Shadd Whitehead In case By now, you have read about our newest addi- tion to the fleet, our new Rescue 1 vehicle. We Of an are all excited about this new piece of equip- ment and wantY ou to know that it is available Emergency for our citizens 24/7. While most of you hope this doesn't have to show up at your house, Dial knowing that it can and what it is capable of is hopefully enough to give you peace of mind. °°°°°°°°°°a ,11 We thank you for your inputs, through emails, calls and letters. Enjoy this issue of "Couplings"! °°°°°°°°°°` IIIIIII IIIIIII °""' IIIIIII IIIIIII °°° SafetyIIIIIIIIII(IIIIIII The outdoor cookout season is just around the corner. Listed here are a few helpful hints in making your out- door barbeque a fire safe event. Propane Gas Grills • At the beginning of the barbecue season, check hoses for signs of wear and tear, and that the connection to the tank is tight. • Remove excess grease buildup from the unit, to prevent flare ups. • Periodically check the inside gas tubes for the buildup of spider webs that can cause blockage, where it could potentially create a problem. • An orange flame is in an indication that there is an obstruction in the gas tubes that lead to the burners. The flame should be blue in color. • When igniting the grill, make sure the lid or cover is in the open position. • Never leave the unit unattended while cooking, and keep children at a safe distance. • Always shut the tank off after each use. • If the unit catches fire, do not attempt to extinguish it, especially if propane is burning freely. CALL THE FIRE DEPT. Propane can ' reignite with explosive force. ��, • Proper location and placement of the unit is very important. Keep the unit away from the sides or back of your home, as well as any open windows. If fire occurs, it may spread to the building. • Use common sense and read the manufacturer's directions. Charcoal Grills • Careful use of charcoal starter fluid is very important. Follow the directions on the can and never apply ad- ditional fluid once the fire has been ignited. • The use of an electric starter or paper is an alternate method, and pre-treated charcoal can also be used. Remember, the charcoal stays hot for long periods, with little or no flaming. • Keep the grill away from structures that may ignite when exposed to heat. • Place all ashes in metal cans, outside of the home. uuumum IIIIIII umuuuum IIIIIII Safety m a uuuuuuumi IIIIIII m mu read too many stories of needless fire deaths. In some cases, the smoke alarms were there but not operational. In others, there were no smoke alarms at all. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of working smoke alarms inside homes. They are inexpensive, easy to install and simple to maintain. Have plenty of smoke alarms in your home and install them on the ceilings or high on a wall, since smoke tends to rise. Test them every month and change the batteries every year. Smoke alarms are good for ten years, so replace the entire alarm once it reaches ten years of age. It is especially important to have the smoke alarms inside and outside of bedrooms, to provide early warning for sleeping oc- cupants. Fire extinguishers are another piece of the fire safety puzzle. While we would rather have children exit a smoky building, some adults can fight small fires with a portable fire extinguisher and a little ` n knowledge. Knowing where you keep your fire extinguishers saves precious seconds when a fire breaks out, and knowing how to use them can mean the difference between thousands of dollars in fire damages. Most fire extinguishers operate on the P-A-S-S method. The "P" in the acronym stands for Pull the pin or tape out of the way. The "A" stands for Aim the nozzle at the base of the flame, at the burning fuel. The first "S" stands for Squeeze the handle or button down to activate the unit, and the second "S" stands for Sweep the agent from side to side of the burning fuel until it is extinguished. It is also important to have a home fire escape plan in place. This is a plan that you put into action when your smoke alarm sounds. It includes two ways out of every room in the house, and making sure everyone in the home knows how to use them. This includes doors and windows, which can some- times be tricky for young children. Practice makes perfect. Once you discuss the plan, put it into practice. Have everyone take part in the fire escape drill, and practice it every six months to keep it fresh in your minds. You can also include some issues that have to be overcome, like crawling low under very smoky conditions. You should also practice the "Stop, Drop and Roll" behavior with family members, so that they know what to do if fire gets on their clothes. Upper floors may need portable escape ladders, and they need a practice session so that everyone knows how to quickly deploy them as well. Another often overlooked safety item is carbon monoxide alarms, to warn you of the buildup of unburned gases inside the home. Once a fire breaks out in your home, you have very little time to escape before the intensity of the fire is overwhelming. Don't leave your family's fire safety to chance. Follow the tips in this article to help keep your family as safe as possible. m 1111111 S��uImiId�ke mi lu mi ICove�rage' VVVI According to a study by researchers from the It's easy to get plenty of smoke alarms for your Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and home. They are quite inexpensive and available Policy, an amazing one in three households (in at a variety of stores you probably frequent. You their Baltimore-area study) misreports its smoke can even purchase them off the internet if you alarm coverage. Reasons for overreporting don't want to make a stop. I'll make it easier... their smoke alarm coverage included the study stop by Livonia Fire headquarters (Farmington participants' incorrectly assuming that all their Road, just south of Five Mile Road) during regu- alarms were working because they were not lar business hours and ask for one and you will sounding at the time of the study, and not hav- get one, free of charge! ing alarms on every level of the home. / Install the smoke alarms No single piece of technology has done more to on the ceiling or high on reduce the number of fire deaths in this country a wall, avoiding the cor- than smoke alarms. While fire sprinkler systems ners where the ceiling and are a fantastic life safety item, they are still not wall meet. Test the smoke widely used, especially in the places they are alarms monthly and needed most — homes. The U. S. fire death change the battery once f rates dropped from over 10,000 per year in the a year. Do the testing with 1960's, to the present level of approximately an occasional fire escape � 3,000 in large part due to the widespread use of plan with your family. smoke alarms. Have them practice what they would do in case of an actual fire in the The NFPA (National Fire Protection Associa- home. They should be familiar with two ways tion) recommends that all residential homes out of every room in the home, and an outside have a smoke alarm in every bedroom, out- family meeting place. If you have elderly neigh- side every sleeping area and on every level of bors or family members, offer to install and test the home. They currently estimate that 96% their smoke alarms for them. of U. S. households have at least one smoke alarm. However, forty percent of all residential A smoke alarm is only "good" for ten years. Like fire deaths in the U.S. occur in homes with no any other electronic equipment, it wears out smoke alarms, and another 23 percent occur in over time. Look over your smoke alarm. If it has homes where an alarm is present but not func- the year of manufacture on it, keep it for another tioning. ten years past that date before replacing it. If you don't find the year of manufacture on it, it The study mentioned earlier attempted to get is over ten years old, as this dating requirement a better understanding for the reasons people took effect in the year 2000. overreported their smoke alarm coverage. One in three indicated they reported greater cover- Smoke alarms . . .don't stay home age than they actually had because they knew without them! they should have more coverage. Safety is a top priority in our lives. If we remember back to Maslow's hierar- chy of needs, he puts safety and security as one of the top priorities that we ��/� pursue. According to the Home Safety Council, less than one-third of hom- eowners make any safety improvements. Some aren't sure what actions to take and some state that they don't have enough time to do the necessary improvements. If you aren't sure what actions to take, or feel that time is at a minimum, " let's break up the home safety concept into smaller pieces, and tackle them that way. Within seven days, you can have a more safe and secure home. 1 Day one can be the bathrooms. Move medicines and other potentially dangerous items into a high (or even locked) cabinet, so that children and grandchildren will not have them close at hand. To avoid scald injuries, set you hot water heater below 120 degrees. Finally, consider installing grab bars in the bathroom to prevent falls. Many of today's grab bars serve other functions, like towel bars, so you aren't transforming your comfy bath- room into an institutional looking bathroom. 2 Day two moves us into the kitchen, where we start by moving dangerous items (sharp knives, scissors, appli- ance cords, etc.) out of the reach of children. Cleaning items should all be kept in one cupboard, and it should be locked it if you have, or expect, young children in your home. Childproof locks can be inconspicuous from the outside, so we are not talking about padlocks and chains in your kitchen. Keep a fire extinguisher near the cooking area, as cooking is the number one cause of house fires. 3 Day three can be spent checking out your hallways and stairs. Make sure you have good lighting in these areas and remove any trip hazards. Install or repair handrails as necessary. Make sure you have working smoke alarms in the hallways, test them monthly and change the batteries annually. 4 Electrical and heating inspections are on tap for day four. Put safety plugs in electrical outlets if children are ex- pected in the home. Don't overload electrical outlets, and consider ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) and/ or arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI) near water sources. You should avoid using extension cords for perma- nent wiring and make sure you have a three foot clearance around heat sources such as furnaces, hot water heaters, fireplaces and portable space heaters. 5 Day five is bedroom inspection day. Remove any dangling cords around blinds and curtains to prevent stran- gulation hazards and be sure everyone knows how to operate the windows so they can get out quickly in a fire emergency. Make sure you can escape upper floors onto a lower roof or purchase an escape ladder. 6 Day six is where you can spend a few minutes looking at your family, living or great rooms for hazards. Make sure shelves and bookcases are secure from tipping over, as kids see them as ladders. Have your fireplace and heating system inspected annually to ensure proper operation. 7 Finally, the seventh day arrives. Go over your fire escape plan with your family and practice it. Include two ways out of every room, how to use them and a rendezvous at your family meeting place. uuuuuumu uum uuuuuuuuu¢ uuuuuumu uum I umm IIIIIII uuuuuuuuuu m mu a�ndof 1906 uum IIIIIII In the early morning hours of April 18, back in 1906, an earthquake rocked the city of San Francisco. There was an initial foreshock about one minute prior to the earthquake which featured violent shocks and y strong shaking for the next minute, which could be felt ,,r from southern Oregon, to south of Los Angeles and in- land as far as central Nevada. �� ", As a result of that earthquake ,�,rl"f.n✓ r1Sr 1 � ,,,,, 1 D;� ( 7.8 magnitude) and subse- quent fires, there is an esti- mated death toll of over 3,000, r '� and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed. That is over 25,000 buildings over 490 city blocks. Over 30 separate fires began shortly after the earthquake stopped, caused by ruptured natural gas mains. With most of the water mains also broken, this growing city was under siege by fire. Numerous roads were impassable by fire apparatus, further compounding the problem. As if that wasn't enough, the city Fire Chief had died from injuries sustained in the initial earth- quake. Without water available, firefighters resorted to using dynamite (supplied by the army) to blow up buildings, creating a fire break. Neither the army nor firefighters were trained in using dyna- mite in this fashion. This resulted in an estimated loss of about half of the buildings that some think could have otherwise been saved. Some property owners lit their damaged property on fire in a deliberate attempt to recover fire damages from their insurance company, which they believed did not cover earthquake damages. Several of the downtown fires merged into one large fire. Fireboats pumped water from the bay across broken streets to fire ap- " � paratus so they could fight this fire �. �; for the next three days. r, , nx,w r Survivors slept in tents placed in uW r. ' city parks, while relief efforts cooked food for them right on the street, to avoid any chances of further dam- aging buildings or starting another � fire. Due to plentyof hard work, t there was hardly any sign left of the earthquake just ten years after it ' rocked the city. pi WoU��d You IIIIVII ullliluuuuuu uw ulllllluuuuum uwuuuu Hazards abound in Livonia businesses and residential properties. While many of them are not major issues, some of them can become problems if a fire situation arises and actions must be taken in a hurry to save lives and property. Let's see if you have seen any of the following problems in your past. First, this picture shows all the markings of a fire , .. extinguisher, but without the fire extinguisher. The problem is that many of us are tuned in to look for the markings for fire extinguishers, assuming that an extinguisher is at the ready. When it isn't there, a delay can cause extra property damage. + Second, this person is smoking while using oxygen to help with a breathing problem, which may have been exacerbated by the smoking in the first place. The problem is that oxygen enhances ' combustion, speeding up the burning process with surprising re- sults. We have gone to many fires started when oxygen supplies meet a smoker's cigarette. Finally, these chained exits can be a life safety hazard. In case of a fire, many people head to the exits, to escape the smoke and flames. Imagine what might happen if those exits are chained shut. , Take the time to make sure your homes and businesses are as safe as they can be. While the problems may not seem that important, during a fire, every second counts! � IIM��YYr P Safet / # , vapors can easily. ignitel ever appromed i I •' OP �► �, ; ,y o 40 on hand In CaSe thk .� ti powre goes for .. I, to use candles r i%'"�I rtrny f .6w i i d