As skills and equipment change, Mass. firefighters' valor remains constant

Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
All Rights Reserved 
 
By SCOTT J. CROTEAU
Sunday Telegram (Massachusetts)
 
Over the past week, Worcester firefighters have fought fires in multistory buildings in different sections of the city. One fire started from a first-floor candle. Another started in a basement and crept up the walls into the attic.

While each fire has its different characteristics, fire officials say that at every fire there is a chance firefighters can be hurt or killed.

Events covered nationwide, such as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building fire, make people more aware of the dangers firefighters face, but most people don't know that the dangers can be daily.

"I think there is a higher awareness and appreciation for a firefighter's role when people stop to think about the Worcester fire and the Sept. 11 attacks," state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said.

Even seemingly minor house fires can still turn bad fast. Worcester firefighters realized they had to get out of two Dorrance Street homes Monday

when they knew the structure was faltering. The back porch on one building and parts of the inside of the other collapsed. Three firefighters were hurt, one with a bad burn to the face.

Even knowing that injuries or death can occur, firefighters won't stop doing their jobs.

"You just don't face those dangers in the Cold Storage building or the Twin Towers. You face those dangers every time you go out the door to a call," Southboro Fire Chief John D. Mauro Jr. said. "A typical house fire can turn into a firefighter's death,"

Firefighters didn't have to think about whom they were going to save when they ran into the Twin Towers or the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. building, Worcester District Fire Chief Frank D. DiLiddo said.

"We are there when you need us, no matter who you are," he said.

With almost 100 firefighters dying, on average, each year, there is a stress on techniques to save their lives. Fire Marshal Coan said that, at the state Firefighting Academy, firefighters take part in a "Saving Our Own" program.

Firefighters deal with so many different situations, fire officials said. They can be with people at their highest highs when they help deliver a child or their lowest lows when they have to tell a family their child died in a car accident.

"We get calls every day," Worcester Fire Chief Gerard A. Dio said. "If it isn't a police issue, it is a fire issue, and it ranges anywhere from fires, plumbing to a cat in a tree."

Yes, some firefighters still get cats out of trees. It is a public service, Chief Mauro explained.

Fires, accidents, hazardous materials response, water rescues, building rescues: Firefighters do them all and have for years. In recent years, though, the terms "weapons of mass destruction" and "terrorism" have come into play.

"The post 9-11 era made the fire services responsible for a lot more," Fire Marshal Coan said. "I see the professional becoming more complex."

Fire departments train on how to deal with terrorist events, firefighters said. Some departments receive equipment to handle biological or chemical attacks through state and federal grants, but they don't always get the funding to train the firefighters to use them.

As for weapons of mass destruction, those events are usually elevated hazardous materials events. Firefighters have tackled those for more than 20 years, Chief Dio said.

"A terrorist event is nothing more than something we are training to respond to, but on a higher scale," Chief Mauro said.

When Chief Dio started as a firefighter more than 20 years ago, the job was mostly fighting brushfires, building fires and a few hazardous materials incidents, he said. It was a grunt job, he said.

Fire departments also have had radiation detectors for years, firefighters said.

"When I first got on the job, you didn't wear a mask," Chief Dio said. "It was an iron-lung type of thing."

Equipment has gotten lighter and better. Heavy compressed air bottles are 20 to 30 pounds lighter than they used to be. Thermal imaging cameras can help find hot spots in walls.

All the equipment helps, but knowledge is better.

"We have to know a little bit about a lot of things and a lot about a few things," said Firefighter Derek G. Hirons, a new member of the Southboro Fire Department. "We have to know everything about vehicles, chemicals, building and weather. You have to know a lot about a lot of things to do this job the right way."

His co-worker Firefighter Ryan D. Cringan, another new member of the department, said, "I think a lot of people think we go to a fire, put water on it and call it a day."

How did the firefighters in Worcester know it was time to get out of a Dorrance Street home Monday? Firefighters study construction, building techniques and chemistry.

"The average firefighter nowadays learns about structural components, has a chemistry background and has a medical background," Chief DiLiddo said. "All of these components put together make a smarter, more efficient firefighter to handle these situations."

Changes in plastics and the manufacturing of household items also cause flashovers to occur more often. Flashovers are when everything in a room reaches its ignition temperature and then, whoosh, an explosion of fire occurs. For example, truss construction may be a good way to build a roof because fewer large wood beams are configured in a way to hold more weight, but truss roofs are dangerous during fires, fire officials said.

"A truss may be great structurally-wise, but in a fire it falls apart quickly," Chief Dio said.

Steel truss roofs can bend and weaken at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, Chief Mauro said. A typical fire can reach 1,000 to 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in five to 10 minutes.

In balloon-frame houses, fires can travel up or down

the insides of the walls. Firefighters have to know these things to fight the blazes and keep themselves safe.

"Knowing how a building is constructed lets us know how long we can be in there or what part of the structure will fail first," Chief DiLiddo said.

Firefighters have associate's degrees in fire sciences. They learn chemistry and gain an understanding of acids, bases and how they react.

All learn from being on the job. Chief Mauro can sniff out someone burning leaves when the smell hits the air. Many firefighters have a mental catalogue of fire smells. Many firefighters know that seeing in a fire is like closing your eyes and putting your hand over them. The smoke inside a building on fire is blinding.

Some firefighters have backgrounds as electricians, welders, mechanics and other

job skills that help them. Firefighters learn how to take apart a car during extrication training.

Firefighting has changed over the years. Many departments have EMS services, and firefighters train to be EMS technicians.

"Years ago it used to be about 20 percent ambulance or EMS and 80 percent firefighting," Chief Dio said. "Some departments have actually almost reversed that."

In Worcester, it is about 60 percent EMS and 40 percent fire or rescue, he said.

The dangers are still there, and firefighters are ready to run into that danger. It's their job, and it's a job most of them love.

"If you don't love the job, get off it and let someone who loves it and wants to do this as a career have it," Chief Dio said.