Hagen Wheeler English 1101 Anthony Borrero November 11, 2012

Reading and Engaging the Fire:

On September 11th 2001, three hundred and forty three firefighters died inside of the World Trade Center. Without firemen, who else would be willing to go inside of an unstable environment to risk their lives for someone they didnt even know? Volunteer firefighters make up around ninety percent of the firefighters in the United States. Firemen respond to calls every day, providing assistance to the public with fire protection, and medical services. Firefighters are also called to serve their communities for non emergencies. They may be called to fill swimming pools, get cats out of trees, or help an old lady into her house. Everything firemen do plays an important role in society but their main focus point is always going to be fire. According to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,389,500 fires resulting in 3,005 fatalities, and an estimated $11,659,000,000 in property damage. My purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of how firefighters read and engage the literacy of fire. To achieve this I will be observing and researching Parkway Fire and Rescue. The need for firefighters in the United States depicts all the way back to the day the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Back then, there was no such thing as fire trucks or fire departments. Houses were made of highly combustible materials and often helplessly burnt to the ground. Groups known as bucket brigades were formed early on. Men would all run with

buckets, dashing water on the fires to attempt to put them out. By the time the bucket brigades had assembled, the fires were usually out of control. Americans slowly started to see the need for a better system. It wasnt until around 1736 that America had its first volunteer fire department which was established by Benjamin Franklin. Firefighting slowly evolved from fighting fire with leather buckets, to hand pumps. Steam engines replaced the hand pumps around the end of the 19th century. Today the firemen I am observing rely on big diesel trucks to carry equipment and pump water. Parkway Fire and Rescue is located in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The department is a volunteer department that consists of three stations and about fifteen different pieces of apparatus. The roster currently has around fifty members. Out of those members, only a select few respond to all calls. The small response is due to numerous reasons such as age, lack of interest, physical abilities, or they are at work. Parkway fire department differs from most fire departments because of the rural area it is located in. There are very few fire hydrants in the departments district. Most of the water needed, has to be acquired from streams, ponds, and rivers. Even though Parkway Fire and Rescue is entirely volunteer, they still maintain a professional business. The department meets weekly to train and once a month to conduct business meetings to discuss their annual budget and other issues. The facilities are maintained almost daily as well as the apparatus. The members are all common citizens from the Spruce Pine area. They are all hard working people that have normal jobs aside from being firefighters. This creates the issue of having limited personnel when they are paged out. Chief Eric Wiseman

told me that they are lucky to have eight people answer to a fire mid day during the week because everyone is at work. For the deficiency of personal, Parkway Fire has agreements set in place with all the bordering districts to have mutual aid departments respond to major incidents. During my interview with Chief Wiseman, he explained to me briefly on how they operate and interact on fire grounds. From his interview and my observations on an actual scene of a chimney fire, I have seen firsthand how the firemen engage with literacy. Firemen start engaging with their literacy from the minute their tones are set off. As soon as a fireman hears the page go out he will start painting a picture in his head of what is happening. Chief Wiseman told me before ever even arriving he will be asking himself questions. Are there any water hydrants nearby? Will we have to establish a water source in a nearby pond or river? Are there occupants still inside? How many people do I have coming to help me? Firemen then start arriving at the fire department to pick up the fire trucks and some arrive on the scene of the fire. The first person on scene of the chimney fire began doing a scene size up. He walked completely around the structure analyzing everything. He was looking beyond the fire and reading the houses construction paying close attention to detail. Chief Wiseman told me the reason behind the size up is because the firefighter must be fluent in reading building construction. He has to have an idea of how long a working fire can last in the house before structural collapse. After reading the construction of the building, Russell Brannigan gave his scene size up report over the radio. He was informing the firemen that had not yet arrived. After sufficient personal had arrived on scene the fire had broken out of the chimney and made its way into the attic of the two story house. Chief Wiseman ordered Firefighters Adam Shuford, Kyle Hughes and I to make entry to the house and attempt to find the fire. As we made

our way inside we read the layout of the house trying to find a place to make entry into the attic. Chief Wiseman came over the radio and informed us that he had spoken with the homeowners. He told us there was a hole into the attic in the closet of the master bedroom upstairs. We made our way upstairs to find light colored smoke banking down from the ceiling. By examining and reading the smoke we could conclude that the fire was close by. The smoke also told us that the fire wasnt very active and barely burning. We made our way to the entrance of the attic and Kyle climbed halfway inside. He reported back down that he had working fire and lots of smoke on the right side of the house where the chimney was located. The smoke was too heavy to make our way throughout the attic to the base of the fire. We communicated the information back outside to the chief. He already had a ventilation crew ready to go. The vent crew ascended onto the roof and cut a hole over the fire. The hole allowed for all of the smoke to travel out of the attic giving us better visibility. We then made our way on into the attic and suppressed the fire with our hose. After reading a thermal imaging camera checking for fire extension, we packed up our hose and went home. From my interviews and observations I have done with Parkway Fire and Rescue I have concluded that firemen engage with literacy constantly. They must know how to read the building construction in order to know how the fire will react. They must be able to read the

smoke to know what the fire is doing. They must also have a wide variety of knowledge on the apparatus and equipment they use. Knowledge of reading pressure on the engines pump gauges is crucial on making sure the men on the end of the hose have sufficient pressure to put the fire out. Most importantly they must know how to communicate and keep accountability with each other. Firefighters must make crucial decisions on a moments notice. A lot of times, the decisions must be made so quick, it leaves little time for reading what is happening thoroughly. I have found that the firemen have an aggressive attitude towards fighting fire. I believe this to be true for almost all fire departments across the United States. Although aggressive firefighting tactics are necessary for being successful, I do believe they can have a negative effect as well. The aggressiveness can lead to firefighters not reading everything thoroughly and getting complacent. From reading NIOSH Line of Duty Death reports online, I have found that complacency is a leading factor in almost all line of duty deaths. Firemen get in a firefighting routine. They respond to fires, send men inside, extinguish it, and go home. If firemen would slow down and take another second to read everything that is going on, firefighter fatalities could be significantly reduced. A lot of times firefighters work all night trying to save a house to find an excavator tearing down the remains the next day. There is no point in risking a lot to save a little. Firemen can still fight fire aggressively and make quick decisions. They just need to think through every decision carefully. It only takes at most a minute longer to walk around a house to look for dangers and decide the structure isnt safe enough to send firemen inside. Fireman cannot save others if they have to rescue one of their own men.

Works Cited: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/>. "Fire Department." Fire Department. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/fire.htm>. Karter, Michael J., Jr. "Fire Loss in the United States." NFPA. N.p., Sept. 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. "A Little Fire Service History." Fire Service History. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <http://www.fireserviceinfo.com/history.html>.