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Posted: Mon, 11/30/2009 - 14:44
Updated: Tue, 01/12/2010 - 17:07

Archived issues

 

December 2009


Photo by: Paul Luttenbacher

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On the Cover

Firefighters from 18 departments worked for hours to control a fire and numerous explosions at a petroleum products company in Vienna Township, MI. The Clio Area Fire Departmentresponded initially and 1,000 residents were evacuated downwind. The fire occurred on Aug. 4, 2009.

Dedication

This month's Firehouse® is dedicated to Firefighter Cohnway M. Johnson, 26, of the Houston, TX, Fire Department; Captain Frankie P. Nelson, 51, of the Shreveport, LA, Fire Department; Lieutenant Stephen Michael Cospelich, 56, of the Philadelphia, PA, Fire Department; and Firefighter Paul J. Roberts, 54,of the Beverly, MA, Fire Department, who died in the line of duty, May 2009.

Fire Department Operations, Cover Story

  • On Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009, a multiple-alarm fire destroyed two buildings at the White Oil Co., a division of Michigan Petroleum Technologies, in Vienna Township, MI. Building one, (the original fire building), built in 1973, was a 128-by-70-foot warehouse with an 18-by-46-foot loading dock. Building two, built in 1998, contained a 20-by-80-foot office area; a 125-by-80-foot warehouse; and a 50-by-80-foot warehouse addition built in 2000. Both buildings were site-built steel warehouse-type structures with steel clear span roof beams and steel roofs.

Fire Department Operations

  • At approximately 11:27 A.M. on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, an explosion ripped through the 425,000-square-foot ConAgra Foods Inc. processing plant in Garner, NC. The facility is the sole source of Slim Jim snack foods for the company product line. The initial blast collapsed approximately 15,000 square feet of the product packaging area, which was built in 1994, and partially collapsed another 5,000 to 8,000 square feet wherein the framework was damaged, but the roof membrane held.

  • Today, fire departments are faced more than ever with the decision of extinguishing a hazardous materials fire or letting it burn and weighing the environmental impact that decision may have. As always, life safety and protection of property are the primary decisive factors. A common type of incident is a gasoline tanker fire. This "let it burn" example is typical when life safety and protection of property do not play a role in the incident.

  • — The Derrick City, PA, Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched at 7 P.M. to a reported structure fire. The fire involved a barn that was being used as a workshop and storage area. It housed heavy equipment and two all-terrain vehicles.

Fireground Safety

  • One of the most promising technological advances to occur within the fire service over the last 25 years was the technology associated with Class A foam and compressed air foam systems (CAFS). This technology, which primarily had its beginnings in wildland fire operations, represents a revolutionary breakthrough today for use in structural firefighting.

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