SAFER Meeting Minutes
September 21, 2018
SAFER Board Attendees: Vice President Weise ,Past President Gurrola, Wilkerson, Seely , Sharbo, Tracy Rabe
Corona Fire Department @ Circle City Center
365 N. Main Street, Corona
0941 Meeting called to order – Vice President Weise, welcomed SAFER and opened the meeting, introduced Board Member Jeff Wilkerson who introduced A/C Cox who led the flag salute and a moment of silence for those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice. A/C Cox introduced Fire Chief Young who welcomed SAFER to the Corona Fire Department and related his appreciation of SAFER’s work.
**Thanks to Marken PPE ISP for morning hospitality.
Committee Reports:
NFPA – Dick Weise – Just returned from an NFPA 1851 committee meeting in Fort Lauderdale. Dick related some changes in the standard that will soon be in effect. The new standard for Wildland PPE (NFPA 1877) will provide standards for SCAM of Wildland PPE. Standard for determining “cleanliness” are now available. Discussed the numerous test methods and “age standards” will be included in both standards. There is ongoing work on the issue of respiratory protection in the Wildland arena.
Cal-OSHA – Scott Hudson (via email): Nothing to report
Vender Liaison – FH World will be in LA City March 24-28, 2019 at the Downtown Convention Center. Reno November 6,7 & 8, 2018.
Safety and Training:
Apparatus:
Technology – See Website, Facebook, twitter, linkedin
Treasurer – Tony Duran (Via email to board members) Savings and Checking was reported to Board Members (Not posted herein for privacy / security reasons)
Communications – Tracy / Tony: Please “sign-in” to receive emails and be included on meeting minutes.
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Up Coming Event:
Behavioral Health Conference – October 24 or 25, 2018 – 0900-1700 Hrs.
Hosted by Orange County Fire Authority
1 Fire Authority Road, Irvine 92602
Speakers:
Kim Lightley – USFS / Pineville Hotshots
South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain Survivor – NFFF Stress First Aid for Wildland Firefighters
Battalion Chief Joe Krebbs and Firefighter Frank Ungaro – FDNY
Founders of Peer and Family Support Services FDNY (established 9/12/2001)
Fire Chief Frank Babinec and Captain Chris Bator – Coral Springs – Parkland FD
Captain Bator – President of Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative
Captain Jeremy Hurd – Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
Mental Wellness Director of Florida Firefighters Safety and Health Collaborative
**To enroll, visit: ocfatraining.org/classes/health
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SAFER Meeting Program(s):
Marken PPE ISP
Presented by: Jeremy Verderber of Marken PPE
Jeremy spotlighted some technologies being used to assess and improve cleanliness issues related to firefighter PPE.
**Video shown demonstrating laundry cleaning equipment:
New BASF “beads” are used to gently massage fabrics while being laundered. (The Zeros Technology) The beads are reusable (1000 washes or about 30 days) and are then remanufactured and reused. 800,000 beads used per use in the Marken ISP facility. These beads have been shown to help remove asbestos in PPE. Conventional technology also is also effective in removing asbestos but the Zeros Technology is much easier on retroreflective trims on PPE as well as less damaging to the underlying fabrics. The “massaging effects” of the beads on the fabric(s) has been shown to be beneficial in the laundering process.
Corona FD - Lessons learned from Fires / Floods in the past two years
Presented by: Chief Cox – Corona Fire Department
A/C Cox related the recent activities the Corona Fire Department has had. They have opened the “EOC” eight times in the last year:
7 Stations, 7 engines 1 truck, 1 B/C – 170,000 population
Canyon Fire (#1 & #2) – September 25, 2017
Started in ORCO along 91 Frwy
Wind reversal blew fire into Corona
Activated Structure Protection Contingincy Paln
No Structures Lost
A few house damaged
Lessons Learned:
Contigincy Pplan works
Train, Train, Train
Cal Fire / Firescope WUI Structure Defence Tactics
Partnerships works, SOLAR response plan
FMAG Approved, set up a plan and follow directions
EOC Excercises are critical:
PIO (Social Media)
Reverse 911
Logistics
Traffic
Jan Mudslides – January 8, 2018 – 1600 hours
Contingency Plan
Plan adoption and training
Decision Points
Evacuation Terminology – (using FIRESCOPE terminology)
EOC Activation
January 8, 2018, opened EOC and issued Evacuation Warning (Voluntary Evacuation)
January 9th - , about 1530 hours received major rainstorm and a flash flood warning from the NWS – triggered a mandatory evacuation order.
Lessons Learned / Successes:
Contingency planning works
Pre-program reverse 911 when you can
Stay on top of social media
Pre=plan CalFire hand crew contracts
Social Media
March Rain Event
Predicted large rainstorm
EOC Activation
Major event didn’t occur
Skyline Fire – July 19, 2018
Tin Mine Canyon / Skyline Truck Trail (Popular Hiking trail)
RRU/CNF/COR
282 Acres, 4-day fire
Potential for a few thousand acres
Fire ran downhill / Elsinore effect
Evacuations of about 150 structures
No structures lost, very minor damage (retardant
Early Unified Command
Lots of Resources
ICP moved away from fire area back to a fire station
Use of brand new XRI Management Team
Corona OEC Management watch, good PIO coordination,
Research Fire – August 2, 2018
Approx. 15 acres
Good use of aircraft
Several hundred structures potentially threatened
Evacuations considered but not orders
Lots of hose use , tasked the agencies hose
Rincon Fire x2 – August 6
About 40 Acres
No aircraft available (eventually got a firehawk, thanks to LA CO FD
20 total engines used
Several homes and a three story framed new construction apartment complex threatened
Lesson Learned:
Good pre-fire planning
Good aggressive firefighting
Ran out of hose!
Second operational period
Holy Fire -
Started same day as Rincon Fire
Fire never impacted Corona
Impacts: local events cancelled, traffic
Busy Summer! Issues going forward;
Lots of crews on strike teams
Fatigue - resting in stations
Pulling and cleaning hose
Use of Acting B/C’s
Enough Utility Vehicles
Logistical support
1130 Adjourn to network with equipment venders
1200 Return to roundtable:
Paul Laker - Workrite – Has new dual compliant PPE,.
Chief Tony Pighitti - Santa Barbara City
Steve Hanks – SCOTT Safety - New pro airpack out, will comply with new SCBA NFPa
B/C Barry Owens Cal Fire Riverside – Available to assist with other agencies.
Brent Nunez - Torrance Fire – Developing a CA prevention policy. NH3 ongoing today (Tony Duran)
Sabastian – Fillmore Fire :
Keith Gurrola – Fillmore Fire : 3 new paid firefighters added to roster, (6-7 persons a day) Will be hiring- FF-1 & EMT-1 required. Looking for type 3 units
Kelly Whitt Dupont – Working on Nomex with new liner with less weight. Dupont wants to support FF with
Tracy Rabe – Linegear : Has new catalog of product line.
Gail Mills – Mills Custom Art: Has array of professional poster depicting career highlights and professional gear.
Jeremy Verderber - (Retired Corona B/C) – Now Merkan Rep – Open to tour facilities at Merkan PPE ISP here in Corona.
Tom Martain – Responded Solutions: Black Diamond, Night Stick, Shelby, Lakeland Fire, Gerber, Nupla products reversible high visibility jackets, many other products related to emergency operations.
Eric Higgins – BestWay Laundry solutions : new FireLink software to allow scanning individual PPE elements for recording keeping.
Scott Estrada FIREETC –San Diego : They stock all fireground equipment and Class A foam inventory. Has Citrosquese
Bill Ward – PumpPod USA, giving demonstrations to numerous fire service agencies of their pump training / testing units as well as water source units for refilling helicopter’s. (HeloPod) Will be at CalChiefs meeting next Thursday to show their units
Mike Schlaggs – Cobra Litters : Has built the perfect wheeled liter system, Showed the product in many scenarios via a promotional video system. Unit is uniquely designed for logistical transport – patient transport – crew transport scenarios.
Brent – Red Equipment Group -KME,
Next Meeting: Carlsbad Fire Department in November