托尼·格雷科（Tony Greco）的照片。
由马克·华莱士（Mark Wallace）
民选官员,圣的关键akeholders and/or the media often ask very tough questions on proposals or operational practices that put fire officials on the defensive. They expect us to have a logical and compelling explanation. These tough questions will likely be asked following a fatal fire in your community, and it will go something like this:
“多年来，我们已经在每个预算中投入了大量资源，并专注于防火和生命安全。尽管如此，我们的社区只是致命的大火。您需要做什么来消除我们社区中的火灾死亡？”
Likely, the elected officials, media members, and concerned citizens will want to know specifics about the most recent fatal fire in your community. You may not be in a position at that time to provide the answers they want during an open session; the investigation into the facts and circumstances of the fire may still be ongoing. This is a time when it may be appropriate to provide a confidential briefing to your elected officials. The rules for executive sessions in your community may be a factor in your ability to provide such a briefing to your elected officials, so you must understand the rules thoroughly or obtain guidance from your board’s attorney. If it appears that the incident could be criminal in nature, you may need to put off providing many of the details until a later date.
Executive sessions may allow you to provide confidential information if your executive session rules allow for such a briefing AND the information you provide in such a briefing is required to remain confidential and undisclosed. This is, in some cases, easier said than done. Some of the available information may be available for the briefing, while other information should be withheld so as to not compromise the investigation. Be mindful of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and always consider the family and friends as information is released. Well-meaning elected and other officials may have a good intent, but allow unwanted information to slip out. This could result in a wide variety of problems as the investigation of the incident proceeds.
有关的：《艰难社区问题的消防官指南》，第1部分”《艰难社区问题的消防官指南》，第2部分”社区“指纹”
通常，我们可以将主要问题（即为什么人们仍然在火中死亡？）分为两类：意外死亡或杀人死亡。死亡人数也可以分为无意或故意死亡的类别。故意死亡通常是由于火灾掩盖，火灾自杀或旨在成为谋杀武器的火灾的谋杀案的结果。这些事件超出了我们预防的能力。
这是我们可能的意外火灾死亡able to reduce in number. Certainly, if fires are prevented, fire fatalities won’t occur. Realistically, we can reduce them, but we will never completely eliminate the occurrence of unwanted fires in our communities. More than 80 percent of fire fatalities in the United States occur in single-family homes. This statistic will change slightly in each jurisdiction, but the national statistic is less important than your local data. Success in the prevention of fire fatalities in your community will likely be data-driven. So, it is critical to know and provide your data when being asked the tough questions to being addressing the issue.
With few exceptions, if people know about a fire as soon as it starts, they will likely be able to escape and avoid dying in their burning home. So, if the fire can’t be prevented, the next critical step to preventing another fire fatality is for the person in the home to be notified of the fire as soon as it starts. This requires automatic fire detection. Commercial fire detection systems offer several types of operating systems. But in the home, we typically choose to detect the generation of smoke or heat. Smoke detection choices are basically ionization or photoelectric detectors coupled with an alarm that sounds when a sufficient amount of smoke enters the device’s detection chamber. This is old, basic news for fire service personnel, but it is not necessarily new for those asking the tough questions. Heat detectors are sometimes used in spaces such as an attached garage in a home or in areas where flash fires may occur that involve a rapid heat buildup soon after they ignite.
Once detected, the alarm must immediately sound and be sufficient to notify the occupants of the buildings effectively, even if the occupants are asleep. Recent studies address the sufficiency of the sound to wake children and others while they are sound asleep. Other options of alarm devices include shakers and light strobes as backup indicators that an alarm has been activated.
统计数据表明，只有一小部分房屋（许多州在30％至40％）中包含正确操作的烟雾探测器/警报设备。观看新闻媒体并注意火灾死亡的故事，您可能会听到死亡发生的住所中没有操作烟雾报警器。3月，纽约布鲁克林的七个孩子死于一场热盘中的大火，新闻报道表明，房屋中没有火警警报。我们很少听到具有运营火灾警报系统的单户住宅中的火灾死亡。为什么？乘员很快被通知大火并及时逃脱。
如果您可以在社区中的每个住所中发出有效的火警警报，该怎么办？这将如何影响火灾死亡？现在，有（以合理的成本）提供火警警报，这些烟雾和一氧化碳检测系统具有10年的电池。最受保护的房屋将具有电离和光电烟雾探测器，并结合一氧化碳探测器正确安装，每月测试并站在准备探测不需要的火灾中。
社区中的每个住所都应配备正确操作的火警警报。这个问题的困难部分是如何实现这一目标。与适当操作的火灾警报系统和社区中的火灾死亡人数的房屋百分比将直接关系。
马克·华莱士(MPA, EFO, CFO, FIFireE) is the author of消防部门战略计划：创造未来的卓越。他是俄勒冈州的前州消防元帅，也是科罗拉多州和德克萨斯州的前酋长。他目前经营Fireeagle Consulting（www.fireeagleconsulting.com）。他在2014年秋季发行的第七版消防局手册中写了计划章节。
