The FDIC four-hour workshops kicked off at 8 a.m. on Monday morning with two very important and highly informative sessions that focused on very different yet vital subjects of equal importance to the fire service.
CHALLENGES OF MODERN APARTMENTS
In Room 238/239, Dallas (TX) Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Stuart Grant and San Marcos (TX) Fire Department Chief Les Stephens hosted this workshop, which looked closer at the unique issues firefighters will face when confronted with incidents in buildings featuring newer construction materials and layouts.
Accompanied by a detailed slideshow of graphs and pictures taken of common apartment building areas such as basements, garages, and stairwells, Grant explained what responding crews will need to look for and expect to find when faced with an incident at these structures. Topics such as exterior courtyards, sprinkler system (i.e., 13R systems) and smoke alarm types, and fire attack methods were all covered with photos and diagrams of buildings with familiar layouts and hazards such as plumbing drains, trash chutes, and electrical outlets and how each potentially affects a fire.
Grant also discussed the stairwells and hallways of these buildings and the means by which attack crews should stretch and lay hose.
Grant’s partner Les Stephens continued the workshop with a talk on certain scenarios, specs, and trusses in these new buildings, with a specific focus on the Bryson Complex in Dallas, Texas, a six-story (one commercial, five residential) structure which experienced a well-known fire in April 2011.
LIABILITY ISSUES FOR OFFICERS
房间的132/133,纽约州办公室火灾前vention and Control State Fire Instructor Mark Butler, who is also a practicing lawyer, conducted this essential workshop for all firefighters who need a primer on the many ways litigation can affect the fire service.
The enthusiastic Butler spoke at length about the myriad of liability lawsuits that can spring up in the aftermath of accidental injuries and deaths and the interpretations those laws may have respective of the fire service.
“The breach of duty has GOT to cause the injury,” Butler said. “Do we have to be predictors of the unknown? The answer is ‘No.’”
Butler cited several true-life and hypothetical incidents which focused on the law of respondeat superior, which makes the employer liable for the actions of the employee.
“If I am the driver of the apparatus and hit that black ice, I have no personal liability. However, there are a number of standards that creates the duty, and if we breach any of the standards, and if it measurable, then we will be held liable.”
Butler also spoke about what should happen if a firefighter finds himself in a court of law, defending himself or his company to a jury.
“Is ignorance of the law an excuse? Never!” Butler concluded. “If you insult a jury by trying to split hairs, they will get even with you for wasting their time.”
