NEAFC 31st Annual Conference.pdf - New England Association of ...

NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF ~FIRE ,CHIEFS-
8o far, ~we havebeen spared from thgt and I trust we always Will be, but the only
way we can do our part is to be prepared, so as to make our enemy of Russia that much
less likely to attack. "
I just want to say a few word.s about European developments before passing out
the photographs and showing a few slides. The British Fire Service today discontinued
during the war the municipal fire departments common in this Country, and they are
now organized’ only ’on the outer bases. One fire department handles all the fires in
one county under completed radio control, and another county handles all the apparatus
and all the manpower in that county.
That. does allow mobilization very rapidly in a way which we tried to do here in
our mutual aid systems--far advanced in ,both the United 8tares and Canada. They
have it thoroughly coordinated today, and that is a very important measure in firefighting
because every man, woman and child in the United Kingd~om has coordinated to took
after fires in homes, factories and stores. "
The prevention officers are quite thoroughly trained. -T-hey have nine months ~
college course= before they are out in’ the field, and they. are thoroughly equipped and
know the job well. That is probably one of the reasons why the per capita loss in Great
Britain is only 20 per cent of what it is in Canada and the United 8tares.
They do have other reasons for it. They don’,t have the central heating we have,
but the fire prevention officers do a maj6r job
We had a very interesting visit in Sweden., andi I think without question the Swedish
fire departments are the most highly organized in the Western World--and what
Russia has no one cf us_kn0ws... _T.h.e__re~ a_r__e a lot of _th_.ings.. t.h_e2 ¢~.j~ea_r_n from .u..s, but
there are some things we can learn from them. They are very great believers in physical
fitness, and every fire ’statior~ has a well-equipped gym_nasium w.h.ere all men in the department
spend an hour a day in gym drill. - -~ -
They are also great bel.i_evers in ..breathing appa_r_a.tus, and most of their modern
trucks are equipped with it. Their cabs are different from ours. They are fu.lly,
closed cabs and; the .two back seats have builtdn gas masks, similar to ours here in general
design, which the firemen put on when they arrive at the fire. The first people to
hop off are the two firemen who have their masks on--without waiting to see what the
situation is. They go back and try to find ,things. If not needed, that much is gained;
but if needed--either for rescue work or firefighting--then they have their masks.
They have a very excellent smoke-room which is more unique than anything I
have seen..-I am speaking of Stockholm. Their-test room for their refresher course .
whichever one they have to, take once in six months--is abou.t as wide as from this end
of the stage to this wall (indicating). There were three levels with plate-glass panels, - on
the side. The firemen, fully equipped on the top level . . . under obstacles and down
head . firstand~ then a hole at the end. It is a travel of ~0 or 7~ feet--and as soon as the
man’s physical condition is not such, then he is retired from active firefighting duties.
It is a good automatic test cf their physical fitness.
The Swedes also have their fire stations duplicated underground under fifty solid
feet of rock. For each fire station above ground in Stockholm they have two fully
equipped underground. Lthink i~ Would probably take ten-minutes to function underground,
rI’hey have their beds and bedding; .they have food and water.
Their short-wave radio and telephone system is upstairs. They are set in framework
where..t._hey_ can be picked up by handles and carried underground. The_r__e ar~ qui_te
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