NFPA Journal - May/June 2017 - 22

Dispatches

Orlando chiefs
share lessons
learned from
Pulse shooting

Although the
Orlando Fire Department had trained
for active shooter
events, nothing
prepared the department for the chaos
of an event like the
Pulse nightclub
shooting that left 49
dead last June.
That was one of
the messages from
Orlando fire officials
at the 50th annual

among firefighters
in the United States,
according to NFPA's
most recent report
on firefighter fatalities. That's not
surprising, given the
physically taxing
nature of the job.
But a new study
suggests it's not just
physical exertion
that contributes to
heart attacks among
firefighters-it's also
exposure to extreme
heat.
The study, published in the journal
Circulation in April,
found that after a
short time in fire
simulation training,
firefighters' blood
becomes more
concentrated with
platelets and more
susceptible to clotting, increasing the
likelihood of a heart
attack. This heat-in-

Crude oil train derailments are a major concern
for fire and life safety officials nationwide. u

meeting of the New
England Division
of the International
Association of Fire
Chiefs, held at NFPA
headquarters in
Massachusetts in
March. The two-day
event concluded
with a presentation
by Orlando Deputy
Fire Chief Richard
Wales and EMS Chief
Hezedean Smith on
the Pulse shooting.

ness and response
is currently in the
works. For more
information, go to
nfpa.org/activeshooterresponse.

Study links heat
exposure to
firefighter heart
attacks

Sudden cardiac
events are the leading cause of death

22 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 7

duced thickening of
the blood, coupled
with the physical
exertion of firefighting, makes cardiac
events more likely in
firefighters, according to the study.
"Exposure to
extreme heat and
physical exertion
during fire suppression activates
platelets, increases
thrombus [blood

clot] formation,
impairs vascular
function, and promotes myocardial
ischemia [reduced
blood flow to the
heart] and injury in
healthy firefighters,"
the study concludes.
"Our findings provide
pathogenic mechanisms to explain the
association between
fire suppression
activity and acute
myocardial infarction
in firefighters."
To read the full
study, please visit
circ.ahajournals.org/
content/135/14/1284.

Defects on oil
train routes
abundant,
inspections find

Recent government
inspections of railroads that carry
crude oil trains across
the United States
found nearly 24,000
safety defects, the
Associated Press (AP)
reported.
The inspections
began two years
ago as a result of a
spate of crude oil
train derailments
in North America,
including one that
killed 47 people in
Quebec in 2013.
Inspections covered
almost 58,000 miles
of track in 44 states,
and found problems
such as worn rails
and other equipment;
broken, loose, or
missing bolts that
keep tracks in place;
and cracks in steel
bars that hold tracks
together.
While the results
are troubling, federal officials told AP
that they hope the
inspection program
will make railroads
more responsive to
correcting issues.
Crude oil train
derailments are a
major concern for
fire and life safety
officials. Accordingly,
NFPA and the Fire
Protection Research

Foundation (FPRF)
have partnered with
the U.S. Department
of Transportation's
Pipeline Hazardous
Materials Safety
Administration and
Transport Canada to
help communities
prepare for crude oil
train derailments.
"Crude oil train
derailments ... have
the potential to overwhelm even the best
equipped and trained
emergency responders," Casey Grant,
executive director
of the FPRF, wrote
in "Off the Rails," his
"Research" column in
the March/April issue
of NFPA Journal.
For more information, visit nfpa.org/
hazmatic.

Food truck safety
makes its way
into NFPA 1

The 2018 edition of
NFPA 1®, Fire Code®,
will include a new
section on mobile
and temporary cooking operations, like
those in food trucks.
The changes to
NFPA 1 mainly draw
upon provisions in
the 2017 editions
of NFPA 96, Ventilation Control and
Fire Protection of
Commercial Cooking Operations, and
NFPA 58, Liquefied
Petroleum Gas Code.
Food truck safety
was addressed in a
new annex chapter
of NFPA 96 after a
food truck explosion
killed two people in
Philadelphia in 2014.
The changes to
NFPA 1 will address
a number of criteria. For example,
food trucks will be
required to park at
least 10 feet away
from buildings, combustible materials,
and other vehicles or
cooking operations.
For more information on food truck
safety, go to nfpa.
org/foodtrucksafety.

GETT Y IMAGES

In
Brief

The June 12,
2016, shooting was
the deadliest mass
shooting in United
States history. But
the tragedy proved
to be a learning
opportunity for the
department, Wales
and Smith said.
One takeaway was
learning to embrace
the involvement of
outside organizations like the FBI.
"We were successful
because of all the
people we had surrounding us," Wales
said. The shooting
also led to changes
such as the adoption
of bulletproof vests
on all of the fire
department's emergency vehicles for
use in active shooter
events, Smith said.
An NFPA standard
addressing active
shooter prepared-
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/135/14/1284 http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/135/14/1284 http://www.nfpa.org/hazmatic http://www.nfpa.org/hazmatic http://www.nfpa.org/activeshoo-terresponse http://www.nfpa.org/activeshoo-terresponse
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2017
