Good morning and to say I’m glad to be back is an understatement. For the last 8 days I’ve been in Utica, NY for a New York National Guard Homeland Response Force exercise. According to the locals, Utica was home to the Mob families in the 70’s and 80’s. They said it was the safest place to live as no crime was dare committed in the home town of the mafia! Although I didn’t see and mobsters this week, I did have the chance to eat at some of the old Italian restaurants frequented by the locals for over 100 years. OMG…the food was amazing, the weather, not so much. Being I’ve been out of the loop for a week, this will be an abbreviated version of the WIR. You probably know more of what’s going on than I! Either way, let get started…
· The Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901--Jacksonville's Great Fire of 1901, happened on May 3rd, and was the largest metropolitan fire in the American South. The fire began on May 3, 1901 with a spark from a kitchen fire at lunchtime which ignited piles of drying Spanish moss at a nearby mattress factory. Located at Davis and Beaver streets, the factory fire soon spread to most of the downtown area. Smoke could be seen as far north as Savannah, Georgia. By 8:30 p.m., when the fire was brought under control, 2,368 buildings were destroyed, 10,000 people were homeless and seven residents were dead. In all, 146 city blocks were destroyed. If you didn’t catch our Museum curator Wyatt Taylor on Channel 4 this morning, he did an awesome job as always promoting our department.
· New Recruit Graduation—is this Wednesday. Their first assignments will be given then and they report to duty on Saturday. Please look out for our new folks as our fire season hasn’t slowed down any.
· Personal Escape Systems—go out to formal bid this week. It has to be out for 3 weeks then an award can be given. I’ll keep you up to date once its awarded. They will be delivered 200 systems per month. We will do our best to get you trained at that same rate. Each training session will take between 4 to 6 hours depending on your performance with the system. We want to make sure you can do it with no problems!!!
· Miami Cancer story—this week, a Miami news station did a great article on the cancer issues Miami and other firefighters are facing. This is nothing new if you’ve been paying attention to national studies. It seems lately, a new one comes out every other month and I’ve done my best to keep you informed of the highlights as they are released. The difference between Miami and Jacksonville is they voluntarily participated in a cancer questionnaire. They have accurate and current information about their employees; we don’t. So all we go by is the stories told by those willing to share their story and funerals. Think we’ve been lucky? Then you haven’t been around long enough. FF Andre Hills passed away on 6-6-13, ironically, the same day he was hired 9 years prior to. If you haven’t been in our Surviving Your Career class, then you don’t know about Federated Chemicals (old T2) and how the entire engine crew that responded to those calls have now passed; All cancer and one heart attack. You don’t know about how many of our members developed cancer on the job and quickly passed in retirement. Next time you’re the dinner table, ask some of the old timers the ones they’ve known and worked with. I assure you, everyone has a name…that’s sad. What else is sad, is the continuing advertising ads in our trade magazines that show a sooted up fireman to sell their stuff as if that’s still cool, it’s not. Do advertisers sell hazmat gear to hazmat teams by showing team members covered in carcinogens? Covered in benzene, diesel fuel, and formaldehyde? Knowledgeable team members would be outraged by those advertising slogans but not us! For some reason, the fire service vendors have not yet caught on and we still buy into the notion that soot is a badge of honor… it’s not, it’s a ticket to a shortened retirement. Right now, NIOSH and others are trying to figure out what to do with the neck absorption issues the last study found. Remember that one? What is cool? When St. Petersburg’s FD emails me this week to say they have gone to a 100% SCBA policy after Lt. Smith (Hazmat) and I delivered a class there and showed them a different way. When a news station wants to do a story on Monday about how we (the JFRD) are leading the way on fixing the cancer issue. Want to know who gave them the tip about what we are doing? Miami. I’ll send out an email letting you know when the story runs.
o http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/04/29/cbs4-investigates-silent-killer-claiming-lives-of-firefighters/
· Arthur W. Hutt—On May 1, 1968, Arthur W. Hutt, a 15-year-old junior fireman with the Mandarin Volunteer Fire Department, was killed when he and a large sign he was holding down were blown off the back of a Mandarin Volunteer Fire Department truck on State Road 13. Firemen were taking the 4-by-6-foot sign advertising the department's annual fund-raising barbecue to the intersection of State Road 13 and Beauclerc Road.
Let’s see some of the runs you’ve gone on this week…
· Structure Fire Strip Mall/ FD 25/ 5675 Timuquana Rd/ @ Shear Elegance Barber Shop/ Heavy Smoke Showing/ TG B1
· FD52 COFFEE BURNS TO A 1YO NECK SHOULDER AND CHEST..LIFE FLIGHT ENR..TGB1
· W3 SNGL FAM RES/FD35/11677 CHARLIE RD/F8 IC ON B-1/END
· W3 SNGL FAM RES/VACANT/FD9/805 BROXTON ST/F7 IC ON B-1/END
· FD9/ W3 HOUSE/ 331 W 60TH ST/ TGB1/END/JLC
· FD55/ W3/ HOUSE/ 1380 W PLAZA/ TGB5/END/JLC
· SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT UPDATE/ JSO NOW REQUESTING JFRD ENGINE, RESCUE, AND BATTALION CHIEF RESPOND FOR STAGING WITH BOMB SQUAD/ E4, R4 AND F1 ENR/ STAGING AT JULIA AND ADAMS
· Not to mention a dozen shootings and a couple thousand EMS calls!
Well that’s it for this WIR. It never changes, every time I travel and work with other departments, I return home with a renewed sense of pride of what you are capable of doing as a department. Do to our sheer size, the amount of resources we have under one patch is rare…believe me. What else is rare, is the professionalism and talent of our department. So many places hold exercises for train derailments, building collapses, MCI’s, hazmat events, etc…and for you, that just another week in a large metropolitan department. Continue to expand your knowledge by attending classes and conferences, and by reading and understanding studies and new best practices as the fire service is historically slow to change. Being progressive is the only way to stay ahead of the curve and we’ve been progressive for a long time. The Sea of Blue is still being worked behind the scenes and is really gaining steam. Make sure you clear your day to show up and walk with us. There is a lot of other folks that want to come walk and support you! On another note, I was hoping when I returned home, my bathroom would have finished remodeling itself…it did not. Which means back to the grind. Thank you for taking the time to read, and if you’re a firefighter or engineer, get back to studying…you’re halfway there!
As always, we thank you for what you do, why you do it, and for always showing why you are the Best Fire Rescue Department in the Country!
Very respectfully and very proud,
Kurtis R. Wilson
Chief of Operations
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department