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By Tom Kiurski
Like many of you, many of your Livonia firefightersu
are also fans of the Detroit Tigers. And after a longi
winter off from ball games, we tend to look forward
j �ml y/y to Spring Training. The training begins when the
�� pitchers and catchers report to camp, followed
by the rest of the players. With Spring Training
underway, we know Tiger baseball is close at hand. '
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Like the Tigers, your Livonia firefighters look
�p forward to Spring Training as well. During the cold,
snowy months, we spend time indoors doing some
of our EMS training. We practice our skills, learnt r
the new changes in CPR Advanced Cardiac Life
Support, have some of our local ER doctors give us
some presentations, and then we et read for the
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nicer weather.
As we prepare to do our Spring Training, know that
your Livonia firefighters are preparing the actions
that many be necessary in case a fire breaks out
in your home, or the home of a neighbor. It may
be a vehicle, a car crash, or a sudden illness.
The bottom Zine is, our training is ongoing and
necessary for our safe and efficient handling of
your next emergency.
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By Shadd Whitehead
I hope that you are enjoying your issue (and previous issues) of
Couplings on the City of Livonia website. While on our section of
the website, be sure to spend some time looking at the educational
videos and other items there for your information.
Should you ever have any questions about fire and life safety
issues, please feel free to stop by any of our Livonia fire stations
and talk to our firefighter/paramedics. If you would rather give us a 1E
call, please don't hesitate to do that as well.
Relax and enjoy this issue of "Couplings". I hope you get some
great safety tips from it.
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We have two ways you can get a closer look at your
Livonia Firefighters. The first is following the city website
www.,_ ii..::.11.ii oinii_ .::_imii.::u s and then click on the drop-down menu
under "Departments" and click on the Fire Department. You
can also visit us at www....Il.11voin.p f.ii.ire_fii.ghteirs„corn. Look forward
to seeing you there!
In case of an Emergency
Dial 911
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� t By Tom Kurski
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It seems that "top ten" lists are pretty common these days. You see them for
movies, books, gifts lists and so on. With that thought in mind, I will subject you to
my "top ten" list when it comes to fire safety tips.
1. Install and maintain smoke alarms. Smoke alarms warn you of smoke and fire in the home and
can give you time to get you and your family out safely. I have written about this many times, and
it is rightly placed number one on my list.
2. Space heaters need space. Portable space heaters (or any major heat source) should be kept at
least three feet away from combustibles, such as bedding, furniture, drapes or anything that can
burn.
3. Matches are Tools for Adults. We need to keep matches and lighters up out of the reach of
children. Children should be taught that matches and lighters start the friendly fires around the
home, such as candles, fireplaces and cooking equipment.
4. Crawl low under smoke. Inside any building, heat and smoke rise to the upper portions of the
room before banking back down. The key is not to try to stand up and run, but to get down and
crawl toward the nearest exit.
5. Cool a burn. Any type of burn should be immediately placed under cool water for a minimum of
fifteen minutes to evaluate the burn and stop the burning process. In this "cooling off" time, you
can stop and think about your plan of action with a calmer head.
6. Plan and practice your escape plan. If fire breaks out in your home, many people feel they
can then come up with a good plan to get everyone out safely. Sadly, this is not often the case
when you are excited, scared and breathing in carbon monoxide. Have your family practice two
ways out of every room in the home, choose an outside meeting place and never go back into a
burning building.
7. Stop, drop and roll. Everyone should know this rule if your clothes catch on fire, as this will
smother the flames out when done correctly. Practice is the key. Cover your face with your hands
If your sleeves are not on fire.
8. Be careful while cooking. This is the number one cause of fires in the home, so never leave
cooking unattended. Keep the pot handles turned inward so children won't pull them over. If the
pot or pan catches fire, slide the lid over the pan and shut off the heat to the burner.
9. Use electricity safely. Check electrical cords and appliances before using them. Replace those
that are cracked or frayed, and never run cords under rugs. Choose
power strips that are approved by a testing laboratory when multiple
items are plugged in to one outlet.
10. Practice candle safety. The increased use of home candles has resulted
in an increase in candle fires. Never leave lit candles unattended, and
make sure they are well away from travel paths where they can be
knocked over easily. Watch curtains and drapes that may blow into
candles as well.
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There you have it. My top ten list when it comes to fire safety. Take the ten
tips and put them into practice in your homes and you will be safer for it.
_*A40
,Safe Kids
PREVENTING CHILDHOOD BURNS
Because young children may not perceive danger as readily or may lack the ability to
escape a life-threatening burn situation, make sure they are not exposed to open flames
or other burn risks.
• Keep matches, candles, gasoline, lighters and all other flammable materials locked
away and out of children's reach.
• Never leave a burning candle unattended. Place candles in safe locations, away from
combustible materials and where children or pets cannot tip them over.
• Keep children away from cooking and heating appliances (e.g., space heaters, irons,
hair styling tools). Never leave the kitchen while you are cooking. If you must leave
the room, take the child with you.
Children's skin burns at lower temperatures and more deeply than that of older
children and adults. A child exposed to 140-degree Farenheit liquid for three seconds
will sustain a third-degree burn.
• Set your water heater thermostat to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Consider
installing water faucets and shower heads containing anti-scald technology.
• Use back burners and turn pot handles to the back of the stove when cooking.
• Keep hot foods and liquids away from table and counter edges. Never carry or hold
children and hot foods or liquids at the same time.
• Keep appliance cords out of children's reach, especially if the appliances contain hot
foods or liquids.
Precautions to avoid fire in the home can also reduce a child's risk of burn injury.
• Install smoke alarms in your home on every level and in every sleeping area. Test
them once a month. Replace the batteries at least two times a year, such as when
daylight savings time starts and ends. Ten-year lithium alarms do not require battery
changes. Replace all alarms every 10 years. For the best protection against different
types of fires, consider installing both ionization alarms (better at sensing flaming
fires) and photoelectric alarms (better at sensing slow, smoky fires).
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By Tom Kiurski
In 2010, just over 30 children have died in the United States while alone in a
vehicle, and the summer is just getting underway. We have all heard of stories
of children dying in vehicles in the hot summer months, so let's plan ahead on
how we can avoid this tragedy happening to us.
A child's body can heat up three to five times fast than an adult's body.
� Knowing this, it may take just a few minutes in a hot car before a child can
become overheated. In most cases, the kids left in cars are locked in or are
infants in baby seats that can't get out, further compounding the problem
Over 30 children die alone in vehicles in the hot summer months every year.
It takes just ten minutes for a car's temperature to increase by 19 degrees
Fahrenheit, and it continues to rise from that point. On a day where the temperature is a nice 82
degrees, the inside of a closed vehicle can reach 113 degrees in under 30 minutes! While cracking
the windows may help a bit, the direct sunlight coming through car windows makes the interior of the
car like an oven.
Let's start with the obvious tip of never leaving a child unattended in a car during the hot summer
months. Some people claim that they "forgot" their child was with them, thinking the child was with
another person. Place your important items that you won't forget, like a purse, cell phone, briefcase of
gym bag near the child in the car. This will force you to be near the child while retrieving these items
and you will be less likely to "forget" about the child being with you.
Set reminders on your computer program and cell phone to trigger you to think about where you child
is when you sit down to work or make a phone call. Consider asking your daycare to call you if your
child is over ten minutes late arriving at daycare, so you can start tracking them down early on.
Teach your children not to play in any vehicle. In addition to the heat, we have all heard of stories
where cars have been started, slipped out of gear or kids had body parts trapped in windows and
doors before. Lock all vehicle doors after everyone has exited the vehicle and keep it locked. This
keeps the temptation to a minimum for playing in the vehicle, especially if the car keys are normally
kept out of the reach of children. If your child does turn up missing, check the inside of the vehicle
and the trunk first, as temperatures rise quickly.
Keep a spare set of keys in the home in a place where the adults are familiar with, such as a
container in a closet high on a shelf. If the child is locked in the vehicle with the keys, you have a
spare set you can retrieve quickly.
Remember that your Livonia firefighters have tools to access
your vehicle in an emergency as well. In an emergency
situation, call us.
The summer months should be a time where kids catch up on
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outside playtime and spending time with friends and family. It
is our job to make sure they do this safely.
By Tom Kiurski
Exactly five years after the
States wa was again confronted with riUnited
ahorriblele tragedy.dy. On the i,l
morning of December 7, 1946, the Winecoff Hotel became the
deadliest hotel fire in U. S. history. The hotel was built in 1913
and was advertised as being "fire proof", and was therefore built
with no fire protection systems. Unfortunately, since the building
was built with a fire proof type of construction (the building
structure was not combustible), it had no fire escapes, no fire
alarms, no sprinkler system and all of the interior furnishings
were high combustible.
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The Winecoff Hotel was in downtown Atlanta. It was a beautiful,
15-story landmark hotel that was the destination spot for school
groups, service groups, families heading into Atlanta to catch a
movie and a few meals at restaurants, Christmas shoppers as
well as business people doing their work. Atlanta had a tall aerial
ladder truck, but it was placed out of service due to a mechanical
problem on December 6. The 194 rooms were wrapped around
a central staircase that wound its way from the bottom to the top floor, along with the elevator shafts.
This design created a perfect chimney effect, which allowed the fire to move with great speed
throughout the hotel. The rooms had high transom windows, further allowing the fire to spread and
enter the guest rooms within the hotel.
�m By the time the fire was called in to the front desk, the attendant
wanted to verify the alarm before calling the fire department. This
delay in notification turned out to be a major factor in the large loss of
life. Those trapped by the fir took to the outside narrow ledges of the
hotel awaiting rescue. Others fashioned ropes out of bedsheets and
towels, with the thought of lowering themselves to safety.
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Some onlookers tried their best
to help the fire department with
rescue and aid efforts. Some
people were able to make ladder
"bridges" from the rooftop of
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ledge of the Winecoff. Others i
provided aid to the injured at rf
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ground level. Many wandered
around the area looking for
their missing friends and family `
members.
In a span of just two hours, a total of 119 people lost their lives at
the Winecoff Hotel. y��,
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What Would V11111 ou Do?
By Tom Kiurski
This month, a fire broke out in a house in Medina, Ohio. While a residential structure fire breaks out
somewhere in the United States every two minutes, why is this one so special?This one gives me the
opportunity to see what you know and how much you have learned about fire behavior and fire safety
since I have been writing these articles.
A teenager was in his bedroom in a house owned by his mother. He was smoking and playing video
games while lying on his bed. He could not locate the remote control for his television set, and felt
that it may have fallen to the floor and rolled under the bed. This young man had trouble seeing under
the bed, so he took his cigarette lighter and lit it. He then moved the lighter under the bed to illuminate
the area.
We are not exactly sure if the cigarette he placed on the bed caught fire first, or if it was the underside
of the mattress where he was holding the flame near. Either way, the mattress is now on fire. As with
most insulated material, it smoldered with little flame for some time. The family decided they would
open the doors and windows, hoping to control the smoke damages by letting it out of the house. The
rapid influx of oxygen to the smoldering mattress allowed it to break out in flames very quickly. The
wind moved the heat, smoke and flames through the house very rapidly, starting a devastating fire
that the mother and son would escape from. The three family dogs perished in the fire.
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What have you learned so far? What were the1 S
inappropriate actions that lead to this fire breaking out a
and spreading so quickly? Let's take a Zook.
If you allow smoking in your house, then make it
perfectly clear to the smokers that they must use
Targe, sturdy ashtrays when smoking. The ashtrays
should be large enough to hold the entire cigarette,
in case it is forgotten and left to burn. Never smoke in
bed, as that is too dangerous a practice in any home.
When looking in dark places, have several flashlights
in the home that are easy to locate and have good
batteries. This will eliminate the need to take a lighter and put it under the mattress while looking
away from the flame.
If a fire does break out, limit the amount of oxygen to the area by closing doors to the fire room and
house. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. Be cautious and have your professional firefighters
respond and remedy the problem. The first priority is to get everyone out of the house. Fires can
spread quickly, and bring heat and smoke with it. Having a home escape plan and practicing it can
save lives. Install and test smoke alarms in your home.
Hopefully, through this tragedy, we can all refresh ourselves about the steps necessary to limit
damage in case a fire breaks out in your home.
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