Corridor 9

This is one of those “you have to see it to believe it” stories. You may remember a little post here last April about the insurance company that the city has raising their insurance rates. Well, it’s April again and naturally the insurance rates went up again. It’s almost too much to handle this time.

Let’s refresh our memory on what each plan offers:

As with before, the “standard” insurance plan that covers roughly 80% of the medical bills went up marginally. Note that when I say it went up marginally I’m talking about about $110 increase for a family plan. Not that I could afford a family plan mind you as it’s now over $1000 per month out of pocket expense. I don’t know about you… but $1000 a month is a lot to pay for family insurance.

Let’s have a look at the new rates:

As with last year, it doesn’t seem like that much of an increase. But let’s look at our minimum wage worker again and see how many hours a month he’s working for free.

You did catch that right? No? Let me elaborate a bit more for you

Make sense now? Yea… the average worker would need to work 4.3 weeks per month for free just to afford family insurance. But wait you say…. isn’t minimum wage going up this year? Well, yes it is, and just for you I’ll calculate a family plan at the new minimum wage.

But wait! There’s more! You didn’t forget that we’re looking at the insurance rates per month of the standard plan did you? How about we take a look at the new Premium Insurance rates.

$3330 a month for insurance! I can’t afford that…. can you? Can anyone? Lets work this problem backwards; lets see how much money someone would have to make if they wanted to work every month just for insurance.

$20.81 per hour, or roughly 4 times minimum wage. Not for bills, not for food, just for insurance.When is it going to end? At this rate, in 5 years, family insurance will be $9760.69. Once again, the word outrageous doesn’t even come close to the atrocity that is happening to the average worker.

Insurance should be affordable, useful, and easily available. Even at the standard rate, these terms don’t fit when talking about the Meritain Insurance that the city has. Isn’t it time that we start looking other places for insurance? Isn’t it time we start taking care of our employees?

I guess there is a bright side to this; at least the cost isn’t double, like it was last year.

Well, it’s been a good run, approximately 8 years worth of playing with fire. However, due to some circumstances here at the fire department, I have been informed that I will no longer be playing with fire. Some changes have been made and my skills as a firefighter are no longer needed. While I will miss being first-in, and last-out, I’ll miss playing with the beast the most. There are just times when you know you’re calling, and staring that big red flame in the face was my calling.

So… as with all things in life, it’s time to move on.

It’s time to say goodbye to Firefighter Rescue.
It’s now time to say hello to Engineer Rescue.

After studying and working hard towards my goal, I was finally granted a promotion. I will no longer be on the nozzle, I will actually be driving the truck and making sure that my team has water to slay the beast with. This new position will also give me the opportunity to act as an officer when there is a position open.

Well….. It’s back to Station 2 for me.
Unfortunately, due to some massive changes at the fire department I’ll be going back to Station 2 for a while. There were a bunch of promotions that have happened recently, which means those people will be downtown for probation. Because of that I will have a better opportunity to drive out at station 2. Hopefully this will allow me to become a better engineer for the next round of promotions. Wish me luck.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about my health. I’ve known for quite a while that I was overweight and am in a constant battle to lose weight. Work has implemented a physical fitness program lately that has helped me toward lowering my weight and thereby lowering some of the negative health effects caused by that weight. This in turn lowers my risk for heart disease, stroke, cancer, and other problems.

However, something hit me today as I was getting on the truck; almost like a cloud settling over me. I’m exposed to something every day for which I have no defense. I’m exposed to Sulfur Dioxide, Arsenic, Benzene, Formaldehyde, Mercury compounds, and Cyanide just by walking into the station¹. All deadly chemicals, yet inescapable in my work environment. Keep in mind that these are the same chemicals that we protect ourselves from during a hazardous materials incident by wearing a fully encapsulated suits and self contained breathing apparatus to prevent any contact with the chemicals.

I’m talking about diesel exhaust, a problem that is a serious issue at my department. I didn’t realize how much I was exposed to this exhaust until the main engine at my station broke down and a backup engine was brought out. This backup engine has an air leak somewhere in the system causing the truck to lose air gradually over the day. Upon starting, for daily checkout or before a run during the day, the engine has to sit and idle to build up the air pressure before the parking brake can be released. In this time a black cloud can be seen building inside the engine bay; a toxic cloud.

Risks associated with the inhalation and absorption from such a cloud of diesel fumes include: Premature Death, Lung Cancer, Heart Attacks, Testicular Cancer, Chronic Bronchitis, Neurological Damage, Liver/Kidney Damage, Aggravated Asthma, Exacerbated Allergies, and a Lower Resistance to Respiratory Infections².

It’s also a fact that firefighters today face a greater risk of developing cancer than any other profession³. Some statistics shown in a study published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 48(11):1189-1202, November 2006 by the University of Cincinnati environmental health researchers have shown that firefighter have a greater risk of cancer than any other profession in the following areas⁴:

* Testicular cancer 102%

* Multiple myeloma 53%

* Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 51%

* Skin cancer 39%

* Brain cancer 32%

* Prostate cancer 28%

* Stomach cancer 22%

* Colon cancer 21%

While I haven’t been able to find data for the U.S., statistical data for Canada shows that two out of every three firefighters will develop some form of the disease⁵. It’s so prevalent in our profession that there are even dedicated support groups. Organizations like The Firefighter Cancer Support Network, The Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation, and The Retired Professional Fire Fighters Cancer Fund are just a few that are setup to help firefighters and their family with counseling, guidance, support, and education when dealing with such an illness.

Removing these exhaust fumes is no cheap task. The most common way of removing fumes is to attach a hose to the tailpipe and pump it outside the building with powerful fans. This will allow the fumes to escape without the firefighters coming in contact with them. When the truck drives away, the hoses will disconnect from the tailpipe and recoil back so they don’t smash into the sides of the truck.

Plover Wisconsin recently had such a system installed which provides 10 exhaust ports. The cost was roughly $95,000 with a grant from FEMA ’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant providing 95% of the total cost while the city of Plover only had to provide 5%⁶. In total, Plover provided roughly $112 per firefighter on staff to protect them from all truck exhaust fumes and thus lowering their risk of cancer.

It took me a lot of thought before I decided to place this here. With many issues in my life, both personal and professional, pressing me one way or another I simply couldn’t ignore this anymore. I understand that the administration is fairly new, and I’m in no way saying that they do a poor job or that they are not looking out for our needs. They are very proactive in our safety; we’re even getting new gear to better help protect us from the hazards we face.

I understand that the cost is great. It can’t be easy trying to convince a taxpayer that they need to purchase this when they won’t see any of the benefits directly. This is especially true when you consider that 4 stations need to be fitted with this equipment. I also understand that we need other gear, trucks, and personnel. As it stands now we’re running 6 people short for the department.

However, this is one area that needs to be addressed soon. I can guarantee that many of our loved ones will thank you for it, and the money spent on this equipment now will not only save money; it will save tears, heartache, and pain.

1. http://www.losh.ucla.edu/catalog/factsheets/diesel_english.pdf [↩]
2. http://www.warddiesel.com/component/option,com_easyfaq/Itemid,55/task,cat/catid,24/#faq1 [↩]
3. http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Cancer-Risk-Twice-as-High-for-Firefighters/46$51967 [↩]
4. http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/Cancer-Risk-Twice-as-High-for-Firefighters/46$51967 [↩]
5. http://www.thestar.com/News/article/194812 [↩]
6. http://www.eplover.com/fire_news.htm [↩]

Oh yea…. This thing is Mad Cool!
I decided that since I was now officially on the Hazmat team… it was time I took a bit of pride in my position. Since I’m sure I’ll get questions, I’ll elaborate now. The 2 signifies the Area 2 team that we’re a part of. See… the truck isn’t solely Madisonville’s. It belongs to a number of counties. We’re just lucky enough to have it housed here.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working through Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Life. I have been able to see some areas in my life that really need improvement, and since I began reading I have made a concerted effort to change those areas in my life.

Yesterday I witnessed a video at work about the fire service given at a conference. The video talked about Pride, Valor, Honor, Integrity… unfortunately words that haven’t been in the forefront of our minds until lately. Over the past few years, there have been some problems with the administration and a lot of firefighters, myself included, didn’t feel like doing anything more than was absolutely necessary. That has changed a lot lately.

I’ve learned that there are always going to be people at any job who just want to skate by. I’ve understood the fact that there will always be officers who don’t care about doing things the right way, just like there will be firefighters who don’t care about doing anything at all. The question that I had to answer was; do I want to be like them?

I’ve always had a love for the fire service. Approximately 15 years ago I attended Daytona Beach Community College where I became a certified firefighter. I had pride in my profession then… why did I lose it? I can blame it on the environment, but thats only part of the problem. If I don’t have my priorities right, and realized that everything I do is for God’s glory, then I’m not going to do my best.

And that’s exactly what I need to do; my best.

I thought I’d update you on the status of my job at Madisonville Fire Department. Since our last discussion in July we’ve officially formed a HAZMAT response team. While everyone in the department is able to respond to a hazardous materials incident at a technician level, there are 9 of us who are permanently located at station 3 who act as the front line attack crew. Our job is to make sure that the hazmat truck and trailer are in good working order, organize the contents of the trailer where we feel best, and maintain all equipment needed for hazardous material operations. I didn’t know it could be so taxing, but after working for over a month as a team, I’d say we’ve got it about 95% dialed in. We still have to work out a few things, but it’s a work in progress.

Today was quite an eventful day. While working an extra, I was on the nozzle for one of the more dangerous fires the city has seen in quite a while. One of the local businesses downtown rents its upstairs floors out as living space, and on the top floor of a 4 store building today we had quite a large fire.

Being at the downtown station, we usually have 2 fully staffed trucks that will respond to structure fires but today that wasn’t the case. Our second truck had been training out at Station 3 on the Hazmat truck. That only left me, another firefighter, and our officer to cover the initial response for the downtown area.

We’ve always talked about a fire downtown and how hazardous a situation this could become due to the construction of the closely spaced buildings. As we were toned out, the engineer of our truck looked out the window and saw the smoke rising from what appeared to be the roof of the building. As the scene of the fire was so close to the station, we actually arrived before we were fully geared up to make entrance. It didn’t take long thoubh before we grabbed the longest preconnect on the truck and made our way through the front door, to the back of the building, and up 3 flights of stairs.

Upon reaching the 3rd floor, I called back for water and made an the interior attack. The black acrid smoke billowed out the windows as we entered the kitchen area. Because the fire was getting such a steady stream of oxygen, it was burning hot and fast and as I entered the room I could see fire on the roof rolling over my head and walking up both walls.

Since the fire had self ventilated I wasn’t too worried about getting steam burns so I put the nozzle on a wide fog and opened it up fully to cool off the ceiling area, let the steam do its magic, and push some of the smoke out the window. This cooled off the room considerably and really helped improve the visibility. We finished extinguishing the hot spots before making our way back down the stairs to a rehab area since we knew that our work was far from over. It took members from the entire department a number of hours to overhaul the affected fire area, place salvage covers over filing cabinets and computers to protect them from water damage, and make sure there were no more hot spots that could rekindle later during the day.

In all, we were exceptionally blessed by a number of factors; the building construction had been updated to include sheet rock walls, the fire station was so close to the scene, and the fire ventilated out the nearest window versus spreading through the attic. These factors coupled with the wonderful amount of teamwork by both on-duty as well as off-duty personnel all made this a successful operation.

Due to the fact that the fire department is a bit low on manpower, I’ve been working as an Engineer in charge of driving the firetruck and making sure my firefighters have water. On Sunday we were responding to a apartment fire. We were supposed to be the third truck to hit the scene, but one of the trucks from downtown was tied up. The second truck from downtown wasn’t positioned to reach the fire with their hose, so that put me in charge of getting the team water.

Following instructions, I pulled the truck around back and deployed the 200ft preconnect. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be, maybe this was because I wasn’t supposed to be the lead engine. Everything went really smooth and although I’m by no means a vet at this now I do feel much more comfortable.

Recently I received a notice from the Human Resources department about health care and insurance. The memo talked about the rising cost of health care, the fact that the city has so far been able to absorb these costs, and information about the rising price of the plans offered by the city.

Yes, it’s true that insurance is increasing. Lets look at a few statistics:

• In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7 percent - two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $11,500. The annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,200
• The annual premium that a health insurer charges an employer for a health plan covering a family of four averaged $11,500 in 2006.
• The annual premiums for family coverage significantly eclipsed the gross earnings for a full-time, minimum-wage worker ($10,712).

We’ve got two different plans at Madisonville; a standard, and a premium plan.

So you can see by the chart above that the premium plan gets rid of the deductible, and pays 100% of all in network providers cost, while the standard plan has a higher deductible and only pays 80% of the cost after the deductible is met.

Now, this is nothing new. But let’s look at the price that Meritain Health is charging the city of Madisonville for health insurance.

Now I’m sure you’re looking at this and saying to yourself that this doesn’t seem like much of an increase. I’ll have to agree with you to some extent. It isn’t much of an increase. However, you must also realize that $900 is quite a bit of money to have insurance on your family. This would break down to a minimum wage worker basically working for free 175 hours / month. That’s like working a 44 hour work week for free. But with the rising cost of health care, would you want to take a chance on needing an extra $250,000 to pay for a triple bypass?

I hear you, thats a bit extreme… I’m not even 35 yet. Well… yea, but just think about what it’s going to cost when you’re 50. So, lets get a little less extreme. It’s not that outrageous that you might break your leg sometime soon is it? How much do you think a broken leg costs? Try $50,000 if you need surgery, titanium pins, and physical rehab. Oh., and another thing. Look at the first row, first column of the table above. See it? It says Standard. So, lets take a look at the rate increase for the Premium plans.

See the difference? We’re talking almost double the previous price for a premium insurance plan. Thats $24,540 dollars per year! Lets look at our poor minimum wage worker now; he’s going to have to work 4,765 hours (roughly 595 8-hour days) just to pay for 365 day worth of medical insurance. Thats outrageous… no, actually outrageous doesn’t even begin to come close. Oh, and last I heard, there were only 6 people in the entire city with family insurance so it’s not like Meritain is out a load of insurance
claims every year.

So now the big question… WHY? WHY is it so much for health insurance for my family? WHY is it more than double last years rates for premium insurance? WHY are we still with Meritain? There has to be a better way!

This past weekend I took the IFSAC Firefighter 1 and Firefighter 2 skills test and passed with flying colors. While this isn’t a requirement for Madisonville Fire Department yet, it will be in the coming months and having this under my belt allows me the opportunity for advancement within the department.

While the testing was hard, I am pleased to announce that all five MFD members passed with flying colors. I’m exceptionally grateful that I had some moral support throughout this test, and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved.

As I posted below, I was interested in taking over the webmaster position for the Madisonville Fire Department. After speaking a bit with Chief Stewart today I learned that my understanding of the position was a bit off base. I had thought that the web page was an in house operation that he was primarily in charge of maintaining. He informed me today that while he did help post information, the city’s information technology consultants are actually in charge of the page, and that all information needs to be approved by the city prior to posting.

Because I thought that John was wanting to get rid of the position, now that he’s covered up by his duties as chief, I had approached him about obtaining the position. Now that I understand exactly how the web page works, I’m a bit hesitant about getting involved. Posting factual information about the department, city, and personnel is easy enough. Updating schedules and making sure that contact & training information is correct is also easy enough. However, once you start having to filter everything through a third party it becomes a bit hectic. Depending on how many people must approve the information, it could be like the whisper game; where Mary tells Jim something, Jim tells Jane, Jane tells George, etc. By the time it gets through 10 people the original statement is lost. After thinking about it over for a while, I think it’s best that this job stay with the city’s consultants.

My goal was to make it easier for the people of Madisonville, as well as the department members, to access information about their fire department. However, this is getting better than it has been, especially since there wasn’t even a MFD webpage a year ago. Things will continue to get better, and it will only take time.

I’ve been in communication with Chief John Stewart regarding the official Madisonville Fire Department web page. Since accepting the Chief position, John hasn’t had an opportunity to keep updating the web page like he had in the past. I’ve been looking for a way to contribute to the MFD web page for a while now, and the webmaster position would give me just the opportunity to do that.

In addition to updating static information ranging from pictures & personal biographies, I’m looking to put a little dynamic edge into the web page also. Training schedules, callback (overtime) information, departmental advancements, HAZMAT news and the like would all be great additions to the site. In my opinion this information would go a long way toward providing the community a greater understanding of exactly what the Madisonville Fire Department does.

I’m hoping to have a meeting with Chief Stewart next week to discuss the page and possibly taking over the position.

Rumors have been flying lately about the appointment of a new Chief for the Madisonville Fire Department. There were quite a few applications that were submitted for the position but, as far as I’m aware, only 3 people were actually interviewed. One candidate was from the Hopkinsville Fire Department, another was the current director of the State Fire & Rescue training school for Area 2, while the third is currently a Lieutenant for Madisonville.

I’ve heard that the likely choice will be Lt. Steve Stoltz of the Madisonville Fire Department. It is my firm opinion that this would be the best choice for our department. He has leadership experience, is very progressive in his firefighting and rescue tactics, and is proactive in training as well as bettering the department. In addition, he’s an Emergency Medical Tech who has seen how we EMT’s have been treated under the past administration.

While I do not have any information about the Hopkinsville candidate, I have been exposed to the Area 2 director and have some strong objections to his possible selection for Chief. It’s my understanding that one of our firefighters placed a call to him last evening inquiring as to whether he’d heard anything yet. While he may have been keeping quiet, it’s my understanding that he hasn’t received any information yet about the position. I’m sure if he was given the position he would have stated that he was unable to talk about it. However, to state that he knew nothing indicates that hasn’t been given the position. This is important due to he fact that a briefing is scheduled for 2PM today to announce the new Chief.

I’ll definitely keep you posted

UPDATE: Unofficially Official word is that Steve Stoltz has the job. Congratulations Chief Steve Stoltz!

It’s amazing how such a little thing can make such a dramatic impact.

As many of you know, There are quite a few of us who are looking forward to the new Mayor taking his position. There are many changes that we are hoping will take place over the next few months. I’ve had my share of concern with regards to this change of guard since I’m a bit too close to the bottom of the ladder to be completely safe if the decision is made to cut the fire department staffing. However, I’m beginning to believe that maybe this could be better for us in the long run though.

Many of us believe that we need to do more, help the community and society more than we were allowed under the past administration. We want to get out there and help people who need us whether it be from fire causes, emergency medical causes, or simply raising money for the March of Dimes. The fact of the matter is that we were “shelved” under the past administration; we were not to be seen unless it was an emergency, and we were definitely not to be heard from. We have long been the black sheep of the city government as we don’t provide revenue for the city, don’t really work unless there is an emergency, and are one of the most expensive departments in the city. A good deal of the expense comes from the city not charging for runs that should be charged for; an example would be the HAZMAT runs that we’ve made, or charging some of these companies who’s alarm system goes off every time it rains, etc.

Nonetheless, we are tired of being looked at as lazy, good-for-nothing firefighters. It isn’t our decision to stay at the station all the time, we’re just doing what we are told to do.

Anyway, I’m ranting yet again, but I must let you in on what brought this about. Imagine what our city would be like if we were allowed to care for the citizens as much as the firefighters in this comic.

You may remember reading about the firefighter I know with who had a loss in the family due to cancer. Unfortunately, this same fire fighter’s wife has been diagnosed with cancer also. Because he is quiet and reserved about family matters, no other information was given. Please pray for him and his family, and remember how important your own family is.

Common sense comes in all forms. So does the lack thereof.

We were called today around 7:30 AM and told to report downtown at 9:00 AM for training. Naturally we donned out dress shirts and made our way to Station 1. The topic was extrication, and the information presented in the class portion was both informative and useful. The problem arose when we packed up and headed to Station 3 for the practical portion.

Let me give a background on the instructors. They are very knowledgeable people. However, they all work for a company called WSF which sells firefighting equipment and repairs our trucks when something happens. They brought Phoenix hydraulic equipment for us to use during the class. Therein lies the problem; If we’re training, we should be using our gear. We should learn the techniques using the equipment we are knowledgeable with and have on hand when we arrive at a scene. Why were we using Phoenix gear instead of the Amkus equipment we have?

It all boils down to sales, and the fact that this class was nothing more than a glorified sales pitch. In a way this was very informative. We learned that the Phoenix gear they brought is definitely inferior to our Amkus gear in power.

I would have been delighted to train with our gear, to learn techniques that we may not have known before, but the fact that we were training in 48F temperatures with hard pouring rain simply because of a sales pitch seems way beyond the point of common sense.

Ok guys… after surfing the web today, I came across this little beauty on YouTube. I simply had to put this on C9.

You’ll hear him yell “Come on man”, as he’s waiting for water. This is one of the most frustrating times we have. There simply isn’t anything you can do but stand there and wait, feeling helpless. There isn’t much interior action on this one due to the massive amount of flames coming from this fully involved structure. It’s more of a defensive tactic. I would have liked to see them get inside after the initial knockdown, but I found another helmet cam that is a bit better also on YouTube. Feel free to check out a different approach in this Interior Firefighting video.

You can bet I’m going to be looking at one of these beauties for my own helmet!

After much deliberation and thought on a number of people’s part, I have finally been granted approval to relocate to station 2 for a while.

It’s been a long road, but I think I’ll be a lot happier now. During my 6.5 years at the Fire Department, I’ve been downtown for 6 of them. I think that a change of scenery will be nice for a while. Last time I was out at station 3 it was a lot easier to maintain my diet and my sanity. I’m hoping that this time will be no different.

Thanks to all those involved in seeing this through.

Well.. I had to take my first piss test a few days ago. I was pulling one of the trucks out of the bay and hit the side of a pole. As usual, anything any sort of accident happens, no matter how minor, a report has to be filled out and the person involved has to go take a drug test to make sure they’re not on any drugs at work. I sure hope they don’t find that LSD in my system.