NIOSH is looking for comments on its draft of a document called NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters When Fighting Fires in Unoccupied Structures, NIOSH Docket Number NIOSH-141.
According to NIOSH:
This document highlights hazards and provides recommendations for preventing fire fighter deaths and injuries when working in structures that are known or suspected to be vacant or unoccupied. This document summarizes fatality statistics from the National Fire Protection Association as well as the NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) databases. Selected case reports from the NIOSH FFFIPP program are presented to illustrate the risks to fire fighters entering structures known to be unoccupied and to highlight recommended interventions.
Click here to learn how to submit your comments.
Interesting reading. According to this document if we get a call for a kitchen fire and the family is out of the house on arrival the fire department should not enter the house but should set up defensive operations outside the collapse zone and put the fire out with master streams. I wonder what the home owner would think.
We need to get involved here a put some sanity into this document.