Volunteers
Who Must Be Pros
BY
CHARLES SCHILLINGER
STAFF WRITER
04/07/2008
Factoryville
firefighter James Wassell enters a second-story
window at the training facility of Jessup Hose Company 2.
BUTCH COMEGYS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
JESSUP
— Over the revving of a chain saw, an instructor yelled
to George Yurkanin on the correct way to cut through the roof
of a mock house.
It is
a task that might not seem that difficult — but try it at
3 a.m. on an icy roof, while wearing 70 pounds of equipment with
adrenaline rushing. Variables start adding up for firefighters,
said Steve Pitoniak, of Jessup Hose Company 2.
“Oh,
and don’t forget, there’s a fire, too,” the
company’s fire chief said.
Such a
situation highlights the importance of training to firefighters.
“Without
training, you’re not going to know how to react. With training,
it might not save you, but you got to take that shot,” Chief
Pitoniak said. “It you’re not trained, you’re
not safe.”
About
40 firefighters from Lackawanna and Wayne counties are more than
halfway through a 160-hour training course to become certified
in basic firefighter skills, also known as “Firefighter
1 Certification.” Some are lifelong firefighters. Other
were using a chain saw for the first time.
But no
one is required to take the course. In fact, Pennsylvania requires
nothing before someone starts working a fire scene, though most
fire departments require some training.
“There
are places where if you show up at a fire station and pay the
dues, they give you a helmet and you can go out and fight fires,”
said Chief Pitoniak. “That’s just kind of a scary
thing.”
For Mr.
Yurkanin, despite being a 28-year veteran, he wants that certification
to prove he knows the basics.
“I
want that piece of paper,” the Jessup Hose Company 2 firefighter
said. “I really believe in the certification. More and more
often, we’re short-staffed (at fires) and relying on other
companies for help. I think it’s important to know everyone
is at a certain level of skill.”
For Chief
Pitoniak, training is a safety issue. He does not require the
certification to join Jessup Hose Company 2, but does require
a similar class without the certification.
“Pennsylvania
has a reputation for killing a lot of firefighters,” he
said. “It’s a dangerous occupation, even in best of
times.”
Statistics,
sadly, back up what Mr. Pitoniak had to say: In the last seven
years, Pennsylvania has ranked at least fourth in firefighter
fatalities, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Ten Pennsylvania
firefighters lost their lives in 2007, second only to South Carolina,
where one incident, a furniture store fire, killed nine firefighters.
Five firefighters
in Pennsylvania have died in the first three months of this year.
“Fire
training is about safety, not only for the individual, but for
the team, too,” said Carl Peterson, director of public fire
protection division at the National Fire Protection Association.
“I need to know what I can expect out of you as a member
of my team.”
State
Fire Commissioner Ed Mann acknowledged, “as with any profession,”
training plays a part in Pennsylvania firefighter safety. But
he stopped short of saying there should be any state mandate for
training. Currently, departments that have firefighters with certified
training are receiving bonuses in grant awards from the state
and other incentives, Mr. Mann said.
“We’ve
seen incentives like that are working,” Mr. Mann said. “We’re
dealing with volunteers. There has to be a happy medium. If we
had an overabundance of firefighters, yes, we absolutely should
have a mandate. But that’s not the case.”
Mr. Mann
said other programs, including the “Courage to Be Safe so
Everyone Goes Home” initiative, raises awareness about the
need for firefighters to, for example, wear seat belts when responding
to emergencies and have routine physical exams. The state fire
commissioner stressed the latter issue because of the high number
of deaths related to overexertion.
Between
2002 and 2006, the U.S. Fire Administration said heart attack
was the leading result of firefighter deaths, claiming about 50
percent of firefighters lives while responding to an emergency.
In Pennsylvania, heart attacks account for about 60 percent of
deaths in that same time frame.
“Quite
simply, the fire service has got to get itself in better shape,”
Mr. Mann said.
While
Mr. Pitoniak said the certification classes review firefighter
tactics for hazardous materials operations, how to properly use
self-contained breathing apparatus and search and rescue, he pointed
out in the first class — safety and fire prevention —
they discuss the need for firefighters to get physicals and the
risk of overexertion causing heart attacks.
“That
is important,” he said.
Amanda
Greer, a recent recruit at Cottage Hose Company in Carbondale,
said she is taking the certification classes so she can say she
has learned the basics.
“I
understand the certification is important,” she said. “It’s
nice just to say I have the general knowledge of how to fight
a fire.”
Chief
Pitoniak said along with the large group of area volunteer firefighters
willing to go through the certification process at his headquarters,
there was a waiting list of about 10 more who wanted it. That
shows volunteer firefighters are committed to safety and “volunteer
fire companies aren’t what they used to be,” he said.
“We’re
volunteers, but we’re professionals. We don’t just
sit around and drink beer,” Chief Pitoniak said. “Really,
we don’t even have time to sit around and drink beer.”
Contact
the writer: cschillinger@timesshamrock.com
©The Times-Tribune 2008

U.S.
fire departments responded to an estimated 1,642,500 fires. These
fires resulted in 3,245 civilian fire fatalities, 16,400 civilian
fire injuries and an estimated $11,307,000,000 in direct property
loss. There was a civilian fire death every 162 minutes and a
civilian fire injury every 32 minutes in 2006. Home fires caused
2,580, or 80%, of the civilian fire deaths. Fires accounted for
seven percent of the 24,470,000 total calls. Nine percent of the
calls were false alarms; sixty-two percent of the calls were for
aid such as EMS.
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