I feel it is important to challenge the department in areas that require increased cooperation both within the department and with other agencies. 1. American Firefighter Grants were awarded for a new fire truck and diesel fume removal systems for the fire stations. 2. The department's personnel roster allotment was expanded from 73 to 79 individuals. was certainly a year of growth for Columbus Fire and Rescue. In January of that year, my command staff and I held a meeting with the entire department. During the meeting, each command staff member gave an account of achievements within their area of function (training, accreditation, public education, and fire prevention‌). In conclusion, I presented my vision for the department and set goals for those things I felt were achievable. As always, I envisioned task that benefited both the department and the citizens we serve. I feel it is important to challenge the department in areas that require increased cooperation both within the department and with other agencies. After a year of tremendous work and effort, the following milestones came to fruition for Columbus Fire and Rescue in 2018:
3. The City of Columbus received an upgraded fire rating of a class 3 from the State Fire Rating Bureau. 4. Columbus Fire and Rescue received Homeland Security grants that allowed for the purchase of a new tow trailer, dive equipment, rope equipment, overland equipment, and a new all-terrain vehicle. 5. The city of Columbus received the Mississippi Municipal League Public Safety Award for the introduction of the Columbus Fire and Rescue Med-1. These are but a few of the momentous accomplishments Columbus Fire and Rescue achieved in 2018. I can't wait to see what achievements the new year will bring!
We’ve seen and experienced so much together; from the fatalities: fires, tornadoes, flooding, water rescues, drownings, automobile accidents, and so much more.
firefighters have been in the department longer than the three of us: Chief Andrews, Engineer Billy Clark, Battalion Chief Tommy Massey, Engineer Doug Cox, Battalion Chief Scott Swain, Fire Marshal Brett Thompson, and Engineer Michael Miller. Thompson and Miller are currently in the process of getting their retirement papers in order.
As I contemplate retiring from a long career in the fire service, so many things are going through my mind. Am I really ready? Is this the right decision? Should I wait a little longer? The date I was given for possible retirement is May 1, 2019, and that day will be here very soon. I can still remember October 23, 1995, my first day at work, like it was just yesterday. I was hired under Chief James Massey; that was two chiefs ago. Since then, I’ve worked with Chief Kenneth Moore, and the current chief, Martin Andrews: three different leadership styles and three different personality types. I’ve enjoyed my time and experiences working with all three. Only two other men remain with the department out the the five others hired with me that night: Chief of Training Mike Chandler and Assistant Chief Duane Hughes; and only seven
Missing the camaraderie shared with other firefighters is the one thing I hear most often from retired firefighters, and that’s understandable. We’ve seen and experienced so much together; from the fatalities: fires, tornadoes, flooding, water rescues, drownings, automobile accidents, and so much more. We’ve shared happier times as well: graduations, promotions, weddings, new babies, training exercises, Christmas parties, and even retirement parties. My daughter was only 13 months old when I began my career in the department. My son was born six years later. So they’ve always known me to be a firefighter. They’ve lived this experience with me; all of my family has. So leaving ....... It ain’t that easy.
Both sides of the truck were emblazoned with the words Columbus Fire. A small silver bell and simulated emergency light sat on the hood. Chief Massey explained that a citizen had donated the toy to the fire department, and he wondered if I could fix it up for display. I promised him I would do my best, and took the small truck from his desk.
"So, I've heard you like to work on old cars. I have a car I'd like to show you. Maybe you can fix it up?" Fire Chief James Massey had recently hired me at Columbus Fire Department in October 1995. On this particular day, I and a couple other new Fire Fighters were in the day room practicing tying rope knots. Curious as to what Chief Massey had to show me, I followed him out of the room. Curiosity turned to confusion when instead of walking towards the parking lot, Chief Massey strode towards his office instead. "So what do you think?" Upon entering the office, I couldn't help but laugh at what I saw. Sitting atop the chief's desk was a child's pedal car. The toy sized vehicle was styled as a late fifties fire truck with a running board and small wooden ladder on the rear end. Both sides of the truck were emblazoned with the words Columbus Fire. A small silver bell and simulated emergency light sat on the hood. The child owner of the truck had certainly enjoyed it, as many dents and scratches from play were evident across the front and both sides.
I immediately started cleaning the truck and discovered that much of what I thought was damage was only dirt. The little pedal car was in incredibly good condition, and I began to disassemble the running gear and attachments. After some good natured jokes about getting "brownie points," other crew members began to help me. Captain John Fancher and Engineer Randy Rhoades suggested that I get some paint from the supply closet and detail the car. Firefighters Kirk Gayle and Larry Webber began shining all the chrome parts, as I painted the front grill and small wheels. By the end of the shift, the little fire truck looked fresh off the show room floor. After viewing the truck, Chief Massey decided it should be placed in the display building with our nineteenth century horse drawn steam engine, "Luxapalilla.� Not many weeks go by when I don't pass by the building displaying that child's pedal car. I think about my early days in the department, the friends come and gone, and all the memories good and bad. Whatever mood I may be in, that old pedal car brings a smile to my face, and a renewed pride in the fire department I love.
16 l Columbus Fire and Rescue Magazine l
(662) 329-5121
Firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and are 14 percent more likely to die from cancer than the general population. Everyday firefighters make decisions during fires that involve a level of accepted risk. Simply, we will risk a lot to save a lot. This risk is somewhat abated through training, experience, and the observable condi tions of the fire. Yet it is the unknown that presents the greatest risk. Today firefighters, both active and retired, face a new threat that does not give any warnings; that threat is cancer. In the past decade multiple studies have revealed a correlation between firefighters succumbing to cancer and the hidden dangers posed by structure fires. The cause for this correlation is the use of synthetics and plastics in home furnishings that release cancer causing carcinogens when on fire. These carcinogens include benzene, formaldehydes, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, dioxins, and other toxic gases. While turnouts (firefighting protective gear) offer protection from thermal hazards, they cannot prevent these gases from seeping through to certain areas of the skin. These areas include the head/neck, wrists, abdomen, groin, and legs. Particulate exposure tests confirmed that in high heat conditions, skin absorption rates in these areas can increase by as much as 400 percent.
A meta-study conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) involving 30,000 retirees from 3 major municipal departments discovered
that firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and are 14 percent more likely to die from cancer than the general population. A study of firefighters in Indiana reflected similar results. Of the 2,818 firefighters that died between 1985 and 2013, 30.4 percent died from malignant cancers and represented a 20 percent increase in deaths than the general non-firefighter comparative group. Significant findings from the Indiana study also revealed that firefighters were occupationally susceptible to specific types of cancers at a rate of 2.1 to 1.2 times over that of the general public. These cancer types included testicular cancer, mesothelioma, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, skin cancer, malignant melanoma, brain cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia. Columbus Fire and Rescue has been proactive in addressing this issue through the implementation of a cancer awareness initiative focusing on key components to reduce potential exposures to toxic carcinogens. Columbus Fire and Rescue has been proactive in addressing this issue through the implementation of a cancer awareness initiative focusing on key components to reduce potential exposures to toxic carcinogens with the purchase of an industrial
Photos by Public Relations and Education Officer Anthony Colom
washing extractor that effectively removes contaminates from turnouts that regular washing machines do not. In 2018, the department was awarded a federal grant to install vehicle exhaust removal systems in each station. These systems connect to apparatus and will remove diesel exhaust fumes/carcinogens from the station bays. Another component was the purchase of new firefighter hoods that have a third layer of technology advanced material that filters contaminants to the 0.2 micron level (smaller than a strand of hair). Operationally, the department changed procedures to eliminate absorption exposures by providing baby wipes to remove skin contaminates while personnel are in rehabilitation. Personnel are also required to conduct a mass decontamination of their turnout gear prior to leaving the fire scene. Once back at the station, personnel wash
skin contaminates through personal hygiene measures. All of the measures taken by the department conform to nationally recognized peer practices addressing cancer prevention. It is no longer acceptable for the culture of the fire department to blindly take unnecessary risks under the premise of "it is part of our job" or to have contaminated turnouts serve as a badge of honor in light of current research findings. Columbus Fire and Rescue has a moral obligation in providing our personnel with safer equipment, safer work processes, and better education. Department personnel have a moral obligation of returning to their families healthy.
HOW YOU CAN DOUBLE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS EFFORTS IN JUST 15 MINUTES A DAY Dietary monitoring, or tracking what you eat, has been proven to help people lose weight, but many shy away from it because it seems too time-consuming.
How much time does dietary self-monitoring really take?" said lead study author Jean Harvey, Ph.D., R.D., chair of the Nutrition and Food Sciences Department at the University of Vermont in a press release.
- A new study published in the journal Obesity finds that food tracking takes less than 15 minutes a day once you get To answer that question, Harvey and her the hang of it.
per day tracking their food during the first month. By the end of the study, after six months of tracking, they had gotten it down to just 14.6 minutes a day.
- You don't need to go overboard on detail, either: Meticulously describing your intake didn't yield better results-but more frequent check-ins did.
The best news though, is that you don't have to maniacally monitor every morsel you put in your mouth, or whip out a food scale: You just need to jot down what you're eating when you eat it. The participants in the study who spent more time filling in a bunch of details did not get better results. Those who checked in frequently did.
Food tracking-keeping tabs on what you eat and when-is a proven way to lose weight. One study of nearly 1,700 participants back in 2008 found that keeping a food diary can double your weight loss when you're trying to shed some unwanted pounds.
"Those who self-monitored three or more time per day, and were consistent day after day, were the most successful," Harvey said in the release. "It seems to be the act of self-monitoring itself that makes the difference-not the time spent or the details included."
It works, but the problem is, it's also viewed as a giant, time-consuming pain in the rear. So some folks don't bother even trying.
team evaluated the dietary monitoring habits of 142 men and women in an online behavioral weight control intervention. The volunteers met once a week for an online group session led by a dietiBut the reality is that, once you get the cian and then logged their daily food hang of it, it doesn't really take that intake online for 24 weeks. much time at all-less than 15 minutes a day, according to a new studypublished When the researchers crunched the data, in the journal Obesity by researchers at including how much time each particithe University of Vermont and the pant spent logging their food and how University of South Carolina. often they logged in, they found that the most successful volunteers-those who "People hate it; they think it's onerous dropped 10 percent of their body and awful, but the question we had was: weight-spent an average of 23.2 minutes
So if you've been stuck trying to make the scale go in the direction you'd like, consider tracking your food intake using one of the many online dietary-monitoring apps like My Fitness Pal. "It's highly effective, and it's not as hard as people think," Harvey said in the release. From: Bicycling US SELENE YEAGER "The Fit Chick"Selene Yeager is a top-selling professional health and fitness writer who lives what she writes as a NASM certified personal trainer, USAUSUSAUSCycling certified coach, pro licensed mountain bike racer, and All-American Ironman triathlete.