Here are recent Fire Chief's columns from
The Arizona Republic
City
of Phoenix Public Information Office - News Clippings - azcentral.com
- July 4, 2009
Firefighters get their readiness evaluation on the job every day
This month we just had an ORE. The public safety world is full of acronyms. An ORE is an Operational Readiness Evaluation. It’s for our Urban Search and Rescue Team which is also known as our US&R Team. FEMA comes out and evaluates different US&R Teams on their readiness to go on a deployment. We are entering into what is known as hurricane season and Arizona Task Fore 1 is actually first up for the month of August.
This ORE was an in-depth look at our ability to respond. It was done by members of other Urban Search and Rescue Teams throughout the United States and executives from Washington, D.C. and FEMA.
The good news is, our team passed the ORE which means we are deployable and that we are ready to go if there is an emergency that strikes anywhere in the United States. There were recommendations where we need to make some improvements on storage and housing of equipment, but by and large we got a very positive report from the evaluators and their in-depth review – of nearly 40 pages.
This was a tedious task to say the very least that was managed by our Special Operations Section, which is a mix of regular firefighters, chief officers, and civilian staff who respond to emergencies here in Phoenix on a daily basis. They are specially trained on a number of principles that can be anything from a technical rescue to advanced emergency medical treatment. It includes dog handlers, and equipment that is referred to as a cache that can sustain 64 members for up to 72 hours. At the end of all this it’s a very complicated process that represents our team, along with 27 other teams in the United States.
I only say this to sort of set the groundwork for our operations here in Phoenix on a daily basis. In this time of year, I have to recognize the firefighters who are responding in triple-digit heat to multiple structure fires and/or emergency medical calls. Recently, there has been a number of first and second-alarm fires and due to the temperatures. Phoenix is a tinderbox this time of year, we can anticipate more hard work by nearly the 425+ firefighters who are duty to protect you 24-hours a day seven days a week. It’s almost a daunting responsibility that starts at 5 o’clock in the morning when they are working through the daily routine of station assignments and staffing. Mix in some training, running of calls, and station maintenance and it can make for a very long
24-hour shift.
At times I look back on my 14 years on an engine company and see that as somebody else who was doing the work. It always reminds me of how hard that work is when I see them performing their duties on a regular basis. I actually responded with Battalion 1 on a call this month that involved a head-on collision with a van fire and was watching the firefighters do their job like they always do. There were no injuries; they were extinguishing a fully-involved van and doing it in the most professional of ways.
Truly, they didn’t need the Battalion Chief or my assistance. They had the scene well under control and were working with Phoenix Police to manage the traffic flow. My observation would be that to the firefighters, it was another routine call, but I guess watching the crowd see the crews do their work took me back for a minute because citizens don’t see that type of activity every day. It was far from routine and was not nearly as simple as the firefighters made it look.
At the end of this story I would only say, every day at 5 o’clock in the morning we get our own Operational Readiness Evaluation and it can come at any time of the day, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. It’s when somebody picks up the phone and they’re having a very bad day either with a medical emergency or structure fire and we respond. From my observation and from the letters I get from the community, I would say that we passed this Operational Readiness Evaluation with flying colors.
So to all the firefighters in the Valley who are out there, thank you very much for all of your hard work this summer. Please be safe!
Send comments to Bob Khan at firechief.pfd@phoenix.gov or call (602) 26-CHIEF.