Structural collapses during fires usually occur without direct warning, and often result in fatal or disabling injuries to fire fighters. However, with tactical planning, fire departments can anticipate such emergencies and save fire fighters' lives. Fire departments should ensure that risks for structural collapses are strategically assessed at fires, that good communications are maintained between crews inside and outside of burning buildings, and that emergency rescue preparations are in place.

The recommendations came in a new NIOSH Alert that is being disseminated widely to career and volunteer fire departments; fire chiefs, commissioners, and administrators; safety and health officials; unions and labor organizations; fire marshals; insurance companies; and others. The Alert is the first report by any federal agency to focus specifically on preventing fire fighter deaths and injuries from structural collapses. The recommendations are based on results of several NIOSH investigations of line-of-duty fatalities, as well as input by outside fire safety specialists and organizations.

"Structural collapses can put a fire fighter at deadly risk in a split second, whether in the form of a falling roof beam that inflicts instantaneously fatal injuries, or a sudden plunge through a weakened floor that, even if survived, isolates the fire fighter from help as avenues of escape or rescue are rapidly cut off," said NIOSH Director Linda

Structural collapses can be difficult to predict and often result in multiple fatalities. The case reports in the new NIOSH Alert involved fire fighters who were fatally crushed, asphyxiated, or burned when they were caught under collapsing walls, were trapped behind partial roof collapses, or fell through damaged floors.

Of the 316 fire fighters who died from 1989 to 1998 while fighting structure fires, 56 died in structural collapses. During the past 14 months, 13 fire fighters died in 8 such incidents.

According to the Alert, fire departments should ensure that:

• Commanders on the scene conduct an initial assessment of risk from structural collapse, and follow with on-going risk assessments to anticipate imminent, life-threatening situations that require rescue. 

• The commander maintains accountability for all fire personnel at the scene, so that individuals' locations are known. 

• At least four fire fighters with full protective equipment are on the scene before anyone enters the burning structure. Teams inside and outside should be in communication. 

• A specialized standby team is in position to rescue fire fighters in the building if an emergency arises. 

• Fire fighters entering the burning building are equipped for two-way communications with the command team. 

• Procedures are established - including use of

• All fire fighters are equipped with and use audible alarm devices, called personal alert safety system or PASS devices, when they operate in any hazardous area. 

• Structural materials and components in buildings are examined in pre-fire planning and inspections. 

• A prearranged signal, sound, or tone is transmitted immediately when an emergency evacuation is ordered. 

• Areas are zoned off around buildings having parapet walls that protrude above roof level, to protect fire fighters from being crushed or struck by debris if a wall collapses.

The text of NIOSH Alert: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Firefighters Due to Structural Collapse, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 99-146, is available on the NIOSH website, www.cdc.gov/niosh. Copies of the report as well as other information on fire fighter safety are available from NIOSH by calling (800) 356-4674. 

The test is designed to measure the physical ability of candidates to perform routine fire fighting tasks. The test consists of eight parts: a stair climb, equipment carry, hose drag, ladder raise and extension, forcible entry, search, rescue and ceiling breach and pull. Nearly 200 people in 10 fire departments participated in developing the exam. In addition, physicians, exercise physiologists, and attorneys assisted in honing the procedures. 

"This test offers one of the most comprehensive and objective tests of physical requirements of fire fighting," explained IAFF General President Alfred K. Whitehead. "It's a fair and accurate measurement of what it takes to be a

Job simulation tests of fire fighter candidates have been the subject of sporadic litigation over the last 20 years. Such tests tend to have an adverse impact on female applicants. Consequently, federal fair employment laws require that the prospective employer prove that the test is a valid measure of the important skills necessary to be a fire fighter. Fire departments have generally had better court success in defending physical ability tests than have their police counterparts. If the CPAT survives any future legal challenges, it could serve as a selection vehicle for departments that cannot afford the expense of validating their own tests. The CPAT manual discusses the relevant legal issues as well as the steps necessary for other fire departments to validate CPAT for their use.

The IAFC is offering the CPAT manual and accompanying videotape for $90 for members and $120 for non-members.

Further details of the CPAT can be obtained by contacting the IAFF at (202) 737-8484 or the IAFC at (703) 273-0911.

For many years, USFS fire applicants submitted to a "step test" that required a recruit to step up and down from a crate for five minutes while

The USFS had been using the WCT on an experimental basis, but several other federal agencies that employ fire fighters require passage of the WCT as a condition of employment. 

Patton told 900 people in attendance at his annual labor-management conference that opinion polls have shown that Kentucky residents favor bargaining rights for public employees. In an apparent reference to the National Labor Relations Act, the Governor said, "We have as a national policy that if the employees of a company want a union,

In response, legislative leaders indicated the proposal would be a tough sell even though the governor is a Democrat and Democrats controls the assembly. A similar measure failed to pass last session. 

Patton's proposal would create a three-member state employment relations board set up similarly to the National Labor Relations Board. Impasse would lead to mediation and fact-finding. Disputes under an existing contract would go to arbitration. Strikes would be prohibited and financial aspects of a contract would still have to be funded by the appropriate legislative body. 

As of September 1, part of the uniform of the Chicago fire fighter is "authorized sleeping attire" _ dark blue shorts and V-neck T-shirts bearing the department logo. 

Of the city's 4,200 fire fighters, approximately 200 are women, mostly assigned as paramedics. They do share firehouses with suppression companies.

Kugleman observed, "New York City got bunker gear and cut their injury rate by 85 percent. They don't have jammies."

The protestors used the opportunity to voice

Gary Markenson, executive director of the league, said the labor organizations want third-party arbitration of wages and benefits, a concept the MML opposes. 

Fire fighter union officers are cautious about the change because the city has dropped its written aptitude test. Michael Zucchet, governmental affairs director of Local 145 of the IAFF, worries that the new requirement might not be tough enough. He suggested that the city consider only current EMTs. These city employees work side by side with fire

City officials have rejected the union EMT idea because about 150 fire fighter vacancies are expected over the next three years and the city employs only 25 EMTs. When the city last advertised for fire fighters about 7,000 persons applied with 800 scoring high enough on the aptitude test to be considered for the training academy. Fire cadets currently start at $2,343 monthly, going to $2,964 a month upon graduation.

Cases of interest

HELD: The FLSA generally requires that all employers compensate their employees at a rate of one and one-half times their normal hourly rate for all hours worked in excess of a 40-hour week. The law, however, provides little guidance as to what constitutes an employer-employee relationship or "employment" sufficient to trigger its compensation provisions. An "employee" is defined as "any individual employed by an employer," and "employer" is defined as "any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee." Thus, judicial interpretation has been necessary to further define these terms. The fire fighters argue that although they unquestionably "volunteered" to provide ALS services as rescue squad members, the FLSA demands that they be considered employees of the city when they perform the services. This result is dictated, they assert, because the city created a department to oversee and

HELD: This appeal raises the issue of whether a wrongfully terminated civil servant is entitled to recover an award of any increased tax liability incurred as a result of a lump sum payment of back wages. This is a novel issue and one of first impression in Louisiana. The Louisiana Constitution establishes a civil service system to secure adequate protection for public career employees. Any civil servant who is aggrieved by an action of an employing agency may appeal such action to a civil service commission. The New Orleans civil service commission rules provide that the commission may, where appropriate, reimburse for all back wages and emoluments due from the date of the wrongful discharge. Prior case law has held that reinstated employees are entitled to annual leave and reimbursement for the cost of private health insurance, as well as the state supplemental pay that had been withheld during the period of the suspension. Those forms of compensation are different, however, than tax liability. Since there is no Louisiana jurisprudence on this issue, reference to federal case law is appropriate. Under the federal merit system, courts have ruled that wrongfully terminated employees are not entitled to an award for increased tax liability incurred as a result of a lump sum payment of back wages. The reasoning for this determination is that the tax liability is not part of the employment relationship, but rather is a consequential loss. Further, courts have ruled that the federal merit system board has no legal authority to pay for any increased tax liability for wrongfully terminated employees. The rules of the civil service commission as well as the analogous federal case law leads to the conclusion that Christoffer is not entitled to an award for increased tax liability that he incurred as a result of receiving his back wages in a lump sum. Reversed for fire department. [Christoffer v. New Orleans Department of Fire, 734 So.2d 629 (La. 1999)]