ARFF Firefighter Safety

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ARFF Firefighter Safety
Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Certification Course

• Section 203 8 hours

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Objectives

• Identify the NFPA standard for proximity
  clothing.
• Identify hazards associated with Aircraft
  firefighting and aircraft systems.
• Identify the different types of stress effects
  involved with a mass casualty incident and
  resources available to manage that stress.
• Identify the limitations and cleaning procedures
  of various protective clothing available
• Demonstrate donning protective clothing within 30
  seconds.

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ARFF Firefighter Safety

• Each firefighter is responsible for his or her
  own safety and the safety of the entire team!
• Knowing some safety concerns minimizes the danger
  of being injured or killed

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
• Must be worn at all aircraft fires
• Additional dangers found in aircraft cargo
• Carbon and Graphite fiber hazard

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Other hazards
• Superheated air
• Oxygen deficiency
• Extinguishing agents
• Combustible metals
• Confined working spaces

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Personal Alert Safety Systems
• Must be used by ARFF personnel when entering a
  hazardous atmosphere
• Increases the chances that disabled or
  incapacitated firefighters may be found
• Newer designs are integrated with SCBA

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Hearing Protection
• Aircraft create high noise levels
• Hearing protection must be available to ARFF
  personnel

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Other noisy areas
• Generators
• Power saws
• Air compressors
• Engine compartments

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Personal Protective Equipment

• Eye Protection
• Airborne debris
• Sparks
• Ext. Agents
• Fuel
• Pitot tubes
• AOA vanes

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Pitot tube
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Angle of attack vane
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Personal Protective Clothing

• Aircraft fires present serious problems and
  firefighters must have adequate protection
• Full protective clothing and SCBA must be used
  during the initial approach and attack, while
  performing rescue, and during overhaul
• Most airport firefighters use proximity suits.

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Personal Protective Clothing

• Station/Work Uniform
• EPA Level D

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Personal Protective Clothing

• Structural Fire Fighting Protective Clothing
• Adequate protection for all but the most extreme
  conditions
• Structural clothing is susceptible to wicking
  hydrocarbon fuels and does not provide the
  reflective capabilities of proximity gear
• It is recommend that proximity suits be used by
  ARFF personnel

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Personal Protective Clothing

• Three main types of radiant heat PPE suits
• Approach suit
• Fire entry suit
• Proximity suit (PrPPE)

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Approach Suit

• Heat tolerances

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Fire Entry Suits

• Heat tolerances

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Proximity Suits

• Proximity Suits
• Designed for close proximity exposures to high
  radiant heat
• Has reflective outer covering designed to reflect
  radiant heat (90)
• With the addition of one or more thermal
  barriers, they also can withstand exposure to
  steam, liquids, and some weaker chemicals
• NFPA 1976

Heat tolerance 932F for 5 minutes or more to
radiant heat.
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Personal Protective Clothing

• Chemical Protective Clothing
• Most aircraft accidents contain hazardous
  materials but not all ARFF firefighters
  specialize in advanced haz mat operations
• It is the responsibility of every firefighter to
  understand what substances require them to wear
  specialized chemical protective clothing

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Firefighter Safety at the Scene

• Sioux city Iowa

• Incident Management System
• Aircraft accidents require an Incident Management
  System (IMS)
• ARFF departments must train on IMS and with
  outside agencies on a regular basis

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Firefighter Safety at the Scene

• Personnel Accountability
• In case of a tragic event during emergency
  operations the whereabouts of all personnel must
  be known immediately
• ARFF firefighting has all of the same dangers as
  structural firefighting plus dealing with fuel
  soaked crash sites loaded with hidden surprises
• A good accountability system starts with IMS
• All agencies that respond to aircraft emergencies
  must share a similar accountability system

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Firefighter Safety at the Scene

• Two-in/two-out rule

OSHA and NFPA required
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Two-in/two-out rule

• The Only exceptions to this rule are where a
  known life hazard exists and only immediate
  action could prevent the loss of life, or in
  incipient fire conditions.

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Interior operations

• Visual contact
• Physical contact
• Aircraft familiarization

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Oxygen systems

• Jet Engines

• Reciprocating engines

• Composite fibers

• Military aircraft

• Biological and chemical
• Helicopters

• Landing gear

• Fuel

• Wreckage

• Other hazards

• Electrical lines

• Hydraulic and Pneumatic lines

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Aircraft jet engines
• May continue to run after the crash
• Can ingest firefighters and overturn vehicles
  with the jet wash

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Aircraft reciprocating engines
• If not properly shut down can restart if the prop
  is moved

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Military aircraft
• Guns and rockets
• EPU fuels

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Military aircraft
• Advanced composite construction materials

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Military aircraft cont
• Radioactive materials
• Ejection seats and canopies

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Landing Gear
• Because of the metals used in construction,
  landing gear burns at high temperatures and
  reacts violently when water is applied
• Risk of tires exploding
• Approach from the front or rear
• Unstable gear should be pinned by authorized
  personnel

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Fuel
• Known carcinogen, vapors and smoke can cause
  chemical pneumonia
• Three basic types of aircraft fuel
• Avgas
• Jet A
• Jet B

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Fuel
• Avgas
• Octane rating of 100 145
• Flash point 49 degrees F.
• Flammable limits 1.4 7.6Flame spread 700
  800 feet per minute

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• Fuel
• Jet A
• Kerosene grade fuel
• Flash point 100 to 106 degrees F.
• Flammable limits .6 to 4.7
• Auto ignition temp. 475 to 500 degrees F.
• Flame spread about 100 feet per minute

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• Fuel
• Jet B
• Blend of kerosene and gasoline
• Flash point -10 degrees F.
• Flammable limits 1.4 to 7.6
• Auto ignition temp. 470 to 480 degrees F.
• Flame spread about 700 to 800 feet per minute

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Wreckage
• Sharp, jagged edges can tear personal protective
  clothing and cause injuries

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Hazards Associated With ARFF

• Wreckage
• Wings and overhanging wreckage

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Energized electrical lines
• Aircraft have very large electrical systems
• Transport aircraft usually have AC and DC
  electrical systems
• Energized electrical lines may injure or
  electrocute personnel

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Aircraft Systems
Before After
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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Hydraulic and pneumatic lines
• contain flammable and toxic fluids and gases
  under very high pressures

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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Oxygen Systems
• pressurized oxygen systems, chemically generated
  oxygen, and liquid oxygen systems
• Significant risk of explosion

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Radar systems
Hazards Associated with ARFF
Private
Military
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Hazards Associated with ARFF

• Biohazard and chemical hazards
• Most crash sites contain biohazards and chemical
  hazards
• Come mainly from the bodily fluids of occupants
• Consider all crash sites biohazards

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Helicopter Procedures

• Terrain
• Slope,rocks or bushes, road surface
• Obstacles
• Street signs,cars,trees,antennas
• Wires
• Telephone,electrical,guy wires
• Wind direction

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Personnel Decontamination
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Safety

• Clothing available for body fluid protection
• Regular turnouts
• Medical gloves
• Masks
• Eyewear

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Safety

• Clothing for body recovery
• Not normally our job but could be
• Normal BSI gear from the previous slide
• And could involve lower class suits from hazmat

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Safety

• Another safety precaution that can be taken by
  responders to protect against infectious diseases
  are. Inoculations

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Firefighter Safety at the Fire Station

• Personnel should use common sense approach to
  firefighter safety
• Practice good housekeeping
• Store hazardous materials properly
• Use proper lifting techniques
• Follow tool and equipment safety rules
• Bring potential safety hazards to the attention
  of the department health and safety officer

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Hazards Associated With ARFF

• Other hazards
• Dense vegetation and uneven, soft, wet terrain
• Adverse weather
• Extinguishing agent

• Large, unstable fuselage sections may collapse,
  roll, shift, or slide
• Fall hazards from significant heights
• Depleted uranium and energized radar system
• Heat stress can be a serious problem when working
  in full PPE
• Evacuation slides
• Hazmat cargo
• Stress

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Stress

• Stress
• Definition any condition requiring an
  adjustment or causing bodily or mental tension.
• Two common types
• Distress
• Eustress

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Stress

• Stress
• Mental or physical?
• Behavioral, addictive, and cumulative

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Psychological Stress

• Examples of psychological stress
• Heart disease
• Ulcers
• Insomnia
• Nervous disorders
• Skin problems
• Irritability
• Emotional instability
• Inability to concentrate
• Fatigue
• Alcohol and drug abuse

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Psychological Stress

• What are some psychological stressors?
• Work relationships
• Death of family member
• Illness in family
• Lack of promotion
• Divorce
• Poor work climate
• Lack of support from superiors
• And the stress just from being away from your
  family for 24 hrs.

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Critical Incident Stress

• Many kinds of Arff critical incident stress
• In flight emergency
• Fatal crashes

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Critical Incident Stress

• Symptoms of critical incident stress
• During incident
• Denial of the situation
• Performance doubts
• Anxiety
• Frustration
• Sense of helplessness

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Critical Incident Stress

• Symptoms of critical incident stress
• After the incident
• Flashbacks
• Depression
• Lack of appetite
• Suicide
• Divorce
• Alcohol or drug abuse

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Critical Incident Stress

• Coping with stress
• know when to ask for help.
• mind and body work against each other.

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Critical Incident Stress

• Each person copes with stress in their own way
• Bad example alcohol
• Good example exercise, talking to coworkers

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Critical Incident Stress

• Critical incident stress debriefing(CISD)
• Professional
• Peer based

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Critical Incident Stress

• Cisd incidents
• Mass casualty incidents
• Loss of a child
• Loss of a coworker

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Critical Incident Stress

• How soon should debriefing take place?
• Right after?
• 24 Hours later?
• Before ?

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Critical Incident Stress

• Very traumatic
• Extremely gruesome and horrific scenes
• Overwhelming situations

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Critical Incident Stress

• Is CISD mandatory?
• What do you think?
• If it could help why not?
• Be there for your coworkers to support them even
  if you dont think you need it.

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Critical Incident Stress

• Defusing
• What is it?
• When is it done?
• Full debriefing within 72 hours

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ARFF Firefighter Safety

• The end