County Fire Goes International Everyone knows that the fire service is one big family. This holds true now more than ever because of our increasing use of the Internet. Websites such as Facebook are allowing firefighters around the world to connect and learn from each other and just share in the “firefighter experience.” Swiss Firefighter Mireille Glauser recently spent part of her West Coast vacation visiting with a #firefighter from San Bernardino County Fire (#SBCoFD). The two had recently connected through an online discussion group for firefighters. Firefighter Glauser also stopped on her way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and visited the crew at San Bernardino County Fire Station 312 in Victorville. Mireille got to see first hand the impressive size of this county, as well as the massive number of calls that we run. The entire country of Switzerland is only 15,940 square miles, with a population of approximately 8 million people, making it about 20 percent smaller than San Bernardino County, but with four times the population. The vast majority of firefighters in Switzerland are not professional. As a general rule, a city will only receive a full-time, professional firefighting force if the population of the city exceeds 100,000. Most cities and towns have “volunteer”firefighters, community members who have other professions, and respond to emergency calls as needed. These volunteers are paid per call, much like the few remaining paid-call firefighters we have here in County #Fire. In Switzerland, these volunteers also receive a tax break as an incentive for their service to the community. There are about 94,000 volunteers working out of almost 1500 Swiss fire stations. There are only 15 professional fire stations in all of Switzerland, including a station that is privately owned by a large corporation. Approximately 1200 career firefighters work out of these 15 stations. While County Fire staffs its stations with an average of three-to-five firefighters per day, the average Swiss station is staffed with 10-12 firefighters, and some stations have up to 25 firefighters at a time. There are more than 66,000 emergency calls per year in Switzerland. In contrast, County Fire, staffed with only about 600 firefighters, responded to 78,058 calls in the last year. While County Fire has paramedics on almost every rig, Swiss firefighters are usually only trained in first aid and do not respond to medical emergencies. With the exception of a few cities, single-function paramedics, who are part of a completely different emergency system, handle medical calls and traffic accidents. Firefighters in #Switzerland mainly respond to fires, rescues, and other hazardous conditions. Interestingly, they are also responsible for relocating beehives when necessary! Swiss building construction techniques make large structure fires relatively rare in Switzerland. Modern construction uses mostly stone and cement with no wood structural members. According to Firefighter Glauser, “Every wall, every door, and every window has to have a fire resistant rating of at least 30 minutes. The fire resistance in higher buildings or community buildings or hotels with lots of people can go up until 180 minutes!” Instead of the vertical ventilation techniques we use here, Swiss firefighters can use huge, truck-mounted blowers to remove smoke and super-heated gases from burning buildings without cutting holes in roofs. Most career firefighters in Switzerland are on duty for 24 hours, and then off for 48. And, while SBCoFD firefighters are often forced to work extra shifts to keep staffing levels up, Swiss firefighters are NOT allowed to work overtime! It is considered unsafe and is against the law. Extra personnel are built into the system to accommodate vacancies cause by injury, illness, or vacations. Swiss firefighters are also well compensated, so overtime pay is not normally needed. As San Bernardino County Fire continues to grow, we look forward to our connection with the international firefighting community growing as well Source: FIREWIRE magazine Volume 3 2014 Author: Firefighter / Paramedic Jennifer Deshon Submitted by: Captain Jeremy Kern
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 01:00:00 +0000
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