Community Risk Reduction Weekend - A Whole Lot Of Safety Going On!

This past weekend, May 14-15, was designated by the State Fire Marshal, the Maryland Chief’s Association and the Maryland State Fireman’s Association as a Statewide “Community Risk Reduction” weekend for fire departments across the State.

You may have seen our personnel in your neighborhoods to include athletic and park venues, as well as grocery, home improvement, and big box stores. There were also several community events to include health fairs, a fiesta, and a grand opening. These were fantastic opportunities for our firefighters to meet the residents we serve, provide safety information, and answer any questions posed.

Of particular note was a door to door effort in the Leisure World community in which 200 homes were checked and over 40 smoke alarms installed! In addition, 20 neighbors from the Bethesda area learned CPR at the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad Saturday morning. At Fire Station #34, our child passenger safety program checked and correctly installed 24 car seats to ensure young children, infants and newborns will be better protected while travelling in their parents autos.

Below you will find a variety of photos of our personnel out and about during the Community Risk Reduction Weekend.

Firefighter Completes Community Obstacle Course

By: Lieutenant Matt Sutton

After completing our Safety In the Neighborhood activities (offering to check home smoke alarms) we were heading to pick up dinner while I was riding AT735 (ladder truck). On our way, we came across the Clarksburg Village Community Association's Fall Festival. All of us on the truck wanted to stop and visit with the children. So, we stopped and set up an impromptu public education visit.

The chair for the Home Owners Association was excited for us to stop by unannounced. We passed out smoke detector flyers, answered questions, and gave tours of the ladder truck. There was a local gym that had an obstacle course set up for kids to complete. I asked them if they would mind if I put our newest firefighter to the test. They were excited to have him complete it for everyone.

Firefighter McCombs is our newest firefighter who is completing his probationary skills evaluations. He was up for the challenge to don his gear and complete the course. For those who are unaware, a firefighter's gear can weigh an additional 65 pounds or more depending on what they carry in their pockets. As you can see in the video below, Firefighter McCombs did a fantastic job in the obstacle course. Cheers could be heard by many kids and adults.

All In A Days Work

When not fighting fires or responding to calls for emergency medical care, the women and men of MCFRS stay busy with a variety of non emergency duties.  A very important duty is to help educate people of all ages about the dangers of fire and how to prevent them or, if the worst happens and there is a fire, how to properly react and get out of the home safely.  

A couple of days ago Lieutenant Sam Villani, Fire Station 5-D Shift, and crew stopped by a local day care to teach the kids about fire prevention and to show them how a fire fighter gets dressed to go into a fire.  Assisting Lieutenant Villani is Fire Fighter Andrew Randolph while Master Fire Fighter Wayne Malcolm works the camera.

MCFRS Hosting a Fire & Life Safety Expo and Open House

On Saturday October 29^th from 10am to 4pm – MCFRS will host a Fire & Life Safety Expo and Open House for the general public at the Public Safety Training Academy in Rockville.

The event will feature emergency equipment from throughout Montgomery County, as well as live fire and rescue demonstrations, moon bounce, fire truck displays, our specialty team K9’s, educational activities for all ages and other interactive activities for the whole family!  Food vendors will also be on site.

The women and men of Montgomery County Fire & Rescue look forward to meeting you on:

When:              Saturday October 29^th

Where:             Public Safety Training Academy

                        9710 Great Seneca Highway

Rockville, MD. 20850

                       

Time:               10 AM to 4 PM

As always, please remember to check your smoke alarms to make sure they are working and have a home fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of each room and a family meeting place outside in case of fire.

 

Fire Station 18 A-Shift Participates In National Night Out In Glenmont

By: Captain Derrick Anthony, Station Commander

      Montgomery County Fire and Rescue

      Fire Station 18 A-Shift

Montgomery County Fire Station 18 participated Tuesday, August 2nd in the National Night Out Crime and Community Awareness campaign at Weller Road Elementary School. The local event was sponsored by Mrs. Rose Alvarez, President of the Glenmont Civic Association.

E718 (fire truck that carries hose and water) and AT718 (fire truck with the big ladder on top) partnered with police officers from the Fourth District to represent Montgomery County’s finest at the local event.  The Glenmont Civic Association organized activities to acquaint community residents with their local law enforcement and fire/rescue personnel as well as providing a platform for public safety to deliver crime and safety awareness messages.

Members from Company 18 set up static displays with the engine and tower providing residents an opportunity to see what we do first hand!  Captain Derrick Anthony, FS18 A-Shift, gave a brief introduction and emphasized to the residents that Montgomery County Fire and Rescue is an “All Hazards” community based fire department that is here to serve and protect the residents of Montgomery County.

Fire & Carbon Monoxide Risks During Cold Weather

As many of you are all too aware, winter is HERE! With temperatures well below the seasonal average, and looking to be here for the foreseeable future, I thought it would be a good time to remind all of you of some of the risks during cold weather.

I am really concerned that many people sometimes turn to drastic measures to heat their homes – especially if money is very tight. This can prove to be very dangerous! Even traditional alternative heating sources, such as a fireplace or space heaters can be dangerous if not used properly.

The winter months are traditionally a peak time for house fires and carbon monoxide poisonings in Montgomery County. Please take a moment to click on the below links and learn more about how to protect you and your loved ones:

Fire/Carbon Monoxide Risks During Cold Weather

Winter Fires: Safety Tips for the Home

Stay Safe and WARM!

Bill Delaney
Program Manager - Community Safety Education
Division of Community Risk Reduction Services
Montgomery County Fire & Rescue

From Our Fire House to Your Home

One year ago, our department initiated a proactive fire safety campaign designed to ensure that all county residents have working smoke alarms in their homes.

How, you might ask, would we be able to accomplish our goal? Simple! By going directly to your home!

Every Saturday afternoon, the women and men of MCFRS go to various neighborhoods in their communities knocking on doors, handing out fire safety information, and offering to check resident’s smoke alarms. If you are in need of a new smoke alarm or just a new battery, we will install them for FREE! If you are not home you will find a little something on your door knob (look to right of this article) letting you know we were by with a list of safety tips and a number to call if you would like us to stop by your home on another day to check your alarms.

What we have found is we are actually going into roughly 20% of the homes whose doors we knock on. Of that, roughly 50% of those homes do not have a working smoke alarm! The good news is that they will before we leave!

Why is it important to have working smoke alarms in your home? About two-thirds of home fire deaths occur in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms and they can reduce your risk of dying form a fire in your home by almost half!

Here are some updated numbers from our door to door campaign through the end of November:

Homes Visited: 31,417

Smoke Alarms Installed: 972

Batteries Installed: 1119

So there are about a couple of thousand homes in Montgomery County that are now a little bit safer as a result of our program! Do not wait for us to stop by your home. Take a moment now to “Put A Finger On It” and test your smoke alarms to make sure they are working!

Stay Safe,

Bill Delaney
Program Manager, Community Safety Education

Put a Finger On It! Change Your Clock, Check your Smoke Alarms & Batteries

Firefighters Going Door-to-Door this weekend 10/31/09
Checking your smoke alarms and batteries twice a year to ensure that they are working is one of the simplest, most effective ways to reduce tragic deaths and injuries from fire. In fact, working smoke alarms nearly cut in half the risk of dying in a home fire.

The men and women of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) urge ALL residents to check home smoke alarms on a regular basis.
“Put a Finger on It!” Fire Chief Richard Bowers recommends that all residents adopt a lifesaving habit by checking your home’s smoke alarms and batteries when changing clocks twice a year. Protect your family in the event of a home fire – change the battery!

Recent surveys conducted by fire fighters after serious fires and the door-to-door Safety in the Neighborhood campaign in Montgomery County have found that nearly half, 50%, of the smoke alarms checked did not work. That is alarming! Smoke alarms DO save lives!

2 – Change Your Clock, Check Your Battery

The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service recommend that homeowners follow these tips to help prevent fires, deaths, and injuries:

* Install and maintain smoke alarms on every level of the home

* Properly dispose of all smoking materials

* Maintain and properly use gas and electrical appliances.

* Never leave food cooking unattended; turn off the burner if you leave.

* Keep matches and lighters away from children.

* Never leave candles burning unattended.

* Develop and practice a fire escape plan.

Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as two minutes to escape safely. Your ability to get out depends on advance warning from smoke alarms and advance planning—a home fire escape plan that everyone in your family is familiar with and has practiced.

Because fires can grow and spread so quickly, having working smoke alarms in your home can mean the difference between life and death. Once the alarm sounds, you may have as few as two minutes to escape. Smoke alarms are the most effective early warning devices available. Remember, when you change your clock, check your smoke alarms and batteries – put a finger on it!

NOTE:

Firefighters will be going door-to-door throughout neighborhoods this weekend in conjunction with the “Change Your Clock/Change Your Battery” initiative and the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service “Safety in Our Neighborhood” campaign. To date, in the past 10 months, nearly 28000 homes have been visited and more than 900 smoke alarms and over 1000 batteries have been changed or installed.

Montgomery County residents may schedule a home safety evaluation by calling the Home Safety Hotline at (240)777-2476.

You Could Help Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Earn a $10,000 Fire Safety Pledge Award!

This fall, Liberty Mutual is helping to teach families about fire safety and provide a means to give back to our fire service.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue could earn one of ten $10,000 Fire Safety Pledge Awards! All you have to do is take the fire safety quiz and credit Montgomery County Fire and Rescue to do your part before 12/21/09.

We need your help and it is easy to participate! Please take the very educational quiz and then follow these simple steps:

- Take the Quiz

- Credit Your Fire Department: Montgomery County Fire and Rescue

- Rally Support: spread the word to help us

When filling out the Fire Department Credit portion, please make sure you enter Rockville as the city/town and 20850 as the zip code as that is where our Headquarters are located. Then select Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. This will benefit all of Montgomery County.

One of Fire Chief Richard Bowers’s prime missions for our service is to “prevent the 9-1-1 call.” During these challenging economic times $10,000 would help us toward that end. All it will cost is your time.

Fire Safety Pledge Award

Fire Prevention Week October 4 - 10, 2009

Just a friendly reminder that we are in the middle of Fire Prevention Week 2009 (FPW 2009). The theme this year is: “Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned.”

Our friends at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have produced several very good videos as it relates to FPW 2009. I have placed them on our YouTube site for you to view at your convenience. They are very short and to the point and provide great information for you and your loved ones! Visit MCFRS TV to view.

In addition, NFPA has some great safety information on their Fire Prevention Week Website. Take a moment to go there and review.

As always, we here at MCFRS will be promoting fire and injury prevention throughout the month of October. This will include fire and rescue station "Open House" events, senior center and school visits, and participation in community events.

I would like to encourage all of you to make sure you have developed a home escape plan (and practiced it) and that you check all smoke alarms to ensure they are working.

Below, please find a list of Open House events this weekend. Be SAFE out there!
Bill Delaney – Program Manager, Community Life Safety Education

Saturday, October 10:
Chevy Chase, Fire/Rescue, Station 7             10am - 4pm
8001 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD.
240.773.4707

Cabin John, Fire/Rescue Station 10              10am - 4pm
8001 River Road, Potomac, MD.
240.773.4710

Sunday, October 11:
Hillandale, Fire/Rescue Station 24                12pm – 3pm
13216 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD.
240.773.4724

Burtonsville Fire/Rescue Station 15              12pm - 4pm
13900 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD
240.773.4715

Community and Residential Pool Safety Tips

Chief Richard Bowers wants you to know that drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death to children ages 14 and under, taking nearly 1,000 children s lives each year. For every drowning, it is estimated that there are four near-drownings that result in hospitalization. The Chief would also ask that you please take a few minutes to go over the below safety tips!

Safety Tips

• Take Swimming lessons and learn CPR
• Play it safe around water. Stay out if there is no lifeguard or grown-up around.
• Swim only when rested.
• Always swim with a buddy.
• Young children should always swim with an adult.it a buddy.
• Never eat candy or chew gum when you are swimming You could choke.
• Get out of the water, and seek appropriate shelter, if you hear thunder or see lightning.
• Do not mess around! Running, pushing, or shoving people can cause serious injury to you or your friends.
• Follow posted rules.
• Always raise your hands over your head when diving.
• Consider water wings or other similar flotation devices for young children.
• Regularly check that the gate latches securely and that the spring mechanisms work properly.
• Do not allow children to play in the pool area. Remove all toys or anything a child might want to get from the vicinity.
• Post the 911 emergency number in the pool area.
• Keep lifesaving equipment, such as a pole, life preserver and rope in the pool area. Hang them from a fence or wall so people will not trip on them.
• Have a phone handy in the pool area. DO NOT answer the phone while your children are in the pool; use the phone only in emergencies to call 911.
• NEVER leave children unattended in the pool area. In the time it takes to sign for a package at your front door (4 to 6 minutes), a child submerged in the pool can sustain permanent brain damage.
• Encourage your neighbors with pools to follow pool safety guidelines, including keeping their back gates and doors locked, and their pool gates secure.
• When at a Public/Community pool adults should always supervise their children even with a lifeguard present.

Unique Outreach!

I just wanted to take a moment to highlight this unique community outreach conducted by FS20 - A Shift. What a great way to spend Thanksgiving! BD

Today as our community outreach we did the following:

Today personnel from Fire Station #20 –A shift (Capt. Redding, FF’s Staub, Callahan) along with BFC Jim Resnick, (BC702-A) were invited to assist personnel from the Navy Medical Center Fire Department (Co#50) with serving early Thanksgiving Dinners to returning injured troops, their families, and staff of the Hospital .

National Naval Medical Command fire department personnel set up the event and started cooking the food at 0300hrs.that morning. NNMCFD held the event in the Hospital’s ICU which treats those personnel who have been wounded in combat and have returned to the United States. Many of these injured service personnel are far away from their homes and may or may not be with their families for the holiday.

The Firefighters from the Co#50 wanted to show their appreciation to those military personnel that have sacrificed so much for our country. The NNMC IAFF Local # F-121 along with local business donated food for the event. The Firefighters of Co#50 cooked all of it at the fire station.
Firefighters served:

45 lbs. of Ham
60 lbs. of Beef
42 lbs of Turkey
8 large industrial serving size bag of stuffing
8 large industrial serving size cans of corn and beans
Numerous cakes and pies
Along with soft drinks and water

Station #20 personnel gladly went over to NNMC and assisted the firefighters from Co#50 serving an early Thanksgiving meal to our injured service personnel..

Station #20-A would like to express our thanks to the Firefighters of the NNMC and to the members of IAFF Local # F-121 for doing such an outstanding job setting up the event and cooking all of the food, and for giving us the opportunity to say thanks to those who protect and defend our country.

Captain M.T.Redding

Fire Prevention Week

I have included some information from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as it relates to the Blog Talk Radio Show. Click on the above banner for some kid and family stuff as well as see below:

"Practice Your Escape Plan!" is the theme of Fire Prevention Week 2007. It's not enough to have a home fire escape plan (PDF, 634 KB). To escape safely, you've got to make sure that everyone in the home has practiced the plan.

According to an NFPA poll (PDF, 759 KB) , the majority of Americans have a fire escape plan, but most haven't practiced it. From October 7-13, fire safety advocates will be spreading the word that when it comes to escape plans, practice is key. Let's get started!

NEW! Online quiz tests your escape planning know-how.
NEW! Free games and classroom materials from Scholastic.
NEW! Evacuation planning for people with disabilities.