[Darren Zettler]

I don’t think radio contact is enough. If I have fallen through a floor and am unconscious and bleeding I don’t want to bleed out while waiting 59 minutes for dispatch to check on me. I still say we need two persons on most fire investigations and occasionally two persons on inspections (hostile people or environments).

[Darren Zettler]

I would treat this no differently than any other situation where smoke or products of combustion or dust or dirt may cause a false alarm. If a building owner is going to do welding, soldering, or even sanding of drywall I expect them to take the proper precautions. These steps would include calling the fire department, the monitoring station and bypassing the area where the work is taking place on the fire alarm panel. Bagging of detectors may be an option also. A fire watch may also need to happen while the area is bypassed.
Smoke from a pipe or any other source, legal or not, can cause false alarms and I would treat it exactly like soldering, welding or drywall dust. The owner must take precautions to avoid the false alarm and notify all appropriate parties.
Too many false alarms can cause building occupants to become complacent and not react to a real fire alarm, therefore we must ensure owners do whatever they can to avoid false alarms.

[Darren Zettler]

I agree fully with Robert King’s comments about having two persons on scene at all times on a fire investigation. I also agree that some inspections should have two persons attending. I hope that whoever becomes involved with the committee will push for two person fire investigations for reasons of safety.

[Darren Zettler]

Hi Vince:

Maybe I should talk louder? Would capital letters help? 🙂
Yes, all of our FPOs each have an iPad and we also use a few different apps for inspections and notes.
Can be as simple as emailing yourself, using the Notes app, or using one of free inspection apps we downloaded (one is called Inspection Pad by eCompliance I believe). It’s a good app and can be customized for any kind of checklist. You can take and import photos into it, do drawings and import them right in the app and choose from a variety of check box type questions.
It outputs a finished product as a PDF and you can email it to the building owner right away or just email it to yourself if it is just notes or something else.

[Darren Zettler]

Notes on paper or notes on your iPad, we do both or either. I sometimes even type notes directly into my computer if they are notes from a phone conversation while at my desk. All notes get printed out and put in the file, always a hard copy. Some apps can take notes and let you take photos to insert into the notes. Some apps automatically date and time stamp also.
Most important thing about notes is DOING THEM and they should be timely, not done the next day or a week later when you remember to.
Just my three cents worth (because I talk too much 🙂

[Author]

Posts