FAAC Commercial News

Wildland fires are becoming more frequent and more severe. For example, the eight largest wildfires in California history all happened in the last five years. In that time, wildland fires burned 10+ million acres in the state, killed hundreds of Californians, and destroyed at least 32,000 homes. As a nation, we are desperately short of … Continued

  In one week of August 2022 alone, three dangerous petrochemical fires raged all around North America and brought attention to the serious challenges facing first responders fighting hazmat accidents, spills, and crimes—not to mention the ordinary incidents arising from the prevalence of everyday hazardous materials in industry and our communities.  On August 6, a … Continued

An increasing number of community colleges are using immersive driving simulators as part of their EMT training programs. FAAC lead specialist Chuck Deakins has worked with several community colleges to integrate simulation-based training into their programs. He’s glad to see more training programs adopting simulation tools, which can be so effective at increasing student engagement … Continued

Fire training is always stressful and risky. But ARFF (aircraft rescue and firefighting) training is especially challenging. It’s not simply that this is higher stakes training that must cover a broad range of topics: response, hazard mitigation, evacuation, possible rescue of aircraft passengers or personnel, and coordination with civilian and other authorities in an airport … Continued

William Greenwood has been in fire services for more than twenty-seven years. As Chief of Warwick, RI’s T.F. Green International Airport Fire Department and Senior Staff Instructor New Hampshire Fire Academy, he thinks a lot about the way that stress affects performance—and he has bad news. Stress can have such a big impact that it … Continued

Last year vehicular use-of-force by law enforcement was again in the news after an Arkansas state trooper hit a pregnant woman’s car to enforce a traffic stop. This flipped the vehicle: The inciting incident? The motorist was driving 84mph in a 70mph zone and took more than 2 minutes to pull over. Public outcry followed. … Continued

  Last winter Jim Vaughn (battalion chief with the Normal, IL, Fire Department and Field Staff Instructor and Regional Representative for the Illinois Fire Service Institute) discussed cold-weather fire department training for an article for Firehouse magazine. Vaughn stressed that “Although a large part of North America sees freezing temperatures, departments that are located in … Continued

  Firefighting foams are essential tools for fighting fires, making firefighter foam training essential to every fire brigade. When it comes to particularly hard to extinguish fires, like those whose source includes flammable liquids and/or petroleum (i.e., Class B fires), aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) is still the recommended option where lives or critical infrastructure are … Continued

U.S. traffic fatalities have climbed throughout the pandemic, despite 30 years of steady declines. Early this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that in just the first nine months of 2021 traffic fatalities increased 12%. That’s the largest such jump in fatalities since 1975. In total, 31,720 people died in traffic accidents … Continued

Back in 2011, Noel Maitland (at that time lieutenant and 15-year veteran with the FDNY) wrote an excellent fire department training op-ed for Fire Engineering. Maitland recalled: “I had an officer who taught me to always test the hydrant on a fire run, even if it’s for one of those annoying automatic alarms that always … Continued