FAAC News

The federal government is going all-in on a battery-powered future for mass transit—but transit agencies themselves aren’t so sure. Last year Vice President Harris announced a collection of new federal initiatives to cut carbon emissions from buses and trucks. These initiatives include “$1.1 billion in new funding to help cities and states purchase electric buses … Continued

The post-pandemic period is making it increasingly clear that situational awareness training is more important than ever for law enforcement, especially behind the wheel. Traffic accidents have long been among the leading causes of on-duty law officer fatalities. During the pandemic, traffic deaths rose 7% nationwide—and jumped 44% for police officers. Every law enforcement agency … Continued

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

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

Fights on the bus. Verbal harassment and assault. A bus window smashed with a hurled rock. These aren’t new problems, nor unique to Detroit and other major urban hubs. But the tight labor market and high-stress/high-stakes nature of operating public transit in a COVID context has helped the rest of the world sit up and … Continued