Firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and other emergency responders face many dangers daily from exposure to smoke, deadly temperatures, and stress to issues surrounding personal protective equipment (PPE), vehicle safety, and personal health. Although publicized firefighter fatalities are associated more often with burns and smoke inhalation, cardiovascular events, such as sudden cardiac death, account for the largest number of nonincident firefighter fatalities. Both the United States Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have been tracking firefighter fatalities since 1977. According to NFPA statistics, the number of sudden cardiac deaths has averaged between 40 and 50 deaths per year since the early 1990s. USFA statistics show that firefighters, as a group, are more likely than other American workers to die of a heart attack while on duty (USFA, 2002). Additional pertinent findings in the NFPA's 2005 U.S. Firefighter Fatalities Due to Sudden Cardiac Death, 1995-2004 include: Four hundred and forty firefighters out of 1,006 (or 43.7 percent) who died on the job experienced sudden cardiac death, typically triggered by stress or exertion; Fifty percent of all volunteer firefighter deaths and 39-percent of career firefighter deaths resulted from a heart attack; Ninety-seven percent of the victims had at least a 50-percent arterial blockage; Seventy-five percent of the firefighters who died of a heart attack were working with known or detectable heart conditions or risk factors, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. While sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death among firefighters, other factors affecting firefighters' health, wellness, and safety result in multiple deaths and injuries each and every year. Through the collection of information on firefighter deaths, the USFA has established goals to reduce loss of life among firefighters (USFA, 2006). In order to achieve this goal, emphasis must be placed on reducing the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease as well as on the mitigation of other issues affecting the health and safety of the Nation's firefighters. As part of another effort to determine the specific issues affecting firefighter health and wellness, the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Foundation developed a questionnaire to determine personal health, well-being, and safety practices among firefighters. A summary of findings from this study was shared with the NVFC and USFA for use in this project. The questionnaire was distributed to a study population of 364 firefighters, of which 149 were career firefighters, 165 were volunteers, and 50 indicated they were both volunteer and career. Results from the questionnaire revealed several trends in this sample firefighter population; however, the study population was not large enough to generalize these trends for all firefighters. Results from the NVFC Foundation's questionnaire are presented here. Based on these findings, it is clear that a structured personal health and fitness program, as well as safe operations to, from, and while at emergency scenes, become critical to firefighters' safety, well-being, and survival. As a result, we present this document on emergent health and safety issues for the volunteer fire and emergency services.

South-west Donegal, Ireland, June 1856. From the time that the blight first came on the potatoes in 1845, armed and masked men dubbed Molly Maguires had been raiding the houses of people deemed to be taking advantage of the rural poor. On some occasions, they represented themselves as 'Molly's Sons', sent by their mother, to carry out justice; on others, a man attired as a woman, introducing 'herself' as Molly Maguire, demanding redress for wrongs inflicted on her children. The raiders might stipulate the maximum price at which provisions were to be sold, warn against the eviction of tenants, or demand that an evicted family be reinstated to their holding. People who refused to meet their demands were often viciously beaten and, in some instances, killed - offences that the Constabulary classified as 'outrages'. Catholic clergymen regularly denounced the Mollies and in 1853, the district was proclaimed under the Crime and Outrage (Ireland) Act. Yet the 'outrages' continued. Then, in 1856, Patrick McGlynn, a young schoolmaster, suddenly turned informer on the Mollies, precipitating dozens of arrests. Here, a history of McGlynn's informing, backlit by episodes over the previous two decades, sheds light on that wave of outrage, its origins and outcomes, the meaning and the memory of it. More specifically, it illuminates the end of 'outrage' - the shifting objectives of those who engaged in it, and also how, after hunger faded and disease abated, tensions emerged in the Molly Maguires, when one element sought to curtail such activity, while another sought, unsuccessfully, to expand it. And in that contention, when the opportunities of post-Famine society were coming into view, one glimpses the end, or at least an ebbing, of outrage - in the everyday sense of moral indignation - at the fate of the rural poor. But, at heart, The End of Outrage is about contention among neighbours - a family that rose from the ashes of a mode of living, those consumed in the conflagration, and those who lost much but not all. Ultimately, the concern is how the poor themselves came to terms with their loss: how their own outrage at what had been done unto them and their forbears lost malignancy, and eventually ended. The author being a native of the small community that is the focus of The End of Outrage makes it an extraordinarily intimate and absorbing history.

This report contains research on behaviors and other factors contributing to the rural fire problem; identifies mitigation programs, technologies, and strategies to address those problems; and proposes actions that USFA can take to better implement programs in rural communities. In the Spring of 2004, the U S Fire Administration (USFA) partnered with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) in a cooperative agreement project entitled Mitigating the Rural Fire Problem. The purpose of the project was to examine what can be done to reduce the high death rate from fires in rural U S communities. Rural communities, defined by the U S Census Bureau as communities with less than 2,500 population, have a fire death rate twice the national average. The objectives of the project were to a) conduct research on behaviors and other factors contributing to the rural fire problem, b) identify mitigation programs, technologies, and strategies to address those problems, and c) propose actions that USFA Public Education Division can take to better implement programs in rural communities. Research sources included a review of the published literature, some original statistical analysis, and information from national technical experts who have worked with NFPA.

In "Closing the Food Gap," food activist and journalist Mark Winne poses questions too often overlooked in our current conversations around food: What about those people who are not financially able to make conscientious choices about where and how to get food? And in a time of rising rates of both diabetes and obesity, what can we do to make healthier foods available for everyone?
To address these questions, Winne tells the story of how America's food gap has widened since the 1960s, when domestic poverty was "rediscovered," and how communities have responded with a slew of strategies and methods to narrow the gap, including community gardens, food banks, and farmers' markets. The story, however, is not only about hunger in the land of plenty and the organized efforts to reduce it; it is also about doing that work against a backdrop of ever-growing American food affluence and gastronomical expectations. With the popularity of Whole Foods and increasingly common community-supported agriculture (CSA), wherein subscribers pay a farm so they can have fresh produce regularly, the demand for fresh food is rising in one population as fast as rates of obesity and diabetes are rising in another.
Over the last three decades, Winne has found a way to connect impoverished communities experiencing these health problems with the benefits of CSAs and farmers' markets; in "Closing the Food Gap," he explains how he came to his conclusions. With tragically comic stories from his many years running a model food organization, the Hartford Food System in Connecticut, alongside fascinating profiles of activists and organizations in communities across the country, Winne addresses head-on the struggles to improve food access for all of us, regardless of income level.
Using anecdotal evidence and a smart look at both local and national policies, Winne offers a realistic vision for getting locally produced, healthy food onto everyone's table.

Each year, approximately 1,100 Americans 65 and older die in home fires and another 3,000 are injured. These statistics, combined with the fact that adults ages 50 or more care for and will soon enter this high-risk group, inspired USFA to develop a new public education campaign targeting people ages 50-plus, their families and caregivers. People between 65 and 74 are nearly twice as likely to die in a home fire as the rest of the population. People between 75 and 84 are nearly four times as likely to die in a fire. People ages 85 and older are more than five times as likely to die in a fire. A Fire Safety Campaign for People 50-Plus encourages people ages 50 and older - including the high risk 65-plus group - to practice fire-safe behaviors to reduce fire deaths and injuries. The strategy is to inform and motivate adults as they enter their fifties so that stronger fire safety and prevention practices are integrated into their lives prior to entering the higher fire-risk decades. In addition, many Baby Boomers are currently caring for family members ages 65-plus and can encourage fire safe habits.

The United States Fire Administration (USFA) is committed to using all means possible for reducing the incidence of injuries and deaths to firefighters. One of these means is to partner with other people and organizations who share this same admirable goal. One such organization is the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). The IAFF has been deeply committed to improving the safety of its members and all firefighters as a whole. This is why the USFA was pleased to work with the IAFF through a cooperative agreement to develop this revised edition of Emergency Incident Rehabilitation.

In 2010, the Incident Emergency Medical Subcommittee (IEMS), operating under the authority of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) - Risk Management Committee, completed the document, Interim Minimum Standards for Medical Units Managed By NWCG Member Agencies. The document was the first of several to be developed that will address the need for uniform standards and safe delivery of medical care provided by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel at wildland fire. It focused on recognizing current practices and recommending standards to medical units for; promoting the use of licensed personnel within their scope of practice, state EMS office notification, applicable rules and jurisdictions, medical direction, communications, patient transportation and medical equipment, medication and supplies used. The IEMS also committed to developing wildland fire specific protocols and this document, Clinical Treatment Guidelines for Wildland Fire Medical Units, PMS 551, is the finished product. A task group of physicians with diverse backgrounds in wildland fire medicine, wilderness medicine and emergency/ clinical backgrounds reviewed this document and provided valuable input. These guidelines where developed with the expectation that the typical appropriate Basic Life Support (BLS) or Advanced Life Support (ALS) EMS interventions will be provided as needed so we did not include detailed protocols for EMS medical or trauma patient care, which already exists. Rather, we focused on guidance for the unique differences and challenges associated with remote sites and expanded evaluation skills needed for patient care issues such as: 1) assisting a patient with first aid and self-care health management; 2) triaging conditions for recognition of appropriate self-care assistance vs. need for transport to clinical medical care; and 3) initiating urgent/EMS care using appropriate and predetermined transport modes.

The Agency Administrator's Guide to Critical Incident Management is designed to assist Agency Administrators in dealing with critical incidents. A critical incident may be defined as a fatality or other event that can have serious long-term adverse effects on the agency, its employees and their families or the community. Although fire incidents inspired this document, it also has application to other types of incidents. The Agency Administrator is the highest-ranking agency line officer with direct responsibility for the personnel involved in the incident (for example, BLM District Manager, Park Superintendent, Forest Supervisor, Refuge Manager, BIA Agency Superintendent or State land manager). Through effective, efficient, and timely leadership, Agency Administrators are responsible for the overall management of critical incidents within their jurisdiction. This document includes a series of checklists to guide an Agency Administrator through those difficult and chaotic days that follow a death, serious injury, or other critical or highly visible event. The time to use it is now This document needs to be reviewed and updated at least annually. The availability of Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) teams and related resources varies constantly - it is imperative that local units pre-identify in this plan the CISM resources that can support local unit needs. This guide was designed as a working tool to assist Agency Administrators with the chronological steps in managing the incident. It also provides a detailed overview of Agency Administrators' responsibilities before a critical incident occurs, during the actual management of the incident, and after the incident activity has taken place. It is not intended to take the place of local emergency plans or other detailed guidance. It should be used in conjunction with other references as well as the attached appendixes. This guide can also be used as a worksheet (both in preparation for and in management of a critical incident) by Agency Administrators and others with oversight responsibilities during a critical incident.

In the summer of 2004, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) launched its most comprehensive and intensive public fire education campaign for elderly Americans. A FIRE SAFETY CAMPAIGN FOR PEOPLE 50 PLUS provides detailed fire prevention information to assist fire departments and other USFA partners in mitigating the risk of fire fatalities and injuries among the 50 and over population. This report, Fire and the Older Adult, analyzes the fire risk to persons aged 65 and older as a complement to that campaign. The report provides an extensive review of the fire situation for older adults in the United States and evaluates fire risk factors and risks of fire injury and fatality among that population group. On average, more than 1,000 Americans aged 65 years and older die each year in home fires and more than 2,000 are injured. In 2001 alone, 1,250 older adults died as the result of fire incidents. Moreover, the elderly are 2.5 times more likely to die in a residential fire than the rest of the population. With the U.S. Census Bureau predicting that increases in the senior population will continue to outpace increases in the overall population, the elderly fire problem will undoubtedly grow in importance. After offering an overview of the U.S. demographics of the 65 and older population, this report discusses how physical, emotional, social, economic, and residential factors have unique impacts on seniors.

Wildfires, floods, hazardous material spills, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes- emergencies can strike anytime, anywhere. In fact, the number of annual federal disaster declarations has more than doubled over the past few decades. All juvenile justice residential facilities need plans to prepare for, respond to, and recover from these emergencies so that the essential services they provide can become operational again as soon as possible after an emergency strikes. Emergency planning for these facilities takes on even greater significance because children are often the most vulnerable population in disasters, and protecting them from physical harm and trauma is essential. Emergency Planning for Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities provides information about how facilities can ensure that youth receive the supports and services they require as they experience the disruptions that emergencies inevitably cause. This document emphasizes the importance of ongoing communication and collaboration with community partners in the emergency planning process. In addition, facilities are encouraged to prepare for all emergencies that may affect their geographical area-for everything from a fire in a building to a major flood, earthquake, or hurricane that impacts the surrounding region. The emergency management cycle encompasses four interdependent phases: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Prevention/mitigation measures create a safer environment and facilitate recovery from later emergencies by reducing the risk of serious damage. Preparedness in the form of drills and exercises helps ensure an effective and efficient emergency response. During the recovery phase, careful assessments of what worked and what did not contribute to improved preparedness for subsequent emergencies. All phases are vital elements in the emergency management cycle. This publication provides key principles and recommendations, but it is not overly prescriptive. Emergency planners inevitably will need to adapt these guidelines to the particular requirements of their facilities. This document is targeted to state, county, and local juvenile justice authorities charged with the custodial care and supervision of youth in the juvenile justice system, with particular focus on those authorities who oversee residential treatment and correctional and detention facilities that house juveniles via court-ordered placements. The principles outlined in this document may also apply to emergency planning for youth in out-of-home placement. Through its step-by-step guidance in the planning process, Emergency Planning for Juvenile Justice Residential Facilities will help ensure the efficient continuation of operations during an emergency, the reduction of risk to the physical plant, and, most importantly, the safety and well-being of youth and staff in our nation's juvenile justice residential facilities.

Earthquakes are potentially the most destructive of all natural disasters in both loss of life and property damage. Casualties and structural damage result from intense ground shaking and such secondary effects as fires, landslides, ground subsidence, and flooding from dam collapse or tsunamis. While earthquakes in the United States are commonly associated with the West Coast, particularly California, 39 states altogether face some degree of seismic risk. Seventy million people and at least nine metropolitan areas are susceptible to severe earthquakes. Nevertheless, California has been the focal point of most earthquake studies due to its high frequency of events (two thirds of all earthquakes have occurred in California), large population and extensive property development. But the high frequency of earthquakes alone does not warrant the amount of official and scientific attention these events have received. It is the rare and devastating earthquake such as the 1906 San Francisco quake and the 1964 Alaska event, both of which measured more than 8 on the Richter Scale. Earthquakes of this magnitude could be expected in the United States, and most likely in California, every 60 to 100 years and less severe but major earthquakes every 15 to 20 years (Anderson, et al., 1981). The area currently believed to be at greatest risk of a massive earthquake is the Los Angeles-San Bernardino region. An event which could exceed 8 on the Richter Scale has an estimated annual probability of occurrence of 2 to 5 percent and its likelihood of occurrence in the next 20 to 30 years is regarded as -high." This earthquake could kill and injure between 15,000 and 69,000 persons (depending upon time of occurrence) and cause up to $17 billion in property damage (NSC/FEMA, 1980). Some studies have placed the property damage estimates as high as $50 billion (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1969). This report grew out of the City of Los Angeles Planning Partnership for which the Southern California Earthquake Preparedness Project (SCEPP) was asked to research and report on several issues pertaining to earthquake insurance. In the course of this research, it became obvious to both SCEPP and SCEPP's Policy Advisory Board that earthquake insurance and its role in the recovery process was a major policy issue. Thus, the research effort was expanded to incorporate broader issues and circulation of the report beyond the Los Angeles Planning Partnership. The report has five goals which correspond to its organization: (1) to outline the provisions (coverages, rates, deductibles, etc.) of earthquake insurance policies currently available to the major classes of insurance consumers-homeowners, businesses, local governments and special districts; (2) to determine the extent to which earthquake insurance is purchased by these parties and explore the circumstances surrounding purchase or non-purchase; (3) to review the salient issues in earthquake insurance from the standpoints of purchasers and providers; (4) to explore potential Federal roles in resolving these issues and in providing or promoting earthquake insurance; and finally, (5) to make reasonable policy recommendations involving both the Federal Government and other stakeholders in earthquake insurance toward a more adequate system of coverage.

Prepping A to Z The Series of Prepping Books About How to Be More Prepared and Live A More Self-Reliant Lifestyle

The first book on the Bhopal disaster, written on site a few weeks after the accident. "The people knew right away the source of the poisonous air, although it was incredible and shocking. Thousands had fled their homes a few months before upon the occasion of a small discharge of gas and an associated rumor of disaster. Now they choked and screamed at one another to rise and flee, aiding each other when they could, the choking and gagging leading the fully blinded. Some stepped out of their huts at the first whiffs, strangling, and were too blinded to turn back in, were swept in the gathering human torrent and often never saw their families, neighbors and friends again..." "A moving account of a shattering experience." - Arun Gandhi "Rightly, Al de Grazia highlights the important role of a Free Press. The Press has had to battle secrecy and suppression to expose the full extent of the Bhopal tragedy. Conitnuing now to assail the shocking failures of managers and officials in India and the USA, we must demand the reform of the irresponsible liaison between governments and multinational corporations." - S. B. Kolpe

The original Earthquakes -A Teacher's Package for K-6 (FEMA 159) was developed as a joint effort of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) under contract with FEMA. NSTA's project team produced an excellent product. Since its publication in 1988, over 50,000 teachers have requested copies. This revised version brought members of the original project team together with a group of teachers who had used the materials extensively in their classroom and served as teacher-educators at FEMA's Tremor Troop workshops. About 75% of the original material remains unchanged: a few activities were removed and a few added. A major change was the addition of assessments throughout the units. The examples we provide relate to life outside the classroom and/or activities similar to those of scientists. We also added matrices linking activities to the National Science Education Standards. The Teacher's Package has five units. Each of the first four units is divided into three levels: Level 1, for grades K-2; Level 2, for grades 3-4; and Level 3, for grades 5-6. Since classes and individuals vary widely you may often find the procedures in the other levels helpful for your students. The last unit has four parts with activities for students in all grades, K-6. Unit L, Defining an Earthquake, builds on what students already know about earthquakes to establish a working definition of the phenomenon. Legends from near and far encourage children to create their own fanciful explanations, paving the way for the scientific explanations they will begin to learn in this unit. Unit I, Why and Where Earthquakes Occur, presents the modern scientific understanding of the Earth's structure and composition, and relates this to the cause of earthquakes. Unit II, Physical Results of Earthquakes, provides greater understanding of the processes that shape our active Earth. Earthquakes are put in the context of the large- and small-scale changes that are constantly at work on the continents as well as the ocean floor. Unit IV, Measuring Earthquakes, explains earthquakes in terms of wave movement and introduces students to the far-ranging effects of earthquakes. Unit V, Earthquake Safety and Survival, focuses on what to expect during an earthquake; how to cope safely; how to identify earthquake hazards; and how to reduce, eliminate, or avoid them.

This FEMA 154 Report, Rapid Visual Screening of Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards: A Handbook, is the first of a two-volume publication on a recommended methodology for rapid visual screening of buildings for potential seismic hazards. The technical basis for the methodology, including the scoring system and its development, are contained in the companion FEMA 155 report, Rapid Visual Screening of Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards: Supporting Documentation. The rapid visual screening procedure (RVS) has been developed for a broad audience, including building officials and inspectors, and government agency and private-sector building owners, to identify, inventory, and rank buildings that are potentially seismically hazardous. Although RVS is applicable to all buildings, its principal purpose is to identify (1) older buildings designed and constructed before the adoption of adequate seismic design and detailing requirements, (2) buildings on soft or poor soils, or (3) buildings having performance characteristics that negatively influence their seismic response. Once identified as potentially hazardous, such buildings should be further evaluated by a design professional experienced in seismic design to determine if, in fact, they are seismically hazardous. The RVS uses a methodology based on a "sidewalk survey" of a building and a Data Collection Form, which the person conducting the survey (hereafter referred to as the screener) completes, based on visual observation of the building from the exterior, and if possible, the interior. The Data Collection Form includes space for documenting building identification information, including its use and size, a photograph of the building, sketches, and documentation of pertinent data related to seismic performance, including the development of a numeric seismic hazard score. Once the decision to conduct rapid visual screening for a community or group of buildings has been made by the RVS authority, the screening effort can be expedited by pre-planning, including the training of screeners, and careful overall management of the process. Completion of the Data Collection Form in the field begins with identifying the primary structural lateral-load-resisting system and structural materials of the building. Basic Structural Hazard Scores for various building types are provided on the form, and the screener circles the appropriate one. For many buildings, viewed only from the exterior, this important decision requires the screener to be trained and experienced in building construction. The procedure presented in this Handbook is meant to be the preliminary screening phase of a multi-phase procedure for identifying potentially hazardous buildings. Buildings identified by this procedure must be analyzed in more detail by an experienced seismic design professional. Because rapid visual screening is designed to be performed from the street, with interior inspection not always possible, hazardous details will not always be visible, and seismically hazardous buildings may not be identified as such. Conversely, buildings initially identified as potentially hazardous by RVS may prove to be adequate.

Recent earthquakes around the world show a pattern of steadily increasing damages and losses that are due primarily to two factors: (1) significant growth in earthquake-prone urban areas and (2) vulnerability of the older building stock, including buildings constructed within the past 20 years. In the United States, earthquake risk has grown substantially with development while the earthquake hazard has remained relatively constant. Understanding the hazard requires studying earthquake characteristics and locales in which they occur while understanding the risk requires an assessment of the potential damage to the built environment and to the welfare of people - especially in high risk areas. Estimating the varying degree of earthquake risk throughout the United States is useful for informed decision-making on mitigation policies, priorities, strategies, and funding levels in the public and private sectors. For example, potential losses to new buildings may be reduced by applying seismic design codes and using specialized construction techniques. However, decisions to spend money on either of those solutions require evidence of risk. In the absence of a nationally accepted criterion and methodology for comparing seismic risk across regions, a consensus on optimal mitigation approaches has been difficult to reach. While there is a good understanding of high risk areas such as Los Angeles, there is also growing recognition that other regions such as New York City and Boston have a low earthquake hazard but are still at high risk of significant damage and loss. This high risk level reflects the dense concentrations of buildings and infrastructure in these areas constructed without the benefit of modern seismic design provisions. In addition, mitigation policies and practices may not have been adopted because the earthquake risk was not clearly demonstrated and the value of using mitigation measures in reducing that risk may not have been understood. This study highlights the impacts of both high risk and high exposure on losses caused by earthquakes. It is based on loss estimates generated by HAZUS(r)-MH, a geographic information system (GIS)-based earthquake loss estimation tool developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in cooperation with the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS). The HAZUS tool provides a method for quantifying future earthquake losses. It is national in scope, uniform in application, and comprehensive in its coverage of the built environmen