By VALARIE HONEYCUTT SPEARS
Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
State Rep. Joni Jenkins says she will introduce a bill this week, maybe as early as today, that proposes spending $9 million to help curb a surge in deaths among volunteer firefighters throughout the state.
The bill calls for more training and equipment for volunteer departments.
Jenkins, D-Shively, is introducing the legislation at the request of Kentucky Fire Commission officials, who acknowledge that they can’t meet current training demands and that some equipment used by volunteer departments is not adequate to prevent injuries during training.
Kentucky was second in the nation in 2004 in the number of firefighter deaths, with seven volunteer firefighters and one paid firefighter dying in the line of duty. Preliminary numbers show that six on-duty volunteer firefighters died in Kentucky in 2005, ranking the state fifth in the nation.
The deaths are part of an upward trend in firefighter fatalities for the state’s 768 volunteer departments, which often are the only source of fire protection in rural areas. Since 1994, a total of 24 volunteer and 7 paid firefighters have died in Kentucky.
The on-duty deaths were generally caused by heart attacks, vehicle accidents and injuries while training and fighting fires.
The proposed bill would pay for physical agility tests, driving simulators and improved training equipment.
Fire Commission division director Mike Kurtsinger said that after repeated training exercises some equipment owned by the Fire Commission and State Fire Rescue Training division does not meet the National Fire Protection Administration’s minimum guidelines for protective clothing and equipment that can prevent injury during training.
The proposed legislation speaks directly to those problems, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said that although a volunteer firefighter’s job is inherently dangerous, “better equipment and training can have a positive effect on the problem.”
The bill was in the final stages of being drafted Friday, Jenkins said. Officials were making final estimates about exactly how much each initiative would cost. Kurtsinger said the fire commission isn’t asking for new money, but is requesting that money already earmarked for the Fire Commission be spent in specific ways.
The goal of one initiative is to provide physical agility tests to help firefighters meet a federal requirement. Heart attacks were the leading cause of death among Kentucky firefighters.
The proposed test ascertains a firefighters’ ability to perform the physical requirements necessary to be effective and safe. The program could be used to both pre-qualify and recertify firefighters.
The tests should help fire departments obtain pools of trainable candidates who are physically able to perform essential job tasks at fire scenes, Kurtsinger said.
Vehicle accidents were the second leading cause of death among Kentucky firefighters.
The proposed legislation provides defensive driving tactics training. The funding would improve the drivers education provided now by offering simulators in each of 14 regions. It would also provide instruction, and maintain and replace equipment.
Another initiative would expand and update EMS, EMT and Paramedic training and certification opportunities.
Because deaths and injuries often occur during training, the legislation also proposes spending money to obtain enough protective clothing and equipment to meet federal guidelines and then to replace equipment. And the bill calls for yearly testing of equipment used in training and yearly physicals for instructors.
Watching the legislation closely is H.C. “Bud” Meyer, a retired aerospace engineer who lives in Frankfort and has taken on the cause of volunteer firefighter deaths in Kentucky. Meyer, a former volunteer firefighter in California, has begun asking physicians to provide free stress tests for volunteer firefighters.
And he has encouraged state fire officials to use state-of-the-art equipment designed to reduce line of duty deaths.
Meyer is pitching the use of a face mask with an eye piece that helps in conditions with zero visibility, a hands free communication device and an airpack device called SCAMP that reduces heat stress on the heart and is lighter than the traditional air pack.
In Carlisle, R. Miles Hughes, a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years, said that lawmakers should address situations that make Kentucky more dangerous for volunteer firefighters than other states. Hughes said the Nicholas County Volunteer fire department has “home made equipment not engineered to handle live liquid loads.”
In rural areas, volunteer firefighters are sent to scenes with minimal building and housing codes “which means we know that we have to rush in order to make an effective fire stop and operate in more dangerous buildings than in many urban settings,” Hughes said.
Hughes said the state should provide additional money to volunteer departments in poorer areas.
One bill already introduced in the General Assembly affords volunteer firefighters some protection.
House Bill 256, sponsored by Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green would prohibit employers from firing volunteer firefighters if they are injured in the line of duty.
Jenkins said she might also introduce legislation that would provide worker’s compensation benefits to firefighters who contract heart and lung disease.