Employment and Deployment in the fire safety industry

One night while changing my television channels to pick one, I noticed a gentleman talking eloquently and I was for a minute moved and posed for a moment to listen to what he was saying. And he struck me with a point of his statement I heard first “Your prosperity is not in your education but it is in your deployment and not a job”. At this point, I reflected on my career and education and why I went back for my PhD and noted it was true, education only aid in knowledge acquisition to enable you undertake a deployment. Most fire safety professionals I have met are in the profession because it brings food on the table. Dr. Myles Monroe, as it turns out, was being interviewed by one of the most eloquent TV personality, Jeff Koinange in his program dubbed “the bench”.  The teaching moved me to write this article to differentiate, according to Dr. Myles, the employed and the deployed fire professional.

The deployed and the ‘Jobbing’ fire-fighter

The life of any individual, including the fire-fighters, revolved around three items and Dr. Myles mentions them as: Prioritizing, organizing and discipline.  To be great in doing what you love, you need to outline your priorities even if it means changing your friends. Great fire-fighters are those who do their deployment with passion through identifying their priorities, organizing their activities in line with their deployment and upholding discipline. This clearly, according to Dr. Myles, is difference between deployment and jobbing if may call it so. Fire-fighting can be a job but it can also be your deployment depending on how you take it. It is a job when your education dictates so and you feel you have no option and in order to earn you have to do the job. You are obligated to report to the job every morning and have all the ‘leaves’, and finally retire from it feeling relieved because you were in a prison of some sort. Deployment on the other hand, is what you do every day and has a passion for. It is like a calling and the purpose for which you were born. If you are a fire-fighter and this is the feeling, then you are in your deployment.

Every fire-fighter is born for a purpose and all of them have 24hrs and Dr. Myles notes that what you are today is defined by how you spent your 24hrs. While most fire-fighters on job uses the 24hrs to sleep, the deployed fire-fighters uses these hours to advanced what they like most which is fire-fighting. And this brings out the difference between a leader and followers. Leadership is both an art and a science according to Dr. Myles, and every human being was born to be a leader in their gift, therefore, the deployed fire-fighter in every essence then is a leader. Dr. Myles also notes that true leaders never seek followers instead they attract and they train people to be deployed and not to be employed. This is important because the leader fire-fighter who is already deployed have their greatness unleashed and needs to mentor others to achieve their greatness that they think is far ahead of them while happens to be trapped within them.

Quotes to learn from Dr. Myles

“A leader will not be measured by how many people serve you but by how many you have served.” “Greatness in leadership is in empowering people and not pursuing power”

“Your gift is for others so that you impact them”

“Where there is no vision people perish but not where there is no leader. It actually doesn’t say where there is no leader people perish”

“An average human being only uses 10% of their brain, then to be a genius you only need to use 12%”

“The wealthiest part of the world is cemetery, filled with riches that were never accomplished. Don’t die old, die empty”

The write is PhD student JKUAT focusing on fire service delivery

Mashujaa Day, Where are the firefighter heroes?

Mashujaa Day also known as the Heroes Day is a national holiday in Kenya celebrated every October 20th to recognize those who have done the country and their communities proud by the practicing the words of the National Anthem. Though, since its inception in October 2010, one group of Kenyans who play the bigger role of saving lives have been missing, this if the newspapers and media reports on the heroes is anything to go by. This group is the Kenyan firefighter who is hardly recognize for the good work and the life they risk for their country. I must say, for sure, that the only time we get to recognize the fire fighters of this country is when they respond to an emergency and due to undue circumstances, they arrive late at the seen and get a public backlash through the local and the social media, to which they are demonized.

During the unfortunate westgate shopping mall attack, the praises and recognition were given to the soldiers, which in my opinion were well deserved. But the firefighters were also in standby, despite the fact that the soldiers also had their firefighters. According the media reports, the fire team from the county government was on site and did a lot of work once the soldiers had accomplished their duties. This does not only show less gratitude to human face of firefighters but also shows how unrecognizable the firefighters are in our society. The men and women firefighters of this country are committed to their duty and gives a pray when they go out leaving their families in the fireman's prayer accord.

Heroic Fire Stations

Nairobi County Fire Station

Nairobi city is the most populous city in east Africa, with the a current estimated population of about 3 million according to the 2009 national census.The Nairobi County fire station with an estimated population of 100 firefighters serves this population and coupled with inadequate equipment, these team still manage to save families. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends that for a population of 10000 residents, there should be a fire station. At the moment Nairobi as a whole only have one functional fire station located at the Tom Mboya street with the industrial area housing disused fire engines and the ruaraka station rarely used. The team leader and the sub station managers should be recognized for being able to manage the little that there is to respond to emergency even when they are certain it will not be enough.

The Kiambu County Fire Station

I did a study in Kiambu focusing on fire service delivery with eminent coming of the counties and aspect stood out during the study, Kiambu is on the road to an ideal fire station. With its headquarters, or I should say its chiefs based in Thika, the County fire chief has striven to ensure that in every sub-county, there is a fire station office represented and with personnel. Being the county that borders Nairobi to the south and has approximately 40 firefighters with three functional fire engines. Again serving a population of close to 800 thousand is a miracle.

Mombasa County Fire Station

This was the first fire station in Kenya and has its roots dating back to the colonial days. Serving a population of 1.2 million, Mombasa county fire station has had its share of problem but the county government can still recognize the heroes of the station especially those who have dedicated their life to the station for more than 30 years. 

The sacrifices the firefighters go through in order to ensure a fire safe society should not be taken for granted by  the authorities that be. Everyday as I mentioned earlier these men and women say this pray:

"When duty calls me oh lord, Whenever flames may rage, Give me strength to save some life Whatever be its age. Help me embrace a little child Before it is too late Or save an older person from The Horror of that fate. Enable me to be alert, and oh Lord, guide my every move, for life is so precious, please do not let us loose. I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me to guard my every neighbor and protect their property. And if according to thy will, That I must give my life, Then with thy protecting hand my Lord, I pray thee, protect my children and my wife. Amen"

The write is PhD Student JKUAT focusing on fire service delivery

The regulation requiring replacement of old fire extinguishers

When Ambrose Godfrey patented the first fire extinguisher in 1723 in England and British Captain George William Manby in 1818 invented the modern fire extinguisher, it was envisioned as a great achievement towards the control of one of the most coveted inventions of man which is "fire". These fire extinguishers have been refined with time through standard improvements and one can easily define the old "generation" fire extinguishers and the modern fire extinguishers.

                                 

An old generation fire extinguisher                                    Modern fire extinguisher

 Why you need to replace your old "generation" extinguisher

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) which is charged with the world wide standardization in the fire safety industry in its 2007 edition, section 4.5.1, standard #10 - "Portable Fire Extinguishers" requires replacement at the time on internal maintenance or during hydrostatic testing of stored-pressure, dry chemical fire extinguishers manufactured prior to October 1984. Partly because prior to 1984, there were no universally recognized pictographs but instead, the person operating the fire extinguisher had to be able to read English and be able to differentiate between usage classification shapes and colors. This, to some extent, delayed the accurate fire class recognition and enabled fires to burn much longer. After 1984, therefore, the manufacturers were required to use univesal pictographs for consistency, ease and rapidity of fire class recognition.

Other reasons of interest includes the revision made to the maximum force required to remove pull pins and the minimum required to shear pull pins to ensure there would be no problems removing or shearing the pull pins, the revision of minimum area used to provide operating instruction. New markings, use, recharging and operating instructions were introduced and this rendered the old versions obsolete. Further, prior to 1984, there was no requirements for stored pressure fire extinguishers 5lb size or greater to use discharge hoses and this was to ensure the user's effectiveness as a result of optimal vertical orientation of the fire extinguisher during use. Also, new service manuals were introduced and the effectiveness rating for the fire extinguishers tested by underwriters Laboratories prior to 1984 did not equal the effectiveness ratings obtained after 1984. Thus for consistency and predictability of fire fighting effectiveness, the pre-1984 extinguisher (here referred to as old "generation" extinguishers) were made obsolete.

Way forward

Though these extinguishers are still in the Kenyan market, they will work, if properly maintained but they do not represent the current technology and user safety feature that are now required. Fire extinguishers are to be used as first line defense but when the same extinguisher posses a danger to the intended user then this cannot be the vision of Ambrose (1723) and George (1818) who envisioned fire extinguishers to control fires that are out of hand. They did their part and others have come and perfected their inventions by making fire extinguishers that are safe to use. Why would an organization stick to a fire extinguisher that was bought more than 50 years ago and still defend its strategic plan as that of embracing technology to achieving business objectives. Insurance companies should make it a priority that organization, before taking fire risk cover, do not have old "generation" fire extinguishers in place. My good professor once told me, "Dispense your thoughts in writing based on facts and you will change others".

The writer is PhD student focusing on Fire Service Delivery, JKUAT

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