Guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Kenney: Providence Firefighters Fight Cold as Well as Fire

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Kenney

The people of RI, as is with the majority of the people in the USA, have very short memories. Just last week we were experiencing an almost unprecedented cold snap that forced most of us to bundle up in our well-heated homes and wait for the weather to turn. Well, it finally has and these last few days of the mercury rising past the 40-degree mark have allowed us to pretty much put that cold weather out of our minds.

First of all I’d like to warn all of my fellow RI’ers that it’s only the beginning of January – there are many frigid days and nights ahead! Hopefully none as severe as the cold we’ve just shaken off but it IS New England and winter will still be around for the next three months!

I’d also like to refresh people’s memories of the fatal fire in Providence last week which was bravely fought by our firefighters under incredibly challenging, and severely dangerous, conditions. I’d like to ask people reading this to imagine waking up at 3 AM from a cozy bed on that extremely cold morning (under zero degrees and -18 with wind chill) to arrive about 3 minutes later to an inferno that involved two houses and multiple residents still in the buildings needing to be evacuated. This, as is always the case in these types of fires, needed to be done simultaneously with fire knockdown and extinguishment.

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These firefighters worked quickly and bravely in performing multiple rescues and placing apparatus and hoselines in the best possible positions to effectuate resident safety and fire suppression. Within the first 10 minutes or so of the response, a firefighter from PFD’s Special Hazards was trapped on the floor above the main fire, while searching for victims, when a weakened ceiling collapsed and entangled him. He transmitted a MayDay (distress call). Members of his company began to search for him and begin the process of extricating him from the entanglement. Members of the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) were deployed from outside the building to assist in this task. Luckily for this firefighter (FF Dan Rinaldi) and the PFD he was successfully rescued and sent to the hospital for treatment and evaluation. Everyone from the PFD went home that morning but one of the residents, sadly, never made it from the house and perished.

That very same day, under similar extreme weather conditions, there were 2 other MayDays sounded in other cities for trapped firefighters – Philadelphia and Dallas. Another, involving multiple firefighters was transmitted the next day in Chicago. One firefighter in Philly never made it out of the building alive and was killed in the line of duty. Several firefighters were treated at hospitals as a result of these incidents but made it our alive – mostly due to the heroic actions of their brothers.

Firefighting is an extremely dangerous occupation under any conditions but this danger escalates rapidly under extreme heat or cold, especially with ice and snow. Under extremely cold conditions the runoff of water freezes almost immediately. Even when the fire conditions are partially knocked down the water in the hoselines needs to be continually running to avoid freezing in the line rendering it inoperative. Also, these firefighters are still on the scene in the severe conditions long after the main body of the fire is extinguished. Hot spots need to be located and extinguished, hoselines and other equipment needs to be picked up and repacked on the apparatus. Sometimes the hoselines need to be chopped from the ice or held under apparatus exhaust pipes to thaw the connections. The firefighters in Providence last week were pretty much all at the scene until 8AM and some were there well into the afternoon.

All these firefighters, not just those from Providence, realize that working in these extreme conditions is just a part of the job - heat, cold, hurricanes, flooding, etc. When most people choose to hunker in place in the comfort of their homes and with their families these firefighters are expected, and willing, to show up to their jobs ready to respond at a moment’s notice to whatever emergency might present itself. We need them more than ever at these times. These are the times we count on them.

On a personal note, it was a little disturbing to me to see the words of Providence Commissioner of Public Safety Steve Pare calling FF Rinaldi and FF LaSalle “true American Heroes”. Not because I disagree, I totally agree with that statement, but because of how shallow I know those words are coming from him. Just a short 18 months or so ago this same commissioner praised PFD Captain Joe Fontaine as a hero, also. He and his men had bravely fought a very large fire under extreme heat and wind. The conflagration involved three buildings and threatened more.

Capt. Fontaine, as well as all the firefighters on the scene that day, acted heroically under these extreme conditions. Capt. Fontaine suffered a life-threatening injury and was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. During his hospitalization the commissioner praised him as a “hero”. Within 6 months of praising him the commissioner refused to allow him to be promoted to a Chief’s position which he had earned via a promotional exam. Pare attempted to force this “hero” into retirement like a used piece of equipment that was no longer needed! While his injuries eventually forced him to retire he had been denied his well-earned promotion.

So the next time you’re home listening to the wind howl and the weatherman says that it’s -5 degrees outside remember that there are men and women working in your local fire houses that are ready to immediately respond to your cry for help no matter how cold it may be!

Guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Kenney: Providence Firefighters Fight Cold as Well as Fire

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