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"It's Just a Routine House Fire" or Is It?

Chief Jim Duffy | Safety Track | 2021 Annual Conference

Session Description
Private dwelling fires are the most common structure fire in The United States and Minnesota as well.  About 75% of fire deaths occur in residential dwellings, about twenty-five hundred civilians die in home fires each and every year.  In fact, In the U.S. 2,140 died in 2020 and 27 in Minnesota alone.  We have lost 829 nationally and 13 in Minnesota between January 1 and April 1 of  this year. If your fire department is anything like mine, odds are most of your structure fires are in private dwellings.  This is where we can make a difference. Just because it is the most common fire you go to, it doesn’t mean that you let your guard down, a significant number of our firefighter injuries and deaths occur here.  It should be no surprise that that our work environment has changed over the years, structural members are being made lighter and cheaper, homes are more energy efficient, and most importantly fuels have higher heat release rates. These are only some of the reasons I am obsessed with private dwelling fires. This highly interactive and challenging class will explore today’s fire behavior, command, size-up, fire-attack, ventilation and search in private dwelling fires, including older balloon frame up to modern light weight constructed mcmansions, coordinating all fireground tactics with your staffing. We will also briefly cover current scientific studies and how it may or may not relate to your tactics. Lessons learned here can also be applied to other types of structure fires. Hopefully we will have a little bit of fun at the same time!

Chief Jim Duffy
Jim Duffy has more than forty years in the fire service, a recently retired from the Wallingford (CT) Fire Department after 28 years the last 17 as a battalion chief/shift commander.  He is an ex-captain from the Mineola, Long Island (NY) Fire Department. He is an adjunct instructor Middlesex County regional fire school in CT.  Jim co-hosts Fireground Strategies and other stuff from the street on Fire Engineering Talk Radio with Chief Anthony Avillo. He has been published in firefighter trade magazines in Canada and the United States, including Fire Engineering and NYSFCA Size-up. Jim is a co-author for the bestselling Tactical Perspective video series from Fire Engineering, Lead on the Search video. Jim lectures on a variety of firefighting subjects throughout the country and is a regular presenter at FDIC. Chief Duffy is a member of ISFSI, IAFC, and NYSAFC.