HD599 Unit 8 Practice Deliverable Example

SOG 4.12, Post-Fire Exposure Reduction: A Unit 8 Practice Deliverable Written in a Volunteer Fire District's Own Guideline Format

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

HD599: Master's Capstone in Health Education and Promotion

Unit 8 Practice Deliverable

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Kessling Valley Fire Protection District, its guideline numbering, stations, equipment and costs are composite; the decontamination, laundering and behavior sources cited are real.

1. Purpose

This guideline reduces members' exposure to fire smoke contaminants after a fire by setting the steps every member takes on scene, on the way home and at the station. It replaces the 2024 decontamination guideline.

2. Scope

This guideline applies to every member who performs interior or exterior fire suppression, overhaul or investigation at a structure, vehicle or chimney fire, including members who respond from home in personal vehicles. It does not cover medical calls, wildland fires or members of mutual-aid companies, who follow their own departments' guidelines.

3. Definitions

Gross decontamination: brushing outer turnout gear with water and soap, or dry brushing in cold weather, on scene before the member removes breathing apparatus.

Passenger compartment: any part of a vehicle where people sit, including the floor and the back seat of a car or truck cab. A trunk, a truck bed and a closed cargo box are not part of the passenger compartment.

Clean-hood bin: the sealed bin on each engine that holds clean spare hoods for exchange.

4. Responsibilities

Members perform every step in Section 5 on every fire within scope.

The officer in charge of each crew ensures the steps are performed and records them on the exposure form.

The incident commander announces decontamination by radio when crews are released from interior work or overhaul: "All companies, decon at the engine." No member waits for a second order.

The training officer keeps kits stocked and checks each engine's clean-hood bin weekly.

The duty officer at Station 1 runs the hood extractor schedule in Section 5.3.

5. Procedure

5.1 On scene

1. Keep breathing apparatus on through overhaul, and stay on air until gross decontamination begins.

2. At the engine, a partner brushes your outer gear top to bottom with water and soap from the kit, front and back, while you keep your facepiece on.

3. Remove breathing apparatus and helmet. Pull off your hood and place it in a red hood bag.

4. Wipe your neck, jaw, ears and hands with a skin wipe from the kit. Use a second wipe if the first comes away dark.

5. Take a clean hood from the clean-hood bin if you will stay on scene or respond again.

6. Remove coat and pants, roll them outer side in, and seal them in a gear bag with a tie.

Field studies found that brushing with soap and water on scene reduced contamination on outer gear, and that skin wipes reduced contamination on the neck (Fent et al., 2017).

5.2 On the way home

1. Bagged gear rides in a trunk, a truck bed or a closed cargo box, never in the passenger compartment.

2. Members whose vehicles have no trunk or bed leave bagged gear at the nearest station, and the duty officer logs it.

3. Change out of station clothing worn under gear as soon as practical, and shower within an hour of return when possible.

5.3 At the station

1. Red hood bags reach the Station 1 extractor no later than 24 hours after the fire. Stations 2 and 3 send bags with the next unit to Station 1.

2. Coats and pants are washed in the extractor before the next use if gross decontamination was not possible on scene.

3. Hoods and gear are never laundered at home.

Laundering removes much of the contamination hoods collect, though not all of it, which is why hoods are exchanged on scene rather than worn home (Mayer et al., 2019).

5.4 Cold weather

When the air temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or water in the kit has frozen:

1. Dry brush outer gear on scene with the long-handled brush.

2. Use skin wipes as in 5.1 step 4.

3. Bag all gear at once, and mark the bag with a strip of red tape.

4. Red-taped bags go to the extractor on return, without exception.

This variant is a district adaptation. It has not been tested in published studies, which were conducted in mild weather.

Every step is phrased as a direction to the member, in the order a member meets it, so that a volunteer at the tailboard at 2 a.m. can follow the guideline without having to remember which section applies.

6. Related Forms and Equipment

Exposure form, revised: gross decontamination, method used, hood exchanged, how gear traveled home.

Decontamination kit: five-gallon water container, long-handled brush, dish soap, skin wipes, red hood bags, gear bags with ties.

Appendix A: Drill Card

One side, laminated, on every engine:

1. Brush (dry below freezing).

2. Wipe neck, jaw, ears, hands.

3. Swap hood.

4. Bag it.

5. Trunk, not seat.

Appendix B: Hood Exchange Routing Sheet

Station 1: extractor runs every Monday and Thursday morning; clean hoods return to engine bins the same day. Station 2: red bags ride with the Monday supply run. Station 3: red bags ride with the Thursday supply run until a second extractor is installed.

Appendix C: Adoption Memo to the Chief

To: Chief, Kessling Valley Fire Protection District. From: Lieutenant, Station 2. Re: Adoption of SOG 4.12.

The attached guideline is ready for adoption. It incorporates the cold-weather variant you approved during rollout and the incident commander's radio call that rollout showed was needed.

Adoption costs: forty more spare hoods to complete the supply of sixty, at about $130 each, $5,200; sealed gear bags for members, about $900 a year; and staff time for the extractor schedule. A second extractor at Station 3, quoted at $13,400 installed, is not required for adoption but would shorten the routing in Appendix B.

Decisions reserved to you: whether to require members without a trunk or bed to leave gear at a station; whether to offer SOG 4.12 to neighboring departments through the county chiefs' meeting; and whether to bring the hood and extractor costs to the board, which the Unit 9 presentation is prepared to do.

The guideline reduces exposure; it does not eliminate it, and that is how it should be explained to members. Barrier surveys elsewhere found that time and wet gear keep firefighters from decontaminating (Harrison et al., 2018), and the kit, the bags and the radio call are designed to remove both excuses.

References

Fent, K. W., Alexander, B., Roberts, J., Robertson, S., Toennis, C., Sammons, D., Bertke, S., Kerber, S., Smith, D., & Horn, G. (2017). Contamination of firefighter personal protective equipment and skin and the effectiveness of decontamination procedures. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 14(10), 801-814. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2017.1334904

Harrison, T. R., Muhamad, J. W., Yang, F., Morgan, S. E., Talavera, E., Caban-Martinez, A., & Kobetz, E. (2018). Firefighter attitudes, norms, beliefs, barriers, and behaviors toward post-fire decontamination processes in an era of increased cancer risk. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 15(4), 279-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2017.1416389

Mayer, A. C., Fent, K. W., Bertke, S., Horn, G. P., Smith, D. L., Kerber, S., & La Guardia, M. J. (2019). Firefighter hood contamination: Efficiency of laundering to remove PAHs and FRs. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 16(2), 129-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/15459624.2018.1540877