This is a critical read for everyone involved in the fire industry. It’s clear that the mayday system is broken. To maximize the safety of first responders, it’s essential that the recommendations from IL OSHA be implemented.
Key Points from the Investigation
- Incident Overview: Illinois labor officials issued recommendations following a two-year investigation into the death of Chicago firefighter Mashawn Plummer. Plummer, 30, died from injuries sustained in a December 2021 apartment building fire.
- Primary Cause: The primary cause of Plummer’s death was a catastrophic malfunction of his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which tore in two places, rapidly depleting his air supply.
- Contributing Factors: Plummer was alone when his SCBA malfunctioned, and most firefighters at the scene didn’t hear his mayday call due to being on a different radio channel. This violated Chicago Fire Department’s policies requiring firefighters to stay together and be on the appropriate radio channels.
- Delayed Response: Plummer’s mayday call wasn’t immediately acknowledged by the incident commander, leading to a delayed response.
- Additional Failures: Other failures included inadequate supervision of the rookie firefighter, mishandling of Plummer’s personal alert safety system (PASS) alarm, and lack of emergency breathing air provided to Plummer once located.
IL OSHA Recommendations
To prevent similar tragedies, IL OSHA recommends the following procedures for all Illinois fire departments:
- Radio Communication: Perform radio checks before entering buildings, ensure all firefighters are on the correct channel, and establish contact with firefighters inside burning structures.
- Team Integrity: Firefighters should enter, stay, and exit structures together.
- Mayday Protocol: Firefighters in distress should repeatedly state their name during mayday calls until acknowledged. Incident commanders should treat all potential mayday calls as actual emergencies until confirmed otherwise.
- Search Teams: Include a designated “air firefighter” with emergency air supplies in teams searching for downed firefighters.
- Supervision and Training: Closely supervise inexperienced firefighters and ensure officers in acting roles are properly trained.
- Emergency Alerts: Program radios with an emergency button to alert others of a firefighter in distress and ensure PASS alarms are treated as genuine distress signals.
Implementing these recommendations is crucial for improving firefighter safety and ensuring that no other lives are lost due to preventable errors.
For more detailed information, you can read the full incident report by IL OSHA here.
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