The Skelleftea Model

[CFRSJosh]

I'll quickly introduce myself since I've never made a post here before. Hello, my name's Josh. I'm a cadet with the Cheshire FRS and I'm working towards becoming a firefighter for the service.

I've been invited to give a presentation of my choice for IFE in a couple weeks time at our safety central.

Now, I believe I have a relatively broad knowledge of the current healthy firefighter model. However I'd like to hear your opinions nationwide.

My presentation will be based on the `Skelleftea Model` it ensures that the cab and all equipment is kept clean both before and after a shout.

Here's a video which explains this more in depth: The Skelleftea Model

I'd like to hear your opinions. Is this time consuming? Is it impractical? What is your current preferred method for cleaning equipment?

[HoldFast]

Hi Josh. Really like that you’ve got your teeth into this. There are a lot of firefighters without even a hint of this on their radar so I’m really impressed that you’ve decided to take this subject on at the level you’re at. Good effort.

It can be time consuming but if done as a team the time spent cleaning up is minimal and every second spent is worth the potential benefits in health that come with an approach like this. It’s not impractical at all in my opinion and there are various ways that we can achieve much higher standards without much of a cost implication, which is usually the barrier encountered when taking suggestions to senior management.

Research has shown that equipment is not cleaned properly following an incident and is therefore constantly contaminated. There are many sceptics out there who either don’t believe the risks are that serious or simply don’t want to know about it. Ignorance is bliss after all... for a while. There are fire engines currently that house 2 BA sets in the cab and 2 in the lockers so that clean and dirty sets can be rotated after jobs, theoretically maintaining a clean cab. Of course everyone piling back into the cab after a fire in dirty kit will contradict this so other control measures must also be in place. This is where at the very least, elements of the Skelleftea Model could be adopted. It’s important for everyone to take the clean up and preventative side of our job seriously as well as the aggressive side, as it would make life a lot easier for the few that are the driving force behind this sort of behaviour. Hopefully the recent FBU/UCLan study will prompt some long overdue changes following recommendations that will be made.

If you want any more help or specific questions answered feel free to message me.

On a side note, if you’re hoping to become a firefighter I would suggest subscribing to the forum as the information and community you will have access to is priceless.

[OscarTango]

We've been shown that video here and while we cant have a sauna after every bin fire we are taking contaminants very seriously, and we're bagging up PPE a lot more often than we used to.

We all have personal respirators as well which although are not smoke scrubbing they are good particulate filters and we use them at RTCs to protect from glass dust too.

The trouble we find is the space to stow after a job. We had a house fire Sunday morning and on the way back having four sets of of PPE and three BA sets meant that lockers were barely shutting and possibly contaminating other equipment.

Our On Call pumps have the BA sets stowed in the body not the cab but again space is very limited. The idea of having sets in the body and not the cab makes some firefighters flinch at the idea of not being able to jump out the pump more of less rigged, but hopefully future designs could have a dedicated contaminants locker while retaining at least two clean sets in the cab.

We are supposed to have gloves and dust masks on when cleaning sets but that doesn't always happen. Sets are usually taken apart and cleaned in the servicing room. If it is really gopping I will charge the set and hose it down to remove most of the contaminants outside before venting it and taking it indoors.

We now always shower after a messy job, even if it means the pump is off the run momentarily. It takes next to no time and makes a big difference.

[Becile]

Were taking this quite seriously, with clean person and  cab policy, 2 sets of kit carried, no ba sets in the cab, clean and dirty routes in station, after fire proceedures, even looking into the big washing machines(bloody expensive !!) Personal issue p3 respirators, gas monitors coming to all appliances. 

Its hearts and minds in many respects.

[Healdav]

You should think yourselves lucky. After the forest fires in the south of France in 2003 when 3 firefighters were killed down the road from me, there was a real protest about kit and equipment. A delegation was invited to Paris by Sarkozy (Interior Minister at the time), and he was amazed and disgusted to find that kit was so short, that when a firefighter was promoted or retired, transferred, etc, his helmet and kit was just passed on to his replacement. If they wanted to wash it, it was their problem!

It changed next day, and new appliances were ordered as well. The ones they had dated from the 1960s!

[CFRSJosh]

Thanks for all your comments and feedback, I'm happy to announce that the presentation went very well and a lot of people were very pleased with the idea. I'm going to do more research into this subject over the next few months. Thanks again for all your help, and thank you all for your service!