Reference no: EM132281528

Respond to two of your classmates postings about their topics.

#1

The topic that I have selected is firefighter health and safety, specifically the identification, treatment, and research protocols for PTSD in firefighters. The two sources that I have selected are listed below;

The first source is an article titled Mindfulness is associated with fewer PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and alcohol problems in urban firefighters.The research looks largely at the ability to intervene in the development of PTSD by utilizing a scale known as Mindful Awareness and Attention Scale.

One of the most difficult factors in PTSD is the nature in which it is so subjective and so difficult to quantify. First responders can also hide and mask many of there symptoms if they do not want to seek treatment. By establishing some type of standardization of symptoms perhaps the trend in research can lean towards treatment in a more meaningful fashion.

The second reference is an article titled Predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological symptoms in trauma-exposed firefighters. The research published in this study also deals with PTSD in first responders. One of the key factors it examines is the differentiation between an acute stress reaction and a cumulative stress reaction, which is often times called burnout. Many times when the ideology of stress and firefighters are introduced there is no delineation made between the two, however, they are both very different and should be treated as such.

References:

Meyer, E. C., Zimering, R., Daly, E., Knight, J., Kamholz, B. W., & Gulliver, S. B. (2012). Predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological symptoms in trauma-exposed firefighters. Psychological Services, 9(1), 1.

Smith, B. W., Ortiz, J. A., Steffen, L. E., Tooley, E. M., Wiggins, K. T., Yeater, E. A., ... & Bernard, M. L. (2011). Mindfulness is associated with fewer PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and alcohol problems in urban firefighters. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(5), 613.

#2

My research topic is something that is of continual discussion, and disagreement, in the fire service. I chose to research and discuss the differences that are provided by straight stream and fog stream nozzles. There is no shortage of opinion pieces published on this topic, but what is fantastic is the amount of fire simulation testing that is surfacing involving this topic. In my research this week, I got into he rabbit hole a bit, and really found a good foundations of articles top use (using techniques from our week 2 PowerPoint).

First, I located an article that was published originally in the book Firefighting Operations in High-Rise and Standpipe-Equipped Buildings written by Chief Dave McGrail. An excerpt was taken from the book and published on Fire Nuggets, which was then re-posted on Nozzle Forwards website, where I eventually found it.

This article discusses the proper time to use both nozzles, as Chief McGrail is a proponent of each, if the situation calls for it. He goes into further depth about the fog stream, and the myth that it is protecting firefighters (in a structure particularly). He then explains how it is actually the "pushing" of fire, which could also be considered a myth! To properly parse through this information, I had to expand my research to fire testing.

Second, I watched a video done by Underwriters Laboratory's (UL) Dan Madrzykowski, a member of the UL's Fire Safety Research Institute. In this video, Dan describes where the "pushing fire" ideology comes from, and describes it as a change of pressures, not a literal act of fire being pushed. It was even more satisfying, as just recently in a different fire related class, I wrote a paper on flow paths. This help me really put a solid thought process to my research.

All-in-all, this weeks research really invigorated me in regards to my class project.

References:

McGrail, Dave (2007) Smoothebore V. Combination Fog. Firefighting Operations in High-Rise and Standpipe-Equipped Buildings. Online.

Williams, Jennifer (2018) Tactical Considerations Web Series: EP.10 - Pushing Fire. Underwriters Laboratory. Online.