Flames burn hotter today, and other things you might not know about fighting fires
The December deaths of Daniel Capuano and Mark Zielinski remind us that even with constant training, updated policies and state-of-the-art equipment, a firefighter's job can be deadly.
We know this, yet such deaths still take our collective breath away.
Capuano died Dec. 14 after falling down an elevator shaft while fighting a fire in an abandoned warehouse in Chicago. Zielinski died Dec. 4 while resuscitating a shopper in Matteson.
Though the nature of their deaths are very different, both speak to the ongoing dangers, stress and unpredictability of the firefighting profession, risks those in the field will tell you they try desperately to keep at bay.
In the wake of these two tragedies, we asked Chief William Bonnar, Jr., battalion chief with the Orland Park Fire Protection District, to tell us some of the things the public might not know about firefighting today.
Bonnar is a 35-year veteran who knows what it's like to lose a family member to the profession. His father, William Bonnar Sr., died suddenly in 1998 following a 45-minute drill. Because he was so physically fit, his heart condition went undetected, Bonnar said.
"Whatever killed him, hit him instantly," Bonnar Jr. said. His father succumbed to a heart attack while sitting in his car, a siren box and radio right in front of him, both of which were never used.
Because of that case, Bonnar said that today, in addition to annual physicals, Orland firefighters undergo a cardiac stress test. If there are any questions, they are sent for most extensive testing, he said.
The loss of a comrade is devastating, Bonnar said, but the firefighting profession has a long history of turning losses into lessons.
Here are 10 more things Bonnar said you might not know about firefighting today.
1.Fires burn faster and hotter.
"Back in the '50s, '60s and '70s, most of the stuff in your house was made of wood, cotton and wool. Natural fabrics," he said.
Today, he said, everything is pressboard and plastics.
"When plastic heats to a certain temperature, it turns back to what it originally was, crude oil. So now all of these things are giving off all these gases that weren't around 40 years ago. That's why (fire) temperatures inside buildings went from an average 1,100-1,200 degrees at the ceiling to 2,000 degrees. When plastics convert back to gasoline, fires burn faster and hotter, and the smoke is more toxic."
As a result, firefighters have a higher risk of cancer, due to exposure to such toxins.
2.Smoke is a more common killer.
Bonnar recalled a recent smoky blaze in Mokena that occurred inside a 320,000-square-foot warehouse. The sprinkler system went off and did it's job but, he said, even in that big building with the lights on, firefighters couldn't see a thing.
"Everything was white — cold smoke. If you took your mask off, it would kill you. It was like standing in the corner of a room with your nose against a white wall. That's all you could see. It was a maze. If you weren't on a hose line or a rope going in there, you could get lost and they wouldn't find you for a couple of days."
Now, Bonnar said, "We use Thermal Imaging Cameras (TIC) which allow us to see things through the smoke that we weren't able to see before."
The technology, he said, is great, but expensive. "Those cameras are about $3,000-$4,000 a piece. So they're not something you could outfit everybody with. Here, we have one for the officers, one for the firefighters."
3.Firefighters tend to their own houses.
In addition to learning lifesaving, rescuing and firefighting techniques, many department candidates have to learn how to mop floors, do laundry and clean bathrooms. "One thing I've noticed over the years is that some candidates coming in have never used a lawn mower or a weed wacker. Maybe they lived in an apartment or a condo. Some we have to teach the proper way to clean a bathroom."
Because the fire house is self-sufficient, he said, firefighters have to learn how to maintain everything.
4.Don't burn the place down.
About 75 percent of firefighters are good cooks, Bonnar said. "Some specialize in Italian cuisine, or they cook venison. Some you don't want getting near the kitchen."
Sometimes, what's cooking in the kitchen is the kitchen itself. Because they are trained to drop everything and run when a call comes in, firefighter/chefs have been known to forget to turn off the burners. About 10 years ago, Roberts Park Fire Department rushed to a call, leaving the burners in its firehouse kitchen on. A fire broke out and seriously damaged the kitchen.
That led to the development of a smoke alarm outfitted with a shut-off valve. Now, when the alarm is sounded, it automatically cuts off the gas to the stove in the kitchen, Bonnar said.
"The other day it panned out here," Bonnar said. "The guys were cooking and got a call about a cardiac arrest. Again we ran out of here. They forgot to turn off a pan of oil. It started to smoke, set off the alarm and (the new device) automatically shut the gas off. It prevented damage to the station. We're taking our own advice. How do you explain to taxpayers that we burned down the firehouse?"
5.Common calls.
In addition to cooking mishaps, Bonnar said, common sources for house fires include clothes dryers, candles and, this year, bathroom fans.
6.Unusual calls.
Bonnar said firefighters today train constantly for medical emergencies, trench and water rescues, bariatric equipment usage, pet assists and hazardous materials situations. The state and the district have their own minimum training requirements for both firefighting and paramedic calls.
Most of the calls Orland Park firefighters go out on are EMS (emergency medical service) calls, Bonnar said.
Mostly, they train to expect the unexpected, because it often comes their way.
He remembers years ago when firefighters were called to aid a man who had been stabbed 44 times. "And the guy who stabbed him was in the garage, talking to the lieutenant."
More recently, firefighters found a guy "just walking around the station and administration building, going through files and stuff." Now all of interior doors are kept locked, he said.
Bonnar was on duty years ago when a hot air balloon went down in a field near 108th Street, and, before that, when a plane landed south of 151st Street, near 88th Avenue. He was also working in December 2014 when a man fell into a sewer while walking along Harlem Avenue.
"The guy had a flip phone in his pocket," he said. "He was 12 or 12½ feet down, and he was able to get a signal and talk to our dispatcher. Amazing."
The rescue crew blanketed Harlem from 143rd to 151st to first find the man, who'd suffered a broken leg, and then go into the hole to apply straps so they could pull him out.
"That was a Christmas miracle," he said.
7. Best and worst of it.
"I've delivered a couple of babies; saved a couple of people I didn't think would make it," Bonnar said.
They've also rescued animals, including a family of ducklings that just recently tumbled into a sewer behind the fire administration building.
But Bonnar has also been on some tough calls – a baby who died of massive injuries, a 13-year-old girl who was killed in a snowmobile accident and the death of a teenager near his home on the west side of the village.
"The neighborhood kids all had quads or motorcycles. They would always come to my house, gather and go up in the trails, off Will-Cook Road. I would always check for helmets, etc."
Two of Bonnar's sons were in the group.
"They had just left when one kid comes flying back, yelling, 'Mr. Bonnar, Mr. Bonnar, there's a really bad crash,'" he recalled.
"I jumped on my quad and went out there. Sure enough, some idiot ... doing 65 mph around a blind corner, hit one of the 13-year-olds on a motorcycle and killed him. ... That hit close to home. When you see that, it's bad."
Afterward, Bonnar said, the friends gathered around a bonfire at his house, to decompress, to talk it out.
Bonnar said training helps firefighters disconnect from their emotions so they can do their job.
"You don't personalize. Because if you do, it'll tear you up in the long run. It'll kill you before your years."
8.Firefighters never walk into a fire.
They run, wearing 60-plus pounds of gear, at full speed, without warming up. Sometimes they have to rescue people, some of whom can be quite heavy.
It's a team effort, Bonnar said. "That old image of a firefighter throwing someone over their shoulders is not exactly accurate."
Orland Park is one of the few departments that has bariatric rescue equipment.
As much as a cold January day can be difficult, what is far more challenging, Bonnar said, is the hot August day.
"It's extreme stress on your body," he said.
The University of Illinois conducted some studies recently about that stress, concluding that it can take up to 48 hours for a firefighter's blood to thin out back to normal following an incident.
"That's why you can have an extreme fire at 4 a.m., a guy works it for two hours, goes home and has a heart attack," he said.
9.The Brotherhood.
Whenever a firefighter is killed, hundreds, if not thousands, of his comrades turn out for the services. It is something that is unique to the rescue profession.
"Because we all see each other at continuing ed classes. We all have worked at different stations, in different departments. You get to know people all over," Bonnar said.
"We got to know guys from New York who came here to teach us about building collapses. Unfortunately, two of those guys died in 9/11," he said.
"Everybody's kind of tied in. I'm real good friends with the chief of Effingham, Illinois because he started out as a fireman in Mokena. I worked with the chief of Lisle when I was in Evergreen (Park). It's almost like a network."
10.Why this career?
"It goes back to youth. Kids say, 'I want to be a firefighter when I grow up,' and we say, 'Sorry, kid, you can't do both,'" he joked.
Bonnar said, "I was a C-student coming out of high school, but an honor roll student in college because this is what I wanted to do. You gotta be a little off-center to be a firefighter, because of the things you see. You have to be able to create a balance. It's a teeter-totter. But if you love it, it's a great job."
@dvickroy
Copyright © 2016, Daily Southtown
A version of this article appeared in print on January 07, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Flames burn hotter today - - and other things you might not know about fighting fires" — Today's paper | Subscribe
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