Blazing through advances in technology cont.
is working in. Stauth reports he has seen the plastic visor on the helmet melt before the structural integrity of the suit is damaged.
“The new suits are tested before they’re worn,” said Lannon. “Our old suits, we just wore them and wore them. We weren’t worried back then.”
However, Kowalski adds, the technology may be too good today.
“Some of the problem is that it has advanced so quickly, and a lot of times, a firefighter can be inside a burning building and not feel the heat, just because of the protective quality,” he said. “Some guys can be stuck in there too long due to the heat delay. The older gear, you could feel when it was time to get out.”
One of the most essential items of a firefighter’s wardrobe has also changed. When Landon started as a firefighter, he would have used a pressure demand regulator on his breathing apparatus. The firefighter would have to inhale in order to trigger the flow of oxygen. Now, the breathing apparatus uses positive pressure to keep the flow of oxygen moving, and also helps keep contaminants away from the face piece, an issue with the previous system.
the building, and Lannon adds that even in heavy smoke, it can help find people who are trapped in buildings.
Even the trucks have changed from when the two of them started. In their old days, the trucks ran on gasoline and had reduced volumes for pumping. Today, the pumps have automatic regulator systems and can automatically inject foam right in the hoses through the flick of switch. There is also a navigating system to help find addresses and the trucks run on diesel fuel and automatic transmission.
“
It’s not just the suit and oxygen; the firefighter also carries additional equipment on his person when going into a building. Stauth says a number of items have remained standards for firefighters, including a flashlight and a wedge for blocking open doors. Others have been added, such as PASS device on their gear, which triggers an alarm if the firefighter is trapped or goes down in a building, and a thermal imaging camera on some crews.
“We’ve only been incorporating the thermal imaging technology in the last 10 years,” said Stauth.
The thermal imaging camera is used to help detect hotspots in
Some of the problem is that technology has advanced so quickly, and a lot of times, a firefighter can be inside a burning building and not feel the heat, just because of the protective quality of the gear.
Another item about trucks have changed from the previous depiction of firefighters.
from house fires to chemical spills.
“We’ve got more and more chemicals transported through our community every day, which our people review, and building construction now is generally better now than when Al would’ve started,” Stauth said. “Although the homes are built better, there’s an awareness of new building construction and how flame impingement on the new laminated i-beam construction can cause structural integrity concerns that firefighters have to be aware of.”
”
“Firefighters no longer ride on the tailboard of the truck,” said Stauth, noting that Lannon would have ridden that way when he first started. Everybody now buckles up inside the cabin.
Despite all of the additions of technology to firefighting, there is a downside to it.
“The more technology that gets introduced the more complex it can get to fix,” said Stauth. “It takes extra training on the part of our fleet mechanics to stay upon the systems that keep coming out on the new vehicles.”
Citizens of Medicine Hat should take solace in the fact that their fire department has been advancing over the years, and is prepared to handle everything
84 | 2013 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
The firefighting training is more specialized than previous years. The fire department has a full dive team for water rescues, including a full truck and multiple equipment. Firefighters in Medicine Hat are trained in everything from handling hazardous materials (Kowalski is on this team) to confined space rescues. The firefighters have a monthly training theme, as well as extra training during each shift.
“There’s something to train on every single shift,” said Stauth. “A good example is how our guys train for vehicle extraction. They review the new technologies incorporated into the newer vehicles and the safety steps you have to take in extracting someone from a new vehicle. There’s a lot we have to know, and we’re in the first stages of incorporating our technology into our trucks, so they have that information at their fingertips.”
“I always ask the newer recruits ‘what do you want to train on?’” said Lannon. “They’re the ones who need the training. If they want to learn something, I’ll advise the captain on duty.”
The Medicine Hat Fire Department is continuing to improve its operations, planning to relocate two of its three stations to Riverside and Trans-Canada Way to ensure a prompt response time to all areas of the city. ■
Shelley Ross, chief librarian at the Medicine Hat Public Library, says she believes libraries will always have a place in the community.
I
By CHARLES LEFEBVRE
n recent years, there has been much discussion around the world about the future of the printed word.
Included in the discussion is how libraries would fare during the shift to digital. What would their place be in a world where a growing number of readers are reading from a touch screen rather than an actual physical book?
“The reliance of technology has changed and within the last 10 years, the rate of change has increased,” said Shelley Ross, the chief librarian of the Medicine Hat Public Library, who has worked in the library industry for 25 years. “Libraries were often pretty early adopters of almost all of the technologies that we have going.”
But, not all libraries have experienced the changes at the same rate.
“Academic libraries usually are ahead of the curve and leading the way in new technology adoption, while public libraries are usually slower to adapt,” she said, noting the reason for this is due to the people who use those libraries. While academic libraries, Ross says, have people who are doing specialized research and usually on the cutting edge of technology, public libraries have everybody using them, from children learning how to read to seniors researching their history. It is one of the reasons Ross believes libraries will be necessary, to make sure everyone in the community will have access to the latest technology and education.
In 2011, the library had 26,187 uses of their public
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