Rx For Fire (1960s)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our fire safety and fire prevention seminar. This seminar is a combined effort on the part of our hospital and our local fire departments. I would like to introduce to you Chief Robert Aldridge of our local fire department. We will now start our seminar with the discussion and demonstrations of situations involving the use of oxygen. In any discussion of fire safety to handling of oxygen and the administering of oxygen therapies, one of our chief concerns has to be sources of ignition. Some of these that you may find in a hospital may be the nurse's call bell, electric bed motors, patients electric shaver. It must be remembered that any fire involving an oxygen-enriched atmosphere is going to be an extremely violent fire and the spread of it will be very rapid. [Applause] [Music] In the event of a fire in a patient's room in which oxygen equipment may be involved, we are quickly going to have to rescue the patient, sound the alarm, cut off the oxygen supply to that room, confine and secure the area by closing the fire doors in the hall corridors and also the doors to the other patient rooms, and extinguish the fire if possible. In order to prevent these accidents from happening, it is your responsibility to remove matches and smoking materials from any room where oxygen is in use, whether it be an oxygen tent, nasal feeding, or by any other method of application. Any visitors to the room should be warned of the immediate danger. Adequate signs must be posted in and outside of the room. A quick review of the problems dealing with the use of oxygen equipment in the hospital would take us back to the previously mentioned ignition sources and also the well-meaning friend who offers the patient a cigarette. You have to be aware of the violent reaction that will take place in the fire situation in oxygen enriched atmospheres. [Applause] You have to quickly rescue your patient, sound your alarm, shut off the oxygen supply, confine and secure the area, and extinguish the fire if possible. Reference to the National Fire Protection Association's standard 56B dealing with inhalation therapy should be a must for all hospital safety personnel and nursing supervisors. I would now like to discuss the portable fire extinguisher. Hospitals generally use the following types: water, carbon dioxide, dry chemical, and the allpurpose ABC. This is a water type extinguisher. It is used to extinguish ordinary combustibles such as wood, cloth, and paper. Here is a carbon dioxide extinguisher. It is used to extinguish electrical, oil, and other flammable liquid fires. The dry chemical extinguisher is also used to extinguish electrical, oil, and other flammable liquids. An all-purpose ABC extinguisher is designed for use on ordinary combustible fires, electrical, oil, and other flammable liquid fires. At our seminar today, we will demonstrate and use a watertype extinguisher and a carbon dioxide extinguisher. To operate this carbon dioxide extinguisher, you place your hand on the neck of the extinguisher, pull the pin, tip the horn at 45°, balance the weight in both hands, and squeeze the [Applause] handle. This extinguisher is very noisy. Don't let the noise frighten you. [Applause] Why do you [Applause] Let it down low. All right. This is a pressurized water extinguisher. To operate it, you place your hand on the neck of the extinguisher. Pull the pin. Direct the nozzle at the base of the flame and squeeze the handle. Remember to hold the extinguisher by the neck. Pull the pin. Take the nozzle and direct it at the base of the flame and squeeze the handle. There is one important thing to remember. You cannot pull the pin if you squeeze the handle. Therefore, you should place your hand on the neck of the extinguisher and then pull the pin. An excellent guide to the use, care, and placement of fire extinguishers can be found in the National Fire Protection Association standards number 10 and 10A. Proper operation of a fire extinguisher is important, but it is equally important to know where the extinguishers are located in your respective working areas. If you should discover a waste basket fire, cover the basket with a pillow. This will suffocate the fire while you go and get an extinguisher to complete the extinguishment. Here we have a hose cabinet. It is similar to any of the ones in our hospital. This is a fog nozzle. It is designed to extinguish the fire and provide you with a water spray for your protection. A half turn on the nozzle will give you a fog spray. This valve is for turning the water on and must not be turned on until all the hose has been removed from the rack. Does the valve have to be opened all the way? Yes, this valve should be open all the way to ensure maximum and sufficient water supply. [Applause] That's good. [Applause] For those of you who work in our kitchen areas or workshop areas, a fire blanket is provided. At this time, I will demonstrate the proper method of using it. Should you have an accident, you set your clothes on fire, take hold of the handles, turn yourself completely around, wrap yourself in the blanket. The next subject I would like to discuss and demonstrate is the hazards associated with pressurized containers you will find in your hospital such as deodorants, hairsprays, medications, industrial applications. These containers are a potential danger if handled incorrectly. Was that deodorant? Yes, it was. And that can happen too when you use hairspray. The disposal of aerosol cans and other pressurized containers should be placed in a special container for this purpose. They are never to be placed in waste baskets, thrown into rubbish shoots, or incinerators. This is our fire alarm panel board which we use for demonstration and discussion of our fire alarm system. Many hospitals such as ourselves have two types of fire alarm systems, automatic and manually operated. The automatic alarm systems are activated by heat and byproducts of combustion. The manual alarm systems are activated by you. Would you two please come up here? To operate this manual pullbox station, you merely put your fingers in the slot, pull the handle all the way down, and release it. The bell you hear ringing is not just an alarm signal. It's a coded signal telling where the alarm has been activated. I would like to stress upon you the importance of sounding a fire alarm as quickly as possible and your knowing where the fire alarm box in your area is. Remember, you should never assume that someone has already sounded a fire alarm or made notification. Sound the alarm yourself. This is your responsibility. Shouldn't we report it to the head nurse? No, absolutely not. Sound the alarm first. Today in our hospitals there are many different acceptable code signals used to indicate a fire or emergency. The important thing is that every hospital have a code signal and that it be used frequently in fire drills so that all of the staff are familiar with it. One of the most important things to be done if there is a fire is to close the smoke barrier doors in the corridors plus closing the doors of the patient's room treatment and utility rooms. In most cases, the smoke barrier doors and all other doors will have to be closed by hand. Although in some of our newer hospitals, there are automatic closing devices which are operated by the fire alarm system when it is activated. In any case, the important thing to remember is that smoke barrier doors and doors to patient, treatment, and utility rooms must be closed. Does he mean we close every door? Yes, every door. I would like to mention that there are fire hazards that do exist in our hospitals. They are smoking, electrical problems, overheating of equipment, trash removal, burning, and improper storage of combustible and flammable materials. It is also very important that you enforce the hospital smoking regulations. Visitors are not to smoke in the elevators, corridors, or patients rooms. Visitors should use designated smoking areas. Before our seminar ends for today, I would like to speak to you briefly about the subject of evacuation or relocation as it will be in most cases. There is no one relocation plan or program that will fit the needs of all of our hospitals. Therefore, each hospital must develop their own fire emergency plan to fit their own needs and particular emergency. The success of any fire emergency plan is your ability to carry it out. This requires inservice training, teamwork, and coordination. This is why you have had and will have unscheduled fire emergency drills to test your efficiency in your hospitals. No one should ever think that they or their hospital are immune to fire. Will each one of you please, as you leave, take one of our hospital fire safety and prevention manuals. Patient smoking in bed will be one of your biggest problems and also a problem to us in the fire safety and fire prevention field. While it is a difficult problem, there is much that you and I can do about it. All hospital personnel. That means every one of you must be alert to patients who smoke. [Applause] Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. [Applause] [Applause] Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. Dr. Red, three west. A well-trained fire brigade in your hospital can put out a small fire or control it until the local fire department arrives. A very important rule that every hospital should have and follow, is that whenever there is a fire involving a mattress, any kind of a fire, no matter how small, after it has been extinguished, the mattress must be removed immediately to the outside of the building. your area. You should warn your patients about smoking in bed. You should check to see that properly designed ashtrays are used and care shown when and where these ashtrays are emptied. Any patient who is confused or who is under sedation should have matches and smoking materials removed. Special surveillance must be observed during the nighttime hours. Visitors should not be allowed to smoke in patient rooms. They should use designated areas set aside for this purpose. There is one more responsibility we all have, you and I. It is housekeeping. It is your job to keep your working areas clean and orderly. Why is housekeeping so important? Because if you have poor housekeeping, you will have or create hazards. Hazards that could kill or injure patients and yourself. and cause damage to property. For instance, fire and smoke proof towers are built to provide a haven of safety during a fire. An excellent guide reference to this subject can be found in the National Fire Protection Association standard number 101, the life safety code. The doors entering the fire tower are fire doors and must be kept closed at all times with a self-closing device. The fire doors must never be blocked open. Carts, machines, or housekeeping equipment are never to be left so as to block open or prevent from closing any fire or smoke barrier door. Kitchen grease ducts and canopies present a serious fire hazard to all hospitals. Because of the grease that gets through the filter and into the canopy and duct work, they must be cleaned on a frequent routine maintenance schedule. Compressed gases must be stored in a well ventilated room free from combustible material. The cylinders must be capped, chained to the wall, secured to a manifold, or be placed in racks. Flammable and nonflammable gases must be stored in separate rooms. Rubbish shoots must be emptied frequently, keeping combustibles at a minimum. Rubbish should not be stored in carts or baskets, but must be burned or removed as soon as possible to reduce the fire hazard. Caution should be exercised that rubbish and linen chute doors are always latched. Underneath stairways is never a place to store combustible material. If a fire should result from careless storage, it could deprive you of a necessary exit to safety. No one wants to see hours of dedicated work wasted by a thoughtlessly discarded cigarette. No one wants to see months of care repairing a human body and mind lost in the smoke and heat of a needless fire. Your hospital should be a building free of all fire hazards to life. It can be by proper fire safety and fire prevention. [Music] There you go. Goodbye. [Music]