Retired fire chief leads safety crusade

IT IS rather remarkable to meet a sagacious veteran of
many professional wars who talks with the missionary rage

of a youngster.

There have been testimonials
recently to Don Pamplin, upon his
retirement as Vancouver fire chief,
and there is another dinner this
weekend.

Whatever this phase is for
Pamplin, retirement is not the
right word,

During the past two months, he
has lectured firefighters and chiefs
in Calgary, Vancouver and New
Zealand. He has set himself up
with a fax and husiness line in his
West Vancouver home:

If there is a business, it lacks
definition. But it ismost definitely
a crusade. He hopes to do a book.

What he has to say is not uni-
versally popular among his col-
leagues. His message is that theirs
has been a profession erected on a
foundation of futility.

He told a Vancouver conference
of the International Association of
Fire Fighters that North America,
despite its affluence, has the worst
fire safety record in the industri-
alized world.

“‘And Canada, on a per capita
basis, has even a worse fire record
than the U.S. We win the Stanley
Cup of embarrassment,”’ he said,
a colorful phrase that was

coast to coast.

In a private conversation,
Pamplin came across like a career
felon who had found Christ, mo-
ments before the judge passed
sentence.

“There is nothing new in this,"’
he said. “I have been preaching
this message throughout my ca-
reer. No one wanted to listen.””

Chatting with him across a
desk, his knuckles turn white as
he describes the foolishness of
modern fire protection.

After his celebrated Vancouver
speech in carly August, he was
hounded by media, including the
national television programs.

He grew angry at them as well.

““All they wanted was a 30-
second clip — something sensa-
tional. No one wanted to think
about the issue or to read any of

- the policy papers,’? Pamplin said.

So he told them to get lost.
Retirement does have a few ad-
vantages attached.

We promised to be more
thoughtful.

Chief Pamplin sent over a brief

. and a videotape.

The video was titled Less Than

| Five Minutes. it featured a fire
test 2: a small New England town
that was surrounded by neighbor-
ing volunteer fire brigades.

Two identical livingroom situ-
"ations were constructed using
houses scheduled for demolition.
In each, a small waste basket was
placed behind an casy chair, just
under a set of drapes and next to

annerman

OPEN LINES

” a fireplace.

The only difference was that
one living room was protected by
two inexpensive sprinkler beads.
The second was unprotected.

The countdown begins — me-
ticulously measured —- when a
small fire starts in each living
room. W° watch on the video as
the fires creep up behind the easy
chair, gradually reaching toward
the curtains and the ceiling.

Within a minute, 2n urgent call
is placed to the fire department.
At just over one minute, the
reaching flame activates the
sprinkler.

We watch the firemen respond

to one call. The sprinklers respond

to the other.

The announcer gives a play-
by-play, second-by-second ac-
count of cach fire.

At minute three, after 72
gallons of water, the sprinklers
have extinguished one fire.

The first fire truck reaches the
second hous¢ in a remarkable
eight minutes after the fire
started

Quickly, five separate volunteer

fire departments, eight major
pieces of fire equipment (trucks),
and 50 firefighters are on the
scene of the second. They pump
20,000 gailons of water.

But then a voice renders a ver-
dict: “‘When the firemen arrive,
the fire has been out for five
minutes in the sprinkled room.
The occupants have been dead for

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five minutes in the unsprinkled
house.’”

There are other interesting tid-
bits about this tape. It regularly
reports about the rising count of
carbon dioxide as the fire pro-
gresses.

Pamplin says the short video
tells the whole story. No matter
how fancy or expensive the
equipment, nor haw many
firehalls, trucks or personnel are
thrown into the breach, fire
departments 2re faced with 2
hopeless, wasteful and futile task.

He seems surprised when
firefighters are less than excited
about his message. Pamplin seems
to be saying that they have all Jed
worthless professional lives.

His detailed brief cites two ex-
amples of mandatory sprinkler

use.

Since 1955, Fresno, California,
has required sprinklers in all
buildings, including residential.
Fire losses have dropped by
93.7% in all categories, including
human life.

Fresno had 70 firemen on duty
cach day in 1955. By 1992, Fresno
has tripled in population and its
municipal boundaries cover twice
the area. There are 66 firefighters
on duty cach day.

A more striking example in the
Pamplin papers is the Walt Disney
World/Epcott Centre development

Sunday, September 13, 1992 - North Shore News - @

in Florida.

Sprinkiered from the beginning,
the Disney geography has a daily
population of 200,000 staff, resi-
dents and visitors, including
13,000 permanent dwelling units.

The annual fire loss over 15
years has averaged $5,000. All
fires have been controlled by two
sprinkler heads or less.

He then pulls out a catalogue of
data from Europe, Scandinavia,
Japan, Australia and New
Zealand: all of them vastly supe-
rior to us,

Ironically, Don Pamplin bas
just stepped down from his post
as chief of the number-one-raied
fire denartment in Canada, and
one of the finest in North
America by any comparison.

In 20 years of dedication, the
department has reduced annual
fire deaths irom 40 to eight, but
he says that without sprinklers, it
will never get better.

“*During my 38 years of ser-
vice,’” he said, ‘the majority of
those years existed in a culture
that viewed fire prevention as a
process that would ultimately put
us out of business.

“‘Miany new fire chiefs are
recognizing that there is a better
way.””

And it took an ‘old chief" to
sound the alarm.

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