Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: HEAT

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that: employees were exposed to the hazards of fire, heat and smoke: (a) Sweetwater Ranch - Employees were fighting a brush fire using brush truck #45 which was known to have problems with the pumping system. During the course of fighting the brush fire, the pumping system on brush truck 45 malfunctioned, resulting in the reduction and/or cessation of water causing employees to retreat from the fire zone. During the retreat and return to the incident command, one of the firefighters became separated from the others and was not reported as missing for approximately 20 minutes, on or about July 15, 1997. ABATEMENT VERIFICATION REQUIRED FOR THIS ITEM. ONE FEASIBLE AND ACCEPTABLE METHOD OF ABATEMENT WOULD BE TO FOLLOW NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION STANDARDS WHICH INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: 1. a) Follow 1992 Edition National Fire Protection Association Standard 1500, Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, Chapter 4 Vehicles and Equipment, Section 4-4 Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair of Vehicles 4-4.1, which states "All fire department vehicles shall be inspected at least weekly, within 24 hours after any use or repair, and prior to being placed in service or used for emergency purposes to identify and correct unsafe conditions". b) Follow 1992 Edition National Fire Protection Association Standard 1500, Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, Chapter 4 Vehicles and Equipment, Section 4-4 Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair of Vehicles 4-4.3, which states "The fire department shall establish a list of major defects to be utilized to evaluate when a vehicle shall be declared unsafe. Any fire department vehicle found to be unsafe shall be placed out of service until repaired". 2. a) Follow 1992 Edition National Fire Protection Association Standard 1500, Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program, Chapter 6 Emergency Operations, Section 6-3 Accountability 6-3.1, which states "The fire department shall establish written standard operating procedures for a personnel accountability system in accordance with Section 4-3 of NFPA 1561, Standard on Fire Department Incident Management System, and that provides for the tracking and inventory of all members operating at an emergency incident". (updated in the 1995 edition to Section 2-6). b) Follow 1995 Edition National Fire Protection Association Standard 1561, Fire Department Incident Management System, Chapter 2 System Structure, Section 2-6 Personnel Accountability 2-6.2 states "The fire department shall adopt and routinely use a system to maintain accountability for all personnel assigned to the incident. This system shall provide a rapid accounting of all personnel at the incident scene".