Posted By Jennifer Kelly For those of you that have seen the film then I'm not talking about the scene where the rather lovely William Baldwin and the starlet of the show get up to some, ah-hem,....well let's say shenanigans on the back of a fire engine, but enough of that and onto the serious question. I have just seen a Fire Warden/Marshall (what is the difference between the two names??) training video in which the presenter demonstrates how to carefully feel for heat coming through a door, whilst crouching down, and then, if no heat is felt, to carefully open the door to see that the room is clear. Is this accepted practice to teach Fire Wardens/Marshalls? General comments and thoughts on this procedure would be welcome as I have some reservations and am curious to see if they are shared. Regards Jennifer

Posted By TBC Forgot to mention - If you click around the various links you'll find some good details, be able to download some documents and see some great action videos. It will open your eyes. Enjoy

Posted By jackw. Hi a very difficult issue. We have a number of residential homes and indeed one of the videos we show at our in house fire warden training does demonstrate how to make some basic checks re fire in a room. However, we make it very clear to staff in these units that if they suspect a fire behind a door, even in a room containing a resident, they must not open the door. To do so would/could have them “roasted” and the fire spread out into other areas much faster than it would if the door was left closed. A difficult choice for staff I agree but we take the view that the bigger picture re the other residents and staff must take precedent. Also in most cases if the fire is raging in a room the resident will probably have perished. As I say not an easy choice for staff.

Posted By Merv Newman Apart from the film and whatever people get up to on the back of the waggon, backdraft can be very very nasty. I was taught, by a 99 year old (well maybe it was just heat exposure) fireman to use ALL of your senses before you opened that door : Look at it - is it distorted, bowing, bubbling ? Feel it - is it hot or vibrating ? Listen - any interesting noises ? Smell it - anything burning behind it ? I can't remember any specific reason for tasting a door before you open it, but maybe you can think of one. Actually, the safest method he recommended was to get your mate to open it. Perhaps that's why he lived to 99. Merv

Posted By Frank Hallett Good evening all [like the spectre at the feast again!] We've done this one to death [no I really do mean the pun this time] so many times in the last couple of months! Jennifer, there is no technical difference between Marshals, Wardens, Wombles, Humpa-Lumpas or whatever else your employer decides to call thos persons appointed to assist in complying with the current and incoming Fire Legislation by checking that all those who can leave the premises have done so and that the location and reason for nor leaving of those remaining is carried to the Emergency Co-ordinator or Evac Boss within the shortest possible time so that suitable arrangements can be made by those trained to enter, retrieve persons and fight fires can do so knowing that all relevant persons have been accounted for [that's not necessarily the same as removed from the premises!]. If you are training your staff on how to recognise "flashover" and "backdraught" conditions [no -they aren't the same]; then you will have specific reasons to do so, such as the Marshals [sic] having to enter single closed rooms to check the empiness or otherwise of it because the ossupants can't do it themselves. In that case whatever happened to the fire detection and alarm system that should clearly identify the location of the fire? If you find the need to go further and expect your staff to interact with fires or the products of combustion; my advise it to get someone who really does know about it to provide some independant and impartial advice about the structure, training, PPE, supervision and everything else that goes with it. OK Charley? Frank Hallett

Posted By Frank Hallett Glad you liked it Charley! What will you call yourself now - Head Monitor? You can read that title so many different ways and monitors are carnivores. Frank Hallett