à la rencontre de Ken Hanks.

let's talk with Ken Hanks,Deputy Chief at the Naugatuck FD in CT:

how long have you been in the Fire service?

I’ve been in the fire service for 27 years. I started as a volunteer fire fighter in my hometown a week after I turned 21. Fire fighting found me as I never had that on my list of things to do. Some friends from High School were volunteers and one persuaded me to give it a try in 1982. The town hired me as a full time fire fighter in 1985 where I’ve been a fire fighter, lieutenant, captain, asst. chef and now deputy chief. The local VFD had been inactive for several years and disbanded in 2004.

I had only been on the VFD a couple of months when there was a large single family house fire in one of the older sections of town. The volunteers had about 30 fire fighters respond to work with the five career fire fighters. I had to stay at the station with limited duties as I did not have any training at this point. I remember cleaning tools, putting equipment away, and listening to tales of bravery and daring actions of the on scene fire fighters.

Do you remember your firsct call for fire?when was it?can you tell us?

The first fire I respond to while the fire was still active happened on Easter Sunday, 1982. A woman, upset at her husband, lit the bedroom on fire. They escaped without injury and the house was gutted. I responded to this fire as a rider on our 1947 American LaFrance open cab engine. It was a short ride as the fire occurred about a quarter mile from the volunteer station.

What are the changes that you noticed in the american Fire service:rig,personnal equipment...
Apparatus are definitely much more advanced and safer. The open cab engines are long gone. I always felt the engines of old were really fire pumps that you could drive rather than trucks with fire pumps. My FD purchased a new Peirce engine last year. The safety features, including multiple air bag systems, roll protection and traction control, are a far cry from apparatus even 10 years ago. Of course, drivers following the rules and driving safely are more important than crash protection.

I think newer fire fighters today, especially on the career side, are more active in personal fitness then the rookies of my time. With cadio-vascular disease being the number one killer of fire fighters, this can only help to lessen LODDs and disability retirements.

According to you,which tool is the most used in the fire service:irons,k tool....?

"My brain is the one I use the most. Firefighting, like many other professions, requires training, education and experience to make the right decisions. The experience factor is a difficult one to define. A fire fighter who responds to one or two fires a year over 20 years is not as experienced as one who responds to two or three fires a week over the same period. Besides the obvious experience one receives from fires, responding to routine and non emergency events also builds experience in matters as simple as knowing who owns a particular building, locations of hydrants and water supplies, road conditions at various times of day, practicing apparatus placement, etc. This is dependent on the individuals desire to learn from the experience, both good and bad.

There is a difference between 20 years experience and 1 years experience 20 times over. Training and education go along with experience in developing the tools we use. Fire service tools and techniques change and evolve over time.

Exposure to new technologies and methods at least help us understand why we do certain things and allow us to decide if change is needed. However training and education without experience is almost worthless.

My favorite tool when I was an officer on the engine (besides the nozzle) had to be the 10 pound sledge hammer. Makes opening most residential doors a piece of cake."

people you would like to salute or thanks in this article:

There are many people that have influenced me throughout my career.

The late Francis Brannigan played a big role in my development as an officer. His lessons on the hidden dangers in buildings are constantly on my mind when I respond to a structure fire. I still stop at construction sites and take pictures of interesting and new building techniques to share with my fire department. “The building is your enemy, know your enemy.”

TRADUCTION:

Depuis combien d'années êtes vous Sapeur Pompier?

Cela fait 27 ans que je suis sapeur pompier.j'ai débuté mon parcours chez les sapeurs pompiers,chez les pompiers volontaires de ma ville natale,à l'age de 21 ans.je n'avais aucune prédisposition particulière pour le service incendie:des amis du lycée m'ont entrainés dans leur passion en 1982.

en 1985,je suis devenu pompier professionnel à temps complet:évoluant au sein du service incendie:sapeur,sergent,adjudant,assistant chef,puis chef de centre.l'ancien corps des pompiers volontaires de ma ville a disparu en 2004.

Vous souvenez vous de votre première intervention pour feu?pouvez vous nous la raconter?

en 1982,nous avons été appelé pour un feu de maison:une femme avait mis le feu à la chambre conjugale car elle était en colère contre son mari:l'habitation a brulé entièrement,le couple s'en est sorti indemne.cette année là,j'occupais le poste de" rider",sur notre fourgon american le france datant de 1947.

Quels sont les changements que vous avez pu noter au sein du service incendie?

les engins sont beaucoup plus surs et mieux équipés.les engins/auto pompe à cabine ouverte,ont totalement disparu.nous avons acheté l'année dernière,un fourgon Pierce,doté de plusieurs systèmes de sécurité:nombreux air bags....

il est évident que si le conducteur du fourgon est plus prudent,tous ces systèmes de sécurité,ne pourront que renforcer la sécurité du sapeur pompier dans le fourgon/auto pompe.

je pense également que les nouveaux engagés ou les bleus,se préoccupent davantage de leurs condition physique:ils s'entrainent plus ce qui est un avantage non négligeable car les risques cardio vasculaires sont très élevés dans notre profession et demeurent la première cause de mortalité.



Selon vous,quel est l'outil le plus utilisé par les pompiers?

je répondrais que j'utilise le plus mon cerveau.il faut prendre la bonne décision le plus rapidement possible.

le facteur expérience est difficile à définir dans le service incendie,mais très important:un pompier qui a 20 ans de service mais qui décale seulement 2 ou 3 fois par semaine,n'aura pas la même expérience qu'un pompier qui décale tous les jours.

mon outil favori reste la masse de 10 pounds,très pratique pour forcer les entrées des habitations.


l'entrainement et les connaissances vont de paires dans le service incendie pour l'utilisation des outils:cela ne cesse d'évoluer au fil des années.il faut savoir s'adapter.

la pratique sur le terrain:manoeuvre et la formation, demeurent 2 éléments essentiels mais sans l'expérience,elles me paraissent insuffisantes.




Les personnes que vous souhaitez saluer à travers cet article:

il ya beaucoup de personnes qui m'ont influencé durant ma carrière.

Francis Brannigan a joué un grand rôle dans mon évolution lorsque j'étais officier.ses conseils concernant les dangers cachés dans les constructions,sont toujours dans mon esprit,lorsque je décale pour feu de batiment ou habitation.je prends également des photos des nouvelles constructions réalisées dans notre ville pour notre FD.la citation de FBrannigan reste d'actualité:"la construction est ton ennemi,connais ton ennemi".

thanks ken,for you time and this interview.that is nice from you.

en espérant que cette interview vous aura plu.j'ai pris un réel plaisir à la réaliser.