Guest Opinion: The truth behind the NFPA standard and FRFD

Tommy Texeira

Posted Apr. 22, 2014

It’s 3 a.m. The lights are flashing but the sirens are off, it’s too early in the morning for sirens. The fire engine is screaming down the street as the smell of smoke begins to fill the nostrils of the approaching firefighters. They can feel the sudden rush of adrenaline, this isn’t a false alarm. We have a structure fire. The lieutenant tightens up the zipper on his turnout coat and checks his air as the engine approaches.

They arrive on scene and the three men race out of the truck. They can see the thick black smoke pulsing out of the second floor window as flames lick the side of the neighboring house. Somebody better hit that neighbor’s house with water or it’s gonna catch, too.

They have only just arrived but the second floor is now already fully involved; fire moves fast. They might lose the whole building if they don’t get some lines in there and fight that fire. The driver rushes to the fire truck’s pump panel to start running water. The hydrant is a block away and they only have a limited amount of water onboard. They need another crew to hook up to that hydrant before they run out. The two men mask up as the driver points upwards; they hear screams for help coming from a third floor window.

They arrived on scene within four minutes and met the NFPA standard response time. Now what? They’re alone and the next engine is 6 minutes away.

Mayor Will Flanagan has been pushing the fact that after layoffs, Fall River Fire Department will still meet NFPA standard response times. But that’s not the whole story. Sure, we’ll meet the response time for the first responding engine, but everyone’s in agreement (the mayor included) that the response time for the first arriving engine is the only part of the standard that will be met.

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