National Firefighter Safety Stand Down

By Bill Johnson Published Jun 21, 2005 01:20 pm Updated Jan 31, 2009 02:23 pm

Calaveras County, CA — A “stand down” is being conducted tonight for firefighter safety across the US and Canada, but more specifically Calaveras County Fire Chief Robert Gill, is taking part by holding educational work sessions for his firefighters about injury prevention.

Since January of 2005 there have been more than 65 firefighters killed in the line of duty, which Chief Gill said is very alarming.

A “stand down” is a method used by the military to correct something that has been identified as a problem, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs are urging fire departments to stop all non-emergency activity on Tuesday, June 21st to focus entirely on firefighter safety.

Gill said that although no one in Calaveras County has been killed this year, they constantly have people breaking legs, spraining ankles and having knee operations.

During the Safety stand down, the fire departments will have thorough, honest conversations about firefighter health and safety and Gill hopes to do something to stop the deaths.