"Serious failures have occurred rarely in Poland. Unfortunately, in the nearest future, an increase in the number of failures can be expected because of changing weather conditions and legal problems, faced by the electricity distribution companies, limiting the modernization of existing and construction of new power lines," says Wojciech Kozubiński, Eng, coordinator of the Technological Area of the Polish Power Transmission and Distribution Association. Interview by Agnieszka Wójcik.
Weather Interventions
In the last months, unpredictable weather again has taken its toll on people in Poland and caused a lot of additional work for the rescue services. By Paweł Fr±tczak.
Fire with Extra Power
Lightnings and thunders have frightened a man since the dawn of history. When Benjamin Franklin discovered the electrical nature of a thunderbolt and invented lightning conductor in 1752, the lightnings were partially harnessed. Nevertheless, their mechanisms have not been fully researched until now. By Tomasz Sawicki.
Road Bombs
Every once in a while, the mass media report on serious accidents of tankers carrying dangerous substances. They pose a significant threat to humans and environment. Especially dangerous are tankers carrying liquefied petroleum gases, petrol or toxic substances which can spread through the environment. By Jerzy Ranecki.
ABC of Accidents
According to the statistics of the Polish Police Headquarters, about 5,500 people die every year in road accidents. The number of the injured is much higher and amounts to 60,000-63,000. Both among the fatalities and the seriously injured, young people under 24 years old constitute a significant share. These data are horrifying and meaningful. By Krzysztof Łangowski.
Saturday Night Fever
The ordinary life of 1977’s Saturday Night Fever character played by John Travolta flourishes during Saturday parties. In 1994’s Pulp Fiction with the same actor, it is definitely the black humour and death to be in the lead. More in the article by Sławomir Rutkowski.
Ride Finished in River
Dozens of thousands road accidents and several hundred collisions occur every year in Poland. Among those incidents, there are also accidents happening between a road and a river, followed by the vehicle falling into water. By Kazimierz Lesisz.
Rescue in Practice
By the end of September, there had been as many as 650 incidents in the Lower Silesia province, where firefighters were the first to administer medical aid to the casualties. They performed also resuscitation in over 26 cases. By Lech Lewandowski.
Service of Humility
Organized mine rescue have had a century-long tradition in Poland. Its origins go back to 1906 and a disaster in the Courrieres mine in France, which caused the death of about 1,100 miners. This accident was an impulse to create the Upper-Silesia Main Rescue Station in Bytom in 1907 (Central Mine Rescue Station since 1959). By Elżbieta Przyłuska.
Reset and Forget
"A rescuer is like wine - the older, the better: more experienced, calmer. This is a risky profession; but, in some sense, everyone takes a risk in his life. Certainly, one has to like it and do his best," says Mirosław Kucharski, professional mine rescuer from the District Rescue Station in Bytom in a talk with Elżbieta Przyłuska.
Salty Pearl
The Wieliczka Salt Mine is the only mining facility in the world which has been continuously operating since the Middle Ages. Its original mine workings - galleries, inclined drifts, exploitation chambers, lakes, shafts and passes - situated on nine levels reaching 327 metres down, illustrate all the stages of the mining technology development in separate historical eras. By Agnieszka Wójcik.
Control Lists
Conducting fire safety inspections, I have noticed that both entrepreneurs and supervisory bodies need to find some time, and usually they have just little time, to prepare themselves for taking actions guaranteeing fire safety at the level required by law. By Arkadiusz Mocek.
Multi-Family House
Today we go back to the ZL IV category covering a threat to humans in residential buildings (as it was in the article about a single-family house). This time we will try to take a look at a building satisfying the housing needs of many families. Of course, because the initial concept assumes applying protective facilities sparingly, but following the rules, we can avoid a situation in which our "hive" houses a whole district town. It is also possible to avoid putting a whole commune town in one building. Still, I think that it is possible to accommodate a whole village in one building, especially when we decide to make certain concessions from the rule of avoiding protections in a building at the cost of its size, that is when we "protect something after all". By Paweł Rochala.
Parameter-Specifying Difficulties
There were about 80 accidents with BLEVE explosion in the years 1940 to 2005. Over 1,000 people were killed in those accidents, about 10,000 were injured and the material losses amounted to trillions of dollars (these data does not include accidents with gas cylinders, e.g. in house fires). The most tragic accident happened in an LPG terminal in San Juan Ixhuatepec near Mexico City on 19 November 1984. This disaster, resulting from a BLEVE explosion, caused death of 650 people and injured 6,400 people. By Tomasz Węsierski.
Safe Industry
Apart from requirements concerning fire safety and safety and hygiene at work, the industrial plants implement also provisions of the new directives imposed by the EU law. When it comes to safety in industry, the main directives include Seveso II, IPPC and the Atex directive. By Ariadna Koniuch.
New Evacuation Rules
Until recently a designer was able to design almost a whole building with regard to the fire safety guided only by legal provisions and without any detailed engineering analyses. Basically, it was enough to read appropriate article and adopt the indices specified there. However, today the situation is gradually changing as the engineering decisions are applied to a broader scope of situations. This concerns also one of the most important aspects of fire safety, mainly providing conditions for safe evacuation. More in the article by Paweł Janik.
On Dutch Training Ground
There were several reasons why the Polish State Fire Service took part in the FLOODEX 2009 exercises organized by the Netherlands within the frameworks of the EU community mechanism. The participation in the exercises enabled us to check in practice the operational and logistical capabilities of the Polish rescue unit and its cooperation with rescue groups from other countries, to exchange experience with other rescuers and to learn civil protection standards binding in the EU Member States. By Tomasz Gartowski and Marcin Rodak.
Chance to Improve Qualifications
Having joined the EU, Poland has gained access to financial aid in the form of different aid funds and programmes. They include Exchange of Experts project coordinated by German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and financed by the means of the EU Civil Protection Financial Instrument. By Tomasz Zwęgliński.
Firefighting Hell
The profession of a firefighter is definitely associated with exposing one’s body to a high temperature. Despite the fact that, apart from fire extinguishing, firefighters perform a lot of other tasks connected with rescue understood in a wide sense, the threats resulting from the influence of thermal (hot) factors are most dangerous in this profession, claims Jan Czardybon.
Like a Phoenix from the Ashes
The students of the 13th full-time course of the aspirant school took oath in the Central School of the SFS in Częstochowa. The celebration commemorated also the 15th anniversary of the school’s activity within the structures of the State Fire Service. By Bogdan Romanowski.
Protecting Natural Environment
Training workshops "Sources of threats for natural environment in South-Eastern Poland. How to prevent them and to neutralize their consequences," addressed to the firefighters from the Lublin province and the Podkarpackie province took place in Cisna in October. Since it was necessary to train as many persons as possible, the workshop was organized in two series. More in the article by Ryszard Starko.
Fear Doubles All
During meetings with firefighters I often hear radical opinions: "A firefighter cannot feel fear; if he is afraid, it means that he cannot do this job" or "Only the stupid do not feel fear". By Joanna Pluczyńska.
Equal to the Task
At least with regard to sport, the current year has been definitely better for Poles than the previous ones. In 2009 our volleyball players, both men and women, and handball players won medals in championship events. Organized in Poland, the European championships in basketball (men) and volleyball (women), of course, apart from a very high sporting level and great emotions of the fans, showed something more. By Piotr Kalinowski.
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