Situational Awareness
October 15, 2024
More and more, I see folks walking, skating, biking and driving, starring at their cell phones, with ear buds in both ears. This is just asking for trouble! They have no idea what’s going on around them and they can’t hear if someone is trying to warn them about something or if someone is creeping up on them. This completely negates the process of situational awareness.
Situational awareness is the ability to perceive, understand, and effectively respond to one’s situation. It involves comprehending a given circumstance, gathering relevant information, analyzing it, and making informed decisions to successfully address any potential risks, hazards, or events that might occur. This definitely is not occurring in the instances I described above!
A perfect example: last weekend, while at an airport, a cart with heavy beer kegs was heading towards a person with their face in their phone and earbuds plugged in both ears. Multiple people, including myself, tried to warn this person of the danger but they were completely disconnected from reality. I finally pulled the person out of the cart’s path and they actually got mad because I touched them, until another bystander explained the situation.
What if this was a car at an intersection? A commuter train downtown? What about a mugger on the trail? Most of these dangerous situations can be avoided by staying alert and actively practicing situational awareness.
The world is dangerous enough…we should all be as connected with our surroundings as possible to prevent ourselves injury or, worse, assault and battery!
Be Safe!
Smoke Detectors Save Lives!
September 12, 2022
Everyone has heard this slogan but the second part of this sentence is even more important: “Smoke detectors must be installed and working properly to do their job!”
Every time we do inspections or make calls in personal residences, we find a large number of smoke detectors that have been removed or have had the batteries pulled from them. When asked why, the excuses range from “it beeped for no reason” or “it went off when I was cooking.” Yup, that would become annoying but, instead of just randomly disabling this life saving device, why not call the people who deal with them every day…the fire department!
If you live in a private residence ever have an issue with an existing smoke detector, need assistance replacing a battery or need help installing a pre-purchased smoke detector, contact JVFD for help. If you rent a house or apartment, contact your landlord or property maintenance.
Give us a call at 512-258-1038 or email us at jvfd@jvfd.org and we will set up a day and time to come assist you with the situation.
Smoke detectors are an amazing, life saving device…let us help you make sure they will work when they are needed.
Check the Air in your Spare!
July 11, 2019
Three times in the last three weeks, I have stopped to help someone change a flat tire. Twice, I actually changed the tire. The other time, I just used the flashy lights on the truck to protect the person who was actually doing the work. Either way, I was there to help! The issue that caught my attention was that, every time a tire was changed, the spare was flat. This was not immediately apparent when we were putting the tire on the car but, when the jack was lowered and the tire had to hold the car’s weight, things drastically changed.
This made me think about my truck’s spare tire……..I bought my truck in 2002 and I have never thought of checking the air in my spare. So, I did. And, just like the others mentioned above, I had a whopping 15 psi in the spare.
Luckily, I learned about this problem via the mistakes made by others, so I thought I’d pass this little lesson on to all of you.
Before you’re on the side of a busy highway, in the dark, in the rain, make sure that your vehicle’s spare tire is ready to roll!
Battery Safety
February 15, 2017
This month, in a police and fire department insurance magazine, there was a great article on battery safety, particularly battery storage and disposal. The article was very informative and discussed some valid safety issues concerning the ability of your basic household batteries to start a fire. After reading it, I went home and found I was one of the worst offenders at battery storage so I thought it would be good to bring it to everyone’s attention.
Think about it…what’s the number one place most people store loose batteries? The junk drawer! You know…the drawer in the kitchen that you throw everything that doesn’t have a home. This is where the problems begin. Batteries that are improperly stored can short against any piece of metal they bump up to (coins, keys, paper clips, pen clips, other batteries, etc.) and overheat, igniting combustible items (note paper, coupons, lotto tickets, etc.) causing a fire. Once the items in the drawer start burning, it can quickly catch the cabinets, then the kitchen and then turn into a family’s worse nightmare: a house fire.
The most likely battery to cause an issue is the 9-volt. Due to the terminals being on the same end of the battery and very close together, 9-volt batteries can easily be shorted, causing them to overheat and start a fire. Other battery types can have issues as well when multiple batteries are stored together so treat them just like the 9-volt, safely.
Battery companies recommend that you keep batteries in the container you purchased them in until you need them, to prevent battery shorting issues. When batteries are loose, it is recommended that you store them standing up in a non-metallic container. 9-volt batteries should be stored with a piece of electrical tape covering the terminals.
The same safety concerns arise during disposal. All of the issues discussed above can occur when you haphazardly dispose of batteries. With the right conditions, just tossing them in the trash can burn your house down just as quickly as improperly storing them. Follow the same battery safety rules when storing and disposing of batteries.