As we come out of the U.S. Labor Day weekend and head into the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, I want to take this minute to thank everyone who labors every day to keep our economy moving, whether on work days, weekends or even holidays. And to our first responders and those who serve our conuntry in the various ways to ensure our national security, who are always on duty to help us stay safe year round, we thank you for all you do.

With that in mind, I will occasionally find some small safety items that cross my desk, and they are often too short to make their own blog post, so I wil combine them into a Safety Briefs blog. This time around, we’re changing the name to Safety Snippets. and our snippets this time have to deal with first responders and the U.S. Defense Department – speaking of national security.

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user Joe P via a Creative Commons license]

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user Joe P via a Creative Commons license]

Hoarding and Hoses Don’t Mix

A cable network recently was airing some episodes of a “reality” TV program called Extreme Hoarders. It gave some insight into the distressing psychological world of hoarders – especially digging deeper into understanding why they do it and see some of them reform and at least start to get their lives and houses back from all the junk they collect and just can’t bring themselves to get rid of when they should.

One thing that was not covered in the show was the risk that hoarding has on others, especially firefighters. People who hoard will fill up whole rooms and whole houses with stuff – to the point that you almost can’t walk through a house, much less even utilize rooms of the house. Some hoarders go so far as rent out storage units to store even more of their stuff.

This comes up because a recent Ohio hoarder caused problems for firefighters because all the stuff in the house prevented the firefighters from doing their job effectively by blocking paths to the fire, and some of the materials burned and added more risk to the firefighters through added flame and thick smoke than what would be in a normal house fire.

A recent article in The Atlantic highlighted the safety risks of hoarding and the need to address the mental and emotional issues tied to hoarding as quickly as possible – if for no other reason than to maintain safe egress for those in the house and firefighters in case of a fire. Why this story became important was because of the Ohio incident, but also an informal survey of firefighters that revealed that they see some level of hording in one of about every four houses (25 percent) in which they arrive for a residential fire.

Hoarding blocks exit routes and creates a difficult path to a fire for firefighters, as many of the most efficient paths are impeded and cause tripping hazards, not to mention the increased fire and smoke intensity with many of the cardboard and paper materials that are included in a hoarder house.

The high percentage of house fires involving hoarders has increased awareness among firefighters themselves; many now, according to the article, participate in hoarding support groups and can be seen at some houses helping with clean up and transporting away many of these items.

Sgt. Marty McFly?

Everyone who saw  Back to the Future remember well the skateboard that turned into a hoverboard in the future, and word has gotten out that the hoverboard technology is very close to being reality.

While the hoverboard got Marty McFly out of a few jams in the BTTF trilogy, the U.S. Department of Defense is looking to take the technology to a whole new level – into military-grade utility.

Say hello to the hoverbike?

The DoD reported an alliance with Malloy Aeronautics in the United Kingdom on a contract to develop a hoverbike, one that could be used in surveillance operations, cargo delivery or search-and-rescue missions. It is believed that a full-scale model can be safer, easier to maneuver and be more cost-effective that what the U.S. Army is currently using for similar missions.

You can check out more information at this link.