"Fire Faceoff" is used by the Brecksville, Ohio Fire Dept for training and possibly many more that I am not aware of.

I was invited to the N. Olmsted Fire Dept by one of the firemen who purchased
several of the books for the department. I have been told they liked the book and felt it was very useful to understand what potential "Fire Victims" go through when trapped in a fire.

The Westshore Dispatch Center in Westlake, Ohio made the book required reading. They dispatched 9 different cities' fire departments to this fire. The department supervisor wanted the dispatchers to read and visualize a little bit more about what actually happens at the personal level in a very large and rapidly expanding fire.

Both the Rocky River Public Library and the Avon Lake Library carry this book.
From what I understand, many people have read this book. I have mailed "Fire Faceoff" to people in at least 25 different states.

Here are two recent emails I received.

----- Original Message -----
From: Debbi Hamelin
To: dnoss@FireFaceoff.com
Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2009 5:10 PM
Subject: A request

Dear Donald,

I am the supervisor for the Josephine County Sheriff's Office in Grants Pass, Oregon. My career as a 911/Fire/EMS/Law Enforcement dispatcher began over 20 years. I have never had the opportunity to read anything like what your Web Site has described. I would love to receive a copy of your book. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Debbi Hamelin
Communications Supervisor
Josephine County Sheriff's Office
601 NW 5th St
Grants Pass, OR 97526

----- Original Message -----
From: Timmie Campbell
To: dnoss@nls.net
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 2:57 PM
Subject: Fire Faceoff

Mr Noss,
I am a supervisor for the Lubbock Fire Department Communications Center and I think your book would be excellent reading for our dispatchers and firefighters. Can you tell me where I can purchase it? .......Thank you,

Timmie Campbell
Lubbock Fire Department
1515 E. Ursuline St.
Lubbock, Texas 79403
(806) 775-3447
TCampbell@mylubbock.us

----- Original Message -----
From: Misty Brown
To: dnoss@firefaceoff.com
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 12:52 AM
Subject: Requesting "Fire Faceoff"

Mr. Noss,
I am requesting a copy of Fire Faceoff be emailed to me. I am a dispatcher in a smaller police department in Central Illinois. We dispatch for police, fire and EMS. My partner and I are currently putting together a training manual and I would like your book to be mandatory reading for all new hires. Thank you for sharing your story. The public service agencies can learn alot from it.

TC Misty Brown
Canton Police Department, Canton IL
MBrown@cantoncityhall.org

Donald,

I received your CD today and have just completed reading your book. You did a great job of taking me as a reader through the emotions that come from being a victim of a fire.

I assign training to the dispatchers on my shift each month and your book is going to be our March training. I will encourage each of them to also send you a response after reading the book. There are 15 dispatchers at the department I work for and I will pass the book on to each of them also once my shift has read it. My husband will receive a copy and I know he will have all of the firefighters at his station read it. I will encourage him to send you a response also.

I was a volunteer firefighter prior to becoming a dispatcher, and my husband is a Captain with a fire department. The questions you ask in your book are all valid ones that anyone in your position as a tenant of the building, and your friends family, have reason to ask. I can tell you from my experience as a dispatcher, a former firefighter/EMT, and as a wife of a firefighter/Paramedic, that most if not all of your questions are ones that the fire department has probably asked of themselves. The agency I was with and the one my husband is with now always debrief after an incident and look at it as what did we learn and what can we do next time. I have never been to a debriefing where everything was perfect and there was nothing that needed improved on, especially since no two situations are ever identical. There is always something to learn and improve on. As a dispatcher I learn something new everyday. Each call teaches me something for the next one.

Your book has provided me with an increased victims perspective to apply to each call I take. Thank you for teaching me!

I have no doubt that the firefighters, police officers, and dispatchers who all worked the incident will never forget what happened that day either, especially because there were fatalities. We are usually more critical of ourselves than anyone else of what we could have done differently. Unfortunately due to the nature of our jobs most times we are not allowed to speak out about it, and often that is how we are able to respond on the next call, by allowing ourselves to stay detached because we do tend to look at each call as "what if it was my family".

In reference to "Reverse 911" many California agencies use it and I know from their past wildfires that it has saved many lives. Many who will tell you they received the call minutes before their home was consumed by flames. Unfortunately "Reverse 911" is an expense that many cities can not afford as it is my understanding the fee is continuous yearly, not just a one time deal. I agree that the cost is nothing compared to a life. With the economic downturn we are all experiencing we are fighting just to retain our "manpower" at this time. There are many cities that are laying off firefighters, police officers, and dispatchers and closing fire stations to help maintain their budgets.

I thank you for referencing that the closest fire station may already be out on a call as this is something I deal with continually as a dispatcher. The misunderstanding by the caller that they are always "in quarters" at the fire station just down the street. When dealing with a crisis it is hard for the callers to comprehend that someone else may be having a crisis at the same time.

Thank you again for writing your book. I have admiration and respect for you for sharing your emotional story with the world.

Sincerely,

JoLynn McCabe
Sr. Emergency Services Dispatcher
City of Bullhead City 911 Bureau
Bullhead City, AZ

The Giant
"Baby Flame"

Picture taken and named by: Patrolman Ken Thompson

Picture taken in courtyard (back of the building) above our condominium on the third floor between the two trees.

We were sound asleep on the 3rd floor until Linda heard someone call to us from the building's courtyard. “There's a fire in your building, come to your window...What unit are you in?” Linda told him, "302." He instantly radioed for help. "We have 2 people in 302 and we need a ladder! .These flames are moving this way." .We ran to the living room window where we looked directly into the tower of fifty-foot flames you see on the cover of this book. .The crackling sound of this inferno echoed around the courtyard as it grew hotter and closer to us.. We were trapped! . Where were the firemen?

Linda started screaming, "Please Help Us" over and over.. No one answered. .The policeman with the radio kept calling for help. "They're coming, they're coming," he said. But no one came. "Stay in your window," he kept repeating. .Where was everyone?

The fire started in that third floor living room at 1:00 AM.

Entire North Wing in Flames



Some of our Bedroom.

We could feel the intense heat from these flames and we did not know where else in the building flames could be burning. .We were facing the courtyard and could not see what was happening in the front of the building. .We did not know if the one policeman below us was the only person in the city besides us who knew there was a fire.

We heard no building alarms or fire sirens. The weather was perfect. .June 6, 2006.


.I described in detail what it was like being trapped with nowhere to go and how our only lifeline was the policeman talking to us on the ground. .This building had 79 units. Over 125 people lived in the building.

I wrote about the the state fire investigator who determined that contact was made with Christine during fire suppression and she was told to go to her window for rescue. She was subsequently found deceased. .I included details of the meeting that took place several days after the fire that was attended by about 250 people where I asked the fire chief questions and received no answers as to why no firemen ever checked the back of the building for stranded residents and why there were no fire sirens or bullhorns used to wake those sleeping.

We did not hear the loud fire alarms in the building and either did some other people who lived and escaped near the fire's point of origin on the third floor.

There were no sprinklers in this building prior to this second fire, but the fire department subsequently mandated that sprinklers go into the attic and "Each" individual unit in the three story Heritage Building.

The building had so-called "firewalls" and fire standpipes.. The fire department was located less than one mile from the building and 8 other fire departments were called to fight the fire.. I transcribed the police communications during the critical time of 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM.

Here is just a portion of the Rocky River Police communications transmitted during the fire. The tape had some general communication between the dispatcher and a few partol cars and then the following:

NORTH WING OF BUILDING

FRONT OF HERITAGE BUILDING
ABOUT 2:15 AM



BACK OF BUILDING - COURTYARD



THE MORNING AFTER THE FIRE.

......I received this email almost 20 months after the fire. It was written by a retired NUN. She lived on our floor, around the corner from us and next to Christine. I did not know where she had been living after the fire because many people just scattered......

This is the "Word-for-Word" email.

----- Original Message -----
From: <kthomasxxx@xxxxx.net>
To: <dnoss@nls.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 1:13 AM
Subject: Thanks for your book

Hi, Don--
I just learned about your book from the article in Westlife Newspaper. I borrowed it from Rocky River Library today and read it tonight. I want to thank you for writing it and for sharing your experience. I remember your questions at the condo meeting--but I think, being in a numb state of mind, I didn't realize all that you went through. I am so very sorry--I know you and your wife Linda will never forget that frightening experience. I also want to thank you for sharing a beautiful tribute to Christine and for the information you shared about the contact that had been made with her.

I lived in 311--next door to Christine. When I was standing in line at her wake, her sister said to the person in front of me, "Why didn't anyone knock on her door?" I almost cried at that point--I have always thought that my first instinct would be to reach out to others in crisis--I didn't knock on anyone's door--I really thought I was the last one in the building. I heard an alarm through my open window and I thought it was a burgler alarm on the building across the parking lot. I stood at the window for a few minutes with my phone debating about calling the police. Then I heard something in the hall--a bang. I opened by door to see if anyone knew what the noise was. It was pitch black with smoke. I had not heard any alarms from the hallway. I was so shocked--I put my shoes on, grabbed my purse, took a deep breath and felt my way along the wall to the stairwell.

I got to the courtyard and ran into a young man--no one else. I asked him where people were--he said "in front" so I went through the first floor to the front. Fire Engines were out there and the flames were very high--I started looking for people I knew (I didn't know too many--just lived there for nine months). I saw Mrs. Heyer. Her hands and hair were burned--she said they hadn't brought her husband down--she was so upset. She said, "one minute he was emptying an ashtray and the next minute the wall was on fire". That's when I realized what had happened and how close the fire was to my apartment.

Well, you know the rest--my apartment looked a lot like the pictures of yours. I was grateful to find a few treasured items, and have since learned how much one can live without. Don--have you and Linda moved back in? I was a renter, so I didn't go through the pain of rebuilding and refurnishing. I moved to Fairview Park--to the 2nd floor of a building with a balcony. I think about the fire every day and how it changed so many lives in a matter of minutes. I thank God for the blessings of kindness I experienced from so many caring people and try to pass on the compassion to people in need. I learned a lot from your book and thank you for taking time to put it together. Is there a way I can purchase a copy? Please let me know. You and Linda will be in my prayers.
Sr. Kathy Thomas, csj

----- Original Message -----
From: EDITOR911@aol.com
To: dnoss@FireFaceoff.com
Cc: EDITOR911@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:50 AM
Subject: Fire Faceoff

Hi Donald,

I've read Fire Faceoff and found it extremely compelling. It's also a moving remembrance of your friend Christine which poses some challenging questions that are worth asking. I'd definitely like to review this book in one of our next issues and raise some of the questions you brought up to our general audience.

I have a couple of questions for you that would help me in formulating my review:

1) What was your initial impetus in writing this book? Why did you write it?

2) What did you want/hope to accomplish in writing the book? What changes/attention/responses did you want the book to evoke, and from whom?

3) What kind of response has the book received from the city, the local fire dept, and the fire service at large (aside from Fire Engineering magazine, which you cite in the book already).

Thanks for putting down your experiences in such detail. I think it would be extremely valuable for public safety personnel on both sides of the radio to read your book and gather a better understanding of what someone is going through during and after such a situation.

Very best regards,

Randall Larson
Editor, 9-1-1 Magazine
P O Box 23069
San Jose CA 95153-3069
408-227-8027
large attachment files cc: editor911magz@comcast.net

http://www.9-1-1magazine.com/