New NFPA Journal column looks at a mother's efforts to improve the fire hose

In his “First Responder” column in the new January/February issue of NFPA Journal, Ken Willette looks at how a deadly fire in Boston and a mother’s loss has been the driving force behind an effort now underway to improve fire hose technology. Cathy Crosby Bell’s son, Boston firefighter Michael Kennedy, died along with fellow firefighter Ed Walsh fighting an apartment fire on March 26, 2014, in the Back Bay section of Boston. Early investigation found that the fire hose that Kennedy and Walsh had brought into the basement to attack the fire had failed to the point where it would...