11. I taught at Rogue Community
College for 15 years
12. Now a funeral director/crematory
manager – the quiet profession
13.
14.
15.
16. I work for the Dahl McVicker Group
Steele Chapel at Longview Memorial Park
Hubbard Funeral Home – Castle Rock
Dowling Funeral Home – Cathlamet
Dahl McVicker Funeral Home – Kelso
Fir Lawn Funeral Chapel – Toledo
Woodland Funeral Home – Woodland
Northwood Park – Ridgefield
Groulx Family Mortuary – Rainier
25. The best cremation poem ever
The Cremation of Sam McGee
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.
26. Doug Ferrin asked me to cover:
• Cremation steps from start to finish
• Tags, different states, operations
• How to avoid cremating the wrong body
• When to start the cremator and begin cremation
• Costs to run the crematory
• Cremator repairs & costs
• How much of the process is automated
• Type of gas used in the cremator
• Names of cremator components
• How different machines vary
• Problems and how to avoid them
• Anything else I want to cover
27. A bit on the history
of cremation
1-Early world history
2-USA history
28. • Scholars today quite
generally agree that
cremation probably began
in any real sense during the
early Stone Age – around
3000 B.C. – and most likely
in Europe and the Near
East.
29. • During the late Stone Age cremation
began to spread across northern Europe,
as evidenced by particularly informative
finds of decorative pottery urns in west
Russia among the Slavic peoples.
• Bronze age – 2500 to 1000 B.C –
cremation moved into the British Isles and
Spain & Portugal.
30. • By 27 B.C. to 395 A.D. – cremation was
widely practiced in the Roman Empire.
• Romans practiced cremation but was rare
with the early Christians. Under
Constantine’s Christianization earth burial
had completely replaced cremation except
for war or plague…for 1,500 years.
• Modern cremation began about 130 years
ago on both sides of the Atlantic with the
invention of the modern cremator.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35. • President George Washington asked his
aides to wait two days before burying him
to make sure he was really dead.
• One of the earliest Americans cremated
pushed for his cremation because he had
a fear of waking up underground in a
casket so he wanted to make sure he was
dead in the fire. Taphophobia.There are
rumors of finding scratch marks on the
inside of caskets once exhumed.
36. You could signal to the world that
you are still alive. Hence the term:
Dead Ringer
37.
38. If you want to learn
more on the history
of cremation
Purified by Fire is a
very thorough read
45. I want to encourage you to stay
healthy. So many old funeral
directors have bad backs. My gym
46. You will find your procedures will vary due to:
• State law
•The firm you work for
•The cremator make & model
• Personal preference to some
procedures
49. • In 2009 there were over
2,100 crematories and over
900,000 cremations…and
37% of deaths in the USA
were handled through
cremations. The national
cremation rate is expected
to hit 50% by 2018.
71. A few facts - comments
• We cremate 10-15 cases a week
• We have one person in charge of the
crematorium…me
• The cases do not twist and turn or sit up
• We started Oct 22, 2002
• We cremate 48 tons of humans each year
• We have moved from a 33% rate to 80%
• Always watching for errors
• We cremate over 500 cases a year
• Two WA State inspectors: “One of the best
run in state”
89. 1-Cremation burner
Low fire/high fire
2-After burner
3-Hearth/air
4-Throat/air
5-Pollution control
Set timer 180 min
Load feet first
1st case fire 30 min
Cool 20-30 min
2nd case fire 20 min
Etc…
90. Safety First
1. Wear ear protection for noise
2. Wear eye protectors for flying ash
3. Wear heavy gloves to protect from burns
4. Wear face mask for dust & pathogens
5. Wear lab coat to protect clothes and arms
6. Wear rubber gloves to inspect bodies
7. Wear rubber gloves to process cremains
8. Universal precautions
145. Every once in a while we
sell a good urn. I use a
large funnel to pour the
cremains into the urn. I
pour in front of the
processor fan to catch the
dust. Always try to place a
bag in the urn but once in
a while we cannot get one
into the urn.
160. When do you rebuild?
• Every 1200-1500 cases we have to rebuild:
• Floor
• Roof
• Walls
• Throat
• Possibly all of them
• Cost: $5,000-$10,000 for rebuilds
• We have to add $10 to every case for rebuild
• Company inspections $1200
161. When do you rebuild? When floor
falls into lower chamber (too late)
190. How do you cremate Ebola?
• Full protective gear!
• Body wrapped in a plastic shroud
• Body placed in two sealed body bags
• Decontaminate outside of bag before move
• Cremation will kill any Ebola virus so the
cremains may be returned to family.
• 1,200 -1,800 degrees kills Ebola virus
• Call CANA 312-251-9929
191. One of the questions I am
continually asked:
• With all the stuff you see and experience,
do you have bad dreams? “I never thought
about it until you asked”.
• I have only had one dream…of a body
coming to life before cremation…on the
table. My only thought was to grab my
camera and get a photo of her. She would
not lie back down.
193. Another great read for you guys in
the death and dying business.
Roach discusses decay,
burial and its alternatives,
giving one's body to science
for anatomical studies
(where one might serve as a
practice for face lifting),
organ donation and brain
death, plastination,
preservation, embalming or
becoming a post-mortem
crash-test dummy.
194. Are you ready to:
Cremate a baby?
Cremate a toddler?
Cremate a teenager?
Cremate a friend or relative?
