Cremation Procedures

By Lloyd SmithAll Around Nice Guy

Why hide Reason’s, or Affection’s eyes?

The grave pollutes, the furnace purifies

The Urn (1895)

Presented by

Lloyd Smith

I am a twin – Lloyd & Larry Smith

We are the only twins with TWIN license plates for WA & OR

I was a teacher for 25 years

Grade school & middle school

I owned my own travel business

I was a National Park Ranger

A park ranger at Crater Lake

I taught at Rogue Community College for 15 years

Now a funeral director/crematory manager – the quiet profession

I work for the Dahl McVicker GroupSteele Chapel at Longview Memorial ParkHubbard Funeral Home – Castle RockDowling Funeral Home – Cathlamet Dahl McVicker Funeral Home – KelsoFir Lawn Funeral Chapel – Toledo Woodland Funeral Home – Woodland Northwood Park – Ridgefield Groulx Family Mortuary – Rainier

Our group makes about 750 calls/yr

When we started in 2002 we had a cremation rate of 33% - now 80%

How many have never seen a cremation?How many have seen a cremation?How many have run a crematory?

Definition

• Cremation: The act of reducing human remains to ash by intense heat.

One of my favorite crematory cartoons

Cremation Costs on a $1400 case

Running the crematory inspired my photography

Night drop for a funeral home

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.

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

A bit on the history of cremation

1-Early world history2-USA history

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

You could signal to the world that you are still alive. Hence the term:

Dead Ringer

If you want to learn more on the history of cremation Purified by Fire is a very thorough read

An infamous use of the crematorium

When I was in Poland - Auschwitz

“Work sets you free”

Hitler’s crematorium - Auschwitz

Hitler’s ovens - Auschwitz

The body transports - Auschwitz

I want to encourage you to stay healthy. So many old funeral

directors have bad backs. My gym

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

1965 3.9% rate - 2011 42% rate

• 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.

Cremations:

No Room for Mistakes!!

Before the cremation – First Calls

When you take custody of the body

WA state law requires you to tag the body on-site

We have family or attendant sign I.D. form

The $199 manual

Complete the paperwork

1-get your assignment & paperwork from the staff

2-update the master board

3-fill in the master cremation log & assign cremation number

Master Funeral Home Log

4-fill out master crematory board at funeral home

5-Load out - Since our crematory is located 7 miles from funeral home

– final check before leaving

6 – Load the van at Dahls

7 - Headed to crematorium

Longview Memorial Park Crematorium

You can always tell where the crematory is by the tell-tale stack.

What you do not want to see from your stack – neighbors frown

Lindsay DeWeese Letteer did her senior project at the crematorium

Lindsay DeWeest Letteer – Was a student now a funeral director for our group

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”

At the crematorium: Fill out the master crematory board

Fill out SWCAA log

We have to send in an annual report

Fill out master crematory log

Master crematory log

1-Transit Permit Part of death certificate

2-In-house receipt that is placed in client’s file

3-Family permission form

4-Photo ID of client 5-Property & I.D form

6,7 & 8-Card, label and envelope

A consecutive company number tag is assigned to each case, placed in cremator. We have now reached #6250

I put each new stack of metal I.D. tags on a note spindle – adds another level of organization – no mistakes allowed!

Oregon metal tags – dropped “H” tag, tag now on paperwork, no difference

We used to place tag on front of cremator but busted by state inspector – has to look ‘burned” – now place inside

The envelope is placed on cremator

Nobody has a prettier 13 yr old machine than I have – I wax it regularly w/Mother’s

A very pretty…machine - 2006

Lindsay - 2014

1-Cremation burner Low fire/high fire2-After burner3-Hearth/air 4-Throat/air5-Pollution controlSet timer 180 minLoad feet first 1st case fire 30 minCool 20-30 min 2nd case fire 20 minEtc…

Safety First

1. Wear ear protection for noise2. Wear eye protectors for flying ash3. Wear heavy gloves to protect from burns4. Wear face mask for dust & pathogens5. Wear lab coat to protect clothes and arms6. Wear rubber gloves to inspect bodies 7. Wear rubber gloves to process cremains 8. Universal precautions

Casket comes out onto transport(Lindsay 2006)

Lindsay 2014 – 8 years later

What about pacemakers?

The left one turns into the one on the right – BOOOOOM!

A blown pacemaker

I often have to remove pacemakers at the crematorium – need to be licensed

Pacemakers a lump - on their left

Pacemaker removed

What about the gold in the teeth?

Wanted gold coin cremated. But gold melts at 1800, could not find

Family very upset, should of used tile on top

Fingerprints for jewelry

Check, double check, triple check

Check ID, paperwork and board

Recheck for any valuables!

Two burners – after burner & main burner

Roller and number goes into cremator

Feet first – unless very heavy

Ready to light the fire

A very nice cremation casket

How about a $3500 casket?

We cremate some nice caskets

A beautiful home-made casket

Move it up a notch – a $7,000 casket

I have been asked to cremate some odd things with the body…how about a

$1,000 Yamaha guitar.

What does a $1,000 guitar look like after it comes out of the cremator?

Many request objects placed in the cremation casket

Asked to add more odd stuff

Why we check pockets, yes, shotgun shells

Cartoon sent to me dozens of times

We get odd placement requests

Set the control buttons

Controls – Power-Pak II

When you start the fire…equal to:

Not much you can do about it

We have a few people that observe

We have to accommodate religious preferences – mother/son

A mother asked to watch her teenage son being cremated

The mother swept her son out of the cremator

Mom sorted & processed son

We do reposition the case

Inside the cremator

That is grease burning in the cracks

Sometimes we cremate them alive

But they do put up a fight

Use long brush to sweep out cremains

Sweep out cremains into container

A many $$$ heart pump-burned up

Knees – Hips – BackWe recycle

Baby pan

The processor

Cremains in processor’s cooling tray

Cremains poured into temp urn

Package the cremains – most do not purchase a nice urn

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.

At times we are handed odd urn requests

How about a 1960s valve cover for an urn

Try a birdhouse urn

More unusual urn requests

How about an ammo box urn

What about pets? We comingle

How do you remove and cremate a 700 lb person?

You call 10 fire fighters & an ambulance with a lift-to Portland

All cremains are stored in locked cabinet

One big problem – Thermocouple out

Thermocouples burn outKeep a couple extras around

The thermocouple measures temp & controls the machine

Never know what you are asked to do

The decedent

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

When do you rebuild? When floor falls into lower chamber (too late)

Replace roof

Material for rebuild

Tear off the roof skin – remove all

Jackhammer roof concrete

All removed

View from inside of the roof

Build roof form

In goes the roof form

Set roof supports

Pour roof one bucket at a time

Our Mathews crematory builder

Rebuilding walls – floor - throat

Roof looks good from last rebuild

Anybody want to apply to Matthews?

Through the floor

You can see lower baffle chamber

Taking off the walls

Laying the new walls

Going back to work

Taking out the 2nd wall

Laying the second wall

Building the floor forms

Pouring floor with new material

One bucket at a time

Hard work

Almost finished

A new bright and shiny cremator

Ready to accept new customers

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

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.

Two great books:Fires of Change – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

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.

Are you ready to:Cremate a baby?Cremate a toddler?Cremate a teenager?Cremate a friend or relative?

A historical photography twist: Post-mortem photos

More Post-mortem photos

Finish with some of my photos

Any Questions???

?

Contact information:Lloyd Smith360-749-2037

Lsmithtwin@comcast.netPowerPoint:

http://bit.ly/cremation2015