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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
http://bit.ly/cremation2015II