This article is also found at Daily Fire Fix

Probably Not.

Daily Fire Fix ran across this video with the interesting title and had to see what was going on.  It’s actually a compilation of videos of the Grant’s Pass Rural Fire Department in Josephine County Oregon which is in southwest OR along I-5 and the California border. 

Grant’s Pass Rural Fire Department is one of three private fire departments competing for fire protection “contracts” for properties in the county. See if you share the myriad of emotions that others have when you see these “firefighters” in action at a residential structure fire.

One you are past the “Oh my God’s” and the “What the &%^#’s”, I’d like to challenge you to watch it a second time.  Only this time, I want you to ask yourself, “if I’m watching this fire department floundering on video, how many other fire departments in the United States operate in similar ways, with no command structure, old equipment, no PPE, no money, and no clue?” 

My guess is that there are quite a few.

Now, let’s take this a step further.

I’d like to pose a challenge to you, the firefighter:  Put yourself into each of the following roles and think about what actions you would take based solely upon the information in the videos and what I have provided you in this article.

1. You have just been appointed as fire chief of the GPVF and you have just seen this video.
2. You are the fire chief of the Rural/Metro Fire Department, a neighboring combination department and you have just seen this video..
3. You are a resident considering with which department to contract your fire protection services: GPVFD at a very, very low cost (45 cents per thousand) , GPFR at a cost five times that of GPVFD, or elect to opt out entirely from any fire contract and you have just seen this video.

If you’d like to, leave a brief comment to this article, or call in and leave a voicemail with your input.  I’ll report back later here on Daily Fire Fix with your ideas.

It's easy to identify the problems.  Got any solutions?  888-887-8718

Stay stoked!

-J

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“Warning: This video is graphic and depicts a man being rescued from his burning home.”

That’s the disclaimer shown at the beginning of this video just posted in YouTube by NewsWorking out of Pennsylvania.

On NewsWorking’s website, an accompanying article tells of firefighters arriving to a woman telling them her husband went back into their burning home to rescue their dog.

The video shows various emergency responders in action including police officers and Whitehall’s firefighters removing the victim from the front door and the eventual arrival of EMS.

Comments?

Stay stoked!

-J

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“One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six who jumped in the rear, we need massive EMS here.”

Most of you reading this have already probably heard the sad news on the passing of FDNY Brother Joey DiBernardo, one of six forced to jump 4 stories rather than be burnt alive back in January of 2005 in what has come to be known as “Black Sunday.” 

Of the six, Lieutenant John G. Bellew and Lieutenant Curtis Meyran succumbed to their injuries that day.  Firefighters Jeffrey Cool, Eugene Stolowski, and Brendan Cawley survived their jumps along with Lieutenant DiBernardo with massive physical injuries as well as haunting emotional trauma which remains to this day.

This morning an email from www.FirefighterCloseCalls.com (Home of the Secret List) is making its way to thousands of Brothers and Sisters, imploring all of us to take a few short moments to fully understand what has happened and who we have just lost.  Along with Chief Goldfeder and the others at Firefighter Close Calls, I want to make sure everyone gets this important message as we prepare to lay our Brother to rest tomorrow. 

Please ensure these videos are seen by all your companies, either at roll call, or shortly thereafter.  If you are on a volunteer department, please forward this information to all your contacts immediately.

For further enlightenment, utilize the NIOSH report and encourage discussion among your crews.  As usual, Command Safety lays out all the information you need to make the training useable, understandable, and accessible.

Here are the links:

Message from Firefighter Close Calls

Video about Brother Joey DiBernardo

Video about the Black Sunday Fire.

NIOSH Report

Command Safety’s Comprehensive Look at the Incident

God Bless you, Joey.  May he keep you in His tender care.

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Today’s Chicago Tribune includes a report by Trib reporter William Lee who draws our attention to the NIOSH report summary released earlier this month on the August 9^th death of Chicago firefighter/paramedic Christopher Wheatley.

You may recall that Chris fell 53 feet to his death while using a fire escape ladder in ascending to the roof of a four-story West Loop building.  He was wearing full turnout gear and carrying a 63- pound hand pump.

In a nutshell, the report summary says that, although Chris was directed to ascend to the roof via an aerial ladder, he instead opted to use the building's fire escape system. 

Second-guessing Chris’ actions and decisions in this case will not help us to understand why he chose this route to the roof.  We’ll never know, so let’s put that aside for a moment.

Rather, I found myself contemplating this thought:  Given the same circumstances, what would I have done? 

What would you have done?

Is it important to follow each fireground order to the letter, or should we have the latitude to act upon our instincts and experience to get the job done?

Take a look at the NIOSH summary report, it’s not that long and well worth your time.  Then ask yourself just how probable it would be that you may have done the same thing.  Next, discuss it with your crew.  How do they feel about this:

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To have a wife turn to you and look at you and say, “What the hell happened here?  Where the hell was his hood?  Who was in charge?  How would you guys let this happen to him?  Why him? What do I say to them?”

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Link to the live show

Join in on Tuesday May 17th at 9pm ET for another special and exciting program continuing our series discussion on the Emerging Tactical Renaissance in the Fire Service.

Taking it to the Streets^TM, radio program hosted by highly regarded national instructor, author, lecturer and fire officer Christopher Naum, continues to provide provocative insights and dynamic discussions with leading national fire service leaders and guests on important issues affecting the American Fire Service with applications internationally within the tradition and brotherhood of the Fire Service.

This edition of Taking it to the Streets^TM the program is all about being COMBAT READY and THE FIRE SERVICE WARRIOR

Joining the program will be special guest, Christopher Brennan the author of The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness, published by PennWell Books and the author of the notable blogsite, The Fire Service Warrior.

Christopher Brennan is a firefighter in the suburbs outside Chicago; a field instructor for the Illinois Fire Service Institute; and a consultant for local, state, and federal agencies.

He joined the fire service in 1997 as a paid-on-call member of the Calumet Park (IL) Fire Department.

During his career, Chris has worked for the Calumet Park Fire Department, part-time for the Darien-Woodridge (IL) Fire Protection District, and as a career firefighter and engineer with the Harvey (IL) Fire Department.Chris is an active instructor teaching for the Illinois Fire Service Institute, has taught terrorism response training overseas, and has been an instructor for FDIC.

He is a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Society of Fire Service Instructors, and the Illinois Society of Fire Service Instructors.

He is also the author of numerous articles for fire service magazines, including Fire Engineering.

Join in on what is certainly going to be an insightful look and discussion of the path of the fire service warrior.

Discussions on what is meant by embracing the philosophy of the fire service warrior, and striving for the ready position—the synthesis of physical and mental readiness that allows for suggested optimum fireground performance— and its potential application towards reducing firefighter injuries and fatalities

We’ll further explore how as Christopher Brennan states; “Today’s firefighter must be a warrior who will unflinchingly put his very life in harm’s way to accomplish a mission, but who is also fully informed about the path being chosen”.

LINKS

• Surviving on the Fireground: Chris Brennan Talks Situational Awareness at FDIC 2011, HERE
• A Culture of Excellence – Christopher Brennan , HERE
• The Fire Service Warrior Blog, HERE

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There’s a great video going around this week featuring John Salka at Andy Fredericks Training Days.  Someone in the audience captured a snippet of what Chief Salka was saying and shared it with the rest of us who couldn’t be there.

Essentially, Salka was putting forth his opinion on how a four-man engine crew should be deployed when first on the scene of a house fire.  In the instance he describes, he makes the point that the company officer should not remain outside when establishing command as that decision leaves the interior attack team of two firefighters ‘unsupervised’.

One brave firefighter in the audience is not afraid to disagree and stand up for this decision, citing ‘command and control’ and ‘directing incoming units’ as the reason for sending in the two blue shirts alone.

Click this link to see the video- definitely worth your time:

John Salka at Andy Fredericks Training Days 2011

 Quick- which one is right?

The company officer should always go in to supervise the attack. 

The company officer should trust his crew and assume command outside.

Scenario aside, I began thinking yet again how we have been inundated with right/wrong – left/right – black/white.  We are now a “polarized culture”, forced to decide between two opposite options.  What ever happened to the middle ground?

Attention to any of you who only think in black and white:  Gray exists.

I’m amazed that, a full quarter of a century after this gray-haired company officer first received his training, there are still fire departments across the country who don’t understand the concept of “interior command.”

Interior command involves maintain control of the situation from the inside while simultaneously mounting an initial attack.  Yes, this can be done!

In my department, the first arriving fire officer (or firefighter if no officer is there) establishes command on all incidents.  When establishing command, the company officer needs to decide if the incident is better served by establishing exterior command, interior command, or passing command to the next arriving officer.  Each incident will be different, taking into account the fire stage, smoke conditions, need for immediate rescue/extinguishment inside, training and capabilities of his/her crew, ETA of the next company, etc.  In effect, what will be happening in the next five minutes?

If your department establishes command only from the outside, then I would urge you to consider the option of “interior command.”  It may not seem black or white, but that’s just fine…  Gray is OK.  All it takes is a certain number of operational brain cells combined with ensuring that you communicate to everyone- those on scene, those still coming, and dispatch as well- what it is that you have and what it is that you are doing. 

This spring and summer, I’ll be working with Chief Christopher Naum and his Firefighter Netcast program, “Taking It to the Streets,” to explore, among other things, the controversial topic of “too safe” vs. “too aggressive.”  I am looking forward to a passionate discussion from both sides of the debate.  I urge you to participate as well! 

As the series progresses, we may see some middle ground (“gray” if you will) emerge that may hold some viable options for you and your agency/department.  Sign up for free notifications and RSS feeds of all the programming at http://firefighternetcast.com.

Thanks to the audience member who had the foresight to capture Chief Salka’s “point” being made, as well as to the firefighter who, among his peers, risked his neck to dare to disagree- in effect furthering the discussion we so desperately need.  That is really brave, and refreshing!

Be aggressive, be smart, and stay stoked!

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not again.....

NIOSH Report 2010-10 is out, and it ain’t pretty.

Familiar? Yes.

Pretty?  Pretty hard to swallow…again.

The report once again shines the tired spotlight upon familiar factors that continue to injure and kill firefighters despite our commitment to “never forget.”

But we are forgetting.

First, a short review of the findings made by NIOSH on this interior attack on a well-involved residence with the report of people trapped inside.

On March 30, 2010 The Homewood (IL) Fire Department arrived and found heavy fire conditions at the rear of the house and moderate smoke conditions elsewhere inside.  A search crew immediately entered to rescue a civilian trapped in the rear of the house, and a handline crew quickly advanced a 2 ½ inch line into the front door.

conditions as crews went interior (photo by Warren Skalski)

From the report, a photo of the A-B corner showing conditions prior to the hostile fire event in which thick, black smoke can be scene billowing out the front door, A-side.   Although difficult to see in this photo, the A-side picture windows are covered in soot.  What can we determine is going on inside as two are searching and two are operating a hoseline?

Here’s a shot of smoke blowing out horizontally from the B-side window after just being broken out by the firefighter there.  Smoke is now pumping out with more speed from the front door.  What is going on “inside the box” where the hoseline and search crews are operating?  Now are we at a point in which we’re just about to kill firefighters?

At this moment, interior crews observed thick black rolling (moving) smoke banked down to knee level.  As ventilation was taking place, the search crew saw flames rolling over through the smoke near the ceiling.

Then it happened.

That which we now all see from the comfort of our laptops and computer monitors- that which we have seen coming for quite some time in this story- moreover that for which we have been trained constantly- a hostile fire event (in this case a flashover) occurs.

It was inevitable here, and it was deadly here.

photo by Warren Skalski

According to the report, the search crew yelled to the hose crew to “get out” as they exited the building, then returned inside to rescue an injured hoseline firefighter.  Once she was brought out, they returned in to find the victim firefighter trapped in his ruptured 2 ½” line with is SCBA facepiece removed.  He was quickly removed and worked on the scene by paramedics before being transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

What can you do, reader, to keep this from happening the next time you find yourself on this type of incident, all too common for firefighters throughout the nation?

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

Let’s see what NIOSH identified as factors which contributed to the death of one firefighter and the injury of another:

• Well involved fire with entrapped civilian upon arrival
• Incomplete 360 degree situational size-up
• Inadequate risk-versus-gain analysis
• Ineffective fire control tactics
• Failure to recognize, understand, and react to deteriorating conditions
• Uncoordinated ventilation and its effect on fire behavior
• Removal of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) facepiece
• Inadequate command, control, and accountability
• Insufficient staffing.

NIOSH RECOMMENDATIONS

From their investigation, NIOSH offers recommendations which can be extremely useful for any fire department member, officer, training officer, and command staff to get across to their organization before they respond to a similar incident.  Here are their recommendations:

Recommendation #1: Fire departments should ensure that a complete 360 degree situational size-up is conducted on dwelling fires and others where it is physically possible and ensure that a risk versus-gain analysis and a survivability profile for trapped occupants is conducted prior to committing to interior fire fighting operations.

photo by John Ratko

According to this report, a 360 was not done prior to the interior attack, and here’s what they would have seen in this photo shot from the C-side.

Recommendation #2: Fire departments should ensure that interior fire suppression crews attack the fire effectively to include appropriate fire flow for the given fire load and structure, use of fire streams, appropriate hose and nozzle selection, and adequate personnel to operate the hoseline.

The report looks at the handline selection of the interior crew, pointing out the relative maneuverability that an 1 ¾” line has over the deuce and a half used here.

“Fire fighters and officers need to understand that while a 2½-inch hoseline provides a greater flow, fire fighters need to be able to move the line quickly and efficiently interiorly, especially when performing a search and experiencing deteriorating fire conditions.”

Recommendation #3: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters maintain crew integrity when operating on the fireground, especially when performing interior fire suppression activities.

The report describes a point where the hoseline team became separated.  The 2010 IAFC ROE of Structural Firefighting states, “Go in together, stay together, come out together.”

Recommendation #4: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters and officers have a sound understanding of fire behavior and the ability to recognize indicators of fire development and the potential for extreme fire behavior.

From the report:  “The search and rescue crew (operating without the protection of a hoseline) were able to make a quick determination that the conditions within the house were imminent to flashover. They made an attempt to alert the victim and injured fire fighter/paramedic, but were too late.”

“If conditions are right for a flashover, there are only seconds to make a decision. Fire fighters will be met with a sudden increase in heat and rollover within the ceiling level. The injured fire fighter/paramedic was unaware that the conditions she was operating in deteriorated quickly. She remembers thick, black smoke pushing down to the floor while in the structure and then “the room and everything in it caught fire.”

“Prior to the flashover, windows on the B-side were vented and thick, black and heavily pressurized smoke billowed from these windows. The IC, and individuals working on the exterior, need to recognize this as a potential for extreme fire behavior and evacuate interior crews. Obtaining proper training and hands-on experience through the use of a flashover simulator may assist interior fire fighters in making sound decisions on when to evacuate a structure fire.”

Recommendation #5: Fire departments should ensure that incident commanders and fire fighters understand the influence of ventilation on fire behavior and effectively coordinate ventilation with suppression techniques to release smoke and heat.

Again, from the report:   “During this incident, uncoordinated ventilation occurred while the hoseline and search and rescue crews were inside the house. The victim and other fire fighters, within the small house, were between the fire and the ventilation source. One fire fighter accounts heavy, turbulent, black smoke pushing from a window on the B-side after it was broken. Shortly after, the house sustained an apparent ventilation-induced flashover.”

Recommendation #6: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters use their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and are trained in SCBA emergency procedures.

The victim firefighter was found with his facepiece removed.  No conclusion has been drawn as to whether he removed it or whether it became dislodged from an exterior force.  But the report emphasizes that firefighters be trained on those SCBA emergency procedures which have been shown to offer the best possible chance for survival.

Recommendation #7: Fire departments should ensure that adequate staffing is available to respond to emergency incidents.

See if you’ve heard this type of staffing report before:

“During this incident, the victim’s department responded with three personnel on the engine and two personnel on the ambulance, but the Still assignment also consisted of an engine, two ladder trucks, and a squad, with four fire personnel on each. It was routine to have an ambulance respond with an engine on a first due fire assignment. Due to short staffing, the ambulance personnel were tasked with fire suppression activities, thus taking them out-of-service as a medical unit.”

“Also, due to short staffing, the lieutenant/acting officer (IC) was required to ride and operate as the officer of E534. This removed him from his command response vehicle which would have allowed him to command at a tactical level versus having to potentially perform tasks.”

[Reader: Insert your emotional comment here]

Recommendation #8: Fire departments should ensure that staff for emergency medical services is available at all times during fireground operations.

During this incident, the victim and the injured fire fighter/paramedic responded in an ambulance.  Upon their arrival to the scene, the IC immediately tasked them with interior operations due to staffing issues. The IC did not request an additional ambulance to respond to the scene for medical care until after the victim was down within the house. Additional resources (e.g., apparatus and personnel) arrived minutes after the ambulance’s arrival.

Recommendation #9: Fire departments and dispatch centers should ensure they are capable of communicating with each other without having to monitor multiple channels/frequencies on more than one radio.

During this incident, the IC had to monitor more than one radio and even had to go to the cab of his engine to accomplish this task. Having to monitor multiple radios and potentially take your eyes off the scene for a moment could be extremely detrimental to the management of the incident.

Recommendation #10: Fire departments should ensure that the incident commander, or designee, maintains close accountability for all personnel operating on the fireground.

During this incident, the accountability system was never set in place and a PAR was not conducted following the Mayday.

Recommendation #11: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters wear a full array of turnout clothing and personal protective equipment appropriate for the assigned task while participating in fire suppression.

During this incident, the victim was discovered without a hood over his head or rolled down on his neck. NIOSH investigators could not determine whether this equipment was properly donned prior to the incident.

Recommendation #12: Fire departments should ensure that a separate incident safety officer, independent from the incident commander, is appointed at each structure fire.

Although there is no evidence that this recommendation, or certain others made above would have prevented this fatality, it is being provided as a reminder of a good safety practice.

Recommendation #13: Fire departments should ensure that all fire fighters are equipped with a means to communicate with fireground personnel before entering a structure fire.

During this incident, the victim did have a radio, but it was positioned in the back pocket of his station pants. Thus, when he donned his bunker pants, his radio became inaccessible during the incident.

Recommendation #14: The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) should consider developing more comprehensive training requirements for fire behavior to be required in NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications and NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications.

Here, here!  Let’s not forget the basics: Building Construction and Fire Behavior!  Check this out and compare it to your training records:

“According to documented training reviewed by NIOSH investigators, the victim, injured fire fighter/paramedic, and IC had a combined 24 hours of fire behavior training out of 5,654 total combined training hours. Additional fire behavior training to include such areas as theory, chemistry, physics, smoke reading, current research, and the cause and effects of tactics during fire suppression operations may improve fire fighter safety.”

24 HOURS BETWEEN THE THREE OF THEM!

Again, I ask you, “How can the death of brother firefighter Brian Carey teach us that his life was not lost in vain?”

Again, I tell you: “Learn from what happened from that day.  Then perform a long hard look at the way your organization operates, and utilize what you’ve learned here to make the changes necessary to ensure you and your brothers head home after the fire.

I can tell you that the news reports here in Chicago are all approaching this story from the standpoint that the fire department was “ill-prepared” in this case.  Imagine how this sucks for this fire department, and each of the members that have to re-live the events of that night all over again- this time while being publicly undressed in the press.

Brian Carey

Then empathize with them and ask yourself how you would feel- as a proud firefighter- if this had been your department?

Don’t allow yourself the superficial response of pointing your finger at this department.  That won’t help now.  Instead, turn the finger back toward yourself and create from this tragic story a positive learning experience and opportunity to improve your situation.

START TODAY!

Stay stoked!

-J

To donate to the Brian Carey Memorial Fund, visit www.rideforboo.org. The site also offers registration for those interested in taking part in the ride to Colorado. Donations also can be made at any First Midwest Bank branch or can be mailed to: Brian Carey Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1171, Homewood, IL 60430. For more information about any of the events, contact Mike Bell at (708) 653-1394

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Ellen Kicklighter

Beat That!

Firefighters from the Macon- Bibb Fire Department competed in the Georgia State Firefighters Competition Events this past month in Savannah Georgia. This event was part of the Ga. Association of Firefighters/Georgia Fire Chief’s Association Joint Conference that is held in August each year.

43-year old firefighter Ellen Kicklighter won First Place in the “Individual Rapid Dress” becoming the first female firefighter ever to win this Georgia State Firefighters Joint Conference event.

It took Kicklighter just 38 seconds to gear up and pack up, after which she put on that huge smile.  Congratulations, Ellen!

“What if” Questions Are Sooo 90’s.

With his article September Training Prompt, Cut the blue wire – No! the red wire!, my good friend Bill Carey over at Backstep Firefighter addresses the point that this isn’t your father’s fire service anymore.

Building construction changes result in changes in fire behavior.

New automotive technology change the way we approach what used to be a “typical extrication.”

Smells of home-cooked meals wafting through our neighborhoods have been replaced- literally- by the small of meth cooking in multiple homes in the same block.

While the fire service continues its role as a front line responder, the fact of the matter is front lines continue to change.  Questions that used to begin with “What do we do if…” now start quite a bit differently- “What will we do when…”

Take the lesson Bill offers us and apply it to your own agency.  Begin the process of preparing for the new challenges that we face by answering the nagging basic question that keeps popping up:  “What will we do when….”

Free Firefighter Podcasts- Load Up Your iPod!

Art Goodrich interviews Rob Schnepp and Steve Pasquale. Producers Rhett Flietz and John Mitchell are also pictured.

Speaking of not your father’s fire service, how about “not your daddy’s fire service radio podcasts!”  I invite you to check out the newest of Firefighter Netcast’s programming from the floor at Fire Rescue International in Chicago last month.

Special guest Steven Pasquale (Sean Garrity) from TV’s Rescue Me was interviewed by Art Goodrich, and the Netcast team created their first video netcast of that interview regarding the roll-out of cyano kits.

Additionally, Fire-Rescue magazine Editor-in-Chief Tim Sendelbach hosted about a dozen high-quality interviews of nationally-recognized fire service leaders, fire chiefs, and keynote speakers on a wide range of timely topics important to firefighters, company officers, and fire chiefs across the nation.

Take a minute to check out the line-up over at Firefighter Netcast where you can download all of the past episodes.  They are also available on iTunes.

Finally, please pause for a moment and pray for the swift recovery of a Bowie (Prince George’s County (MD) volunteer firefighter Patrick Ivey.  Today, he will be undergoing the first of manu surgeries to his head for third degree burns he suffered when the helmet he had strapped on became dislodged by falling debris during an interior attack.  He is in good spirits, let’s keep the vibe going…

Also, you may have heard about Forest Ranger Tech Don Lamb of the Kentucky Division of Forestry.  While fighting a wildland fire yesterday, he was struck by a 10-foot burning log that had rolled off of a bluff down onto him.  He was airlifted to the hospital unconscious from the blunt trauma and with blistering burns. Please keep your thoughts with him, his family, and friends as well.

.

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As you probably already know, an unprecedented meeting of the American fire service met in Tampa back in 2004.  The Life Safety Task Force generated a list of 16 Life Safety Initiatives. I’m sure most of us had seen or heard them.  But, if you are truly dedicated to saving your lives and the lives of those on your department and your crew, you will have come pretty damn close to memorizing them.  Yes, they are that important.

I’d like to touch on one of those today. It is the fourth initiative, and it reads as follows:  “All firefighters must be empowered to stop unsafe practices.”

In preparation of our latest program over at Firefighter NetCast, I was exposed to the arguments both for and against the use of positive-pressure attack.  Chief John Kriska, a proponent of PPA, was the featured guest for the program which can be found at our site http://FirefighterNetCast.com or over at iTunes under firefighter podcasts.  I ran across what may well be the best video out there to demonstrate what happens when a PPV is set in a doorway and started before adequate thought is given to its potential effects.

I have accumulated a fair amount of training whether it has been in the classroom, at a controlled practical evolution, or on the fireground itself.   I know you have too, because I’ve seen you there as well, learning new ways to perform tasks, honing skills you’ve already learned, and perhaps even sharing your knowledge with others.

Help me then if you will, to figure out why we continue to see examples of near-fatal consequences on the videos regularly making the rounds on the internet?  Surely you know of a few of these head-shaking videos, and you may have seen this one as well.

This article is not meant to argue whether or not PPA/PPV should be used on your fireground.  Rather, as you watch the video, count how many “trained firefighters” it takes to kill an interior crew.  Take a peek:

As this video clearly shows, there are several on the fireground who seem to have forgotten some of the basic stuff we learned in our very first fire training classes: fire behavior.  As a “trained firefighter”, can you read the smoke?  Does it tell you what is happening inside this “box”?  Has the fire vented?  Will it?  What’s going to happen when it does vent?  Where do you want to be when this happens?  Would you have done anything differently before crawling inside?

Of course!

Sitting here in front of your computer monitor, not many of you would miss the signs of an impending hostile fire event, would you?  I wonder if the guys in this video would see the same signs if they were watching the video rather than performing the dance toward death.  If they were “trained” they probably would have seen the problems.  Why then, did no one speak up in a real situation?

I’ve seen it locally.  Firefighters with decades of experience seem to forget some of the basics.  Perhaps they take a shortcut, emboldened by the lack of disaster as their shortcut worked so many times before.  These are trained professional firefighters, many of them friends I have known for years.  They know better.  Why, then do we do stupid things on the fireground?

Maybe it’s because we have gotten away with it before.

Maybe it’s because no one stopped us before.

Maybe it’s because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

But, maybe our luck will run out one day, as it does about every 80 hours here in America.

As a firefighter, do you feel you have the ability, indeed the responsibility to say “NO” to your company officer?  As a company officer, do you feel you have the ability, indeed the responsibility, to say “NO” to your chief officer?

In this video, who should have said, “NO”?  Everyone.  Even the camera operator, if he/she were a “trained firefighter” should have the ability, indeed the responsibility, to keep our brothers and sisters from killing themselves, purely because we don’t feel it is our place to say “NO.”

Departmental policies, procedures, and guidelines must allow for “All firefighters must be empowered to stop unsafe practices.”

But moreover, each member must realize that they are not only able -but as trained firefighters- also responsible to stop unsafe practices.  We need to establish ownership of this responsibility.

If you or your department hasn’t made this paradigm shift, the time is yesterday.  Take your own steps now to enact each of the 16 Life Safety Initiatives.  Let each of us “trained professional firefighters” all work together to get the job done safely so we all go home at the end of the day.

Just say no.

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