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Video: Worst Fire Department in the United States?

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

 

 

Posted in Command & Leadership, Firefighting Operations, Fires, NetCast, News, Training, Training & Development, Videos

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Posted by on January 19, 2012 • 22 comments

You’ve spilled something there on your shirt, Chief.

A conversation heard at a Midwestern fire department between Bobby, the Training Officer and his Chief:

 

Fire Chief:  Go away, Bobby, I’m eating.

T.O. Bobby:  Hey, Your Eminence, I have some good news and I have some good news.

Fire Chief:  You know me, Bobby.  Give me the bad news first.

T.O. Bobby:  There is no bad news, Chief.

Fire Chief:  There’s never no bad news, Bobby.  This is 2010, remember?

T.O. Bobby:  Well, Chief, it’s actually 20-   Doesn’t matter.  Anyway, it’s true.  No bad news, today!

Fire Chief:  OK, then give me the second good news thing first.

T.O. Bobby:  Ahh, still trying to trip me up, eh?  OK, well I found a way to get some kick-ass training for a few of our guys and want to allow YOU the opportunity to offer it to them.

Fire Chief:  That’s what I’m not paying you anything extra for, Bobby.

T.O. Bobby:  What would you say if I found a place, a NEARBY place, which offered a fire training and leadership conference?

Fire Chief:  You mean Indiana?  You know we can’t afford that anymore, Bobby.  Those dinner receipts from Shula’s put us over budget again last year.  T.O. Bobby:  No, not there.  Closer.  And we don’t have to stay in the Super Duper 6 Motel on the freeway on the other side of town because we didn’t lock in our room reservations back in 2006.

Fire Chief:  Hey, it was only 17.5 miles away and the parking downtown was under $30 a day, what are you complaining about?

T.O. Bobby:  Who’s complaining?  When we needed to get to the convention center, I fought to sit in the middle of the front seat of our Command Vehicle with your CAD shoved up my a—

Fire Chief:  Should have called shotgun there and back all included no take-backs.  Did you find a place that we wouldn’t have to drive to from the hotel?

T.O. Bobby:  Yep.  You’ve spilled something there on your shirt, Chief.

Fire Chief:  And we certainly don’t want to wait for such an event to happen one per year.  Fire training has been treated more like an anniversary than a continuous opportunity.  We need it all the time!

T.O. Bobby:  That’s another good news item.  This event is only a few weeks away, and the next a couple of weeks after that.  They’re scheduling a bunch of regional training seminars all next year customized to the area in which they’re presented!

Fire Chief:  Bet the event doesn’t have nationally-known speakers discussing current issues to the fire serice.

T.O. Bobby:  How much?

Fire Chief:  How much what?

T.O. Bobby:  Howmuchyawannabet?

Fire Chief:  Name one that I would know.

T.O. Bobby:  Mitchell.

Fire Chief:  Mitchell who?  Never heard of him.

T.O. Bobby:  John Mitchell?

Fire Chief:  Wasn’t that Nixon’s Attorney General?  He’s teaching fire stuff now?

T.O. Bobby:  No, no, no.  Look, forget Mitchell- that was a joke.  Let me try someone else.  Ever hear of Chief Brunacini?

Fire Chief:  Duh.  OK, who else?

T.O. Bobby:  Let’s see, they’ve got Dennis Rubin, Chris Naum, Rick Gasaway, Paul Hasenmeier, Tiger Something-or-other, and hey, Tim Sendelbach is keynoting!

Fire Chief:  And Nixon’s AG?  Isn’t he dead?

T.O. Bobby:  Yeah, Chief.  He’s dead. 

Fire Chief:  But you know our staff needs hands-on work.  Just last night, two guys from Red Shift busted two axes forcing entry into that house, remember?

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  The unlocked glass sliding door kicked their asses.  That’s another plus.  The crack team from Brotherhood Instructors will be heading up several opportunities for hands-on training.  They’ve got classes on R.I.T., forcible entry, engine and truck company ops, and even that new “Man in the Machine” class we’ve been hearing about.

Fire Chief:  That’s hot.

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  You made a little joke there.

Fire Chief:  What do you mean?

T.O. Bobby:  H-O-T.  Hands- on- tra… Never mind.

Fire Chief:  Well it all sounds great, Bobby-boy, but you know we can’t afford to send guys to conferences like these.  They’re too expensive, and most of the money just goes to some magazine publisher.  Not my idea of “sharing the knowledge.”

T.O. Bobby:  Chief, I know that.  But all this training comes at an affordable price.  I think you’d be surprised.

Fire Chief:  Surprised?  What have I told you about surprises?  I’m the friggin’ Chief- I HATE surprises.  Now go surprise me with cutting that 10 percent from your training budget.

T.O. Bobby:  That’s just it, Your Heaviness.  If we can sign up our guys by Friday, we can save 10 percent with Early Bird Registration.

Fire Chief:  You know, Bobby, you make it very difficult for me to pass on this opportunity.  To take advantage of the savings, perhaps we should use the Googles to sign up.  Can we sign up on the Googles?

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  Just go to http://goforwardtraining.com/gateway/ and you can have all the information of the Gateway Midwest Program in St. Charles outside of St. Louis in October.

Fire Chief:  Bobby.  I have an idea. 

T.O. Bobby:  What’s that, Your Highness?

Fire Chief:  Let’s check out this new customized regional training I’ve been hearing about.  I think it’s near St. Louis or something.

T.O. Bobby:  Ahh, sure, Chief.  Great idea!

Fire Chief:  Make sure those Red Shift yahoos get signed up for the forcible entry program.  I don’t care if they’re free that weekend or not.

T.O. Bobby:  Doesn’t matter, sire.  There’s another regional conference set up in the Philly area just a couple of weeks later, and much more to come.

Fire Chief:  Your diatribe has become monotonous and tedious, as usual.  I grow weary of your presence.  Be gone. 

T.O. Bobby:  Done!

Fire Chief:  Oh, and Bobby?  Don’t forget to keep making me look good.

T.O. Bobby:  Of course, Your Majesty….

Posted in Chicagoland, News, Training, Training & Development

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Posted by on September 28, 2011 • No comments

Classroom or kitchen table? Where have you learned the most?

 

 

 

 

If you had to choose between these two locations, where would you say most of your fire service learning took place?

Isn't it interesting that most of how we learn is best accomplished by simply interacting with those nearby?

With that in mind, I’m looking for pictures of your firehouse kitchen table being “used” by firefighters, specifically the times when we sit around it solving all of the world’s problems in an informal setting.

Send them to me at john@firedaily.com  We’ll get as many of them posted as we can.

Posted in In Da House, Tradition, Training, Training & Development

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Posted by on June 30, 2011 • 1 comment

NIOSH summary report on CFD firefighter/paramedic Christopher Wheatley’s LODD prompts an interesting question

 

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 9th 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:

 

Posted in Chicagoland, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, LODD, Never Forget, News, Training, training-fire-rescue-topics

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Posted by on June 29, 2011 • 1 comment

“Taking Up” debuts online Wednesday!

"You can do everything right in this job and still get killed" – Paddy Brown, Captain Ladder 3 – lost 09/11/01

Wednesday night, the Firefighter Netcast family grows once again as John and Rhett welcome the newest member of the Firefighter Netcast family, Lieutenant David LeBlanc, from East Harwich, MA.

His new program is called “Taking Up”- reflections on the right, the wrong, and the why.  In each program, Dave will facilitate commentary about today’s Fire Service, training and techniques. We’ll be focusing on keeping our members safe while adhering to the principals of our Profession. 

Dave is not a stranger to Firefighter Netcast, having been a contributor and guest several times over the last year.  Indeed, he has made a great impression on us all. He is also a contributor to Backstep Firefighter over at Fire EMS Blogs as well as many other sites..

Through his writings and appearances on the show, one thing becomes glaringly clear:  Dave LeBlanc is passionate about the fire service.  He is never afraid to voice his opinion, yet can always be counted on to respect those who differ with him.

This is exactly the type of discussion Firefighter Netcast is looking to create- that banter back and forth around the station’s kitchen table, or as we jaw around the back step of the apparatus.

Dave LeBlanc began in the Fire Service in 1986.  He was a Call Firefighter for the Dennis Fire Department and a Volunteer for both the West Haven Fire Department and the Allingtown Fire Department in West Haven, Connecticut.  He has a Bachelors degree in Arson Investigation from the University of New Haven.  

In 1993 he started working full time for Harwich Fire Department in Massachusetts as a Fire Alarm Operator.  He became a Firefighter in 2000.  He is currently a Lieutenant assigned to Harwich Station 2 in East Harwich, MA.  Now, he brings his experience, his ideas, and his flavor to Firefighter Netcast.

So, join us live on Wednesday night, April 6 at 9pm ET for the premiere of “Taking Up”, or visit FirefighterNetcast.com to download this and every other show for listening at your leisure.

Firefighter Netcast- this ain’t your Daddy’s fire service radio podcast…..

Posted in Firefighter Safety & Health, NetCast, News, Tradition, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics

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Posted by on April 5, 2011 • No comments

Training Opportunity Video- Impress Upon Your Crews the Importance of Early Ladder Placement

I stumbled across this video of a firefighter who found himself in a situation requiring an immediate egress from a second floor window.  Unfortunately, he needed a ladder and “a little help here!”.  Then, almost simultaneously, he appeared at a different window.  Wait- no that’s a SECOND firefighter “needing a little help here.”
Whenever you have interior crews operating, it is imperative to quickly throw ladders to every potential point of egress.  Firefighters operating on the outside have the responsibility to their brothers and sisters inside to provide them with a viable escape option should it be needed.  We don’t have time to play ‘catch-up.’
Ladders are not decorations on your engines and trucks.  Take a look at your ‘burning box.’  Where will your crews most likely need a ladder?  Put one there before you need it.
In the following video should a second ladder have been placed as well?  A third?
Also note what comes out of his lungs as he coughs at 3:50.  What does he need right now?  Does he have it?  Why not?
In this video, we can’t be sure how long the interior operations had been going on.  However, by the time the need for a ladder was finally realized, they had to run and get one, then figure out which of the windows to place their single ladder.
Once again, we have an excellent opportunity to learn and improve based on previous mistakes.  Rather than criticize their actions, revise your own.
Ladder early, ladder often.  Stay stoked!
-J

Posted in Firefighting Operations, Training, training-fire-rescue-topics, Videos

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Posted by on May 10, 2010 • No comments