2014.....Make It Better Than 2013

With the new year upon us, new opportunities will be presented to us and each of us has the potential to make 2014 better than 2013.  Folks, myself included, often make New Year’s Resolutions that sound great but never actually come to fruition. Having been guilty of this, I understand how and why this happens. Fortunately I have also been able to follow through on a couple New Year’s Resolutions to include eating healthier/exercising and utilizing my SCBA waist straps.  The only reason I was able to follow through on these items is because I truly committed to following through on them. I didn’t do it because someone else wanted me to do it. I did it because I realized the importance of these things and because I wanted to.  There are lots of things that happen in the fire service that we do not have direct control over. However, there are also plenty of things in the fire service that we have complete control over.  Unfortunately, the fire service often falls short in our quest for excellence due to matters that we have complete control over.  If we commit, and I mean truly commit, to overcoming some of these matters in 2014, than the fire service will be moving in a forward direction. It won’t be easy and it won’t always be fun, but it will always be for the betterment of the fire service.

1.     Eat Healthier and Exercise

We all know that firemen love good food and, in many instances, this good food is not very healthy.  We also know that heart attacks are the leading cause of firefighter deaths.  With that said, it would help if we paid better attention to the food we eat and it’s effects on our health. I’m not advocating eating grass! I’m merely stating that we should be cognizant of the fact that some food can be detrimental to our health, especially when consumed regularly. I love a good, greasy burger as much as anyone. However, I will not eat burgers 4 or 5 times a week! Learn how to read food labels. Learn how your body uses or stores the various foods you eat and develop a diet that is heart-healthy, doesn’t put you at risk for diabetes, maintains a healthy body-weight, and supports your lifestyle.  In addition to eating healthy, regular exercise activity is extremely beneficial to firemen.  Firemen need strength AND endurance to maximize their effectiveness. While any exercise is better than no exercise, functional fitness is extremely beneficial to firemen. Functional fitness simply means doing exercises that are related to the tasks we perform. If we develop the muscles and perform the motions that are used to do our job, we will likely better perform our job.  Simply put, while not a 100% guarantee, being healthy will likely allow you to perform more efficiently on the fireground.

2.     Wear Seatbelts

I’ll be the first person to admit that I am not the “safety police”.  If you want to classify me as something, I’d be flattered with the title of the “do your job police”. I’d like to think that’s what I am, as that’s where my focus is.  With that said, there isn’t a legitimate excuse for not wearing your seatbelt on the rig. When I joined the fire service I never wore my seatbelt, mostly because none of my idols were wearing theirs.  As I’ve become older I’ve realized that getting tossed out of a rig because you weren’t wearing your seatbelt is a “chump” way to go out. I don’t mean any disrespect to those who have been killed due to the lack of a seatbelt. I simply mean that in comparison with all of the legitimate risks I take, not wearing a seatbelt is just plain silly. I’m not okay with my kids growing up without Daddy because he failed to wear a seatbelt on the rig. Not wearing your seatbelt doesn’t make you any more aggressive or better of a fireman than the next guy. It just makes you a little more ignorant than the next guy.

3.     Wear and Use SCBA

Again, I’ll revert to my above comment about being the “safety police”. I am not that guy. We know that firemen are much more likely to develop cancer than the general population.  One of, if not the, greatest fire service innovations is the SCBA.  SCBA allows us to operate in otherwise untenable areas while protecting our respiratory system.  When operating in an IDLH we need to be wearing our face piece and breathing air, plain and simple. Again, like the seatbelts, there is no good reason not to be wearing and using your SCBA in an IDLH area. This includes auto fires and on a roof directly over an area involved in fire. If you’re going to put the SCBA on your back in these instances, you might as well breathe the free air in the cylinder. Otherwise don’t exert the extra energy wearing it on your back.

4.     Train Everyday

It’s pretty self-explanatory. When you’re at the firehouse, some part of your day needs to be spent drilling. This develops skills and thinking that will be used on the street, It’s not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when”. Second to runs, training is the best way to become good at what we do.  I might take it a little to the extreme but as long as you do some kind of training everyday, then you’re doing the right thing.

5.     Use Size-Up To Make Tactical Decisions

In today’s fire service too many folks are using assumptions or blanket statements to drive their tactical decisions. We need to stop this and use the information gathered during our size-up to make decisions. We need to transform information gathered into intelligence and make decisions. This is the only way to maximize our effectiveness. We need to breed a generation of thinking, performing firefighters. Using our size-up to guide our actions will aid in this.

6.     Do Your Job and Be Prepared

Put your gear on. Position your apparatus. Lay supply lines. Pull attack lines. Place ladders.  Regardless of what’s showing or what you may assume. If you’re dispatched to an incident, it is that incident and more until proven otherwise by us.  If it turns out to be a good intent or less than what it was dispatched as, it was good practice.  If it turns out to be what it was dispatched as or more, than you will be prepared.  If you adopt this mindset, you won’t find yourself playing catch-up, you’ll be able to easily work through problems, and you’ll be better at your job.

7.     **For The Executive Fire Service Leaders: Realize That Organizations Are All-Hazards, Individuals Are Not!!!

The disturbing trend of ineffectiveness and mediocrity that stems from the “everyone does everything” mindset has got to stop! Organizations are comprised of many people with varying skill sets. All of these skill sets come together to form the organization. That said, everyone has a place in the organization. That’s what makes the all-hazards organization effective. One person doesn’t do it all!  Let people succeed and place their focus in the areas where they will succeed, don’t force or mislead them into areas where they’re mediocre, ineffective, or unsuccessful. Those who are good, and I mean truly good, at everything are the exception rather than the rule.  It’s time for the fire service to regain the standard of excellence that once was the expectation of all those that entered into our great calling, instead of rolling the dice on the law of probability with mediocrity.

As I said above, it won’t always be easy but we need to commit to making the fire service better in 2014.  We need to take ownership and control over the things we can.  It only takes one person to inspire and influence others to do the right thing.  Will it be you or are you going to be the one who is okay with remaining stagnant, just “getting by”, or doing things that take away focus from our operational service delivery?  I know which group of folks I want on the rig with me or responding to my emergency.  Have a Happy New Year and keep the fire service focused and moving in the right direction.

When Science and The Fireground Come Together.....

As we are all aware, there is a ton of useful information being disseminated throughout the fire service courtesy of science and technology. As we are also aware, there are lots of opinions related to this information. My brief opinion on much of this information is: when information gathered from labs and firegrounds matches up, there is probably validity to the information. With that said, don’t simply take all information that’s disseminated as gospel. Get out and formulate your own opinions based on your observations and experiences.  Of course that means you actually have to be observing AND processing what your observations are telling you. For many, that may be easier said than done.  Anyways, I want to share a story about a recent fire where information gathered from science and actual fireground experience facilitated efficient and effective fireground operations in the modern fire environment……without a hoseline. I know, I know. It can’t be done without taking unnecessary risks, right? I’d beg to differ.

It was a typical June afternoon in Virginia, hot and humid with thunderstorms passing through. When these storms pass through, call volume soars and it’s a good time to be at the firehouse. I was in the Chief’s vehicle and we had the Engine Company staffed at our firehouse. The Engine Company was dispatched to the southern end of our county for a reported water rescue and I stayed behind due to the storm conditions that were currently affecting our first-due.  A few minutes after the Engine Company went out the door, I decided to go “on the air” as it was likely additional incidents would be dispatched.  Shortly thereafter, a career medic unit came across the dispatch channel and advised they were on the scene of a house fire in our first due.  Before Communications had finished transmitting the box alarm, the Operations Deputy Chief and I were on the scene as well.  The Operations Deputy Chief established the command and told me to take the medic unit inside and start a search. Of course, this broke my heart! Right. Anyways, I took a lap and observed a 1.5 story detached SFD with smoke issuing from the top floor and knee wall areas. I forced the front door and got it on my second attempt at gapping the door with the adze end of the bar. I closed the door and donned my face piece with the members of the medic unit.  I told them we were going to perform a search and to close the front door behind us when we entered the first floor. I had them quickly search the basement and first floor, which proved to be clear of fire and occupants. The stairs leading to the top floor had an outward opening door at the base and as soon as I opened it, visibility was gone. I immediately turned around and told the medic unit that we were going up and to close this door behind them too. Additionally, I told them not to open any windows or walls when we get upstairs.  At the top of the stairs I encountered moderate heat and smoke was to the floor. I, once again, turned around and reinforced that we were not opening any walls or windows. We were simply doing a search and would not start any of the other tasks until an Engine Company arrived. One of the medic unit members was a month out of Recruit School and this was his first fire. I opted to have him to wait at the top of the stairs while the other member went right and I went left.  As this was occurring, our Engine Company and the second-due Engine Company were arriving simultaneously and stretched lines through the front door. I informed them of our location and the location of the stairs.  After making it to the front of the house without finding any fire or victims, I made my way back to the top of the stairs to meet up with the member who had searched to the right.  He reported the same results. The heat was starting to increase on the upper floor to the point where popping a window was a tempting option, however everyone exercised discipline and waited for the line to make it to the top of the steps before opening up. When the two hoselines made it to the upper floor, I directed one line to work the left side and one line to work the right side. We had pretty good heat conditions but the fire had yet to show itself, so we were going to have to look for it and began making holes in the ceiling and knee walls.  The TIC was showing the all too common, “white everywhere” condition on the screen. After a minute or so of working the two sides we still had not found the fire and the heat was getting to the point where we probably needed to make something happen pretty quickly. One of the linemen opened the line over our heads, which provided temporary improvement of conditions but we still needed to get to the seat of the fire. While this was taking place, an outside crew was working on making the roof to open the area over the knee walls and our heads.  As the officer working the right side and myself were discussing our next move, the fire quickly showed itself from one of the inspection holes made on the right side. It rolled over our heads and the lineman working the left side quickly knocked it back. The line working the right side got in a better position and finished it off, while the roof was opened nearly simultaneously. 

Several good things happened at this fire that reinforced the validity of information that’s been disseminated through UL, NIST, LODD reports, and stories from real firegrounds. These things include:

-     -  closing and controlling doors is very important when operating without a hoseline

-      - do not make large holes in void spaces without a hoseline present and ready to flow

-      -properly timed and placed vertical ventilation will improve conditions very quickly

-      -when encountering high heat and no visibility, opening the line overhead is a good thing

-       -good old fashioned firefighting skills cannot be replaced by technology, as technology sometimes fails

-       -coordinated line placement allows for egress protection, confinement, and extinguishment

-       -discipline and experience is necessary when operating independent of a hoseline