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Nosey Neighbors
Tonight we had a call of "the smell of something electrical burning" turned out to be nothing big but as part of our SOGs, we rolled two engines and a ladder. two police happened to be nearby, plus the chief's car. We determined it was a motor on something downstairs (I wasn't down there at the time. All I needed to hear was burnt up motor.) As I was getting back on the engine, a neighbor walks up to me and says, "I live next door. Is there anything I need to know?" "No sir. nothing serious." "You've got all the trucks here and you tell me it's nothing serious?" "yes sir. nothing serious." "Was it a gas leak?" "no sir. it was nothing to worry about."
Maybe it's because I'm becoming an EMT and I'm getting in the habit of following HIPAA, but I tend to not make it my place to tell the public anything.
How do you deal with those nosey neighbors?
Maybe it's because I'm becoming an EMT and I'm getting in the habit of following HIPAA, but I tend to not make it my place to tell the public anything.
How do you deal with those nosey neighbors?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rob on
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At most when questioned further I would simply indicate that information gathered by dispatch indicated it might be more serious and we have now determined it is nothing to be concerned with and refer him/her to the chief or his neighbor (whom someone already pointed out they probably have not talked to in years) for further details.
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Permalink Reply by Trainer on
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Living in a town of nosey neighbors, it’s a little different; you know where everyone knows what everybody’s doing, if they don’t know they make something up. Sometimes you get creative with responses, but it’s usually best to fill them in. I have used; I don’t know I was sleeping a few times.
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Permalink Reply by Fire Chick on
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that is the chiefs job.. or p.i.o, but if i am the one in charge unless it is going to hurt them...they dont need to know
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Permalink Reply by Matt Elliott on
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We deal with it a lot,I had about the same thing as you did, but i got in trouble for my answer.I told the home owner to go back to your home and look thru your blinds like you always do.Make sure you talk crap about everyone thats here and your neighbors.Yes, i knew the person asking,and i knew what he was trying to do.The look on his face was priceless and the ass chewing i got was worth it.Now days people dont care they just want to put there nose in something that dosent have an bearing on them at all.Then we have the ones that hope they get to see blood,guts,and gore.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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I tend to go with those who say to give them some information - as long as it can't hurt anybody. In the stated case I think I would have said something like "it's nothing serious, just a burnt motor, we always roll this many trucks just in case". And we do, a report of an 'electrical burning smell' would have us responding as though it was a house fire.
I was recently asked by a concerned neighbour if her house was in danger, should she leave her home. The house next door had smoke pouring out of it. I told her not to worry, we'd make sure that her house was safe, and please go inside out of the smoke. I was just heading back to the scene after dragging a hose to a second hydrant (lousy pressure there!) but took a few moments to try to reassure the lady.
Generally, is it up to us to decide whether a person is just nosey or truly concerned? A few words, no comment about anything nasty, direct the person to the IC or police if they won't leave it alone.
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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Just do what you did.
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Permalink Reply by Kayla Bartlett on
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haha that is hillarious...
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Try this approach... "Hey Mr. Fireman! what happened? is there anything I need to know?" You answer, "You didn't hear already?" They respond, "No... what did I miss?" You reply back, "I'm surprised that you didn't already hear about it..." You've got there curiousity up now... and they will again ask, what happened? You can respond as follows:
1. aliens... yes, I know it's hard to believe, but aliens have landed and they caused the problem...
2. terrorists, yes, I know it's hard to believe, but there are terrorists out there that are out to get you, luckily we got there first...
3. no actual problem mam... turned out to be a failure of the flux capacitor... a new one has been ordered and this should not occur again. If it does, give us a call.
or, I suppose you could act a bit more professional and say:
For your incident involving a burned out motor: "Sir, the problem was electical in nature and was associated with an appliance which has been isolated and will be repaired by the occupant through an outside source. There is no danger or cause for any concern. The situation has been successfully resolved at this point.
Note: I don't think that HIPPA applies to a situation where the next door neighbor can reasonably experience concern for his or her own personal safety when they see a bunch of fire apparatus show up to deal with something that obviously smells like an electrical fire. Couple this with the use of blowers and ff's wearing SCBA's and such and you cause panic with some people. This stuff isn't secret and anyone can get a copy of the fire report. There's nothing secret about a faulty washing machine motor. Things go wrong sometimes with appliances and are easily resolved. You also need to remember that the next door neighbor is a tax paying citizen as well. Putting him or her at ease, or if necessary, having a follow-up by fire prevention folks could be a PR plus for you. Helping a nosey neighbor in this situation by providing generalized information should not be a problem in my opinion.
If it was a medical issue: "I appreciate your concern but cannot discuss anything regarding personal medical issues about a patient. I am sure you understand the importance of patient privacy and respect."
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Permalink Reply by Ron Ayotte on
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Always eager public servant assisting the confused and bewildered, I told her, "Just your house, ma'am!" to which she let out an OMG shriek, stomped the gas, hauled @$$ down the street while we just about pssst our pants laughing at her!
Your stupid wise assed remark will come back and haunt you sooner or later. The fire service gets hammered enough in the press; telling the woman a flat out lie did wonders for your FD's credibility...
Now imagine if a child darted out in front of her, or she got into an accident and killed someone... Who's laughing now?
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Permalink Reply by The T MAN! on
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You did the absolute right thing. Working for a pretty large department, we deal with issues like that quite often. People just being people. but usually as politely as i can tell them ... SORRY ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!...HAHA.
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:-) thats what im talking about... kind of a nice way of saying... none of your business!
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I'm with you Ron. Why tell a lie just for your own amusement? We might think that someones question is silly, but to that person it's valid. Give them a short but correct answer. It all comes under the 'PR' label.
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