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State of the Fire Service
I just read the thread "Is it just me" and a thought occurred to me, I felt compelled to put into words. One of the firefighters on the thread made a comment about being able to spell, and it's relevance to holding a hose or pike pole. Now, that got me going and this is the direction it went.
I feel it is time for those of us in senior Firefighter positions, be it as Chief Officer, or a Line Firefighter to lead the way. Where is this coming from you ask?
A brief history of my time in the fire service:
1983-2008
In 1983 we were Firemen, not Firefighters, Firefighter/EMTs, Emergency Services Technicians; simply you were a Fireman, period.
Was our job really that much different...no. Were the tasks expected of us fewer, maybe? Were we expected to be Chemists, Field Doctors, Mountaineers, ARFF Specialists, and still be Firemen. Not exactly.
"OK...OK so what’s your point?"
My point is when HazMat got slipped into our job descriptions in the middle of the night we grumbled, but we did the job. Fast forward a few years and it was EMS, still more grumbling, but again we did our jobs. Did our pay increase for taking on all these job skills...not exactly? Did our public image go up for being multi-talented? If you read the argument in Central Florida, that would be a definite NO.
We are now mostly Fire/Rescue, or Fire & Emergency Services Departments. No longer are we Fireman. Our cert list is as long as most people’s introductions on here. So again where am I going with this?
Today, more than ever we as senior firefighters need to lead. WE need to step up and take a wayward newbie under our collective wing and show them how to not only do the job, but go out and be proactive in finding better/safer ways of doing our jobs.
Unfortunately I hear way too much b*tching from the older guys about "that's not my job", or not wanting to take classes because it isn't required in my job description. Physical Fitness is just as bad, "you mean this is going to affect my appraisal?" People we need to alwayss strive to get better. Remember you are either getting better or worse, we don't get trained and then retain everything by sitting in the station playing Xbox 360 all day.
People’s lives depend on how fit we are, how well trained we are, and how well trained our leaders are.
Some of you know I am not a hero proponent, I do a job I love because it needs to be done, and I feel compelled to do it. But, my first responsibility and yours is to go home to your family when your watch is over. It's that simple.
What did all that mean? Ill spell it out for you.
It's 4:45 in the afternoon and you get banged out on a MVA with extrication needs and major injuries. When you arrive on scene the car with the worst damage is your wife's. And in the back seat are you 3 and 5 year old daughters. It's been a couple months since you had to get the tools out and use it, and you managed to skate out of the extrication class early in the week because, "I’ve had that class 6 times, I don’t need it again."
Your EMT skills are pretty rusty because you trade to get out of riding the box most of the time. Now your ability to get that car open safely and work on your family until another box can get there are compromised. And this time it's not some unknown face you are looking into for signs of shock, or head injuries, it’s your little girl's.
Was it really that much to ask of your department for you to attend regular training? Was it really that bad to ride the box every few shifts to stay fresh?
What are your words and actions teaching the next generation of firefighters?
When I was coming up we still rode tailboard, still went into structure fires with hip boots and incredibly thin bunker coats that went to our knees and SCBAs were few and far between. BUT...the senior firefighters and company officers were a positive influence on my career and my life. I was told early on to go out and make tough decisions, but be ready to back up your actions with a damned good reason. And also to be prepared to accept the consequences of my actions, be they good or bad.
My generation was charged with bringing the fire service out of the "150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress" days. And I feel like we have accomplished that, but we still have much work to do, and leading the next generation of firefighters is going to be our legacy far longer than being the guy who came up with a better way to store gear in your station.
I feel it is time for those of us in senior Firefighter positions, be it as Chief Officer, or a Line Firefighter to lead the way. Where is this coming from you ask?
A brief history of my time in the fire service:
1983-2008
In 1983 we were Firemen, not Firefighters, Firefighter/EMTs, Emergency Services Technicians; simply you were a Fireman, period.
Was our job really that much different...no. Were the tasks expected of us fewer, maybe? Were we expected to be Chemists, Field Doctors, Mountaineers, ARFF Specialists, and still be Firemen. Not exactly.
"OK...OK so what’s your point?"
My point is when HazMat got slipped into our job descriptions in the middle of the night we grumbled, but we did the job. Fast forward a few years and it was EMS, still more grumbling, but again we did our jobs. Did our pay increase for taking on all these job skills...not exactly? Did our public image go up for being multi-talented? If you read the argument in Central Florida, that would be a definite NO.
We are now mostly Fire/Rescue, or Fire & Emergency Services Departments. No longer are we Fireman. Our cert list is as long as most people’s introductions on here. So again where am I going with this?
Today, more than ever we as senior firefighters need to lead. WE need to step up and take a wayward newbie under our collective wing and show them how to not only do the job, but go out and be proactive in finding better/safer ways of doing our jobs.
Unfortunately I hear way too much b*tching from the older guys about "that's not my job", or not wanting to take classes because it isn't required in my job description. Physical Fitness is just as bad, "you mean this is going to affect my appraisal?" People we need to alwayss strive to get better. Remember you are either getting better or worse, we don't get trained and then retain everything by sitting in the station playing Xbox 360 all day.
People’s lives depend on how fit we are, how well trained we are, and how well trained our leaders are.
Some of you know I am not a hero proponent, I do a job I love because it needs to be done, and I feel compelled to do it. But, my first responsibility and yours is to go home to your family when your watch is over. It's that simple.
What did all that mean? Ill spell it out for you.
It's 4:45 in the afternoon and you get banged out on a MVA with extrication needs and major injuries. When you arrive on scene the car with the worst damage is your wife's. And in the back seat are you 3 and 5 year old daughters. It's been a couple months since you had to get the tools out and use it, and you managed to skate out of the extrication class early in the week because, "I’ve had that class 6 times, I don’t need it again."
Your EMT skills are pretty rusty because you trade to get out of riding the box most of the time. Now your ability to get that car open safely and work on your family until another box can get there are compromised. And this time it's not some unknown face you are looking into for signs of shock, or head injuries, it’s your little girl's.
Was it really that much to ask of your department for you to attend regular training? Was it really that bad to ride the box every few shifts to stay fresh?
What are your words and actions teaching the next generation of firefighters?
When I was coming up we still rode tailboard, still went into structure fires with hip boots and incredibly thin bunker coats that went to our knees and SCBAs were few and far between. BUT...the senior firefighters and company officers were a positive influence on my career and my life. I was told early on to go out and make tough decisions, but be ready to back up your actions with a damned good reason. And also to be prepared to accept the consequences of my actions, be they good or bad.
My generation was charged with bringing the fire service out of the "150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress" days. And I feel like we have accomplished that, but we still have much work to do, and leading the next generation of firefighters is going to be our legacy far longer than being the guy who came up with a better way to store gear in your station.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by ILDisasterEMT on
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I would say that the primary problem that I see in schools (my second job as a sub teacher) is a lack of honor, dignity and respect, both of self and others. Take some time in fire school to instill these three characteristics and train on them as you would any other skill or attribute, and everything else will fall into place. I am 34. Tomorrow I will enter fire school with 18 year olds. I am a bit out of shape and will probably have to work quite hard to keep up with them physically. But at a very young age I was instilled with the core value of service and it is that core value that guides everything I do in my life and my career. Honor and service. Set your compass to those headings and you simply cannot fail. Don't become a firefighter, EMT, etc because it is the glorious thing to do. Do it because it is the right thing to do. You will always know if you are doing the right thing if you examine it and ask "Does what I am about to do cause harm to myself or anyone else?" and "Does what I am doing serve my fellow man?" A life without service is a hollow life. We do not serve at the possible cost of our lives for the glory of it. Giving one's life is a fool's price for glory. We serve because we must. We serve because others cannot or do not. We serve because, in the end, it is the only truly honorable and noble thing to do.
God bless the Smoke Eaters and God bless the Fire Service!
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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There are many "honorable" professions. There are many fine examples of ordinary people going to work and doing extraordinary things. They are motivated for many of the reasons that you seem to be so drawn to the fire service. They would be disappointed that you grade their lives as "hollow".
You want to talk about giving your life for the "cause" as a fool's price? Would it be so foolish if you had a mother holding onto one child and screaming that three others are still in the apartment and there are only FIVE of you responding? Tell Chief Wessel that his best friend Asst. Chief Dave McNally, Firefighter Nate Tuck and Firefighter Jason Bitting were fools. They gave their lives on December 22, 1999 in Keokuk, IA.
Maybe you will change your assessment once you have been a firefighter for awhile. Because right now, you only know what it's like to be an EMT. You have no idea what it's like to be a firefighter YET.
Half of my life has been spent in the Illinois Fire Service. It started in 1980.
And I get irritated when people try to tell me how I should feel and act or why I do what I do. I know why and I could tell you, but the last time I tried to give you the benefit of my wisdom, you slammed the door in my face.
We'll talk about firefighting AFTER you make it as one.
Good luck with boot camp.
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Permalink Reply by Allen Wahlstrom on
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Art, I am with you on most of that. But...and you know how long Ive been at this. On one hand I completely agree with the fools price part, but I really think I read it differently then you did. I cant think of a firefighter worth his salt that wouldnt make every effort to rescue children trapped. I dont think it was meant the way you took it. I have made statements about our first job is to go home in the morning, or when our tour is done. But that doesnt mean I wouldnt for a minute give my life to save a childs...or another human being for that matter. Its not about glory or pride, its what we do.
we either get paid to perform our jobs or we volunteer to do our jobs, none of us were drafted to do it. Right.
As for Il~~~EMT...well. You have a lot to learn, and when school is thru, you get to learn it all over again in practice. Don't be quick to judge others, don't follow blindly, and do listen to your officers.
The one thing I can say taht I agree with is the Hollow part. Its not that otehr jobs are hollow, everyone of them needs to be done and we all gather satisfaction in ours from different things. I understand the hollow feeling. 5 years away and they all felt hollow, but that doesnt make others lives hollow. We areant all wired the same...
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XChief-
One of the reasons (actually in this case THE reason) that we are butting heads is that you are misreading what I am writing, taking it out of context or just plain not reading it at all before you go on the warpath thinking that I have just attacked the way of life you hold dear. I dont mind somebody disagreeing with me, but when they attack me because they skim read what I wrote once and then launch on me, I wont take that. I value your experience and the wisdom that you have that can only be gained through experience. At first, I thought that I hadnt written it very well. Then I realized that you and some others just didnt read it very well.
First. You seem to be under the misconception that I am saying all professions other than fire service are "hollow." Again, thats because you did not clearly read what I wrote. What I said is: "A life without service is hollow." Not a life without the Fire Service is hollow. I was raised from the time I was very young that the best thing a man can do is to serve his fellow man and THAT is what I said. I think people serve in many distinct ways. You can do any job and serve if you do it with that mind set. An accountant can have a career of service if he is dedicated to helping others take care of their finances and make sure that they have the funds to have the best life they can and if he is honest and honorable in his profession. A fry cook can lead a noble life of service if he is dedicated to making others happy. See, Chief, you missed so many points and took my response so far out of context that its hard to even defend it to you because you missed my point so badly.
As for giving one's life being a fool's price...what I said that it is a fool's price if one does it fr the glory. There can be no greater service than laying down one's body in the service of his fellow man. Yes there is a great deal of glory to be had in this job, simply because of what we do. But we should not do it FOR the glory, for the admiration we receive or so that people will look at us as a hero. Don't insult me, Sir, by thinking that I think that those men who gave their lives in Iowa were not heroes. And I never talked about giving a life for the "cause" as you quoted me as saying. If you are going to quote me, please do so accurately. I never used the word "cause." Your three firefighters who gave their lives in Iowa were definitely heroes without question. What I said and what you missed with all due respect was that we do not and should not do this job to be called heroes. Heroes are those willing to give the last full measure of their lives so that others may live. Sound like my definition of "service" to you? Your friends did not die for the glory of it or so that their names would appear in the paper or so that they would receive some medal or award. They did it because they were so dedicated to the service of humanity that they were willing to give the best they had...their lives...so that others might live. I cant think of a greater service than that. I said giving your life for GLORY was a fools price, not giving your life in the service of mankind and community.
And you even contradict yourself, but dont seem to know it. You say that there are many honorable professions, but that I "only know what it's like to be an EMT." I guess if it werent 0245hrs and I had a bit more zip left in my writing, I would tell you how insulting that comment is. By that you are saying that I cant know what service is (even though there are many honorable professions--as you say) if I am not a firefighter. Well, Sir, since we are using examples: was my service less honorable because I wasn't yet a firefighter when I spent 72 hours looking for a lost hiker in the NM desert and lost parts of my own body to frost bite in doing so? Was I not serving last March 23 when I pumped a man's chest for 27 minutes before the ER doc declared him dead? Were those members of IMERT who "only know what its like to be an EMT" not honorable when they spent four tours in Katrina when they didnt have to be there, literally wading through human waste in service to others. If you are going to talk down to me, you could at least do it in a way that doesnt contradict yourself or insult me. I think you have been quite insulting enough already, Sir. You get irritated when people tell you how you should feel or act or behave, but I cant know this guarded secret because I am not a firefighter "YET." On the one hand you say there are many honorable professions and on the other you seem to believe that only one is firefighting.
I dont recall slamming any door in your face, but if I did, I apologize and if you will tell me in PM how I did this I will respond. But do you suppose it could have been because you didnt take the time to completely read what I had written. I dont know what its like to be a firefighter. Shall I give you the names of the EMTs and medics who died in service in the last year? Or should I just tell you that of the 343 men and women that died in the WTC, there were at least two of them who were not firefighters. But I guess they dont count. They were only EMTs.
I never said any fire fighter was a fool sir. I say anyone who does their job in the pursuit of glory is a fool. Anyone who does their job in the pursuit of honors and accolades is a fool.
You misread, misquoted or just plain misinterpreted every point I made in my post. And I dont mind that so much. But when someone questions my honor because I am "only and EMT" or tells me that I was dishonoring others...that I mind. Especially when those actions only occurred in the mind of a reader with a hot temper and short fuse. Next time you decide to attack me Chief, please make sure you do it armed with facts and not with the heightened, misguided emotions of a quick and careless reader.
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And that makes two of us, because, apparently, you haven't read and understood a word I have said either.
I have read all of your posts in the discussions that I have participated in. Your style requires that one doesn't just "skim" it. I read them fully and if I see something that stimulates a reaction in me, I reply. I don't "shoot from the hip". Some of your students may have that problem; I do not. And, I have NEVER attacked you. If you feel insulted, then perhaps, you have misinterpreted what I have said.
You seem to believe that people who don't line up on the same side of the issue or echoes what you say is ATTACKING you. And you have a lot to learn there, because Wally can tell you that disagreeing on a multitude of subject matter is part of the culture; something you will not change.
Your replies have a common theme; they all have an almost unhealthy "reverence" for the public servant and your perception of what they do, why they do it and how they should feel when they are done. My very direct point to you is that you do not have that perspective of a firefighter yet. I do not believe that firefighting is the ONLY profession. Most volunteers have at least TWO professions; one of them being firefighting. My other profession happens to be risk management. "Careless", as you describe me as a reader, is not a part of my lexicon. Wearing a white helmet or being a firefighter/EMT for that matter doesn't afford you the luxury of being careless.
And don't try to rally EMTs to arms. I did not denigrate in any way the important work that they do. I was also an EMT. I know a little something about that too.
Here's the deal. I will ignore what you post in the future. I can see that you are wanting to expand your fan base, so I won't interfere with that. But, I find it funny, that, in a discussion thread, people get upset because they would rather make talking points instead of "discussing". Kinda of a "this is my soapbox/sandbox; let me say what I have to say; then leave me alone". OK; I can dig that.
I wouldn't want you blaming me or accusing me of attacking you simply because I have a different view.
And don't worry; I don't feel the least bit insulted by your assertions that I can't read/comprehend. I wore a white helmet.
Again; good luck with your goals to become a firefighter in the best fire service in the country.
Art
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Permalink Reply by Dan Hoey on
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Wow this is why I take breaks from this site is the in fighting and chest pumping. Every time I read I did this or that and you have no idea of what this or that is I get crazy. This is the problem with the whole service we fight each other while outside people just say look at them and how they act.
I have run well over 100,000 EMS calls in my career and learned from all of them and I have looked the devil in her eyes and have lost friends and people looking for help and yes they do shape how I view the world and this job but it does not allow me to look down on anyone who answer any call anytime! but I am fire fighter and a medic but before that I am a person a father a human being when you identify yourself by what you do and not who you are you have an issue to start. I don't walk around say I am a firemen please praise me or I save lives what do you do?
This fighting and pointing fingers is foolish and pointless I have known great fire fighters that are bad people and thats what I know them as bad people not great fire fighters!!!
Giving advice and offering help should be done with want not obligation and when its taken it should be with gratitude and if not taken you should not take offense or you are doing it for the wrong reasons!
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