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Firematic Suicide Part II (What's it going to take?)
From 'The Secret List"
Hey...
For Firefighters who plan on attending, Captain Shane Stewart's funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Union Colony Civic Center, 701 10th Ave., in Greeley. The 33-year-old Stewart died in the Line of Duty early Saturday morning when his fire apparatus rolled and he was ejected. He was a Captain on the Ault-Pierce Fire Department, and he left a wife and two young children.
In addition to losing a firefighter and friend, the department also has to face the fact Stewart wasn't wearing his seat belt when he crashed. "He did everything right," said spokesman Capt. Roger Moore of the Eaton Fire Department. "He wasn't speeding or driving recklessly. But he wasn't wearing a seat belt, and he died...if there was anything good that can come of this terrible thing," Moore said sadly, "it would be that other firefighters will understand how important seat belts are." Our sincere condolences to the Ault-Pierce FF's, the affected friends but especially the family, wife and kids of Captain Shane Stewart.
Anything that I say above and beyond will seem banal....for the love of God or whatever deity you worship....Buckle Up!!
I'm fixing for a fight today....give me one rational reason why you don't wear your seatbelt......c'mon.....I dare you.....
Hey...
For Firefighters who plan on attending, Captain Shane Stewart's funeral has been scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Union Colony Civic Center, 701 10th Ave., in Greeley. The 33-year-old Stewart died in the Line of Duty early Saturday morning when his fire apparatus rolled and he was ejected. He was a Captain on the Ault-Pierce Fire Department, and he left a wife and two young children.
In addition to losing a firefighter and friend, the department also has to face the fact Stewart wasn't wearing his seat belt when he crashed. "He did everything right," said spokesman Capt. Roger Moore of the Eaton Fire Department. "He wasn't speeding or driving recklessly. But he wasn't wearing a seat belt, and he died...if there was anything good that can come of this terrible thing," Moore said sadly, "it would be that other firefighters will understand how important seat belts are." Our sincere condolences to the Ault-Pierce FF's, the affected friends but especially the family, wife and kids of Captain Shane Stewart.
Anything that I say above and beyond will seem banal....for the love of God or whatever deity you worship....Buckle Up!!
I'm fixing for a fight today....give me one rational reason why you don't wear your seatbelt......c'mon.....I dare you.....
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Ellen Shea on
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Is it up to the discretion of the individual if they want to pay the associated lawsuits that will pile up faster than cordwood at a logger's convention when some young kid slingshots through the windshield and his parents decide to make YOU liable because you were the senior officer in the rig?
Take a stand, or stay off the rig if they won't comply....you may have to play squeaky wheel and lose a popularity contest, but the alternative is untenable. You don't get a "do-over" in death.
Sit down with the Chief and the Safety Officer and show them a couple of videos that you can find right on this site about the end result of firefighters responding without seatbelts. If that won't move them, ask them what their contingency policy is in the face of a lawsuit?
By the way, you DO have a "way to force them" ....you're the officer.....simply put, the apparatus doesn't roll until everyone is belted up. End of story.
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Permalink Reply by Engineco913 on
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Great post MEL. I agree that seat belts should be on and not being bypassed or not worn. I am increasingly angered to see the senseless LODD's coming from MVA's involving firefighters responding to or returning from calls. 25% folks!!!!!!
Since when does policy change because of so many infractions? Thats the largest load of horse crap I have heard in ages, and I am sorry your department dumbed down the rules Tim. The last time I checked the department made SOP's and they were meant to be followed. Perhaps if the upper staff (anyone who wears gold badges) had a spine and developed an ENFORCEMENT plan and stuck to it, your seat belt useage would increase.
Seeing the policy is in writing, I agree with MEL. It is just another liability opening up the door to law suits. Hopefully it doesn't take a death or serious injury of a member of your department and then subsequent lawsuit to open their eyes.
Seat belts save lives.
Some folks wonder why I started a pledge. pffft
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Hey Mike,
Your pledge, combined with the comment on The Secret List spurred me to post this. I don't know what else there is to say, or how many different ways I can think up to tell the fire service that not wearing seatbelts is foolish, mindless, selfish and flies in the face of every single safety step we take elsewhere.
Mel
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They used to show us a training video when I was with the airlines of the damage inflicted by unsecured objects (including human bodies) when G-Force is applied.....
Talk about Scared Straight. Take a look inside my car sometime, everything is either tied down or stored......nothing like viewing the interior of an aircraft in the aftermath of a crash to make you think twice about a.) belting yourself in and b.) making sure everything else is secured as well. You don't need stretchers, you need shovels to remove the remains.
Same principles apply in an MVA.
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Amen to that.
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Unfortunately it seems some people refer this as just one of "the basics" and yet we continue to see this as a problem. It is the basics we keep training on as firefighters, why would something as simple as securing yourself to your rig be any differant?
I did contact WebChief to see if there was a way to make the pledge a focal point on the website somehow, but I was never given a reply. With other sites making the pledge themselves (I looked it up 2 days after I posted) I want this site to be on the forefront of the grand scheme of things. Maybe there is a way for it to happen, but who knows. The more attention we give this topic manner the more opportunity we have (and I say we because there are a few of us that really stress for training, safety, and equality.) to portray our message across the globe to hopefully start making people see the light whom may not have before.
Signing the pledge or agreeing with a forum post is just the beginning. Slowing down and remembering you are your primary concern at all times in life (fire service related or not) could save your own life, and your family a lot of grief and heartache.
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And this is even sadder.
A seat belt mandate is not on the books for fire departments in New York. Actually, the state is one of 37 that does not mandate seat belt use for all firefighters, according to 2003 figures from Critical Incident Stress Management Perspectives Inc., a training and consulting practice that prepares fire departments for deaths among its membership.
The state's seat belt laws include an emergency responder exemption that excuses firefighters and fire police from buckling up. According to the Fireman's Association of the State of New York, the exemption exists because every second counts and being held up by a seat belt could cost a life.
(from the website http://www.drivetosurvive.org/safety.htm)
I hope this has changed in most states and if not, it needs to. A few seconds could save someones life is true, but forgetting to seat belt yourself could also cost you your life. Equal trade? I think not.
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so what are you going to do with all those signatures once the avalanche becomes a trickle......
Push state government for a mandatory seatbelt law?
Why is it that when we're in our own vehicles using blue lights we must comply with the same road regs as John Q. Civilian, yet when we're in a much larger vehicle capable of creating even more havoc with the potential for even more loss of life, those regs are suspended?!!
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I plan on taking a fully printed copy to all My local legislatives to begin the process. I will extend these same copies to other states until I have portrayed the message as far as I need to to make things happen. Why do states have a "Click it or Ticket" weekend if they don't make it mandatory for all vehical operators in all states to wear seat belts? Ever think someone could die from a forklift accident and the reason cited was lack of a seat belt? Thats a vehical without the massive weight or momentum potential of a fire apparatus. read this report frim 98 from the CDC.gov site http://www.drivetosurvive.org/safety.htm THATS A FORKLIFT thats mandatory to wear seat belts accourding to OSHA, why not make it the same way for FD's?
I hope all other websites do the same thing. Perhaps if they receive enough of these types of listings they look beyond their clouded visions and see that the facts don't lie.
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it never occurred to me to pursue seatbelt enforcement on the local level vs. state-wide; thanks Ted.
Even without Bill, you're an Excellent adventure.....
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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Why any department would ever change seat belt use from REQUIRED to OPTIONAL is beyond me.
Actually, it isn't. I think that in another thread I reported that we were working with an attorney who wanted to change SOPs to SOGs. The idea is that if you make them requirements they must be adhered to at all times, no excuses. Guidelines on the other hand are more flexible, and less restrictive.
Any argument to the contrary would bring out this response from the lawman: "Boy, I'd like to prosecute that SOP in a court of law, and I know I'd win." He also went on to say that our SOPs (I've summarized our response SOP in other posts) were "crap".
Well, that's just an opinion. I would much rather run the risk of a lawsuit and make sure EVERYONE GOES HOME, than preside over a member's funeral just because we had "guidelines" and left everything flexible. Seat belt use has to be mandatory; any member who doesn't believe in wearing them responding can just stay home and listen to the radio.
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And Mel: Did you get the secret list article today about the chap who drove around with a FAKE seat belt, finally was laid to rest after a head-on crash? Another Darwin award coming up.
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