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Deaf Firefighter?
I am 24 years old and I joined a volunteer fire department about 3 years ago. My brother joined and he talked me into it. Keep in mind before any negative commnets starts flying. I am certified Fire I/II and First responder. I did received my hazmat, RIT training, extrication, and several others. I am considered profound hard of hearing and am going to recieve surgery in few weeks for cochlear implants. I could never find any forms related to deaf or hard of hearing fire fighters. I always wanted to know the opinions of other fellow brothers/sisters in our fire/ems service about working with one of such condition. Any comments are not going to hold me back or anything, after all, I am still volunteering. I love it and wouldn't give it up for the world. I would like to hear comments about deaf in fire/ems service from career/volunteer people.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by LadyChaplain on
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My father was an assistant chief of a volunteer department while being considered informally as "half-deaf". He has full hearing in one ear, and only 5-10% hearing ability in the other. Another firefighter at my firehouse wears hearing aids, and is very hard of hearing when he doesn't have them in -- and he doesn't miss much.
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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My only concern would be the obvious reason of, would you be able to hear me shouting for help in an already loud environment? Or hear the shouts of victims? The crunching and creaking of a floor about to collapse? The chief yelling for everyone to evacuate the building or the truck air horns signaling to evacuate?
Granted, everyone is always with a partner, or SHOULD be, and they would be able to look out for you, but what about if you should become separated?
Dont get me wrong, I have no problems with anyone joining the fire service provided they can do the job, these are all just curiosity questions of mine on how you are able to do the job without being able to hear the things I mentioned above. I wish you all the luck in the world brother, and stay safe out there.
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Permalink Reply by Yee on
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In the county that I volunteer in we have a Career Lt. that is hard of hearing and has to wear hearing aids. He doesn't get treated any different and can hear pretty much anything you say. I myself haven't ran any calls with him but I know some guys that do and he knows his stuff.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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Considering that I've been doing this gig since 1973, it stands to reason that my hearing has taken a hit. When I started out working emergency services, having the windows down, driving Code 3, more than likely did some damage. It wasn't until several years later that through a lot of effort, that hearing protection was put into the apparatus to protect our hearing. When I have a new crew due to overtime or work at another station, I always give my crew heads up that my hearing is not what it used to be, depending on them to listen up to the radio. I'm pretty sure that I will end up having to get hearing aids at some point here, but never the less, I have personnally experienced for years now a hearing loss.
I have to agree with Mooseman on all of his points. The life safety factors alone that are dependent upon immediate reaction and response due to noise could jeapordize the safety for the individual and his or her crew.
However, with that said, I also think that it's important for all emergency responders to have some degree of proficiency toward communicating with folks who are hard of hearing or deaf. When I went to paramedic school in Los Angeles County during the 70's, the doctor who ran the program had a deaf son and as a result, made sure that we all had basic hand signing skills to enable communicating with this population. Over the course of my career, I have had several opportunities to use these skills and although they were not the best, they were REALLY appreciated by the patients or victims that were in trouble.
TCSS,
Mike
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Permalink Reply by John on
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I would not have any problems with someone being deaf just would be concerned for them if I needed to warn them in a hostile enviroment with lots of noise and low visability.
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so, your on a fire in the Klammath, doing some mop up when one of the tree's starts to make cracking noises and then starts to let go, you yell for everyone to get out of the way... hmmm... one part of me wants to be very supportive here, but the other more pragmatic side of me says that this job is not meant for everyone, no matter how good their intentions are. The results could prove fatal... just a thought.
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There is the instance when the other senses become more fine tuned due to the lack of one, but still, it has its down sides to not being able to hear. My question still stands, regardless of the increase in other senses, how can you hear the faint cries of a victim? Or the yells for help from a fellow firefighter who fell through the floor behind you?
The other thing to think about here, is we are talking about two totally different things; being Deaf, or "Hard of hearing"...which one is it? If you are just hard of hearing, but can still hear some things with the aid of hearing aids, thats one thing. But being totally deaf, 100% lack of hearing? There are some jobs you can do as a deaf firefighter like manning exterior lines, ect. But I still have questions as to the ability to hear certain things you SHOULD be able to hear as a firefighter.
Another point, in my annual physical and fit test that every firefighter must pass in order to be an interior firefighter, hearing is one of the tests, as well as vision, ECG, Pulmonary function, etc etc, if I fail the hearing portion I can not be classified as a Class "A" Interior firefighter. How are these tests in your area? The same? Are you required to take these physicals? Again, just curious and not starting anything or trying to make our brother feel down about it.
Thanks
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Understanding that there are always two sides to a story...
http://blog.deafread.com/deaffirefighter/2007/06/14/evoc-class/
Deaf Man Becomes Fire Chief...
http://blog.deafread.com/deaffirefighter/
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A Bownas on
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There is a guy in one of our mutual aid departments who is deaf. He is an active member and as far as I know there is no problems in that department with him. We have done drills with them and he works right along with everyone else and he knows what he is doing. He reads lips and some of the members in that department know sign language and they communicate with him that way. He works well with all the other members in that department. I don't see a problem with it as long as that person can do the job. Good luck on your surgery. Be Safe
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You know Phil, I find myself being like Paula on American Idol... I want so much to be supportive and nice about this whole thing but in fact, as mentioned before, this job is not meant for everyone.
Your examples cited hit the nail on the head and there would certainly be issues here. Just imagine someone simply talking on the headset, giving orders and direction or maybe upon arrival one could hear someone yelling, "WATER!"... and we all know what the significance of this.
Both firefighters and the public that we serve could be significantly impacted by our desire to accomodate everyone, regardless of disabilities. I just don't think we can morally go there...
Even standard wildland response guidelines like LCES contains a key important point... Communications... without it we are indeed handicapped to perform to the best of our abilities.
Examples that I have seen to date only reflect volunteer firefighters verses career. Maybe I'm off base here and have not researched this thoroughly enough at this point but I'm always willing to hear the other side... pun intended... : )
Mike
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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I'm having a real tough time with this one. I want to be compassionate and understanding but at the same time, like what so many have said before, hearing is one of the main senses that we need on a fireground. There are so many signs to danger that you can hear that let you know you need to get the h--- out of dodge. And on the EMS side, how would you listen to a patient's breath sounds and heart rates? I don't want to discourage anyone from doing this job. It's one of the best in the world but we have to be realistic about things. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we just don't want to see anything happen to you because you did not hear the evacuation signal or hear the signs that the building was going down.
Stay safe
Josh
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