When you check off your assigned response vehicle, does the check sheet have a line item for the compartment full of good luck? Virtually every fire and EMS agency completes vehicle checks on a daily, weekly, or some similar periodic basis. There are compartments full of medical equipment, tools, hose, ladders, or whatever, depending on the vehicle type and how your department sets it up. Is the Good Luck compartment included?

Funny thing...I've worked engines, trucks, rescues, ambulances, ALS QRVs, staff vehicles, brush companies, hazmats, and USARs, and I could never find the compartment full of good luck on any of these vehicles. In fact, I couldn't find a toolbox with just a little bit of good luck or even a page of good luck in the officer's clipboard.

I'm betting that none of you have a Good Luck Compartment in your apparatus. I'm also betting that a lot of us have worked with people that act as if their vehicle has Good Luck crammed into every compartment, behind the steering wheel, in the radio microphone, filling the booster tank, and between the tire treads.

How many of us drive like maniacs and count on good luck to keep us from killing ourselves, our crew, and the general public because of ego, a lack of training, or simply being overwhelmed by a sense of urgency?

How many of us run inside every building with fire showing because "We're an aggressive department"?

How many of us refuse rehab or let firefighters return to duty after giving them oxygen, IVs, or other treatment that indicates that physician evaluation is needed as a firefighter safety measure?

How many of us treat big box buildings and other commercial occupancies as if we were at a house fire?

How many of us get so comfortable with one technique that we try to use that technique for every situation - even when it is wildly inappropriate?

How many of us spend so much time taking care of the general public that we don't take very good care of ourselves?

How many of us believe that we can cure every problem by putting water on it?

How many of us believe that training should get us to the point that we should be able to react at the scene...instead of observing and thinking?

How many of us believe that mutual aid will be able to bring us Good Luck if our Good Luck Compartment happens to be empty today?

Remember that our enemies are Mother Nature and Mr. Murphy. Mr. Murphy can ride beneath the Good Luck Compartment, drill holes in the floor, and drain all of that Good Luck into the gutter before you get a block away from the station. Mother Nature doesn't recognize luck - good or bad. Mother Nature is on Mr. Murphy's team, and Mother Nature plays DIRTY.

If your apparatus doesn't have a compartment (or booster tank) full of Good Luck, then don't act as if it did.
If by some miracle, your apparatus does have a compartment full of Good Luck, sooner or later it's going to be completely empty just when you need it most...and then the checksheet won't matter, no matter how recently you completed it.