I was scrolling through some of the discussions and came across a thread of a guy asking for playlist advice for a CD to listen to en route to an incident. I'll hit on that in another blog, but for right now i think this is much more important. A girl posted a comment in there about how she likes to listen to an ipod while she is on scene and that she can easily wear it with her gear, but feels that it doesn't effect her hearing on scene. i posted a reply to that but i feel it is an important enough topic to write a blog about because sadly she is not the first person that i have heard of doing this.

I'm sorry if I am hurting any feelings or stepping on any toes with this, but an ipod on the fire scene is just...well the only term that comes to mind is dumb ass. If you are serious and really do this, then i am sad to say you are not the only person i have heard of doing this. There is no way you can expect to hear every little thing around you while listening to music. Surely if you have been in a structure fire, attack or search and rescue, then you already know how hard it can be to hear the crucial sounds around you. Your ears are covered by a hood, your SCBA mask completes that seal with the added noise of your own breathing and the air tank on your back. You have guys yelling around you, outside, and sirens. If you are doing your job right then you yourself are shouting "Fire Dept, is anyone in here?". How do you expect to hear a person in sever respiratory distress (as to be expected from smoke inhalation) straining to answer your calls? There are several easy to miss cues if you aren't listening close enough, like the creaking of a floor about to collapse beneath you, cracking mortar signaling a wall about to cave in. Crews on the outside ready to alert you either by horn or yelling that something is wrong and it is time to PUHA (pick up and haul ass). Even without the obstruction of music. The house has a language all it's own and if you aren't careful, you'll miss what it's trying to tell you. Not only just the sounds around you that become less obvious with music interfering, it also takes focus away from other senses, such as feel. An abonormally hot area indicating the presence of accelerants which is useful in post-fire investigation, disruption of the thermal layering, heated walls indicating hidden fires inside. Or visibility. Its already difficult enough to see inside a smoke filled room, but there are other signs that can be easily missed even when 100% of your focus is undisturbed. Puffing or "sucking" smoke under doors or through cracks...we all know what that means right? Smoke coloration. A fire is a living, breathing thing. Why would you want any extra, unnecisary distractions. If you are crawling around in the middle of a structure fire and that doesn't have your adrenaline pumping then something is seriously messed up and you should probably seek counseling. But lets also touch on exterior attack crews, just in case someone wants to argue that they never make entry. Again you have the building sounds. Already mentioned was the cracking or popping sounds of mortar or cement. If you are the only one that hears this you could be the only link in the chain to alert the interior of a possible collapse, and to get the hell out of there. Or even with out a crew inside, people near the structure at risk. Perhaps you are the pumper. Didn't notice the sudden drop on the pressure gauges, that's not hard or unheard of. But you better damn well believe that someone on the other end of that line controling the nozel noticed it and you just might want to hear them yelling to you. Even with a well organized chan of command and incident command system, things can go to hell in a hand basket quick. Protocols are set in place, drills are ran routinly, training classes are given often to prepare for the unexpected, but not everything goes according to plan...in fact it rarely does. Every member on that scene plays a crucial role, even if it is nothing more than watching and being the one to notice something going wrong to report it promptly. A little music may seem harmless, and maybee you've been doing it for years. But all it takes is one time.

Sorry if i came off as a harsh douchebag to begin with (the dumb ass comment may have hurt some feelings) but this is an issue that i think is fairly critical. I'm only 23 so alot of people may not want to listen to someone so green, but stop and think about it.