In the past couple of days we have discussed a court case in KY where the fire department is being sued by a homeowner who states that the fire department was not prepared or negligent in fighting a fire on their property. They now want to hold the department responsible for the property damage. We have also read about another court case in Canada where a ff driving his POV, struck & killed a civilian at the scene of an MVA. The litigation says that the fire department should have used emergency vehicles to warn drivers of the accident. (These are generalizations of each case.)This is REAL LIFE! In this day & age of anyone can sue anybody for almost any reason these cases are going to be more frequent particularly if there is any merit to them.

In the case of the ff running over the civilian/pedestrian the attorney is arguing that had an emergency apparatus been placed at the top of the hill to warn motorists of the hazard the man may not have been hit. My comment to that is that the firefighter driving his POV was probably already aware of the incident. Would he have stopped at the top of the hill HAD there been a big truck with flashing lights sitting there? The court is going to say that the man, even though he was driving his POV, is a member of the FD and acting as a firefighter at that point in time since he was actually on scene making the fire department responsible for his actions. They will (rightfully) argue that the member should have been following department protocol at the time. It then becomes a matter of conduct. Can the FD be sued because one of the members is found guilty of vehicular or involuntary manslaughter or whatever the formal charges in the case? We as firefighters are NOT trained to run over people while we are responding to a call. But was the fire department responsible by not giving the warning, yet they were in process of doing so, or responsible for the firefighter operating his own vehicle?

In the KY case, was the FD actually negligent? Where I live, if we have no one to roll on an incident, we have automatic mutual aid. Often during the day it may take three departments to get enough manpower and equipment on scene to get the job done. We know this. We prepare for it. Although, if they were alerted to a fire in a shed. . .perhaps they did not know the intensity of the fire and/or that it was endangering other structures. Was that information given to them before they responded? If it was a large fire, why did they not call for back up immediately? We know how quickly a small bit of any type of accelerant can increase a fire's intensity, so can other unseen factors. An officer should never underestimate any fire. Wouldn't it be better to have too many fire fighters by calling in mutual aid than to not have enough and need them? It is apparent that "something" went wrong in this case.

These are two different types of actions in totally different areas but the point in both cases is that in conducting our business, doing our duty, something went very wrong. The public or the courts are contending that perhaps someone should pay the price. We will follow both cases to see how they pan out.

The reality is that even though your FD is 100% VOLUNTEER, we volunteer to do a job. Not being paid does not give us an excuse to do the job half way or negligently. Safety measures must be followed at all times not only to ensure our lives but those of others as well. Be prepared not only to take on the job to the best of your ability, but to the standards set for how it should be done. Taking a pick up truck with a couple of water cans on it to a structure fire does not constitute a RESPONSE. When we have a less than stellar performance in an attempt to do the job, only causes doubt to be shed on others if we do it in a less than professional manner.