I had planned two drills this week for the 2009 Fire and EMS Safety and Survival week. One was cancelled due to severe weather responses and the other should go on as planned today. A fellow instructor and friend of mine were discussing that as we were trying to promote the "Courage to be Safe" program, we were met with statements such as "Oh we had that class" or "We had that once". For us, it is disheartening to hear. For the fire service, it is much more than disheartening. A colleague of mine wrote that attitude is missing when we have the education and the awareness stuff right in front of us. The Nation's fire service does a fairly good job at promoting firefighter safety and survival, despite that, we have lost 100 or more firefighters consistenetly since 1998, 118 last year. I wrote a blog just 4 days ago and stated that we are already at 46 lodds. This morning, we are at 50. 22 of this year's lodds have been attributed to stress, 10 are attributed to vehicle collisions, 4 of them being aircraft. We keep saying we have the latest and greatest of equipment, and yet we are dying the same way each year. This year again, we have had one poor soul die because he was backed over by a fire truck. God bless the chief and the chaplain that had to report to that firefighter's family. I can't imagine what I would say. I'm afraid my colleague is correct in his assessment. Attitudes need to change. When my friend and I took our instruction classes, we were told that education is about changing behaviors. When we look at the "Everyone Goes Home" program, one of the key components is changing fire service culture. Attitudes, behavior and culture. Think about something for a minute. Whatever education level you are at, did it take one English class, one math class, or one history class? When we took our basic firefighting course, was it just one class? Let me tell you something that only happens once. Death occurs just once. We have so many classes on how to survive, firefighting notwithstanding. We don't need a class to die! Changing attitudes, behaviors, and the culture of the fire service will not occur overnight and we should take as many classes regarding safety and survival whenever we can and not just once. Perhaps, instead of having one week dedicated to firefighter safety and survival, we should have several. For instance, Firefighter Safety and Survival week #1 and Firefighter Safety and Survival week #2. Or perhaps, Firefighter Safety and Survival week of January or of February. Maybe the more repetitive it becomes, the faster those positive changes will occur, and the faster attitudes, behavior and our firefighting culture will change. We routinely train on ground ladders, water supply and hose advancement, among other skills. Why can't we routinely focus and train on safety and survival? Maybe we could include safety and survival in our drill topics. For instance, "Safety and Survival for Ground Ladders, or maybe "Emergency Vehicle Operations for the Safety and Survival of Fire and EMS". I firmly believe that with positive changes in attitudes, behaviors and culture, we will truly realize reductions in firefighter line of duty injuries and deaths. We have a good start. It needs to get better sooner. Next year, I won't plan for just two drills for this particular week. I'll plan for many more. Don't just take a "Safety and Survival" or a "Courage to be Safe" class just once. Let's keep this on the forefront of our minds. Once a shift, once a day, once a week, once a drill, and we keep on building. Let's once and for all change our attitudes, change our behavior and improve our firefighting culture as we move forward in reducing line of duty fatalities and injuries. We owe it to ourselves, our crews, and most of all, our families. Stay safe my brothers and sisters. I'll see you in class.