The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Second-Due Syndrome
There is a classic attitude that I've seen in quite a few places throughout my career. It is a side effect from the fact that all of us want to be members of the first company to a fire, but another unit gets to the fire first.
The result is what I call "Second Due Syndrome". If you're not there first, there's a subconscious pressure to drive a little faster, mask up a little quicker, and rush to get into the building before someone else gets all of "our" action.
Second Due Syndrome is dangerous, because it turns on knee-jerk reactions and turns off our brains. When the driver pushes the rig a little harder, bad things tend to happen. Apparatus accidents kill and injure all too many firefighters, to say nothing of taking expensive, critical community resources out of service, sometimes permenantly. If you have a company T-shirt that says 'We beat you in your First Due", then you're advertising that you're afflicted with Second Due Syndrome. Responding to a fire isn't a race, it's a competition with all of the sloppy, stupid, and dangerous drivers on the road. The apparatus operator shouldn't be one of them.
Second Due Syndrome can make the officer miss important information. The second due officer should be looking for things that the first due officer may have missed. If you're running past your best sources of information outside the building in your hurry to get inside, you're likely to miss critical visual cues that can mean the difference between a relatively safe fireground operation and a completely suidical one.
Rushing to don the SCBA mask, hood, helmet, and gloves shortcuts the real reason we're wearing it in the first place - to make sure that we're not breathing smoke or superheated air, char-grilling our ears, or using a body part as a meat thermometer. Shortcuts tend to elimate safety procedures when we need them the most.
Rushing to get into action is a great way to leave essential tools on the rig. When you're inside and you need that tool, it wastes time and air to have the entire company exit to go get it. Worse, there's the temptation to have only one firefighter leave to get the tool. Seperating from your company in the IDLH atmosphere has contributed to many firefighter deaths. We don't need to intentionally do this when the need would have been eliminated by taking the right tools in the first place.
Second Due Syndrome can also rear its ugly head during after-action reviews. The first-due officer is probably going to be second-guessed enough without hearing members of the second-due engine tell him "We would have done it differently."
When you weren't first due, you had several advantages over the company that was. You had the advantage of their size-up report, so you had better information. You had the advantage of knowing exactly where the fire was if the location was initially unclear. You had the advantage of knowing that there was at least one other company present to help you if you get into trouble. You had more time to get ready. You didn't have to rush quite as much, because someone else was already tackling the problem when you got there.
When you're at the critique, remember that the first due company always has the least time, the least information, the least manpower, and generally the biggest problem. Keep that in mind - you'll eventually be first due and you'll then get to experience Second Due Syndrome from the first-due perspective. I hope it's painless for you and yours.
The result is what I call "Second Due Syndrome". If you're not there first, there's a subconscious pressure to drive a little faster, mask up a little quicker, and rush to get into the building before someone else gets all of "our" action.
Second Due Syndrome is dangerous, because it turns on knee-jerk reactions and turns off our brains. When the driver pushes the rig a little harder, bad things tend to happen. Apparatus accidents kill and injure all too many firefighters, to say nothing of taking expensive, critical community resources out of service, sometimes permenantly. If you have a company T-shirt that says 'We beat you in your First Due", then you're advertising that you're afflicted with Second Due Syndrome. Responding to a fire isn't a race, it's a competition with all of the sloppy, stupid, and dangerous drivers on the road. The apparatus operator shouldn't be one of them.
Second Due Syndrome can make the officer miss important information. The second due officer should be looking for things that the first due officer may have missed. If you're running past your best sources of information outside the building in your hurry to get inside, you're likely to miss critical visual cues that can mean the difference between a relatively safe fireground operation and a completely suidical one.
Rushing to don the SCBA mask, hood, helmet, and gloves shortcuts the real reason we're wearing it in the first place - to make sure that we're not breathing smoke or superheated air, char-grilling our ears, or using a body part as a meat thermometer. Shortcuts tend to elimate safety procedures when we need them the most.
Rushing to get into action is a great way to leave essential tools on the rig. When you're inside and you need that tool, it wastes time and air to have the entire company exit to go get it. Worse, there's the temptation to have only one firefighter leave to get the tool. Seperating from your company in the IDLH atmosphere has contributed to many firefighter deaths. We don't need to intentionally do this when the need would have been eliminated by taking the right tools in the first place.
Second Due Syndrome can also rear its ugly head during after-action reviews. The first-due officer is probably going to be second-guessed enough without hearing members of the second-due engine tell him "We would have done it differently."
When you weren't first due, you had several advantages over the company that was. You had the advantage of their size-up report, so you had better information. You had the advantage of knowing exactly where the fire was if the location was initially unclear. You had the advantage of knowing that there was at least one other company present to help you if you get into trouble. You had more time to get ready. You didn't have to rush quite as much, because someone else was already tackling the problem when you got there.
When you're at the critique, remember that the first due company always has the least time, the least information, the least manpower, and generally the biggest problem. Keep that in mind - you'll eventually be first due and you'll then get to experience Second Due Syndrome from the first-due perspective. I hope it's painless for you and yours.
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Timothy D. Stone Jr on March 19, 2009 at 11:17pm
-
I understand where your comming from. I have had the Second Due syndrom but i have gotten to where i understand that being second in can be a good thing. but in my Volly dept i live clostest to the hall so unless in out im usulay first due. (Sorry for bad spelling)
-
Comment by FIRE BEAR on March 17, 2009 at 8:13pm
-
we have some here that always wants to be 1st due i think all stations have them no matter where you are me i would rather be 2nd due gives me a better heads up to what im dealing with when i get there our problum here is we have about 15 ex cheifs that all still want to be cheifs and as soon as we get a job all the ex whatevers want to it done there way at least being 2nd due in there is a cheif there by the time we get there
-
Comment by Michael on March 16, 2009 at 11:48pm
-
This is so true. It seems to happen with the new or as I say, Cowboy Officers. All they want to do is beat you in on a Box alarm. I will never tell my driver to speed up, but I have told them to slow down. We are not any good if we don't get there in one peice.
-
Comment by Ben Waller on March 15, 2009 at 9:05am
-
Mel,
A little off-topic, but to address something you brought up about CDL driver's licenses...
CDLs are oriented toward over-the-road tractor-trailer delivery drivers (Class A) and toward bus drivers (Class B). I've always thought that there should be a special CDL class oriented toward fire apparatus operators, with a driving test based on what an engine or truck operator should do.
An example is the alley dock test, which is oriented toward short-haul or tractor-trailer truck drivers who must back their truck up to the loading dock at a shipping/recieving facility in order for a forklift to load and unload cargo. I can't picture backing up the engine to an alley dock in order for a forklift to load the hose. (I know a bunch of engine company guys who wish that we had those forklifts and loading docks, though.)
I'd rather see a driving station that requires that the engine driver lay large diameter hose down the curb so that a later-arriving truck company can get the aerial ladder closer to the fire than half a block.
-
Comment by Andy Marsh on March 15, 2009 at 3:52am
-
Ben,
Excellent blog! This should be on the EGH or Billy G's website etc. The downside of that is that the ones who really need to read it and comply, won't. TCSS.
Andy
-
Comment by John on March 14, 2009 at 1:26pm
-
Very good article. I want to be first in on every fire. Thankfully, my dept has alot of fires and I'm on the busiest engine on the dept. so I catch fires on a regular basis. That being said, though, if I'm going to be second due or later it is imperative that I slow myself down or slow my crew down. Second due has responsiblities that are EQUALLY important to the responsibilities of the first in company. Our protocol is second due establishes water supply. First in only has 750gal so if I blow my assignment I'm jeopardizing the whole attack plan. If the hydrant is a pony section away and my engineer/driver/operator is able to hit it on his own, then my responsibility is to take a second line and either back up the first or attack extension. If civilian life safety is an issue then it is my responsiblity to perform search and rescue. Since I'm arriving later I get a completely different perspective. Either the initial attack is working and the fire/smoke conditions are changing positively, or else the initial attack isn't working or is hampered which is creating more danger for all of us.
If you're going to be first in work hard and be the best you can be. If you're second in (or assigned to another task) work hard and be the best you can be. The best firefighters are the ones who do whatever needs done, not the ones who gripe and complain about not being first in. Take care all.
-
Comment by Paul Young on March 14, 2009 at 11:55am
-
Great post. Whether first or second, I try to stop for 5-10 seconds and just look at the incident, gather as much info as I can, hazard location, exits, and take a breath. It really helps. Mary Ellen, I agree, gear up and straps on before leaving the station. If you put them on after arriving, it gives you the time to look and make your own size up prior to being 1st, 2nd or whatever.
-
Comment by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on March 14, 2009 at 11:01am
-
Another excellent post, you've nailed the issues and put them out there...the challenge is, " Is anyone hearing the message..?" Great comments by everyone on the replies. We need to stop the "Tactical Entertainment" and self-absorbed views and attitudes.
-
Comment by Joe Stoltz on March 14, 2009 at 6:37am
-
Excellent post, Ben. We often hear or read the phrase "We've got your back!" This should be the motto of the second-in crew. Need a supply line or a drafting operation? Got TIC? Go around the block to find the REAL incident or protect a critical exposure? RIT team or search operation? Ladder the roof? That's what the second-in crew should be thinking about and listening for on the radio.
I think it's a natural tendency for us to head to where the action is and put the wet stuff on the red stuff. Training and experience shows through when the second due crew hangs back a little and is prepared to deal with the other less "heroic" fireground tasks.
-
Comment by Kimberly A Bownas on March 13, 2009 at 8:21pm
-
Wow Ben talk about making you think. I have to say I really hate the tee shirts that have the sayings like you have stated. I think some of them make us look like people that just don't think or that we are tougher then we really are. Nice blog and very correct in what you are saying about having the advantage of the first crew that is on scene. Everyone else has a lot more information then the first due. You are so right in what you wrote. Good information to look at and take in....
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
You need to be a member of My Firefighter Nation to add comments!
Join My Firefighter Nation