The Head Rule

When I joined the fire service “a couple of years ago”, my mentor was a wise young captain. He offered up what he called the “Head Rule”. It is something I have made a point to pass along to all probies struggling to find their fit in this great service:

“You’ve got two eyes and two ears; keep ‘em open. You have a nose, keep it clean. But above all, keep your mouth shut!”

The fiasco in DC that burned our brothers on video (see STATter911.com) is still with us as mouths remain open and the yammering intensifies. DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin should have enough experience to know better than to extend the story with what came bubbling out of his mouth during an interview with Ed Comeau of Campus-Firewatch.com.

According to Comeau, the Chief said it “looked like a comedy act”. It is a comment he still stands by today in a video update by STATter911.

A wordsmith he was not and his choice of verbiage may have caused more harm than the embarrassing incident of which he was referring. Who wouldn’t expect a vocal and public outcry from the firefighters accompanied by a blistering response from President Raymond Sneed of IAFF Local 36

Imagine you are a DC firefighter. How does this make you feel about your leader? What effect do these perceptions have within the group? What discipline would have been handed down if the Chief himself wasn’t involved?

There is a lot of blame to go around at all levels. We can all learn from the mistakes made here. As we mature in the fire service, we will come to learn that we always gain more by criticizing the act rather than the individual.

To his credit, Rubin “assumes full responsibility” for what happened. Stuff like no safety officer for the event, no pre-incident briefing, lack of use of a required check-off list, and he himself calling for the backup line which was never charged. I’ve seen for myself many a time where the Chief would drop his people like a prom dress. Thankfully, it appears this isn’t the case. But this nightmare had an end in sight and it should have been left alone.

It Didn’t Have to Happen

With all the outcry from the initial story, it began to look like the story had run it’s course. But, the “looked like a comedy act” remark now makes Rubin fair game. It just didn’t have to happen.