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Right or Wrong
About a month ago or so we were toned out for a fully involved structure fire we got on scene and there was a member from another dept there he was not a member of any dept that we called for mutal aid. Some of OUR fire dept members told him join in and help us on the call. In my opinion that was wrong. Now I ask them what would of happened if this person got hurt,or even killed then what would we have done. Now I guess my question is am I wrong for telling this person to stay away from the fire or should I have let him help? None of the people that told him to help were officers just firefighters. I myself am not a officer either but I think that i did the right thing. This fire fighter was only on a dept for only about six months or so.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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I think you did the right thing if he was not from your department our mutaul aid then I would not let them help. Because as you said if he would have gotten hurt who would have covered his or her injuries.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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Yes, you did the right thing. I understand that everyone wnats to do something at a fire and especially being a new guy with only 6 months on. But, this is a job of discipline and we have to be professional enough not to just go jumping in on any and every call that we come upon. We have a structure in place for a reason. I know he wants to help, so I would have told him, "Hey, can see if the pump/operator needs anything?"
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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I'd have told him to go to the IC and ask if he could help. If he didn't want to do that he could leave. We don't have the insurance problem. If someone has PPE with them, and we know them, that might work (our Helmet shows our level of training) but if we don't know who this person is? I also think the police who'd be on scene here might want to have a quick chat with him. Might be all clear, he might have a valid reason to be in the area, but that's for them to decide.
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Permalink Reply by anne potter on
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I would say you were right.. I use to run calls for the town close to me .. The chief would say he had mutual aid from Oxbow.. There for covering me under their insurance.. If he got hurt I believe he would be on his own... Not for sure......
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OHHHH Good point.... Remeber the blog about that stuff... Hummmmmm
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Permalink Reply by John on
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I'd say you did the right thing, and hopefully he didn't start it. he should have been made to stand back behind the fire lines where everyone else would stand.
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Permalink Reply by Chief 29 on
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You did the right thing. You have to look at everybody that is not on your roster or your mutual aid companies roster as part of the general public. Our insurance would cover this person if he was asked by the OIC to help. If the OIC deems it necessary to call upon a bystander to help, that person would be covered by our insurance. You should first check with your insurance carrier before you go ahead and do such a thing, but there is coverage out there for instances like this. It all must go through the proper channels to work.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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It's up to the Incident Commander to say whether or not this person can join in the firefighting efforts. IMHO, if you don't know him or his level of training, he should stay on the other side of the tape. Bottom line... he didn't belong there.
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Permalink Reply by PA Firefighter on
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You are right. If he got injured or killed it would have been your a##. I agree with the others if the fire was not definitely accidental I would be looking at him.
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I wasn't even looking at it as even a fire started by this person. I was looking at it as an insurance issue by letting the person help even if it is something as small as pulling lines. If your insurance company doesn't cover this type of act or being a good samaritan then I wouldn't advise that you let him/her help.
I have often came across a fire outside my area and it never crossed my mind to stop and help,simply because I don't know who or how they run things in other areas. I would not want to hamper their efforts.
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