So death is upon us more than ever...

So since the demise of the US economy, with the crash in the stock market, housing market and bad mortgages, etc, I have been to 6 fatalities in which people have decided to take their own lives. Three times it was head-on accidents, two of which involved innocent people becoming victims as well. Last night it was an unsuccessful attempt to hit another motorist head on that drove the guy to take on a 24" diameter oak tree.... the tree won by the way, shook a little but for 100mph the thing barely knew he was there.

Now I am just one firefighter, one of four groups, and I don't respond to everything my department goes to, so the number (6) in reality is more than likely higher by what others deal with when I am off duty.

Is it me or is this becoming more and more the norm in which we, have to deal with??? Now I consider myself pretty progressive, and wonder how do we the fire service leaders prepare your troops for what is to surely come?

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on August 22, 2009 at 12:33am

Now I consider myself pretty progressive, and wonder how do we the fire service leaders prepare your troops for what is to surely come?

Most simplest terms....education.
There is only so much you can do for those who want to kill themsleves, but there is more that you can do to prepare the troops. Number 1 is the fact we will not save them all. Number 2, train to concentrate on their jobs, not the scene.
Number 3, after such a scene, or any significant call, talk with the crew, see if they are doing ok, encourage them to vent and talk about what is going on....especially the newer folks. Finally, have an EAP type of program and a Critical Incident Stress team either in house or close by.

Other than that there isn't much more you can do for your folks. People will find ways to kill themselves, different times will have a different effect, recession holidays, etc. Fires will still happen, we will still have to intervene during tragic times. Despite how the public views us, we are not superheros and we have to look out for each other.

So death is upon us more than ever...

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