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Permalink Reply by Russ Gregston on March 22, 2012 at 11:37am

This should be added to the Forum It's what we do or is it ? A perfect case in point for having your PPE on the apparatus at all times fundraisers or not had they just drove on by they would have caught heat ! No pun intended. But an apparatus is in a sense is a rolling billboard...

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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on March 22, 2012 at 7:36pm

I don't even know where to begin except that I'm glad it was them and not me because I look terrible in that color.

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Permalink Reply by 3us8225bsp2fp on March 22, 2012 at 11:30pm

Its one of those times when no matter what you do you will catch some heat from someone. Yes you should always carry your PPE on your rigs even if you are doing a fundraiser, you never know when you could need it. 

However they could not really just drive by without doing anything. At least from what I saw they were smart and kept a distance from the vehicle and contained the fire until hopefully back up arrived that could open up and overhaul with the proper gear.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Veach on March 23, 2012 at 2:01pm

I don't care about the dresses.  That is whatever.  I do think they were incorrect for fighting that fire without proper gear on.  Until we as fire fighters realize that we need to protect ourselves before we try and protect other people, there will always be cases where firefighters die needlessly.  It's in our nature to want to help and often times we elevate that above our own needs.  What did they gain from extinguishing that fire?  The front car was completely gone and the truck is probably considered totaled due to the extensive fire damage to the engine and water damage to the cab.  They risked a lot in doing so.  We need to embrace the saying: risk a lot to save a lot, risk little to save little.  These guys were awesome and went above and beyond to help these people, but they could have lost their lives or been severely injured.  This is when experienced guys need to step up and coach younger ones about the risks and rewards of this type of action.  They shouldn't be chastised, but coached.

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Permalink Reply by Patti Walz on March 23, 2012 at 3:34pm

My husband wanted to know why they were not wearing their PPE?  Kept asking if they were real FF's.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on March 23, 2012 at 8:38pm

Maybe they were going 'regimental' and thought it inappropriate to change ;)

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on March 25, 2012 at 6:57am

I gotta agree with Russ. But I admit this is too funny. Just glad nobody got hurt. Destined to be a classic...

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Permalink Reply by Moose on March 26, 2012 at 9:39am

Thats the only thing I agree with here, and thats they atleast had the sense to stay far enough back to avoid some smoke and any exploding shocks/struts. 

If I were on this rig (I would have had my turnouts with me) these guys would have never got off the truck, the deck gun would have been dumped into the truck to keep it from spreading until another unit with properly attired firefighters arrived to overhaul it the safe way.  Like already mentioned, this truck was totaled the second it caught fire, why put anyone in jeopardy for that?  No one was inside the truck, no life was in jeopardy...WHY??

Besides, have any of you ever tried to get smoke and soot stains out of satin before?  Its a NIGHTMARE!!  Personaly I would have gone with the sun dress and no heels, maybe a pair of sunglasses too, but no hand bags or other accessories, they just get in the way...LOL

Please stay safe everyone and learn from these guys what NOT to do!! LOL

 

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Permalink Reply by 3us8225bsp2fp on March 26, 2012 at 10:03am

I agree with the deck gun. No one is in a great risk if you stand back and flood it with the deck gun and wait for back up to arrive.

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