Comments show that our beliefs are hypocritical once we find a body.
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Two videos, among many heavily critiqued, show the odd irrational, illogical beliefs many in the fire service have towards safety, job duties and rescues. To be blunt, they reveal a large number of hypocrites riding fire apparatus.
Two videos of fireground operations, while very different in many ways, show a striking similarity in comments. The first was of the Hackensack, New Jersey Fire Department's initial operations at a fire in a two-story residential dwelling. Many viewers took on multiple actions recorded, but what is interesting is the complaints about the deputy chief who entered the foyer without any SCBA on.
Now, fast forward to a video from Lake Station, Indiana of a fire in a single-story residential dwelling. Many minutes into the video we see a chief come out of the structure carrying a child, and not wearing any SCBA.
Comments on various sites and FirefighterNation, FireRescue Magazine's Facebook page criticized the Hacksensack deputy and praised the Hobart chief. Of course there were both good and bad acts in each video, some more important than wearing SCBA. One has to realize that videos only show one side at a time and don't include pertinent information such as staffing, department operations, etc. No excuse for either but it helps to be in context when critiquing.
The larger question remains, begging to be asked, why are you such a hypocrite when it comes to safety and firefighting? Why do some of you condemn the Hackensack chief and out of the same mouth praise the Hobart chief? Apparently the act of finding an occupant inside a fire and removing them negates all blatantly obvious acts of safety in the minds of some firefighters.
"But what about when you are on air and find someone and you remove your facepiece to give them your air?"
"Deal With It"
There is a simple answer to that. You went inside, fully inside, with your SCBA on. Perhaps that is why many of the same hypocrites who chastised the Hackensack deputy believe the support of their argument lies in the body of a victim found. That is illogical and quite stupid given all the availability to don SCBA prior to entry. Unfortunately when a safety conscious or rather common sense-conscious individual questions why there is no SCBA worn, the usual answer is that the subject was "getting the job done."
No PPE! The Sky is Falling!
The very technology that has affected our education also unfortunately allows for clothing intrepid viewers to treat each firefighter seen as if he or she was being judged on the red carpet at the Oscars. Leave your gloves in your pocket for a brief moment, fail to don a chin strap or in this case SCBA, and you may have well shown up carrying nothing but the can and wearing boxers. It should be understood that in most urban departments chief officers are, initially, at a fixed command post or are in the street slightly roaming, taking in the scene and operations as they develop. Communication as the beginning fire attack unfolds comes in many forms and is not limited to the handie-talkie. In nearly every article, blog post and training information I've personally seen, avoiding unnecessary radio traffic is proper. Why key the mike when they person you are going to talk to is just down the hall? In the Hackensack video, we must first recognize that you and I were not there. Hard as it is for many of you to believe, all you are seeing and hearing is limited. Everything else is assumption.
Many commentators took apart the Hackensack video for errors they understood themselves. In the time that these two video were online and shared the deputy seen was critiqued for micro-managing and not having SCBA on. Is it true that the chief may have taken in some smoke during his brief time in the foyer? It is possible. Was he micro-managing? I would say no and that since I wasn't there who cares? What I find disturbing in this electronic fire service is the PPE hypocrisy. Would there be no problem if the Hackensack deputy and gone in, past the nozzle team and emerged some time later with a child in his arms, much like the Lake Station fire?
Some of you think so.
While it is true that at times, rare times possibly, firefighters might have to commit acts that increase their risk of injury for a greater positive outcome, these are individual exceptions and not universal norms. To criticize one chief and praise another, with the sole difference between acts of the two being a body rescued is hypocrisy.
If you believe this is perfectly fine, that a body found is the proof you need to dismiss lack of SCBA or other PPE and you point out the lack when no body is found, then you are a hypocrite, playing the rescue card.
Bill Carey is the daily news and blog manager for Elsevier Public Safety (FireRescue Magazine/Firefighter Nation, JEMS and LawOfficer sites.) Bill also manages the FireEMSBlogs.com network and is a former volunteer lieutenant with the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George's County, Maryland.
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Be prepared for the worst, train for all hazards and make the best desicion you can with whats in front of you, thats all we can do. Hoepfully we win more then we lose. Use videos to learn about fire behavior and gain insight to modern fire problems. Keep your monday morning quarterbacking to yourself. You were not there, you dont have the full story. Learn to apply your own critical thinking.
Thanks Chris. How much of a full story does one need to notice the contrast in others' thought processes? This isn't so much as questioning acts and judgements but more about questioning what the viewer states as acceptable and not acceptable. Should both chief officers be bottled up and on air? I personally don't believe the Hackensack deputy should. Could both benefit from being 'on air'? Yes. We obviously know which breathable are has less toxins in it. However, is the Hobart chief excused simply because he came out with a child in his arms? This isn't a train for the worse , make the best, scenario, unless the chief had donned his SCBA prior to entry and for some unknown and unexplained reason took it off and left it inside. To apply our own critical thinking we are led, by comments, to believe that in the rescue of a victim, well into the arrival of the department, carrying said victim we don't have to pay regard to the products of combustion and in the event of future possible victims we can abandon a basic compliment of our PPE.
Oh, and if there is no victim, then everyone must be dressed to the nines and penalized if not. We don't have to be either in Lake Station or Hackensack to see this is ignorant.
Bill Carey
Bill, I applaud your efforts to call people out for their misuse of this medium. At our fingertips are literally thousands of videos that we can use as training tools for size-up and fireground tactics just to name a few. That only exists in a perfect world, because we all know that these sites become more of a forum for people to get on their soapboxes, throw good sense to the wind, and mindlessly comment.
To many, as you have pointed out, the outcome of the incident solely determines their level of either disdain or applause they are willing to heap upon the firefighters they happen to be viewing at the time. What irks me is that for most, the end always justifies the means. No matter the danger a person puts themselves in, as long as a life is saved, some are willing to accept and even condone greviously unsafe practices.
What also infuriates me is which fire departments seem to get the most blind criticism. For instance, if a video is posted of a firefighter from Rooster Poot VFD operating in an above average manner without his chinstrap fastened, the keyboard commandos lambast his abilities and his department. On the other side of the equation, if a video is posted of an ineffective, fumbling, stumbling idiot in FDNY gear, those same people will sing his praises based upon his affiliation with a large organization. Nobody talks about it but it happens. I'm not picking on Rooster Poot or the FDNY, they are just the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Thanks for bringing this to light, and keep on keeping on! I'm a huge fan of "Media brought to you 100% Bullshit Free".
Bill, I must aplogize. After seeing your response to the comment I left, my writing error is obvious. My comments were NOT directed to your or your post. It was directed towards the statements of others, those statements you referred to.
The internet has increased the abilities to see more of what happens on the fireground. However the down side are those who simply critique with no real information.
When I made my comment I was simply frustrated at those who continue give their two cents. In fact I agree whole heartedly with your post. You cannot basterdize one while praise the other.
Sorry I will do better in the future. I will still be a loyal reader!
Thanks…chris
Chris,
No need to apologize. It is mostly my error, the difficulty in discussing matters in writing as opposed to voice.
Bill Carey