There is an old story about an old man who lived alone. Watching the weather report one day, the forecaster warned of heavy rains and flooding. Shortly thereafter, a fire engine came by and told them they were there to evacuate him. He declined politely, telling the firefighters that the Lord would take care of him. The rains came and sure enough — so did the flooding. By this time, the water was up to the second floor. A small boat with a couple of firefighters came by and knocked on the window. “We’re here to rescue you,” they told the man. “No, thanks,” he replied. “The Lord will care for me.” The rain came down even heavier. By this time, the old man was on his roof. Then a helicopter came by with a firefighter on the line. He called to the man and said, “I’m here to rescue you. Come with me.” But the old man declined politely, with the same reply. Sadly, the waters rose higher and the old man perished. When he arrived in Heaven, he was angry. He marched right to the Lord and said, “How could You do this to me? I’ve always held my faith in You. I never doubted You. Never questioned you! How could You let this happen?” And the Lord replied, “Who do you think sent the fire engine, the boat and the helicopter!”
Firefighters are a proud lot and rightly so. We run into the places that everyone else is running out of. Why? Because we chose to swear an oath to protect the lives and property of the citizens we serve, whether we reside in their community or not. We are ready to “put it all on the line” for complete strangers; men, women and children and everything they own. Sounds very brave, does it not? It is. Yet, in almost every firehouse in this country, no matter if the firefighters are career, paid-on-call or volunteer, no matter the rank, from the newest rookie to the most seasoned chief, you will find firefighters who refuse to save themselves.
What am I saying? Am I implying that if one firefighter is injured on a call another will not come to his/her aid? No, not at all. Any firefighter would come to the aid of a comrade. However, what I am saying is that there are firefighters who refuse to “save” themselves; specifically, from many of the hazards that firefighters are exposed to because of the job they do and, that can be mitigated!
No one denies that firefighting can be a very dangerous job. We can divide these dangers into two specific categories, general hazards and health hazards. General hazards include all the tasks that must be performed traveling to an emergency, on-scene of that emergency and returning from it. Such dangers include traffic accidents, a sudden collapse of a structure, an explosion, impaired drivers and many more. Often, there is no way for the firefighters to know one of these perils is about to happen; thus, there is no way to prevent it.
Health hazards are quite different, though. Today, very few firefighters, except perhaps for the newest rookies (and probably very, very few of them) are unaware of the health risks associated with firefighting. The articles are in every industry magazine. The Line of Duty Death notices are published in them, as well. Most departments, even in the most rural areas, make some effort to address the issues of firefighter health, fitness for duty and health-hazard mitigation to their members. Yet, there are many that will still turn a blind eye to the warnings and proceed as though they were a super-hero from a comic book.
Let’s look at some of the information available. In an article by Rita F. Fahy, Paul R. LeBlanc and Joseph L. Molis, “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States — 2016”,” published through the NFPA’s website in its June 2017 “News and Research” heading, the authors show that of a total of sixty-nine firefighter deaths that were attributed to have occurred in the performance of their duties, twenty-nine or 42% of those deaths were categorized as due to “overexertion/stress/medical.” The second closest cause was, “crashes” for seventeen or 25% of the deaths.
This report is far from being unique. In the U.S. Fire Administration’s October 2016 report which examined the LODD’s for 2015, of the total of ninety lives lost, sixty, representing 66.7% were attributed to “Stress/Overexertion.”
In the December 2006 edition of “Fire Engineering” magazine, author Mary Jane Dittmar notes, “Clogged arteries are a societal disease and heart disease primarily a disease of choice.” The fact that a great deal of America suffers from obesity is no longer news; sadly, it is a given. Many of us, from all walks of life and in all forms of occupations, struggle with our weight and the complexities and repercussions of being overweight. And many first responders find themselves there, as well. However, these are not the only health issues that members of the fire service are facing today.
In her September 2015 article, “How Modern Furniture Endangers Firefighters, in “The Atlantic,” magazine, author Olga Khazan writes, “There’s a misconception that only the firefighters who responded to the World Trade Center attacks on 9|11 risk developing cancer because of their exposure to asbestos and jet fuel. But in fact, cancer threatens firefighters everywhere, every day.”
Ms. Khazan continues in her article, “Although a causal link has not yet been proven, the association between firefighting and a greater cancer risk began to build about ten years ago. A meta-analysis found that firefighters have a higher risk of multiple myeloma and possibly a greater risk of contracting non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate and testicular cancers.”
What is important for us to understand is that this higher level of cancer incidence among firefighters could well be due to the fact that when we approach anything that is actively burning, be it a vehicle, a structure or even a dumpster, the chemical makeup of the burning material has a strong likelihood of containing multiple carcinogenic pathogens or other poisons that are carried by the smoke and steam (once water is applied) and settle onto everything that we are wearing and/or holding, from our turnout gear, to our helmets, gloves and tools and, any exposed skin.
At this point we have established, on average, the two greatest health risks facing the men and women of the fire service. Now, we must answer the question in the sub-title of this article, “Why Do the Rescuers Not Save Themselves?” It certainly cannot be due to a lack of information about the issues. And it cannot be because there are no suggested solutions or mitigation practices proffered by either the fire departments which they serve or the medical field. So, what is it?
Call it “ego” or “superhero syndrome.” Some may call it stupidity.
As a former firefighter/EMT I have worked hard to stay connected to the avocation that I loved. I read many of the industry journals, scan the web for the latest news and remained connected to the fire service through social media. Doing so allows me to follow the exploits of America’s bravest in some of their best actions and sadly, in some of their worst.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the fire service is the feeling of “family.” No matter your type of service and no matter your rank, firefighters in this country and around the world, consider themselves part of a special, close-knit family. And just like in any real family, we often see things happen that should not have and must be addressed. We are no different.
The American fire service has worked hard to provide firefighters with as much information about these health risks and multiple platforms that can be used to mitigate the dangers. They include health screenings, body scans, menu programs both for home and the firehouse kitchen, exercise routines and much more. The numerous industries that support the fire service constantly are researching new products, methods and services that can be used to shield and/or protect our brave men and women from many of the dangerous chemicals with which they often encounter, in performance of their jobs.
However, like the “old man” in the story at the beginning of this article, there are still firefighters who believe that they are or will be fine using the old methods or old equipment. That’s where their comfort level is and there is where they wish to stay. In the last few weeks, I viewed several videos of firefighters on the scene of active or just knocked-down fires, not wearing all their PPE and/or not wearing their SCBA masks, as well as those on-scene who were not just overweight, but who might be considered morbidly obese.
Within twenty-four hours, I saw videos from two significant fires in two major cities on the east coast. The first was a fire in an auto-body shop. The bulk of the fire had been knocked, but there was plenty of smoke and steam, meaning plenty of off-gassing taking place as well as particulates floating in the steam and smoke. One firefighter brings in a ventilation fan, his bunker coat open, wearing his SCBA, the mask not seen at all. Shortly thereafter, another firefighter enters the frame without his PPE fully secured.
In the second video, a major fire in multiple stores had burned through the ceiling and roof, forcing an outside defensive attack. Several aerial streams were setup. One shot was of the bucket with three firefighters inside and a fair amount of visible smoke and steam around them. Two of the firefighters were wearing full PPE and SCBA. The third was wearing his turnout coat, but no hood, helmet or mask.
I have no doubt that in both cases, those who were not properly outfitted were well-informed and aware of the dangers of their actions. Moreover, one of the departments represented in the video is at the forefront of a long-term cancer prevention initiative for its personnel! Thus, how are we to understand the actions of our colleagues mentioned here and the many more who do the same?
It also bears mentioning that this problem is not occurring just among the rank and file members. There is plenty of video footage from news stories, “citizen reporters,” Periscope, etc., that indicate that this behavior is also seen among officers and chiefs. With that evidence, might a front-line firefighter rationalize that if a line officer or chief refuses to wear full PPE on the fireground, why should he/she have to?
The facts are out there and there is little to controvert the information that we have. Is the deliberate act of not wearing full PPE within the “hot zone” of the fireground any less an infraction of a department’s SOG than riding the back step or continuing to smoke after signing a department’s “contract” that disallows the use of all tobacco products by members?
The fire service and its governing agencies, from the local town council, to the state and federal levels, has lots of rules and regulations; 99.99% of them very, very necessary. Infractions often come with penalties. Yet, none of those penalties are as severe as what might happen to us when we choose to not avail ourselves of every piece of firefighting technology, health services and more, deliberately created to mitigate as many dangers as possible that we face when fighting fire today.
The foundation of who we are and what we do is cached in the oath that we take when we are sworn in, “…to protect the lives and property of the citizens of __________.” Yet, if we will not “rescue” ourselves, who will?
Steven S. Greene, is a former firefighter/EMT in Guilford County, NC and Onondaga County NY, where he was certified in Firefighter I & II, Pump Operations and High-Level Rescue, before an injury forced his retirement from active duty. He is president of Dalmatian Productions, Inc. for which he produces the podcast, “5-Alarm Task Force.” He can be reached at steve@dalmatianproductions.tv or on Twitter @DalmatProd.
