Author’s Note: Well, well, well. You may have noticed that the curtain has been pulled back and the closet door is open. Just in case you are one of the two people left who aren’t aware of this, I’m Nozzlehead … sort of … well, maybe. Well, I do write this column, but I may get input from others so when you get answers to your questions they are my answers … sometimes but not always …maybe.
Actually, I’ve been Nozzlehead since the start back in 1998–and the answers were always mine. This column started when the late Chief Jim Page (publisher of FireRescue and JEMS back in the day) approached me and asked me to write this column under the “Nozzlehead” name. And I have ever since.
So why the change? The new leadership of FireRescue said so, and as crazy as it sounds in 2015, when your boss asks you to do something, I generally do. I know–that’s insane.
Regardless, I promise you that, as I have for the past 18 years, I will give you 100 percent honesty, no BS, no political correctness, loads of cynicism, sarcasm, and a usable solution to your issue that you will love … maybe. —Billy G
Dear Nozzlehead,
I am a very frustrated firefighter. Each day it is obvious to me that we are one fire or rescue run away from something really terrible happening at our suburban/urban volunteer fire/EMS department. In the past month, one department on the north side of our county had a house fire, and it took a dozen fire departments to muster enough personnel to actually start making headway. Having poor staffing during the day is nothing new in our area! Then, a few days ago, a nearby department had a down firefighter lost in a building fire, and he was found accidentally when other firefighters were moving hoselines.
I really feel we could be next to experience critical injury or death, and I am not alone. Our chiefs are elected, and although we have some good chiefs, they have short terms, so in five years we often have five chiefs run through that position. I am really not sure what to do, but I want to do something so that our leadership understands how close we are to being the next headline. Any suggestions?
—(Feeling) Alone on an Island
Dear Feeling,
I hear ya, pal. Sometimes it’s best just to look for an old volleyball, name him Wilson, and talk to him–you may actually get more done!
Your frustrations are not unique; there are other justifiably frustrated firefighters out there. There are also some who are full of baloney and just tend to whine about everything. Forget those “square rooters.” Let’s focus on a solution to your concerns: “predicting” what may happen in your fire department, what might hurt you, what might kill you or others.
There is something out there that will cost your department nothing and will allow you to absolutely predict where your department is at greatest risk for things to go really bad. It’s called the Vulnerability Assessment Program (VAP).
VAP is a cutting edge tool to provide those facts and figures that will make a difference at budget time. It improves how your department operates and serves the community, and it demonstrates how lives and money will be saved by helping to avoid line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) and injuries.
No cost. Free. And you do it yourself.
VAP is designed to give department leaders a clear picture of the challenges their department faces in trying to reduce unnecessary risk to firefighters, and it also provides the supporting documents a chief needs to help others understand important safety issues.
VAP is a very user-friendly, Web-based tool that fire chiefs, safety officers, and others can use to evaluate areas of risk within their department that could lead to near misses, serious injuries, and LODDs. It was created by input from numerous members of the fire service and fire service organizations including the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the International Associations of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the National Fallen Firefighter Foundations (NFFF), and many others.
By answering a series of questions, the user will receive a vulnerability ranking and a set of corrective recommendations. These could include a list of resources such as NFPA standards or sample protocols or policy from departments that have implemented a fire size-up policy, an accountability system, a seat belt policy, a health and wellness initiative, etc.
Funding for the design and development of the VAP is being provided exclusively by Honeywell First Responder Products with assistance from the United States Fire Administration and is coordinated by the NFFF.
When the idea first came up and as discussions became plans and more fire service organizations became interested, some objectives of the project began to crystallize, such as the following:
- Develop a fire service vulnerability assessment model recognized by all national stakeholders.
- Create an effective tool for assessing exposures and risk (gaps in capabilities) associated with firefighter LODDs and injuries.
- Provide a tool that is easy to use and has value for small and large fire departments.
- Educate elected and appointed officials on fire department capabilities and limitations.
- Educate the public on risks and exposures to gain community support for preventing LODDs and injuries.
- Educate firefighters on risk potential and areas of exposure.
By using the VAP, departments will be able to identify risks, mitigate the risks, and ultimately reduce injuries and save lives and money. In these times, when funding is a critical issue for everyone in the fire service, the VAP will help chiefs determine how and where the money is best spent–especially for preventive funding.
Gone are the days that we can speak about emotions. Cost is the bottom line. The common language is dollars and cents. The VAP converts emotional language into usable language to accomplish what everyone wants–a smarter fire service.
And while some people can argue with emotions, you cannot argue with numbers; VAP cuts out the BS and identifies the real issues departments and their leaders need to pay attention to. It’s like going to the doctor: While you may want to avoid it, the sooner you go, the sooner you know what you need to improve.
VAP helps the following:
- Elected officials, commissioners, and city hall to understand the facts without emotion. It shows that they own the problems and have the ability to fix them.
- Fire department leaders to best explain the needs and issues facing their departments in a neutral objective manner.
- Citizens and taxpayers to understand what level of service they should have and what level of service they may currently have–and the costs affiliated with all levels of service.
- Firefighters to understand why their department needs to change as opposed to doing it the same way it always has.
- Chiefs to work with mutual-aid chiefs in a collaborative manner to best identify risk and related problems on mutual-aid responses.
Imagine your fire chief attends a budget meeting to justify why your department needs to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace aging apparatus, or for more training opportunities, or to help council members understand why firefighters’ lives (and citizen lives) will be in jeopardy if those drastic budget cuts were enacted. Few fire chiefs have avoided these scenarios in recent years. The questioning can get very tough when your chief is on the hot seat fighting for your department’s needs, and sometimes, believe it or not, “personalities” can get in the way of doing what’s right.
The chief may be “right” but past issues with commissioners “smoke up” the lines of communication. Those holding the purse strings need real data and other proof to support your requests. What’s a fire chief to do? VAP!
VAP proves what’s genuinely needed at your department, without emotion, and it provides the facts, ma’am … just the facts.
For more information on the VAP, visit www.FireVap.org and click on “Program Overview.”
