Dear Nozzlehead: I heard the most irresponsible, dangerous, ridiculous statement I have ever heard yesterday during a post-incident critique. During an apartment fire, an officer working on an engine went to the incident commander (IC) and told him the firefighters needed a break for rehab. The IC apparently told him he was a pansy and that maybe the next time there was a fire, he would send him straight to the ER rather than to the scene. At the post-incident critique, the same IC told the crew that he planned to work them until the job was done, but that if they were sissies and needed a break, to take one. He also said he could arrange to send the wimps straight to the ER if he needed to.
This moron placed the attitude in our new firefighters’ (and our old firefighters’) heads that you work until you drop or you’ll be targeted and harassed. To me, that officer should never have the opportunity to command a fire again! The mentality of “I am tough; I can outlast you; I am invincible” is killing firefighters across the nation.
And the sad thing is, the damage is done! The young recruits who heard this will forever have the moron’s words in the back of their minds. Why on earth do the idiots seem to rise to the top?
-Crazed Firefighter
Dear Crazed,
Oh, come on now. I get to hear a lot of the “most irresponsible, dangerous and ridiculous” statements. I sorta collect ’em. Hell, watch the evening news; odds are some elected clown will provide you with an overload of irresponsible, dangerous and ridiculous statements. And just wait ? presidential elections are just around the corner!
I visited a fire department recently where one of the firefighters was really frustrated because there were so many idiots in his department. He couldn’t get over the number of stupid folks he had to work with. When he asked me what I thought, I asked him why he still worked at that department, especially if it was that bad. He looked at me like I was stupid. He said, “Come on, what can I do about this?” I really didn’t know what to tell him. How do you solve that kind of problem? Maybe the answer is that he should be thankful he was surrounded by so many morons; it makes him look great. Really great. That’s the answer! The more clowns surrounding you, the better you look. Problems solved. Sorta.
For various reasons-including?political patronage, poor promotional processes, test takers vs. those who can do the job, as well as?some poorly developed civil service systems with “holes”-some idiots do rise to the top. Sad but true. What can we do? Quite often, they are found out after something goes wrong. Hopefully nothing too bad. In your case, does the chief know how this officer is representing the department? Maybe?the chief?oughta find out? Either way, some idiots are at or near?the top, and we must deal with them.
I guess after reading the comments last year by that chief in Indiana who said he believes his trainees should be burned during training to really be trained as firefighters, I oughta get serious. I guess after reading the preliminary report about the firefighter trainee in Maryland who was recently killed while “being trained,” I should get serious. Have you read that report? Here it is. Read it and weep: http:// downloads.pennnet.com/fe/misc/20070226bcfd_ wilsonreport.pdf.
When I first read the report, I started to wonder what went right? Naturally, loads of firefighters have discussed the (as Gordon Graham says) completely “predictable” and “preventable” training fire where the trainee was killed. I’m sure some people reading this believe that “getting killed is part of the job.” See that, there are morons amongst us. Firefighters killed in fires: Is that always preventable? In most cases, yes, but we don’t always get to go home. Sometimes we die when risking our lives for others; that is part of the job. But a trainee killed in a training fire? A training fire that broke almost EVERY section of NFPA 1403?
What would YOU do if someone came to your home to inform you that your son, daughter, spouse or whomever you love was killed in a training fire THAT WAS CONDUCTED 100 PERCENT WRONG. One hundred percent wrong! Nothing was done right. NOTHING! A cynic could almost read the report and get the impression that it may have been done intentionally. Do I mean that someone woke up that morning planning to kill that trainee? No. But if YOU are responsible for firefighter safety and well being, you must do everything possible so that NO ONE GETS HURT OR KILLED. And during training, there is absolutely no excuse for death or injury. None. The children of that trainee trusted that fire department, from the chief down to every firefighter, to do their best to take care of their mom. They didn’t. She died under their failed trust. (More on that as the facts continue to unfold in the coming months.)
Let’s look at the bigger picture. How many more potentially criminal activities have taken place where firefighters may have been killed, but weren’t? Somehow when we don’t get killed or seriously injured, it makes it OK. Whatever went wrong is shrugged off with a “phew!” and life goes on. But when we read about a death, we would hope that we would learn from it. Sometimes we do; sometimes we don’t. Want a great guide on how to perform live firefighter training? Read the report I?mentioned above and DON’T DO THAT! Then get NFPA 1403 and DO THAT! There ya go. Simple.
So while you would think we would learn, the stupidity continues; after all, there have been live fire training activities since this incident where the rules were ignored. We witnessed one recently in Southern California. Live and learn? How about live and ignore? But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can fix the death-creating dumbness. And that’s where your issues and questions come in.
A couple of good friends of mine were recently talking at a national fire service conference. In that discussion, the words were flowing, especially about the trainee fatality in Maryland. One of them stated that we must stop conducting live fire training. Wrong answer! The problem isn’t live fire training. The problem, as another friend of mine interjected, is that “the trainee was killed due to a major failure in leadership.” Whoa. Leadership. He couldn’t have been more correct.
See, the live fire training that killed the trainee became the focal point during a peak of catastrophic leadership failure. Leadership failed the children of that trainee; failed leadership is responsible for her death. A department without solid leadership that respects and enforces every letter of every sentence of every policy related to firefighter safety is a department operating on borrowed time. It’s only a matter of time. Just wait and see. The same goes for your department.
The officer with the idiotic opinions about rehab is a FILWTH (err, that’s a Failure In Leadership Waiting To Happen). The problem is, those above him are also failing-miserably. And they probably don’t even know it, or are ignoring the signs. After all, if things seem fine, why mess with anyone or anything? Odds are they think things are just fine at their department. Well, why wouldn’t they be? The officers are almost always going to tell the staff chiefs that everything is great! And the firefighters will rarely jump the chain of command to raise an issue. “It just ain’t worth it,” they think. Why not? Well, just try to tell your chief that there are big problems in the department. Most chiefs don’t wanna hear it.
So what’s the solution? Chiefs must be CHIEFS. That means they must listen, solicit genuine input (and therefore get ready to have their feelings hurt. Easy? No ? but being a chief isn’t easy, Sherlock) and aggressively run the department through a strictly disciplined system of VERFIED TRUST. What’s verified trust? Well, it occurs when a boss acts on this idea: “I trust you to help me run this department, but I’m going to verify the things I trust you with to reinforce the fact that I can trust you.” In other words, chiefs must perform aggressive follow-up to ensure goals and objectives are being met. Some may confuse that with micromanagement. Don’t be confused; sometimes micromanaging is required at certain levels and times to clearly ensure “the lines” are being respected. Sometimes.
In your case, Crazed, if the senior chiefs were out verifying that those whom they allegedly trust are getting the job done-as the chief would want that job done-odds are your officer would be a bit more focused on keeping his moron levels to a minimum. He would at least be reminded of what he is (and is not) allowed to do, say and how to act. His personal opinion should mean nothing; his professional opinion should support a good, sound corporate philosophy of not wanting any member to get hurt. Push firefighters to their limit? Sure, in the right environment and conditions, that sometimes can happen. But no relief? No rehab? No proper conditioning to take care of the firefighters? An officer who intentionally wants to see physical harm done to his crew? That’s FILWTH.
Whether firefighters break for rehab can be a matter of life and death.?Fighting fires requires excellent physical conditioning?so we can exert ourselves in the?heat, cold, smoke and flames, all while dealing with the emotional stress (besides the kind of emotional stress provided by that idiot officer) of the incident.?Even the best firefighters get fatigued when operating at a working fire or rescue call. Probies?quickly find out?how much energy they?use?at a working incident. What happens??It?takes its toll, leaving us dehydrated, tired and generally beat up. Rehab helps charge our batteries so?we can get ready for service.
When you think about it, that IC is not just an officer. In this day and age, he very well may be a future criminal. There are clear lines between training, operations and stupidity, and if they are fuzzy, definitions must be made quickly, loudly and clearly so no one can question what is expected at any level of the organization.
And as far as that officer commenting that he is tough and can outlast anyone? Check with his spouse.