THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…
BY BILL MANNING
In Houston, Texas, a member of the 40-member volunteer corps died in a house fire. In Branford, Connecticut, and New Orleans, Louisiana, building collapses killed two firefighters. In Somers, Connecticut, a firefighter was electrocuted. In Schuylerville, New York, a firefighter was trapped and died in a flashover, while in Cincinnati, Ohio, a flashover severely injured another. In Boston, Massachusetts, a firefighter fell through a pole hole and was killed. In Chicago, a firefighter died from heart failure at an incident. These are just a few of the catastrophes that have befallen the fire service in the past two months.
There`s a long year ahead, but I predict the rate of firefighter line-of-duty deaths and injuries per structure fire once again will show no significant difference from 10 years ago. That it has improved is the ultimate farce perpetrated by the safety establishment, a fact some standards makers, fire consultants, and manufacturers don`t want you to know. Safety-wise, we`re not getting better; we`re marching in place. If you have 40 percent fewer firefighter deaths but 40 percent fewer fires, where is the gain? But the fire service has bought it all–hook, line, and sinker….
Is there a fire department out there that hasn`t jumped through the EMS hoops for city managers? When they said, “Diversify!” the fire service said, “Thanks for asking–we can`t wait to do something other than fire prevention and protection!” You know there were some old-timers out there chuckling over fire departments falling over themselves in the great rush to be “progressive” and “responsive to the community.” I have nothing against emergency medical services–really, I think every community should have them–but some fire departments may have been better off placing a few more firefighters in the field and on the rigs to prevent and extinguish fires before purchasing ambulances. I hope I`m wrong, but it nags at me that a plunge toward diversification is silent approbation of our yearly fire loss statistics, which, may I remind you, are as yet nothing to brag to the world about.
What`s more valuable to the fire department: a fancy computerized personnel notification system for all members or more firefighters on the rigs? (Hint: The answer is not, “Computers won`t ask for a raise.”)
Just a few months ago, a chief from North Carolina informed me that the tired, ugly municipal argument for “fire-police persons” (is that firefighters with guns or cops with handlines?) still lives. The first reference to this “forward-thinking”concept, I found, was National Fireman`s Journal, 1879.
Do new recruits receive more hours of fire training or EMS training? I`m told of one case in which the recruits must pass a stringent EMS regimen while the “fire stuff” is learned out in the field.
A coalition of concerned firefighters, teachers, and parents in a small upstate New York town are urging politicians to take action to correct unsafe conditions in one of their schools, whose secondary means of egress for second-floor occupants is “flight” and for third-floor occupants either a 200-pound capacity rope ladder and/or “flight.” The building has no fire escapes and only one interior protected stairway. The superintendent said the school board two years before had proposed a building project that addressed safety/codes issues, but the voters turned it down. If the town pursues the “enhancements” as an emergency action, it`ll receive little if any funding from the state. If it`s done through the normal-speed capital-improvements channels, the state will provide funding. Beyond the unbelievable fact that our children are expected to jump three floors if their primary means of escape is blocked, what do you think the town should do: make emergency repairs or keep its fingers crossed and wait for state monies?
Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen engineered a wholesale reorganization of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department upper management, naming Assistant Chief Joseph Casaburi as the new chief of department, replacing Chief Frank Cruthers, who was moved back to his former position as citywide tour commander. The move was made on New Year`s Eve, just a short time before Cruthers was to qualify for a chief of department`s pension. Numerous staff and division chief assignments were changed, including those of operations chief, training chief, prevention chief, and several at the divisional level. A spokesperson for Von Essen, former president of the New York City firefighter`s local, said, “This is not a bloodletting.”
Washington turf battles have left the fire service out in the cold on federal training for chemical/biological/radiological incidents. In a letter to Battalion Chief Tom Kennedy of the Northeast States Fire Consortium, U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command Director James J. Savage wrote that his organization “had planned to host a workshop during December… entitled `First Responders Training for CB Incident Response`” but that the workshop had to be postponed “to allow time for the Interagency Advisory Group to approve a Joint Federal Training Strategy, select the metropolitan areas to be initially involved, and develop the strategies and priorities for implementing the total Federal program.” Kennedy believes that since the National Fire Academy is not part of the Interagency Advisory Group, the fire service “is being cut out of federal funding for training and equipment.” In a December 15, 1996, letter to President Clinton, the Northeast States Fire Consortium requested that the federal government give the fire service the access to the system it deserves, listing eight specific items the consortium feels are required to meet the needs of the fire service in preparing for terrorist response. These items included an NFA seat on the Interagency Advisory Group and additional NFA funding for the development and dissemination of appropriate training courses.
Speaking of expanding roles, fire inspectors, according to some, have been thrust into the municipal limelight, required to prove their value to the community. Some fire departments are encouraging their inspectors to become partners with the business community, providing technical input on risk management and loss recovery plans. There may be value in this for hermetically sealed suburban neighborhoods, but it raises the questions, What do the tax dollars pay for? Are public funds to be apportioned for private gains? While the inspector spends half the day discussing the business`s recovery plan, who`s out there inspecting the rest of the town? Of course, it is politically unrealistic in this modern day of value-added public services, but I liked the image of the crusty, unyielding inspector demanding code compliance for every occupancy and every item throughout the town.
Today, you have to be political masseur instead of catcher of code violators. This aligns more closely with the politicos` disguise, which in public sounds like “total code compliance” but in private, to the fire inspector, is, “Don`t be too tough on my friends, or else.”
I`d like to remind all our readers of the tremendous educational, training, and networking opportunities for you at the 1997 Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We have retooled an already well-attended conference so that our primary constituents–fire department leaders at every rank and level–can maximize the value from meaningful time with like-minded instructors and peers. Give us a call at 1-888-TEL-FDIC if you need information. I truly look forward to seeing many of you there.
