By Billy Jack Wenzel
Have you been there? It is 0300 and you are toned out to a house fire. You are slow out of the station. Damn bunkers, you can’t get them on; the suspenders are twisted. Your engine driver has that glazed-over look, and he has driven past the street before you can correct him. When you finally arrive on scene, the house has fire blowing out a rear window. You prepare to make an interior attack, but your attack line is in a pile at the engine. Ultimately, the house become totally involved and a 15-minute room-and-contents fire has turned into an all-night surround-and-drown. Why is it that so often incidents which have a bad start never get better? It is incredibly important to get a good start. It is not enough to simply start, we must learn start smart.
Starting smart begins on your days off. Today’s environment challenges our department and us. We are graded on how well we respond. If you report to duty after staying up too late and being the life of the party, you will not bring your best to the station. Family matters must be addressed while you are at home so you are not distracted at the station. Dragging personal baggage into the station can distract everyone and cause us to lose our focus.
The same applies to “part-time jobs.” We are fortunate that our schedule allows us to work “part-time” jobs to augment our incomes. But there is a problem when that “part time” job spills over into the station, or, even worse, becomes more important than your commitment to the fire service. It is hard to find a worse distraction from our focus than a member who runs his “part-time” job from the fire station and blatantly admits the only reason he stays in the fire service is for the insurance. Starting smart is about making smart decisions, and those decisions begin before you step inside the fire station.
Starting smart at the fire station begins with proper and timely relief of the off-going shift. It is important to know what has happened in your area and at your station during your days off. Shift change is one of the most valuable parts of your shift, and the one part that is used least. The exchange of ideas and information from shift to shift is critical for cohesive operations. This exchange will also prevent misunderstandings and the dreaded “Shift Wars.”
Continue your smart start after the exchange of information with the other shift by checking the apparatus. The morning check of apparatus is much more than the quick check of critical components. I once had a firefighter that would drink a pot of coffee while checking his apparatus. The point here is it should be a slow and deliberate check of all systems and equipment–not just a simple check to see if equipment is there, but a check to see if the equipment is there and will operate. This is also the time to position your personal protective clothing and hand tools where they will be easy to grab and make donning simple.
Start training now to start smart and stay smart. Start smart training begins with the basics, what many of us call bread and butter. Most basic training should be initiated and completed by the individual firefighter. Proficiency in “first-in” streets, basic pumping, and firefighter essentials are required from every firefighter; they should not need to be spoon-fed training. Stay current on the fundamentals before seeking out other training opportunities. Training not only makes you start smart, but allows you to finish safe.
There are a multitude of other areas that can influence how smart we are in our operations. Physical fitness, professional appearance, and progressive customer service are all important parts of who we are and where we want to go as a department. But we must not forget the bread and butter, the beginning, and the foundation of our professional “start smart” image.
Now let’s go back: it is 0300 and you are toned out to a house fire. You are quick out of the station; your person protective equipment goes on smoothly because you positioned it with donning in mind. Your engine driver knows the address because he reviewed his “first-in” area during some free time he had after dinner. On scene, the house has fire blowing out a rear window. You make an interior attack quickly because the pump was primed and ready to go after the morning check. A 15-minute room-and-contents fire goes out because of your team’s “smart start.”
Billy Jack Wenzel is a 25-year veteran of the Wichita (KS) Fire Department. He is a past member of the department’s hazardous-materials team and has a hazardous materials technician level certification. He has been a member of the department’s technical rescue team for 15 years and is certified in many areas including: high angle, trench, SCUBA, and confined space. Wenzel is an NFA adjunct instructor, an EMI adjunct instructor, a past instructor at FDIC, and an instructor for KUFRTI. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He is also a published author of several fire-related articles including, “Kansas Grain Dust Explosion” in Fire Engineering.
