Letters to the Editor
Need more than fire suppression services
Reference is made to the Fire Commentary articles “It`s Time for Us to Reclaim Our Fire Service,” Greg Falkenthal, and “Let`s Get Back to the Basics of Firefighting,” Jake Rixner (March 1999), which, ironically, I read with disbelief after returning from an EMS run. The engine company with which I responded delivered two jolts from an AED and used CPR to save a male patient. Believe it or not, our team performed this task, and the man wasn`t even on fire. Imagine that!
In January 1990, we lost three firefighters in a residential fire. Two lost their lives, and one had to retire. One of those who lost their lives was my friend. If the “boondoggle two in/two out” rule had been in place, it`s quite possible these firefighters would still be with the department and their families.
This is not to say that the authors don`t make some valid points. The services (suppression, EMS, haz mat, and so on) fire protection organizations offer their customers today are highly technical and require endless hours of training. I emphasize the word “endless,” because there is no money, training is already suffering, and it is humanly impossible to maintain proficiency in all the services we are required to offer. Fasten your seatbelt. In the near future, the fire service will be required to train and prepare for disaster response and terrorist attacks.
The authors offer denunciation, not resolution. A firefighter`s job description should never say “to save lives in the event of fire.” It should simply say “to save lives.”
We have for the longest time been our own worst enemy. To a very large degree, the fire service remains a reactionary organization–reactionary in the services we are required to deliver and reactionary to the political environment in which we are forced to operate. Falkenthal is correct when he suggests that we need to solve our own problems. Nobody can rationally argue that the services we deliver are not required. Problems or not, when it comes to the question of delivery of these services, if not the fire department, then who?
Larry B.G. Barton
Firefighter/haz-mat specialist/EMT/ instructor/public educator U
Danville, Virginia
