Behavior Is the Truth

Our actions, decisions, and choices paint the portrait of our lives; our behavior is the true reflection of what we believe, of who we are. Andrew Vachss said, “Behavior is the truth.” My good friend Pete Prochilo clarified it further by saying, “Always and everywhere, behavior is the truth.” Our tactics are our organizational behavior. Tactics is a subject about which much has been written and one that is constantly not changing but evolving. There is an important and a substantive difference between change and evolution.

Some change is brought about by force, and it is often sudden with no warning. There is nothing we resist more than being forced to do something against our will, better judgment, or personal beliefs. Occasionally in the fire service, we see change that is little more than irresponsible actions brought about by social fads, social engineering, and albeit well-intentioned but misguided individuals who do not understand our work.

But far more elegant and natural is the evolution of our tactics. Our tactical growth is natural and unforced, which we all embrace and neither resist nor feel threatened by. In applied tactics, there is a need to allow for a certain degree of leeway in our work when making decisions in dynamically complex situations on the fireground, and this is where evolution occurs.

Our lasting successful tactics have evolved spontaneously from the bottom up; they are organic. Evolution is from us; it is classically liberal, open, embracing, and understanding. Forced change is illiberal and tyrannical; it eliminates individual creativity, prohibits innovation, and threatens our sense of self-control and determination. Forced change leads to resistance, rejection, bitterness, and little more.

Our fire service is currently very “relaxed” on the fireground, but we are evolving toward a different mindset. We do not desire that we create a service of risk-adverse worry warts preoccupied with their own personal safety. But we are convinced right now that we are evolving, seizing opportunities to reengage our members with a new respect for the fireground and an evolved focus that will enhance our effectiveness, reduce our exposures, and improve our survivability.

We continue our proud tradition of evolving our tactics from the bottom up-evolving our tactics because the terrain is different, evolving our tactics because the threats are different, evolving our tactics because our tools are different.

We need to begin by applying more accurate descriptions to the place where we do our work. The fireground has boundaries. When we are going downrange to fight fire, we need to establish a forward-operating area that is safe-free from toxic assault, thermal assault, and gravitational assault. Beyond a set perimeter on the fireground established by the task level leader, it could be 10 feet, 20 feet, or 50 feet; this area is the “Kill Zone,” where anything less than full personal protective equipment (PPE), on air, and assigned to task is not permitted.

Firefighters working in the “Kill Zone” need to “Green2,” which means being prepared, assigned, and briefed on the task, tactic, and strategy they are participating in. Green2 needs to be vocalized by each member of the team and verified by the team leader. When you say you are Green2, it means you understand, are prepared, and are capable of performing your assigned task while remaining focused on the risks and danger you face.

For us structural folks, the door to the building is the fatal funnel: We enter a place in which, when things go bad, it is unforgiving; this is where being Green2 can save lives. Flow paths can change, floors can become unreliable, and roofs can become compromised.

Part of that evolution must be on how we fix ourselves into the Green2 mindset. Every experienced firefighter knows that we will never mitigate all risk to zero and, yes, sometimes we will compromise our own safety to save the lives of others. But what risks we can control we will control. We want our behavior to reflect what we know is the truth, acknowledging that we know that doing brave and heroic things involves risk.

But we ordinary firefighters understand the difference between the risks we can manage and those we can’t. We understand the difference between the risks we’re willing to take and the risks we don’t have to take to complete the mission. We know our structural PPE, our battle rattle, raises our core temperature, putting us at unusual risk for cardiovascular events. We know our gear after a fire is contaminated with toxins.

We can control those risks; we can control them by wearing our fatigues when we’re not engaged in structural firefighting, by doffing our PPE when we are in rehab, by doffing our PPE before we get back in the cab, by keeping our PPE out of our living quarters.

We must infuse our firefighters with a firefighter downrange mindset, one that says, “I thoroughly understand the risks; I have prepared myself to the best of my abilities; I accept the mission; and, while I am engaged in going downrange, there is nothing else occupying my mind except the mission, my team, and our success. I won’t let myself be easy to kill.”

This evolution toward a downrange mindset evolving within this generation of firefighters will birth a cancer-free generation so that for this generation, this moment in time will be known as our finest moment, as the moment we took on our greatest challenges without fear, without hesitation, and, by our evolved behaviors, proved that always and everywhere a firefighter’s behavior is the truth.

Ego, Honor, and Dueling
Honor Ante Omnia, No One Left Behind
Grievance Culture, Command, and Understanding