January cover photo praised
Justin Newton
Captain, Station 5
Tri-Community Fire Department
Collegedale, Tennessee
I know that the letters about cover photos have long been a sore spot to some, a nuisance to others, and maybe a learning experience to many. So many cover photos have made me cringe, some in fear for my fellow firefighters` lives due to the highly unsafe practices that were going on and others in frustration for the obvious bad firefighting practices.
After looking at January`s cover, I knew I had to say something. Thank you, Indianapolis Fire Department, for aggressively attacking a house fire with modern firefighting techniques and with all safety practices in place. After viewing the cover, I said that this had to be a picture of a training burn somewhere, because everything looked so perfect–two firefighters performing vertical ventilation and two others horizontal ventilation, at least two ground ladders thrown, two roof ladders on the roof, the firefighters on the ladders, positive ventilation fan in place (as the firefight is in progress), and all firefighters involved in the operation are fully turned out with SCBA masks in place.
I was very pleased to learn that it was a shot of a real fire, and it did not surprise me at all that it pictured members of the Indianapolis Fire Department. I had the pleasure to meet some of them and listen to their chief while at the FDIC last year. It is a very progressive and well-trained fire department.
We all should strive to get as much high-quality training as we can and then put those training practices in place on the fireground. The Indianapolis Fire Department is not more trained or better than any of the rest of us, but we can all practice safe operations, no matter what the size or budget of our department. Ours is an honorable occupation. We must keep it that way by satisfying our “customers”; using modern techniques, such as positive-pressure ventilation and loss control procedures; and not getting ourselves hurt or killed. I am a captain with a four-station, 26-piece apparatus, all-volunteer fire department with a class four ISO rating. It is very progressive, very “up” on training, and very safety minded. All this is accomplished with volunteer members and a not-so-large budget. Please, let`s all start thinking safety on the fireground.
