Losing sight of the basics
Jon H. Alberghini
Chief
Kingston (MA) Fire Department
The subject of fires in attached garages in one- or two-story houses was featured in Tom Brennan`s “You Should K.I.S.S. This `Job` ” (Random Thoughts, February 1998) as well as in the February issue of another fire service publication. To read two articles on the same subject, published in the same month, in two popular fire service publications is unusual. The fact that the authors presented two entirely different tactics in handling the same type of incident is not.
Brennan, in his typical straightforward, back-to-basics, bread-and-butter, short-and-sweet, get-it-done style, addresses the immediate problem: Get in, attack the fire, get out. “Period–the end,” as the column states.
The other article lists a 22-step process to follow in addressing the same incident. The first 15 steps do nothing as far as attacking the fire. They address tasks such as handing out ID sector vests, assigning ventilating crews, assigning forcible entry crews, starting PPV, getting the thermal imaging camera crew, covering exposures, and so on. But it isn`t until you get to step 16 that “Attack the fire”… is addressed.
It doesn`t matter which school of thought the authors represent. It does matter that there is a serious problem and disagreement in the fire service today when it comes to how we do our job. The above-mentioned articles attest to that. Whether it be firefighting, EMS, tech rescue, haz mat, or any other support functions the fire service is delivering, we are being overwhelmed with 22-step processes and are losing sight of the basics. The sad thing is that we are doing it to ourselves.
