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If You Can't Be Careful, You'd Better Be Tough

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p1010232We got a call from school yesterday that our youngest daughter, Honora, took a header on the playground and whacked her mouth.  While she is sweet as pie, she also plunges headlong into everything, occasionally with semi-disastrous results.  After a trip to the dentist to make sure all was okay (it was), this quote I use with my kids came to mind.

When I put it into the context of our profession and the continued number of injuries that occur during training, it really made me begin to wonder; are we rewarding people for taking unnecessary risks?

I’m not one to look down upon my injured brothers and I certainly want to be there when and if one of them gets hurt in the line of duty.  I’ve been there myself as well, but again, this phrase comes to mind, and here I am wondering why personnel continue to get hurt in training.  It’s this simple; the setting is controlled, you have a plan for how things should work, and if things might go wrong, you should have alternative plans and safety measures in place.  So how is it that we have so many training accidents in this day and age?

The long and short of it is this; how can you go into a situation, knowing what the outcome is likely to be, and expect the outcome to change?  The situation I am referring to is, if we are doing live training and not adhering to good safety practices, should we be surprised when things go wrong and people get hurt or killed?

Our job is dangerous to begin with (Go ahead and admit it, we all have a certain amount of pride in saying that).  So why do we need to add to the danger in a controlled situation?  Talk about your efforts in futility- where is the glory and honor in falling off a ladder, or letting a line get away and getting clobbered,  or allowing a recruit to get trapped in a controlled burn?

If you aren’t going to use your safety equipment and if you aren’t going to use caution in conducting assigned evolutions, shouldn’t we expect you to get hurt?

Don’t be the person who is called to testify about all of the lapses in preparing for your training evolutions after having had an injury or fatality.  Take pride in knowing that you can prepare a learning environment that poses a realistic challenge, while also insuring the safety of everyone involved, so that everyone can go home and no one has to prove just how tough they really are.

Posted by truck6alpha on January 30, 2009 • Filed under: "accident prevention", change, fire service, leadership, professionalism, safety

If You Can't Be Careful, You'd Better Be Tough

3 comments

p1010232We got a call from school yesterday that our youngest daughter, Honora, took a header on the playground and whacked her mouth.  While she is sweet as pie, she also plunges headlong into everything, occasionally with semi-disastrous results.  After a trip to the dentist to make sure all was okay (it was), this quote I use with my kids came to mind.

When I put it into the context of our profession and the continued number of injuries that occur during training, it really made me begin to wonder; are we rewarding people for taking unnecessary risks?

I’m not one to look down upon my injured brothers and I certainly want to be there when and if one of them gets hurt in the line of duty.  I’ve been there myself as well, but again, this phrase comes to mind, and here I am wondering why personnel continue to get hurt in training.  It’s this simple; the setting is controlled, you have a plan for how things should work, and if things might go wrong, you should have alternative plans and safety measures in place.  So how is it that we have so many training accidents in this day and age?

The long and short of it is this; how can you go into a situation, knowing what the outcome is likely to be, and expect the outcome to change?  The situation I am referring to is, if we are doing live training and not adhering to good safety practices, should we be surprised when things go wrong and people get hurt or killed?

Our job is dangerous to begin with (Go ahead and admit it, we all have a certain amount of pride in saying that).  So why do we need to add to the danger in a controlled situation?  Talk about your efforts in futility- where is the glory and honor in falling off a ladder, or letting a line get away and getting clobbered,  or allowing a recruit to get trapped in a controlled burn?

If you aren’t going to use your safety equipment and if you aren’t going to use caution in conducting assigned evolutions, shouldn’t we expect you to get hurt?

Don’t be the person who is called to testify about all of the lapses in preparing for your training evolutions after having had an injury or fatality.  Take pride in knowing that you can prepare a learning environment that poses a realistic challenge, while also insuring the safety of everyone involved, so that everyone can go home and no one has to prove just how tough they really are.

Posted by truck6alpha on January 30, 2009 • Filed under: "accident prevention", change, fire service, leadership, professionalism, safety

Technology Reliance

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img_0258Do we overemphasize new technologies or are they acting as a crutch for poor fundamentals? This is a question posed in a thread on Firefighter Nation in regard to accountability.

As nice as some of this technology is, at the heart of the matter is this: are we teaching our firefighters to work within an organized approach to incident management or are we allowing them to do their own thing? If we have people who will not work within an established incident plan, maybe they need to find another line of work. Company officers: are you allowing this kind of “rogue mentality”? Or do you insist that crews stay within “voice, vision, or touch” and check in/check out of the Hot Zone?

Posted by truck6alpha on January 28, 2009 • Filed under: Firefighter Nation, change, fire service, government

Learning From Your Performance – Conshohocken

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AP Photo/The Times Herald, Andrea J. Stanley

AP Photo/The Times Herald, Andrea J. Stanley

I like to know what’s going on in my old stomping grounds and interestingly enough, found this article regarding the Conshohocken Riverwalk Fire in the North Penn Reporter.  Although I don’t have all the facts of the case, judging from the article, it sounds like someone is a little sensitive to the gathering of information for a post-incident critique.

I am of the school that if an incident has some “learning moments”, then we need to know of those and try to move forward from them with constructive evaluation and critique.  I fully understand the concern over litigation, but some of the questions posed, like “What were the codes being used at the time?” and questions about the construction are issues that are present in any critique and serve to give us context for the decisions that were made.

If you are in a department that does post-incident critiques (which I hope you all are), are your critiques those of the negative variety where every incident is “loaded with mistakes”?  These aren’t productive at all, as they only serve to keep people from speaking the truth.  Critiques should never be used to demean or insult either.

Likewise, if all your critiques revolve around a hearty pat on the back and a “great job was had by all” mentality, nothing productive will come from those as well.

Some of the publicly-distributed critiques by Phoenix FD have been very brave, given today’s litigious behavior.  But these critiques have been used by many to learn and avoid similar mistakes. 

Like a Warren Buffett quote used recently to in relation to the economic crisis says, “When the tide goes out, you see who’s been swimming naked”.  Is your department shining the light of truth on its failures as well as the successes?  Or are you hiding in the darkness?  If it is the latter, remember, those skeletons have a tendency to come out of the closet eventually, at which point, a little transparency that would have helped before will only prove to expose your failures.

Posted by truck6alpha on January 24, 2009 • Filed under: fire service, leadership, politics, safety

SAFER Grant for Hilton Head Island

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Be careful what you wish for; in our case, I happened to be in a meeting with our Chief of Department yesterday when this story broke, as reported by The Island Packet.  The catch, however, is the same one that others are now struggling with, like in the story about Minneapolis as reported on Firehouse.

In case you think our department ungrateful (or confused, I mean, why put in for a grant you won’t use?), consider the facts.  When we put in for the grant, we knew we needed to increase staffing.  In fact, our current concept of operations in in need of some tweaking, which we have analyzed and our chief was preparing for a proposal to do just this.  But along comes the economic situation we are now in, and with it, many concerns about current as well as future funding.

Like many departments in our situation (and we have some unique situations that put us on the spot as well), we need to increase the manpower but with the economic downturn, we have to look to the future.  Our responsibility isn’t just to the taxpayers but to the people we hire and their welfare.  Needless to say, we have to give this some thought.  Our department is all about “doing the right thing”.  It has become a hallmark of our current admnistration.  But we also understand that if you don’t take chances on opportunities when they occur, they may not present themselves later. 

I’d like to hear your thoughts on it- in this current state of financial uncertainty, what seems like the most ethical and responsible thing to do?  What would your department do in a similar situation?

Posted by truck6alpha on January 22, 2009 • Filed under: DHS, FEMA, fire service, funding

Experience vs. Learning

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img_0183We are coming to the end of a series of promotional exams for our personnel and I had someone say to me that a certain person deserved a promotion because they were the “most experienced” candidate.

I’m of the belief that experience is only valuable if you actually learn from it.  Longevity isn’t the same as experience.  Surviving something isn’t the same as living it.  There’s a big difference between lasting through a ride on a horse and riding the horse.  It’s much like the difference between taking your dog for a walk and the dog taking you for a walk.

The more you see an event occur, or an event like it, the experience becomes valuable if you can constructively critique your performance, understand how you can improve, and make changes to your behavior.  If you can’t do these things, your experience is useless.

Benefit comes from being able to see the right pitch, recognizing it for what it is, and to swing when the timing is right.  Are you mentally able to let go of your perceptions and beliefs for a minute and recognize that change is difficult, but often required, to improve?

Posted by truck6alpha on January 16, 2009 • Filed under: change, fire service, government, leadership, officership, professionalism, revolution

Alert Firefighters Are Safe Ones

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img_01561There have been a few reports of firefighters injured from structural collapses in single-family dwellings recently; two which come to mind are the one in Illinois and one in Charlotte, NC which I read about courtesy of firefighterclosecalls.com

 

Situational awareness is the key in many of these types of incidents. What is the rate of fire progression? How long has it been burning?  What are the structural conditions?  Knowing the answers to these questions, even at the tactical level, is an important element in staying safe.  Crews should keep a close eye on the progress of the attack and advise the IC if there is not a marked improvement in conditions after lines are placed in service.

Posted by truck6alpha on January 15, 2009 • Filed under: "accident prevention", firefighting, safety

The Smorgasboard of Safety

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First off, I think everyone is familiar with what a smorgasboard is (For my whole life I thought it to be exclusively a Pennsylvania thing, but it’s apparent everyone knows what one is), but I’d call it more of a plethora of safety issues.  You know, plethora, like a “large amount, to the point of being undesirable.

In my search for a safety message for my crew this morning, I found plenty to discuss, all at Firehouse.com, all of them posted within the last few days.

What are our choices today in getting injured or killed? Let’s look and see; would it be the continued reluctance of some in our profession to use their seat belts?  Or would it be the problems associated with maintaining a safe perimeter while working in traffic?  Of course, you could work at this department where staying out of the emergency room seems to be a serious challenge.

Other than the seat belt issue (which I can’t understand how a firefighter on this planet hasn’t had this beat into them by now), there is likely more to the story and I certainly don’t insinuate that anyone screwed up without having the facts.  But what I am pointing out is, it doesn’t just always happen “somewhere else”.

What things do you see around your department that can get you injured or killed?  In this New Year, I challenge you to look at the possibilities and make the right choices, that is, the choice to be safe.

 .

Posted by truck6alpha on January 6, 2009 • Filed under: "accident prevention", change, fire service, professionalism, safety, seatbelts • Tagged: , , ,

Follow-up – SC-TF1 Search Canine Dixie

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Anyone who wants to send condolences can do so to Canine Search Specialist Duane Brock at brockemi@hotmail.com

Here are some pictures I have of Duane and Dixie in action, courtesy of Dan McManus.

Dixie WorkingCSS Brock and Canine Dixie
Posted by truck6alpha on January 3, 2009 • Filed under: Uncategorized

In Memoriam – SC-TF1 Search Canine "Dixie"

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dixieI recieved a report about the passing of one of our search canines, Dixie, today from Dan McManus, the SC-TF1 Director:

“It is with great sadness I report to you that Dixie, one of the State US&R Team’s four service dogs, died December 31st, 2008, due to an intestinal failure. Sadly, our 8 year old canine passed away in her kennel at the home of canine handler Duane Brock on New Years Eve, Dixie will be missed by every member on this team.

Dixie was a Labrador who has had quite an amazing life serving her country as a search and rescue canine. She started training when she was a puppy as a human scent detection canine. This type of training is used for when victims are trapped in debris and are not visible to the human eye.

 Her career started by serving almost two years with the FEMA Tennessee Urban Search and Rescue Task Force One (TN-TF1)  until she was recruited to South Carolina’s US&R Task Force (SC-TF1) in June of 2005. Shortly after joining the South Carolina Urban Search and Rescue Team, Dixie was deployed to St. Bernard Parish with the Task Force for the rescue efforts of Hurricane Katrina. Recently Dixie and our other three canines were flown to and from Columbia to Beaufort in a National Guard Chinook Helicopter to participate in the largest disaster response exercise of its kind. According to our pilots it was the first time in their long military careers have they transported Search and Rescue K9′s anywhere.

Our handlers are volunteers who take on a great amount of personal and family time in order to staff our team with specialized canines such as Dixie. During the years, any handler will tell you even though they are not your average house pet and are to be used as a highly specialized tool, they become a large part of your life and it’s hard to lose them so suddenly. Please keep Canine Handler Duane Brock and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Although Dixie was the oldest of our canines, her drive and motivation to work as a member on SC-TF1 was undeniable. Her dedication to this organization will be deeply missed by all of us and because of this, we will find a location in our new building to remember her service by.”

Posted by truck6alpha on January 2, 2009 • Filed under: FEMA, SAR, US&R, rescue