It struck me while I was watching TV one night and a commercial for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital came on. St. Jude’s is a hospital that specializes in children’s diseases, specifically cancer, and they boast that they will not stop “until no child dies from cancer.” In the commercial are children who are suffering from the disease and fighting for their lives, but St. Jude gives them hope for life and they are such advocates for their cause that they operate primarily from public donations. My wife and I have donated to their cause.
Shortly after that commercial was aired, the nightly news came on. Somewhere in-between the headline news and the sports news was a segment about a family that perished in a fire. The fire didn’t make the top headlines. It didn’t contain footage of suffering. It was on and off in less than 60 seconds and if you checked your phone, kissed your spouse or loved one, or even had a good sneeze, you would have missed it. According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), at the same point of this news segment in 2017 over 443 people had already died in fire at an average of over almost nine people per day. So, perhaps it’s the fact that fire deaths such as what happened to this family are occurring every day that these preventable deaths no longer seem to be headline newsworthy.
I couldn’t help but think that it was a shame that this family, who died a horrible death in such a preventable event, didn’t have an organization with a motto that stated “until no person dies from fire.” While the fire service claims to be such an organization, I have to ask if we have that same commitment as St. Jude. While the fire service is well intentioned in their efforts pursuing this endeavor, I would also say we fall well short of truly living up to such a commitment. How can I say such a thing?
Because unlike St. Jude, who continues to research and seek a cure for cancer, we in the fire service have already found our cure and it’s is called a sprinkler system. Sprinkler systems have been in existence since the 1800s and there has never been a multiple fatality (more than two) anywhere in the world in a building with such a system. Yet here today, in the 21st century, we are still building structures, including schools, without installing this cure, and as a result of this thousands of people lose their life and thousands of firefighters are put at risk fighting a disease (fire) that is as old as man. Not only do we seem content to approach our profession in this manner, we in fact celebrate it.
Consider this analogy:
Equate ourselves with oncologists. Imagine walking into an oncologist’s office and asking them about the new cure for cancer, however they cannot even answer basic questions about something that should be so critically important to their profession. Yet instead of discussing new technology and a cure, they choose to discuss rudimentary approaches to fighting the disease; such as radiation and surgery, either of which may or may not result in remission, and both of which will certainly leave scars, pain, and more sickness.
Now if I walked into your fire station today and grabbed the first firefighter I see and ask them to tell me about sprinkler systems, what answers would I get? Would they be knowledgeable and be able to provide factual answers? If I asked one of the firefighters in your station what is the best fire protection available would they tell me about sprinkler systems or would they boast about the newest pump GPM, or the newest fireground tactic, or newest hoseline deployment? Would they discuss with bravado the newest fireground approaches that may quell the immediate flames but will in no way eradicate the disease of fire? Approaches that will most certainly leave scars, pain and sickness for both those who lost their homes or worse, as well as to the firefighters we call our brothers?
As a fire service, our whole purpose of being is to protect people from the disease of fire and save lives, and there is an effective cure out there that would eradicate fire deaths from this country. Accordingly we in the profession of fire protection should be knowledgeable and advocates for its usage, and this technology should be the centerpiece of every conversation we have. Yet it is not. Simply ask the newest members of our field who just left their initial rookie training and who should be full of information and motivation on the latest and greatest methods and technology in combating fire in the new millennium. Ask them about their knowledge involving GPMs from the nozzle and they have that information ingrained to professional recitation. Ask them about their knowledge on GPMs from a single sprinkler head, important information which will help dispel a leading myth about sprinkler systems and water damage, and they stumble in providing that kind of basic critical and professional information. Any wonder why the homebuilders have us against the ropes and have the public and government leaders in their corner?
For any profession to grow and evolve it must look itself in the mirror and ask hard questions and be willing to accept even tougher answers. The fact is that fire kills more Americans than all natural disasters and terrorist combined. The largest numbers of victims of this disease are the most vulnerable among us; the young and the old, those who are incapable of self preservation and depend upon us the most. The fact is we have the ability to eradicate fires and fire deaths from this country and protect our most vulnerable, yet we barely speak about it, hardly train on it, and many in our profession have little to no knowledge about it.
I believe we can all learn from the motto of St. Jude and their commitment to eliminating the killer with which they have been charged with protecting and saving people from, and we should look at ourselves in the mirror and ask if we share that same dedication and commitment to the eradication of, and the protection from, our killer as well, and that is the disease of fire.
Not a tough question to ask. But a tough answer to hear.
