As I was teaching a first arriving officer development class in northwest Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, I noticed a few points about the students that seem to reflect a growing trend within the fire service that is becoming a bit unsettling.
The group was extremely diverse: paid and volunteer, young and old, male and female, probys and officers. The common thread that they shared was their hunger for practical information on safe first arrival operations with two or three people.The paid department in the city where the class was held has two firefighters per 24-hour shift—three during the day when the chief is on duty.They are expected to handle building alarms, rubbish and car fires and EMS assists. If there is a report of a fire or emergency beyond their capabilities, the off shifts and a few remaining volunteers are called in. But, that takes time. The city was once home to two major industries; one a ladder manufacturing company that employed 900 and a railroad car building operation that had almost 2,000 workers. Both concerns moved their operations to Mexico, leaving the city’s financial coffers a bit bare.Owing to the lack of area jobs, the younger folks are moving away, in search of steady employment, depleting the ranks of surrounding volunteer companies.Because of a relatively efficient mutual aid system, a fire or major emergency will receive an adequate response--eventually, but not right away.One student asked, “What can two people do when they arrive on the scene of a fire?”My answer was, “Not much and try not to get hurt doing it.”I felt their frustration; the paid members because they know that the city will never be able to afford more staffing unless the economy improves and more industry moves into town, and for the volunteers because members are not only hard to come by, but working two jobs to make ends meet makes it hard for them to fulfill their training and fund raising obligations.Just last week, two firefighters were seriously injured in Massachusetts when they responded to a house fire by themselves and were attempting to “enter” the structure with a line when they were blown out by an explosion. The chief said that it took 15 minutes to call in mutual aid to rescue the injured firefighters.The chief went on to say that the explosion was caused by a backdraft which, while was not a common occurrence, could happen at any time.So the question begs, why were they in there without back-up?It seems to me that from the questions coming from the class, from daily news reports of budget cuts and sensing the growing attitude of elected officials that cutbacks are necessary, we need to take a close look at what we do and how we do it, especially when it comes to initial actions on the fire ground.More importantly, we need to seriously train for operations with minimum staffing, including giving firefighters and officers a healthy dose of risk-management assessment.Not my choice or preference, but a growing necessity nowadays.Personally, I feel that operating with less than 5 people on an engine and 6 on a ladder company materially reduces fire ground efficiency and safety. But, the realist in me also says that we need get focus closely on what is really happening in the fire service world. What is your average response during the day?If it’s two, three or six total, then your training should be geared toward operations with that many personnel.Fight as hard as you can with your officials to stop cutbacks get more folks, but also realize that it maybe be a losing battle because in many cases, the money is just not there.
I remember being told a story by a lieutenant in a suburban Chicago department. They just hired a new chief who came from the FDNY, and everyone was eager to learn from this decorated veteran. His first fire was on the ground floor of an apartment building where a kitchen fire was spreading.When the lieutenant pulled up with the on-duty crew (an officer and driver) the chief ran up to him and said, “Lou, let’s get a line in the front door and stretch another line to the apartment above. We need to search and get the ceiling and sidewalls pulled, and get another crew on the second floor to do the same.”The lieutenant just looked at the new chief and said, “It’s me and Bob. What do you want me to tell him to do?”And so it is in more and more departments. We are arriving on the scenes of emergencies with fewer people, and are being demanded that we take care of the situation. With proper training, we will do what we can do to the best of our abilities.But remember, in the end, they only can get what they pay for.
