Fire has been around for a long, long time, and mankind has had to endure its ravages. Learning how to manage the positive effects of fire has made the human race progress. With the influence of new technologies, mankind has been able to advance far beyond the days of the caveman.
The American fire service has come a long way in its 350-year history. We have evolved from bucket brigades, hand-pulled apparatus and horse-drawn rigs to the current evolution of motorized diesel apparatus reaching hundreds of feet into the air. We are referred to as "America's Last Heroes," admired, cherished, looked up to, always answering the call, no matter the time, weather, circumstance or problem. Firefighters are always on the offensive.
The fire service has also suffered a lot of bumps and bruises along the course of its storied past. We have lost hundreds and hundreds of firefighters to line-of-duty deaths as well as to career-ending injuries. And who knows how many firefighters have died of sickness they picked up "on the job."
Maybe, just maybe it is time to take that 350 years of history and rethink the way we do some things. It is not our intent to Monday morning quarterback any recent incidents. But maybe we need to look at past documentation and at history to pass on many of the lessons learned at many difficult incidents by those who came before us. We might not be able to throw out 350 years and start all over, but there may be some other way.
At a recent seminar I attended, the discussion centered on how a group of dual-role firefighters (fire suppression/hazmat team) responds to a hazmat incident. The members go slowly, they are methodical and they consider every option before any action is taken, if at all. The last two known deaths at a hazmat incident in the U.S. occurred in 1984. Yet, when a fire alarm sounds, the same group of firefighters will get on a rig to rush to a reported building fire and run right into the structure. How many firefighters have died in fires since 1984? An average of 90 a year. That's nearly 1,500 firefighters killed by fire - and none at hazmat incidents.
After the Hackensack, NJ, fire in which five firefighters died in a truss roof collapse, some things changed. Building marking symbols appeared on structures built with truss floors and roofs. A red flag went up to warn firefighters of the specific danger when responding to these type of structures. After several firefighters fell through the roof of a lightweight constructed dwelling in the Southwest, strategy was changed so if the roof was involved in fire, there won't be any roof operations. See page 14 for Jim Smith's timely article on the collapse of lightweight components - whose fault is it? Hal Bruno focuses on life after a fire service line-of-duty death on page 10.
We mourn the loss of all firefighters who die in the line of duty. We should work together in sharing ideas about strategy and discussing events from around the country to see whether we are prepared to handle a similar situation if called upon. The eternal flame burns to honor the memory of all those who made the supreme sacrifice.
Fire was here long before us and it will be here long after us. Firefighters may have a changing role in responding to EMS and other rescue calls, but there will always be a need for firefighters to respond to the eternal flame. Despite our best efforts, it just doesn't seem to go out.
