Construction Concepts for the Fire Service

OK.  Now I’ve suckered you in.  I have to admit my choice of words was intentional.  This article WILL NOT BE about the concepts of Building Construction that may be of  concern to members of the fire service. It may touch on these subjects briefly and in broad general terms but is not a lecture to cover all bases . It is however, another attempt by me to share an idea that I ( and many others) have to better ourselves, others, and the Fire Service Industry. In my last article I made mention of the Brother /Sisterhood concept.  It made me think of some ways that we can try to improve a tradition that’s been around as long as the business itself.  I hope to compare building a house to building an improved Fire Service.

When a family decides to build a house it’s a massive undertaking that affects every member of the family. There are many aspects to think of. They have to think about what every aspect will mean in every one’s lives.  What will the financial outcomes be?  What will they do for temporary housing?  Where will they build?  What style of home will they decide on? What are the schools like for the children?  In the beginning the questions seem to be never ending. Most people will choose to seek advice from friends, family or maybe co-workers.  This is like choosing to start your career in the Fire Service.  A person who is taking this first step will have many questions.  What is it like inside a burning building   How do I get the training I may need?  What if I can’t handle it?  What else will I be made to do?  What if something happens?  Like deciding to build a house, this will be a very big step in a lot of folks lives.  Some of us, my self included, choose to make this decision while young. Some choose to wait until their children are grown.  Whenever the decision is made, it’s a step many never take. People who choose to become members in our departments will seek the advice of existing members.  They will seek out the person in the department who is open and willing to answer all of their questions.  This is an important time to make the right impression.  It wouldn’t be wise to let the old war horse be the only impression they see. In the same manner it wouldn’t be wise to let the newest junior firefighter give the candidate their only taste of the department either.  We must recognize that this is a rough time for this person.  This will be a a pivotal time for this member to decide if they will follow through with their membership or not.  I feel that we should choose someone to be a new candidate’s  mentor.  A mentor can be the one who answers the questions, or who may help teach the new skills.  A mentor must realize that not everyone who walks in to a fire station is cut out to be the nozzle-man on the next 4 alarm run.  While helping to shape the new candidate the mentor can report to the officer who can help shape trainings and opportunities that may help the candidate.  If there is a reason that the new member isn’t able to perform the functions the officer and mentor  may be able to help them decide if there’s something else they can do within the department to help the community. In today’s society there’s always something  for someone whose willing to give to do. Case in point, if you have a new candidate whose an accountant that isn’t comfortable going interior maybe they can become the treasurer.  Whatever it maybe  everyone has skills that will help in some way.

The next step in building a home is choosing a lot on which to build.  This is usually influenced by alot of things.  Some I’ve already mentioned schools, family, work , and many more.  This is like the new member trying to decide which department to join.  Again this decision is often influenced by many things.  Some may choose your  department because it closest to their home.  Other may choose your organization because of a special skill your department offers such as truck company or dive rescue  service.  What ever the reason we must remember that these folks chose to join your department.  We should feel honored that we are able to draw new members.  In these times finding volunteers is very difficult.  The impressions we make now will possibly affect that individual for ever.  We cannot afford to have the attitude that we will always be so fortunate to have members coming in.  Yes we should screen members carefully but to be arrogant enough to push people away because  someones not made to do the job is juvenile and in some cases maybe even criminal.

The next step in building a home is to build the foundation.  A considerable amount of time, effort and money are put in to assuring the foundation is a strong and sturdy as it can be.  The foundation is the base that will support the entire load of the rest of the house.  It’s not wrong to assume that one small imperfection may lead to future problems with the entire house.  This is similar to providing the new candidate the basics he or she will need.  If we provide partial information or possibly no information at all the foundation to this persons fire service career will be week.  The old saying you play like you practice is very true in this case.  If we fail to mention the importance of using SCBA , PASS Device, PPE  and all necessary safety equipment associated with our jobs  aren’t we depriving that individual of the foundations of safety in the fire service. Another old saying that holds some value here is the one about crawling before you walk  and walking before you run.  We must begin teaching all candidates from the same point regardless of age. How many times have you been in a class and seen the individual who obviously is lacking the prerequisite knowledge.  The fault lies with several persons.  I do not condemn the individual for seeking out the training and experience.  What I do feel needs mentioned is that sometimes a person should realize that you cannot take Vehicle Ops before you take the Awareness level class.  Sometimes it may be the fault of the chief or training officer who signs off school applications.  I don’t think I really need to expand on this too much. We have all seen it.  It happens for many reasons. All I can say is that the folks responsible for this are allowing themelves open to a world of bad happenings.  We’re all aware of these too.

The next step thats in every ones home building experience is to choose the style of house. OK so its probably a decision thats made before the foundation.  We all know the many styles of houses.  Theres  Colonial, Tudor, Ranch, and many many others.  It would be an obvious comparison to say these equate to the fire department functions  Engine, Truck, Rescue, or Squad. What I’d like to compare this to is the way new members chooe to carry themselves after the initial shock has worn off.  Yes I am going to make the often undesirable remarks on human nature.  I am not saying  that to be any of the following is bad or meant to be negative.  I am only mentioning this as a point to think about. After the “probationary” period has expired it’s common to see the changes in everyone.  What often starts as a quiet individual often mutates in to a mouthy arrogant know it all.  It’s possible to see that person stay the same  but everyone at some point will revert to their natural self. We should expect to see some change at a point where the person becomes comfortable with his/her surroundings.  We need to forsee these changes and try all we can to steer them in a direction thats fitting for both the organization and the member.

Again, I hope I’ve thrown some ideas out there to help better  people and organizations.  I welcome comments.

STAY SAFE

FIRE WALKER

Long Story Made Short….

I guess its time for another heart felt apology to the Administrative Staff and the readers and followers of  Hoopieworld.  I signed on to write a “weekly” or as close to weekly as possible article.  I have failed to do that and wish to express my sincere regrets.  I have been going through as messed up a divorce as anyone in the history of the world could ever suffer through. (But that’s my sob story and I will not harass any one with reading through the details.) While muddling by, during the last few months, I began to think of all of my friends in the Public Safety fields who have met the same fate.  So now I am compelled to share my thoughts on why the divorce rate for Emergency responders is so high.

Let’s begin with what I hope we can all agree are the obvious explanations. There are many demands put on an individual who chooses to serve his or her community.  There are the endless hours of meetings, trainings, and fund raisers.  It seems to me that in the Post 911 world we live in, these demands may never cease to grow. When I was a kid growing up in the fire station , the Fire Station was just that.  It was a group of men and women who responded to primarily Fire incidents.  But in the 18 years that I have been involved as a responder I have seen the addition of EMS, Rescue and HAZMAT responses.  I have sat through many classes where the Instructor has referred to Fire Service Responders as ” Jack of all trades Master of None”. It has become clear to see, that despite my valiant efforts to prove otherwise, ( I wanted to be the First Master of ALL)  that this is as true now as it ever will be. I can’t say that  I see an end to the  need for an all inclusive service to remove people  from the bad situations they always seem to place themselves in. I guess we can call it job security, but it will have a toll on some eventually. We have all had the unfortunate opportunity to miss a family get together or  a young child’s sporting event or dance recital.  I’m sure we understand the concept of ” Family First”.  I have found my self on many occasions allowing my desire to help others come before my family and friends. I have made countless friends in the business and even considered some of them brothers and sisters in the literal sense.  We all have used the phrase ” Brotherhood”.  I don’t disagree with the concept. The brotherhood has been the cause of several of my friends separations.  We all have to separate our selves from the work we do occasionally.  I found in my case that it gave me a chance to see where I went wrong and what was needed to keep from going insane.  I called it my “mental health break”.  If we don’t take the breaks it causes burn out.  Once burned out,  I feel that its hard to regain the passion for the grind.  The grind is all that I have mentioned so far and much more.  We have calls that we will always remember, faces we will never forget, and all the other memories of thing we’ve seen or done.  You can sit at any Fire or EMS station and here the so called “War Stories”.  I actually enjoy listening to people share their experiences.  I like to think that I may learn from the experiences that these folks have gone through.  I also like to think that if I give 10-15 minutes of my precious time,  I may be allowing these people a much needed chance to “off load” some baggage. I can only speak about me, but  I tend to internalize alot of grief until it has to explode. (YES thats the cause of the divorce).  I think most Emergency responders do this too.   For us its the most sensible way to deal with pain. Just hide it away.  Tell a joke or two and laugh it off. I didn’t mean for this article to become a tutorial in CISD.  I did want to put the thought out there for everyone to think about.  We need to thnk outside the box a little.  We all are trained to the highhest degree possible.  We can handle almost any situation that we are thrown in to.  If we are so well adapted to helping others , why is it that we neglect ourselves.  How can we continue to place ourselves in to the worst of situations and keep expecting good things to happen.  I believe that it was Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same things while expecting different results. Pleas folks, take some time for you.  We all deserve the best for us too.    It makes a huge difference to everyone in the end.

STAY SAFE  KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN

FTM-PTB-EGH

FIREWALKER

New Contributing Editor

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank You for stopping by to read my first post here at Hoopieworld.com.  I hope everyone takes the opportunity to read the information discussed here and pass it on to your fellow Fire, Rescue, EMS, and Law Enforcement brothers and sisters.  That is truly what we are.

For the regulars here at the site you may see a lot of bickering, whining and just outright being nasty but if we all think of our own families and lives , it happens to all of us at some point and time.  No one here is above human nature and there fore better than any one.  So lets take the information that’s shared and listen to it.  If you disagree do so politely. Do not think your way is the ONLYway. We all know that in this line of work things change and they do so quickly.  The way I was taught or learned a skill may not be the same as some one in another department, line of work, or county for that matter. This web site  has a base that spans several counties. I am from Butler County. I am sure that if I could read minds many of you thought to your selves that the only fire we see are barns and tractors. Although this, in my case does have some truth to it  it in no way decreases what I do.  If your community is primarily residential you are as important to that home owner as I am to the farmer I protect.

I believe wholeheartedly in the theory that one must take “Ownership” of his or her organization. Ownership doesn’t mean that you gain control of your department as a dictator.  It doesn’t even mean you have to be an officer. It does mean that you have a sense that you make a difference to your department AND your community .  Everyone in this business of Public Safety is here because they want to help or they want to make a difference.  We’ve all been to our departments business meetings and heard the membership committees read why a  prospective candidate wants to join the department. Don’t laugh or make fun of the new member. It’s getting hard to find people that will stick it out there for free anymore .  Let’s make them feel welcome.  Let’s encourage each other and let everyone know that we’ll be there for that member weather it be on a scene or in his or her home if need be. 18 years ago when I joined my first department I  was called all kind of names for the new member.  I’m sure we’ve all heard if not used them.  I was a probie, a newb, a plebe, or a puke.  I was wet behind the ears or some times even my fathers ugly “daughter”.  But it was the guys and gals that were calling me these things that saw no matter what, I wasn’t going to quit.  I wanted to be there to learn and do the job.  I respected those folks and do to this day.  I was going to do what it took to get them to respect me even if  it meant being  a junior.  I rolled and racked countless thousands of feet of hose.  I mopped endless square feet of floors.  I washed, waxed, and polished every square inch of apparatus that ever set foot in that station (sometimes it didn’t belong to our department). And today I feel that most of those people do indeed respect me for my skills and abilities.  We’ve all been through this is some form or another.   We should refrain from using this time as a weeding out period. We should use it as a bonding time.

To get to my point  this site is like the group of older experienced persons in the department.  We should be using the gift of HOOPIEWORLD to share our skills and knowledge with the younger generation and the experienced who may not  know .  We shouldn’t ridicule, degrade, or harass any one.    I can not say I have any knowledge of the radio system in Westmoreland County.  I can’t say I understand why Allegheny county Station ___   uses a company further away for mutual aid.   I don’t  know much of anything about Armstrong county. I am reasonably sure  that if  I asked a member who may have posted on the subject they may be able to explain or at least find out why. So rather than jump the gun and assume I know more, let’s be adult and ask  for the explanation.  If given the opportunity to reply then offer your suggestions to improve the subject.  It maybe some thing that member hasn’t encountered that often.  It may be a new or not frequently used skill  or subject. We all have areas we aren’t “the best ” at.  It may be the worst cliche in the history of the English language  but  it’s fitting.  BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION NOT THE PROBLEM!!

Now with that said I’ll step down from my soap box.  I’m not here to lecture. I’m not your father or mother.  Goodness knows I’m not your Pastor.  I have been given the chance to share my opinions on subjects that face us all.    I will try all I can to provide the most accurate  and safe information I can weekly .  But please keep in mind I am human too.  I’m sure there will be times there are folks on that are more knowledgeable than me.  I will not be offended to be corrected .  I’m here to learn too.  Please feel free to reccomend any subject you may have concerns about.

STAY SAFE

*** next week’s topic  seating assignments ***