| COLUMBIA SC FIREFIGHTER DIES AFTER BECOMING ILL The Secret List
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.comWe regret to pass on to you that the Columbia Fire Department is mourning the death of one of their own when a 25-year-veteran firefighter died Sunday after falling ill earlier in July.
Firefighter Tyron Weston, 51, fell ill on July 3 and was on his way to recovery when he died Sunday morning. Weston has been a member of the Columbia Fire Department since August 1990. Our condolences to all those affected. RIP.
NORTH CAROLINA FIREFIGHTER DIES IN QUARTERS
We regret to pass on to you the death of Captain James Alan Hicks of the National Guard FD. Captain Hicks responded to a working fire in Stanly County with the National Guard Fire Department Sunday night. He died at the fire station before his shift ended Monday. It is believed he may have died from a heart attack. HOW DO YOU WANT THEM TREATED? 1, 2, 3 & 4.
For those of you who are old-er and are original or "senior" members of The Secret List starting back in the early 90's (we started The Secret List about a week before Al Gore invented the internet) - you may recall that we used to write about
"NTS: Non Thinking Syndrome." Sometimes we simply don't think. Sometimes we get comfortable, all of us, it's human nature. At the firehouse, for example, officers don't always supervise or correct our actions, or simply nothing "happens" or goes wrong- so we keep doing it "that" way. The more we do things wrong, the more they seem right. Until something goes wrong.
Personally I've been human since the 50's and a fire officer since the late 70's. I am very well aware that this can happen. It has happened to me many, many times and still can and has. Sometimes its a simple as always acting in the same way that we would want our family treated...pretend it's "your" house, kid, loved one. Whoever matters to you.
How do you want them treated? Lead? Trained? Operating at a fire?
Training - and lots of it - usually fixes it.
LEADERSHIP +
POLICY
+ TRAINING in a serious DISCIPLINED Environment. Disciplined as in taking the stuff seriously at all level.
You have to hope that "leadership" is focused on what's going on within-and outside of their FD. Many get it. Some don't. Some have "walls" around their FD and feel they have nothing to learn from whatever anyone else or any other FD is doing. Maybe doing it better. Remember the pre-June 18, 2007, Charleston SC FD? Or the Hartford, CT firefighting hood issue earlier this year. Sometimes it takes a crisis for any of us to look outside the walls and find out how other FD's "do it" ...and in some cases, have been doing it better for years.
So in the past few days, there have been some pretty amazing examples of what we hope is NTS...vs actual intentional means of operating this way. Nothing "went wrong" so to speak...so we get comfortable
. All's well. Sorta. Try this-imagine your kid is a Firefighter in these recent events...how would you want them treated or to behave...if it was your kid? # 1: PALLETS IN A VAN. PLEASE ENTER HERE. ACTUALLY...DON'T. For example, here is a so called mobile training van. Seriously. Lets fill the back of a van up and light the sh!t on fire. Google NFPA 1403. Would you stick your kid in there? Is this FIREFIGHTER TRAINING or CRIMINAL ACTIVITY*? WATCH THIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCzzUGYm7wQ Find the above interesting? Learn how some Firefighters were seriously burned in a similar way: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/dfs/reports/parsippany_troyhills.pdf More than a few firefighters have burned to death when training fails to follow existing standards-standards that were developed because more than a few firefighters have burned to death in training. ...Nothing went wrong "this time" above-but it did here:
*FIREFIGHTER "TRAINING = CRIMINAL ACTIVITY?
GOOGLE THIS:
Or remember MILFORD, MI: http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-26/news/mn-10936_1_volunteer-firefighters #2: NO SCBA REQUIRED? With all the Firefighters suffering from cancer, one would hope the message is getting out there... (fyi-I don't care how many fires anyone goes to, put a f*cking SCBA on with your gear....just ask some of the former 230 lb firefighters...the ones who are now rotting away at 100 lbs due to firefighting cancer...) Interior firefighting? Absolutely.
Just WEAR what you are issued-and just don't breathe that sh!t. Would you allow your kid to breathe that crap?
CHECK THIS: http://chicagoareafire.com/blog/2015/07/working-fire-in-gary-7-25-15/#comments ...Nothing went wrong "this time" above-but it did here: http://michiganradio.org/post/detroits-retired-firefighters-battle-cancer-medical-bills#stream/0
#3:
WTF. Seriously. WTF. This guy wearing the SCBA but no other PPE is a firefighter from "out of that area" who is lending a helping hand. I definitely "get" staffing issues and I "get" wanting to help....but seriously? The guy in those pictures is not a member of that department or a mutual aid department responding to assist. He is from another fire department who was in town as a visitor. That Firefighter felt the need to jump into action. Read more of the facts below from the Lake Placid FD. TAKE A LOOK: http://www.wptz.com/news/structure-fire-shuts-down-main-street-in-olympic-village/34356180 FROM THAT FIRE DEPT: https://www.facebook.com/LakePlacidFireDept?fref=nf ...Nothing went wrong "this time" above-yet-but it did here: http://michiganradio.org/post/detroits-retired-firefighters-battle-cancer-medical-bills#stream/0 #4: DISPATCHER HANGS UP. YOU USE FOUL LANGUAGE-I HANG UP. HUMPH. And then there is this incident in New Mexico. A FF (who has since resigned) repeatedly asks if a young shooting victim is breathing, but when the caller gets annoyed with the questions and snaps at the firefighter using "bad language", the Firefighter tells her she's on her own and hangs up on her.
Customer service.
Here is the 911 call. http://krqe.com/2015/07/27/albuquerque-firefighter-on-administrative-duty-after-mishandling-911-call/ HERE is more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3177654/Deal-Firefighter-hangs-desperate-911-caller-17-year-old-star-high-school-athlete-lay-dying-fatal-gunshot-wound.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1202359/Teen-dies-Albuquerque-firefighter-hangs-911-caller.html It definitely went wrong on this one. When you have your "worst day"--who do you want answering 9-1-1? What if it was your kid needing rescue? Every once in a while we all personally, professionally or organizationally need a "reset" - a "refocus" so complacency and NTS doesn't creep up and repeat predictable history. Sometimes it's a simple as acting in the same way we would want our family treated...be it your "kid" the firefighter going thru training...your kid the firefighter operating without gear...your kid the firefighter not using an scba and breathing sh!t...or your kid who needs EMS-now. How do you want them treated? What would be your response to the parents in any of the above cases-as far as "why did you allow this to happen?" It's a reasonable question with very simple answers. Take care. Be Careful. Pass It On. BillyG The Secret List 7-29-2015-0900 Hours www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
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