San Antonio has the right Chief in charge

I read a lot of articles that come across my subscribed feeds. Occasionally one gets me worked up, and occasionally I'm able to find the time to write about it. Unfortunately it's usually the one's where someone screwed up bad and someone got hurt or killed.

Well, I came across an article of someone who has the right mentality towards safety and is trying to do something about it. What got me worked up in this case is that THE VERY PEOPLE HE'S TRYING TO PROTECT ARE CHALLENGING HIS ACTIONS!

Here is the article:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/New_emphasison_safety_upsets_some_firefighters.html

In summary, the San Antonio chief, Charles Hood, wants to implement a policy where the Incident Commander makes a determination as to whether an interior attack and/or search should be conducted.

This is so fundamentally obvious to me that it should not even require elaboration. But apparently the culture in San Antonio, as elsewhere, has not yet caught up to the times. They still believe that rushing blindly into a building to save the victims that might or might not even be there, or might or might not already be dead, is an acceptable risk.

Apparently their logic is that no fire fighter has died in that manner in San Antonio before, so "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". (Direct quote from the president of their firefighter's union). That's exactly the attitude Charleston had before they lost 9 firefighters in a single incident. They thought since they've gotten away with their practices in the past, it "wasn't broke". Sadly, we know now the truth.

I recently wrote a posting about the Houston tragedy where 2 firefighters were lost in exactly this situation. There were no known victims, in fact the home owners and neighbors specifically told them there was no one inside. But they had to do an aggressive interior attack and search and rescue, because that's what they do. And no one had been hurt before. "it ain't broke, right?"

It's this type of thinking that gets firefighters into trouble. Kudos to Chief Hood and his efforts to make a difference in his department. He had initiated his policy prior to the Houston tragedy. I can only hope that it will be a lesson to all departments everywhere to CONSTANTLY make evaluations of their practices to ensure they are the safest and best practices for the current conditions and trends. Don't fall victim to the "it ain't broke" or "we've always done it that way" syndrome.

I am disheartened that anyone could challenge such clear and progressive thinking. I find it hard to believe that firefighters don't understand risking their lives for little to nothing in return is worthless.

I am encouraged that the wheels are in motion in San Antonio. The community leadership has clearly made the first step by hiring Chief Hood. He came from Phoenix fire, known for their leadership in the firefighter community, especially in regard to safety. They could have hired someone from within who would continue the same old practices they have always done. And Chief Hood is clearly taking the right steps. I have no doubt that he will be successful. People are always averse to change. There will always be detractors who don't want to do the right thing because it's so much easier to keep doing what you've always been doing. Someone as enlightened and motivated as Chief Hood will find a way to get it done. I wish him and the San Antonio department luck in continuing to evolve along with the times and provide the best level of service possible for their residents and firefighters.

I commend Chief Hood for taking on this battle, and I look forward to seeing the ultimate outcome. I am confident the San Antonio Fire Department will be a better place as a result. And I look forward to the day when all departments everywhere get the 'big picture'. I just hope we don't have to needlessly kill more firefighters to make it happen.

Tough Month for Houston Fire

It might be time for Houston Fire to have an honest, impartial, outside assessment of their operations. In the past month there has been a serious apparatus collision that seriously injured many firefighters and killed a pedestrian, and now two firefighters have died in a house fire. From early reports it sounds like the fire was large and was fed by high winds, and that the initial arriving units were advised that everyone was out of the house. In other words there was nothing to risk.

One chief was quoted as saying "Let me paint a picture for you. If that’s what that person said, there’s more than one neighbor, Another neighbor, knowing they’re elderly, may have thought he could go in and probably assist them if they were still inside. If that were the case, there’s somebody inside."

You can play "what ifs" all day long. The accepted practice is to take the actual facts on the line, and not to take unnecessary risks, especially when there is nothing to gain.

By the same argument, there could have been a bomb in the house, or a natural gas leak. Both situations that would have called for not going interior. So that argument doesn't really hold water.

I understand the difficulty in making on the spot command decisions. It's an extremely difficult thing to do. And I can appreciate being aggressive. But clearly the culture of each department carries through to each incident. If they had practiced safe techniques in training and smaller incidents, they may have realized this wasn't the time to go charging into a fully evolved structure with high winds and no known victims.

According to witnesses, the flames had already breached the structure and were 30 to 40 feet in the air. Even if there had been victims, they were not viable victims and therefore worth risking firefighters lives for.

These types of comments indicate to me that it's time to do an appraisal of the department's practices, similar to what was done in Charlston following their tragedy. It was a difficult transition for them to make, but they and their citizens are better off for it. These recent incidents, in conjunction with similar incidents over the past few years, indicate changes need to be made. They have encountered far more than their share of tragedies. Some situations are not entirely preventable. Firefighters dying in fires and fatal apparatus wrecks are preventable. I hope these deaths are not in vain, and the Houston Fire department and all fire departments everywhere learn from these mistakes and are better prepared for future incidents as a result.