This can’t wait until Fridays’ email, so please bear with me.
Today is day three of the company officers meetings and for my presentation I go over some interesting numbers, culminating with the NIOSH FF cancer study currently underway. Almost all of the cancer studies blame the lack of SCBA use and the dermal exposure from products of combustion as the primary reason 1 in 3 firefighters will develop cancer in their careers. Lt. Smith (hazmat Todd) and I read a few studies years ago and recognized the identification of certain chemicals in these findings and couldn’t believe we were breathing them in at structure fires, car fires, etc…born was the Surviving Your Career class we gave to each of you. Now some 4 years later, NIOSH is close to completing a 4 year study on the issue and the trends are not good. In the last three days, I challenged our officers if they are wearing their SCBA’s during overhaul, armed with the knowledge of what is causing cancer in the Fire Service. I didn’t need them to tell me the answer, we all know it…its mostly no and it took me until today to realize it’s not their fault; please let me explain.
Imagine the fire service as the NFL. You have a governing body (administrations), you have teams (departments), you have coaches (district & battalion chiefs), and players (firefighters), both new and veterans. We have rules, both written and unwritten, and game plans. When the game is structure fires, the fire service as a whole has been playing the same way for 30 years (since the use and adoption of SCBA’s). You have two half’s to the game separated by a halftime or rehab. First half is an offensive attack to extinguish the fire and to save or search for any victims that might be inside. The second half of the game is overhaul. The sad truth is both parts will kill you; the first part can kill you today (collapse, products of combustion, burning alive in the structure, falls from a height, or simply a heart attack on scene or later that night), the second part can kill you 10 years from now (cancer) and you wouldn’t even know it…maybe.
Where the NFL gets it right and the Fire Service gets it wrong is they play the game with an offense and a defense; we use the same team (1st alarm assignment) each time. Could you imagine what a NFL team would look like after just one game if the offense never left the field? Pro-athletes are the best prepared, most trained, and in-shape people you will ever meet but even they couldn’t play the entire game without the special teams and a defense. Could you imagine the injuries and the beatings the offense would take each game? They couldn’t finish the year with a 53 man roster! The sad part is what if the League blamed the players for their injuries because of it?
I suggest to you, the Fire Service, as a whole is doing the same to some degree. The people studying the cancer issue blame the lack of SCBA use as a causative factor; I now blame the lack of a defense team.
Where are we at? Beginning next week, we will begin work on changing how we approach, manage, and assign units to structure fires. Without going into much detail, this will be a progressive, all-encompassing approach to protecting our firefighters during these events. We will not be playing the game without an offense and a defense anymore. I can’t wait another year for another study to place blame on something we can change today. The last line of the last slide I tell the company officers they have a duty to protect their crews; how are we (the administration) any different?
For too long, we the Fire Service, have been playing the game the wrong way; 1 in 3 will most likely suffer from it. We will not let that happen any longer under our watch.
To those of you that were on the receiving end of my comment when I asked “are you wearing your SCBA’s knowing what you know (about the products of combustion)” my reply was shame on you. Actually, its shame on me…my deepest apologies.
“A race horse will literally run itself to death in a race, it’s the jockeys’ responsibility to ensure it doesn’t.” It’s a quote I heard from somewhere. You have continually proven you will work yourself to death at a structure fire for our community; it’s our responsibility to make sure you don’t have to anymore.
Tomorrow’s Week in Review, I will be expanding on my thoughts and will be challenging you on some of yours.
Very respectfully,
Kurtis R. Wilson
Chief of Operations
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department