DUCK ON WATER

Several years ago, I was having conversation with a friend of mine who is a seasoned Company Officer from an agency I use to work with.  I was inquiring on how he always seemed to be calm, cool, and collective on incident scenes.  I was always impressed by his demeanor and command presence on any incident, but especially on those significant ones.  His was reply was simply I’m a “Duck on Water.”  I looked at him with a blank stare and said what does that mean?  He said I make myself stay calm on the top, but often my mind is racing like a duck paddling his feet under the water.  That was another of my many “Ah Ha” moments.  I have always kept that little nugget in the back of my head when I am working an incident.  This seasoned officer said the tone of incident is set by the initial person in charge.  If you get excited so will everyone else.

Fast forward 14 years, my Engine Company is called to assist on a significant traffic accident with critical patients, parties trapped, and a vehicle on fire.  The initial on-scene report  describes a very dynamic and complicated incident, this is done in a cool, calm and professional manner.   It sounded exactly as if we were participating in a training exercise.  As we arrived and obtained our assignments what I witnessed was pure orchestrated professionalism.  Every firefighter on-scene was operating like a flock of ducks on water.  The fire was extinguished, extrication quickly completed, and all patients transported in under fifteen minutes from dispatch.  I was proud to be a part of and witness this professionalism in action. 

Situations like one described occur every single day in the fire service.  This orchestrated professionalism does not happen by accident.  It occurs because we train for these “events.”  That is right I said “events.”  We are responding to someone else’s emergency not ours.  For us these are planned events that we have trained for.  The minute we make it our emergency is the minute we began to lose our composure and decrease our level of professionalism.  The citizens we serve expect us to come and take care of their emergency and have the knowledge, skill, and ability to mitigate it in a fast, effective, and efficient manner. 

Ask yourself a couple of questions.  Are you a “Duck on Water” when you are operating at an event?  Have you properly prepared yourself or those around you to handle our citizens’ emergencies?  Aside from ensuring our skills are up to par, we also need time to train our minds on how to maintain our composure when things are moving a mile a minute.  An excellent book by Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman called “On Combat”, describes some excellent techniques to control your psychological responses to stress.  This book speaks a lot to the military and law enforcement environment, but many of the lessons transfer to our profession.

BE SMART out there and keep paddling.  

Mission First-Troops Always

When I was a newly promoted to Lieutenant, a fellow firefighter and good friend of mine told me remember “Mission First-Troops Always.” I said Ok said thanks, and went about my day.  After getting some down time I reflected on the message my good friend was attempting to convey to me.  I had what many people call an “Ah Ha” moment. Reflecting on this simple principle has been a guiding light for me as a Company Officer.  It often puts things into perspective on what it takes to accomplish the mission.

Most of us out there have a mission statement that basically says we are here to serve, protect, and keep people safe.  The word smiths of our departments create a fancy phrase, frame it, and then put it on the wall in every firehouse.  Sound familiar?  In general all the messages are the same.

What most mission statements lack is an accounting for people behind the mission statement.  Keeping our troops always in our decision making will help us accomplish our mission.  I know what you are saying easier said than done.  You are correct the job of the leader is not easy.  It does not matter if you are the designated leader or the informal leader we need to account for those we are leading. 

As organizations we must make it a priority to build relationships with our troops.  This allows us to obtain knowledge of who they are, what makes them tick, what their fears are, what motivates them.  This is all valuable intelligence in allowing us to execute our missions.  On my engine company we have a diverse group from all walks of life. One member lives on a farm and also has extensive experience operating all types of heavy equipment.  Another member is a skilled finish carpenter.  Yet another member had a successful career coaching high school sports.  This is just a small sampling of what exists in our organizations.   Without getting to know our troops we may fail to know something that can help us accomplish the mission.

The execution of our mission does not just happen by hanging a fancy sign on the wall.  It requires time, effort, work, and patience in the development of our troops.  Put in the time on the front end with developing the troops.   Next time some asks you to recite your mission statement tell them “Mission First-Troops Always.”  The rest will fall into place. 

Be Smart!

WE ARE ALL THE SAME!

During my time in the fire service, I have had the opportunity to meet firefighters from all across our great country.  One thing is constant every time I meet a firefighter.  We are all the same!  

As the wildfire season rages on in the west many of us have answered the call to assist in the battle. These brothers and sisters leave their loved ones and normal duty assignments for two to three weeks to live in a tent and work 14-16 hour days to meet a common goal.  

I recently returned from a deployment in Northern California. As with every deployment, I met some amazing firefighters who have a great passion for the job.  These men and women came from all walks of life.  Some appeared as they actually live in the mountains others coming from urban and suburban departments like many of us. We may have all looked a little different, but we all had the same objectives: keeping firefighters safe, professionalism and excellence in our duties. We are all same!

The fire I was assigned to had representation from all across the United States.  From up and down the east coast, the midwest, the great plains, the western states and even Hawaii and the American Samoan Islands.  All these firefighters converged on this small area in Northern California to work under one system to combat a common enemy.  This was one example of a scenario that has been playing out hundreds of times throughout the west this summer.  

I am honored and proud to be a member of this community that we call the fire service.  Whether you are a backstepper on engine company running a line into a apartment or a hand crew member punching line up a ridge. We are all the same!   

As the fire season rages on in the west keep our fellow firefighters in our thoughts and prayers. These men and women are dealing with very rough conditions and are working hard to preserve the life and property of their fellow citizens.  BE SMART out there!

"The Big 6"

A few years back I was having a conversation with a firefighter from a neighboring department.  He made the observation that we in the fire service sometimes lose sight of the basic skills that are important.  My good friend said we need to focus on the “Big 6” if we want to be proficient at our jobs and provide the correct level of service.

Most of us have a specialty niche of some type.  I personally like to don nomex pajamas and do high speed gardening.  We have those who enjoy donning a Level A suit and deal with the methyl ethyl bad stuff.  We even have Firefighters in our region who work right alongside police swat teams for medical and/or forcible entry tasks.  The one thing that we have to remember is that we are still the FIRE DEPARTMENT.  We are the only group that has the responsibility to respond to fires in our communities. 

What is “The Big 6”?   They are the six major firefighting tasks that we should be knowledgeable, competent and proficient at:

1. Forcible Entry

2. Hose (stretching, advancing, fire streams, and water supply) 

3. Ladder Work

4. SCBA

5. Search and Rescue

6. Ventilation

“The Big 6” encompasses what we as the Fire Service are supposed to be good at.  These are the skills which perform at almost every structure fire, and have been performing for many, many years before anyone of us were here.

When is the last time you or your crew threw a 35’ ground ladder?  When did you last force a door?  When is the last time you stretched a line off your engine?  If you cannot remember then you have some work to do. 

Every time we show up for a shift we have a responsibility to the citizens we swore to protect and our fellow firefighters not just to be “OK” these skills but to be knowledgeable, competent and proficient.  How do we get to this point?  My simple answer is Company Level Training.  In the confines of your own station or first due response area, everyone has a way to perform training on any one of these tasks.  Here are some examples, but the list can be endless with some creativity and ingenuity:

Forcible Entry

Many of us only get the opportunity to force doors on actual incidents.  We may say it is too hard or difficult to find opportunities to drill on this subject.  With a few dollars and minor ingenuity you can build yourself a “prop” that will help hone and refine your forcible entry skills.  If your department has a commercially manufactured prop, use it!  If there are no props available scout areas in your district where buildings are being renovated or demolished.  There is a good chance you could get permission to some FE work before they get rid of the doors.  If hands on is not available to you, tour your first due and perform some simple size up drills and discuss how you would approach a FE scenario in a fire. 

Hose (stretching, advancing, fire streams, and water supply)

Put some hose on the ground!  It only takes a few minutes to pick it up.  Be creative and work on hose deployment, fire stream work, and even water supply.  A drill my company often performs is stretching a hoseline, advancing it around some obstacles and then flowing some water.  It only takes 15 minutes start to finish.  This breed’s repetition which we all learned is the motor of learning.

Ladder Work

We all have ground ladders on our rigs.  Ladder the windows at your station. Ladder the roof to your station, Practice single person ladder carries and throws, and every once and a while throw the 35’ Ladder.  If you don’t have a 35’ ladder in your station I’m sure your local truck company could get a permission slip signed to take a field trip to your first due.  Drills like these take only a few minutes, but again breed repetition. 

  

SCBA/PPE

Does your crew wait on you to get your gear on?  Can don your mask with gloves on?  Put your self in situations that are uncomfortable.  Again inexpensive props are easy to put together and utilize in your station.  Search the web there are dozens of SCBA drills you can do in the confines of you fire house. 

Search and Rescue 

Perform a search of your station.  Sure we all know the lay out, but searching and removing a victim takes teamwork and coordination.  It makes us work in our gear with limited or zero visibility.  The last time any of us practiced our search techniques shouldn’t be that last fire you had 4 months ago. 

Ventilation

With all the recent research we have found ever-growing importance of methodical coordinated ventilation.  Deploy your blowers to station doors and practice PPV.  Ladder the roof to your station and simulate a vertical vent operation.  The “chalk saw” is a low cost effective tool.  If you have a roof prop available in your area use it. 

I have a continuous goal for my crew to become diligent about focusing on “The Big 6.”  I even went as far as developing a spreadsheet track amount of hose deployed, searches completed, ladders thrown, and doors forced.  This tool will allow us to track how much or how many times we performed some of these tasks in either a training environment or on actual incidents.  Share your thoughts and ideas for “Big 6” training and drills lets all learn together!

We like to call ourselves occupational athletes.  Take a look at your favorite sport, favorite team and see what they focus on.  I bet it is the “Basics” of their sport. “Amateurs train until they get it right, professional train till they can’t get it wrong.” unknown author  Be Smart and Combat Ready!

Lead

Leaders are present at all levels of the fire service.  I preach this constantly to our fellow fire service members.

Many of the best ideas, concepts, and methods have been developed and lead, by members who are not the"designated leaders" of their organizations.  This occurs because those individuals  have the COURAGE to to expose themselves and share their idea or vision.  These individuals are also able to lead, because someone along the way has told them it is OK to lead.  

As the "designated leaders" in our organizations it is our responsibility to to EMPOWER and TRUST those individuals who are willing to stick their neck out and lead the charge. As the designated leaders we must to make it a priority to coach, teach, and pass-on all the information possible that you may have picked up throughout your career.  A leader is not judged by what he/she has done while they are present, but what takes place after they are gone.

Create a legacy.  Trust your team, provide an environment for learning, leading and growing.  All our days are numbered in this great career leave your mark by serving those around you!

Welcome !

Welcome to my blog.  The intent of my blog is to share my thoughts and views on the fire service experience.  I have been involved in the fire service my entire adult life.  I have had the opportunity to be a part of volunteer, paid-on call, combination, and career organizations.  My current agency is a medium sized career organization, where I am a company officer assigned to an engine company.

I have a strong passion for the fire service and see this as a calling.  I am truly living out a childhood dream.  My personal niche, as we all have is engine company operations.  I currently lead the majority of engine company based training for my agency.  I have also been blessed with the opportunity over the past six years to be a lead instructor for engine company operations for our regional recruit academy.

Please enjoy my this blog, I hope it provides some insight, education, and entertainment!