Is this the FDNY

You know I always hear how "this is not New York, or Chicago, and if you want to do things like that move there." Have you ever heard this in your department? And while I agree with them (to some extent) yes we are not the FDNY, NO IT IS NOT A SIN TO LOOK TO OUTSIDE AGENICES TO BETTER YOURSELVES AND YOUR DEPARTMENT!!!! It burns me up how we as firefighters often get in the groove of "this is how we have always done it and it puts out fire so we don’t need to change." Do builders say this? Shoot no they don’t, they go and come up with these things called a truss, and wooden I beams, no big deal right (hint of sarcasm) do it the same way we always have right. And while this is occurring all over the country I have often noticed that it is mostly in rural America among volunteer departments. I have heard of we do this our way not that way and yes having company pride is great having too much pride can get someone hurt, what if your too proud to call for mutual aid, who suffers? The homeowners, and your firefighters. Why let someone’s house burn down because your department has never used an automatic aid and therefore when all your volunteers are away and your 15 minutes or more from the location of the call, when you get there its gone. And then some people wonder why we get called foundation savers out here in rural America. If you want people to respect the fact we are fireman as well then act the part don’t put the citizens in the middle of a conflict between your department and another’s, get off the truck ready to go the list goes on. And at this point you may say what does this have to do with the FDNY well let’s look at them for a minute ok. When they get off the truck or engine do they look like a bunch of buffoons running around like chickens with their heads cut off? NO! Do they get off and have to wait for orders from there officer to go to work, or do they know their jobs ahead of times? NO, they don’t have to wait. YES they know their jobs from square one. Or what about Chicago Fire do you see them sitting around playing with their thumbs, are they always on the offensive ready to go and test out new theories?? They test out with UL and NIST don’t they. So you see you don’t have to live in a big city to be just as professional as them. And there is nothing written saying you can’t take and use them as examples of how you should be fighting fire you owe it to the ones you swore to protect. I picked the video below as an example of a good little visual to wrap up my thoughts pay attention to what the end says you will see it.

Untill next time Stay low and stay safe