
By Bill Adams
Another ho-hum morning coffee with the Raisin Squad turned into a five-alarm donnybrook over a stupid picture. I was trying to rejuvenate the topic of SafeSpeak and TechnoSpeak that was started months ago when one of the geezers threw a copy of a trade magazine on the table and loudly proclaimed, “Look at this. Why don’t you write about this crap. It’s more important than those fancy words half of us don’t understand.” It was a photograph of a large, well-involved structure fire with a white hat overseeing seven firefighters advancing a charged 2½-inch handline towards it. The size and tenacity of the crew was impressive.
Then the white-haired critics started passing judgment: “There ain’t no one wearing an air pack.” “So much for training.” “Hell, there’s people from three different departments on that line. You’d think one of them would require packs.” Another said: “We couldn’t get away doing that when you were chief.” I said that was more than 30 years ago. “It don’t matter. You can get burned just as bad today. You oughta write about it.” He made a good point but I wasn’t going to admit it to him – or the rest of the raisins.
In the fire service literary world that I occasionally visit, the topic of what some people consider an “appropriate” photograph is addressed every year or so by the editorial staffs. Responses are usually triggered by a “letter to the editor” admonishing some fire department for doing or condoning something that “doesn’t look right” in the picture. The dilemma for the magazine is responding to an inference – or outright accusation – of the magazine’s tacit approval of the photograph’s content just because it was published. That’s not right or fair.
Most people in the publishing world are apprehensive about offending anyone or anything that could negatively affect advertising revenue. Although that’s an understandable concern, I’m not always in agreement with it. Nobody should be financially sanctioned for not being “woke” enough. The old saying “we learn by our mistakes” has merit. If readers can observe the “bad and ugly” as well as the “good” in a photograph, the photographer and magazine have done their job educating the fire service and perhaps influencing a safer work environment.
If a photograph causes a fire department to get its bunkers in a twist because it does not reflect the department in a positive way – so be it. That’s life. Stuff happens. Don’t blame the photographer for taking a photo of something you are doing. Is abstention the answer? Should magazines not publish questionable photographs because a fire department does not want to be held accountable in the court of public or peer opinion? Answering those questions is above my paygrade.
The fire service and the publications devoted to it have zero control over social media content where not only still photographs but videos of firefighters in action are readily available. Only half of the raisins can access the internet without help from their grandkids. Those that could were pretty vocal over what they’ve seen on it and what they saw when they were active.
There’s a fine line between commenting about fireground observations and outright criticizing a fire department. Take everything with a grain of salt. The following are a collection of observations and comments made by the white hairs:
- The top of their list was firefighters standing or kneeling outside of an obvious working structure fire directly in front of windows and doors while donning SCBAs. Will they be exposed to hazards in the event the place lights up? Will it impede other firefighters in stretching a dry line to the door for later entry? Will they inhibit throwing ground ladders?
- Another is seeing a pumper or ladder truck driver (aka operator and chauffer) running all over the fireground without wearing turnout gear. Drivers today are integral parts of crews. One geezer summed it up nicely: Tell’m if they don’t wear the gear that was provided and they get hurt, they might be denied medical benefits.
- A big bone of contention is seeing the officer-in-charge, usually a white coat, on the fireground without gear on. Sometimes they’re wearing an opened turnout coat and a uniform cap or dress hat but no boots or bunker pants. “That’s leading by example.” “Must be prepping for the television cameras.” “The nozzleman ought to accidently slip and hose him down.”
- Irksome is seeing photos of an “unsecured” helmet sitting on a rig’s dashboard in front of the officer’s seat.
- Ever see the media showing firefighters not wearing eye protection using power tools doing auto extrication? Well, you have two of them – good luck.
Admission: I know of older firefighters, especially in the volunteer ranks, that occasionally forgot the rules. Some of them looked like me.