Where firefighters come to talk training
Never say Never
I usually question veteran firefighters that tell a recruit or new-be “Son! Never hit smoke with a hose stream – Only the “red-stuff”!” or “Never take your gloves off”. (For those of you who are scratching your head saying “Tommie told me to never hit smoke”! If your intent is to cool unprotected steel, like the underside of a metal deck roof you are crawling under and all you see is smoke up there – it’s OK to hit smoke! I’ll discuss the glove thing in a minute.)
You see, when we tell these “minds full of mush” that – they believe it. Just as the young firefighter that died in a high rise fire several years back did. He was told a “Never”. The plenum came down on him and he got his SCBA harness tangled in the wires (This was before Rick Lasky’s Saving Our Own). He was told in recruit school “never take your facepiece off”. That word “never” probably rang in his mind over and over again. You see, he was down about 5 feet from a door to the fire tower. Had he doffed his SCBA, held his breath, taken off his facepiece and bolted for the door, he may be at the kitchen table today, telling some new recruit to take what they tell you in drill school with a grain of salt and then relate his own story as to why.
They say “never” take your gloves off”. Never? I was blessed. When I was crawling around on floors and in hallways that were involved in fire, I didn’t wear a hood. We didn’t have them then. I knew when it was getting too hot or when the heat was building too fast. When you really begin to feel the heat inside your bunker gear, you might already be in trouble. I mean, when you are beginning to feel uncomfortable and have an urge to move and maybe rub the area due to the heat, it’s getting too hot. I don’t know how you guys do that now. As an officer, that’s one thing I want to know to protect my crew. I can only come up with two ways to tell about the heat condition in the environment I’m in as a firefighter - either to pull my hood slightly away from my cheek or to take my hand partially from my glove. Please, tell me how else do you know?
Also, If you were to stumble across me and I am down and my facepiece is off and you are going to try to put it back on me, PLEASE take your gloves off and do it better-quicker! If you begin to take your gloves off and your hands start to burn, we both have bigger problems than my facepiece! Think about it!
We’ll discuss some other “never’s” later. But till then, please be careful what you tell recruits! Qualify your comments and Never say Never!
You see, when we tell these “minds full of mush” that – they believe it. Just as the young firefighter that died in a high rise fire several years back did. He was told a “Never”. The plenum came down on him and he got his SCBA harness tangled in the wires (This was before Rick Lasky’s Saving Our Own). He was told in recruit school “never take your facepiece off”. That word “never” probably rang in his mind over and over again. You see, he was down about 5 feet from a door to the fire tower. Had he doffed his SCBA, held his breath, taken off his facepiece and bolted for the door, he may be at the kitchen table today, telling some new recruit to take what they tell you in drill school with a grain of salt and then relate his own story as to why.
They say “never” take your gloves off”. Never? I was blessed. When I was crawling around on floors and in hallways that were involved in fire, I didn’t wear a hood. We didn’t have them then. I knew when it was getting too hot or when the heat was building too fast. When you really begin to feel the heat inside your bunker gear, you might already be in trouble. I mean, when you are beginning to feel uncomfortable and have an urge to move and maybe rub the area due to the heat, it’s getting too hot. I don’t know how you guys do that now. As an officer, that’s one thing I want to know to protect my crew. I can only come up with two ways to tell about the heat condition in the environment I’m in as a firefighter - either to pull my hood slightly away from my cheek or to take my hand partially from my glove. Please, tell me how else do you know?
Also, If you were to stumble across me and I am down and my facepiece is off and you are going to try to put it back on me, PLEASE take your gloves off and do it better-quicker! If you begin to take your gloves off and your hands start to burn, we both have bigger problems than my facepiece! Think about it!
We’ll discuss some other “never’s” later. But till then, please be careful what you tell recruits! Qualify your comments and Never say Never!
Add a Comment
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Comment by Skip Coleman on November 9, 2009 at 7:02am - I think thermal imagers will be an answer when every firefighter has one built into his facepiece. Most companies in the US do not have full time access to an imager now. Till then, come up with a plan "B".
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Comment by Skip Coleman on November 9, 2009 at 6:58am
- I think the fire service as a whole will be reformed when every firefighter had a thermal imager built into his or her facepiece. But till then, they still are so cost prohibitive individual companies do not have full time access to one or more. Till then, come up with plan "B".
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Comment by Jason Gennaro on November 8, 2009 at 8:39pm -
Skip,
I dig your post and agree with it. 'Never' isn't a good word to use in an occupation as diverse as the fire service.
One thing I don't agree with though is removing your glove and hood. That might not be the best idea for rookie firefighters! How about using your thermal imager or reading the fire/smoke conditions to estimate the temps inside a structure? My opinion.
Jason
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Comment by Skip Coleman on November 6, 2009 at 3:59pm
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Larry,
Great comment. I'll get into a few more "nevers" in a week or so but just remember, there are very few.
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Comment by Larry Glover on November 6, 2009 at 2:35pm - The word "never" has definately confused me in the past and the present. The things that we were told to "never" do in FF I/II, we see happening when we got out into the field. We came out of our rookie academy's and probie training more confused than ever.
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Comment by Jeff Schwering on November 5, 2009 at 9:48pm - Skip, I think you're talking about common sense! The truckie thing, is sure to grab attention..lol In my part of the world, we have to know both jobs. No designated truck companies, just quints, a pumper with a ladder on top.
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Comment by Mike Walker on November 5, 2009 at 9:11pm - was just kidding.
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Comment by Skip Coleman on November 5, 2009 at 5:34pm
- I hope this doesn't get into a blog between engine and truck companies. That's not the point of the article. They both have a function and do it well. This is about the word "never" and what we teach cub firefighters.
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Comment by Mike Walker on November 5, 2009 at 5:23pm
- never give a truckie a hoseline...tsk, tsk Enginite. Just stay on the ground where it's nice and level and we'll make sure the squirts can go and be heroes...:)
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