REALLY You Have Got To Be Kidding Me?

I was on the Internet this morning and saw this picture posted on Facebook. It was bad enough that someone posted it, but the number of likes was even more disturbing. I will preface the rest of this blog with that I AM A REFORMED FIREFIGHTER. I was not always Combat Ready and I used many excuses to justify to myself my BAD habits and complacency.

None of those excuses were valid and they were just my attempt to place the blame on inanimate objects and conditions. To change my ways and to make me a better firefighter took a good company officer, someone to ensure that I was fully protected when entering our incident scenes, regardless if we had fire and smoke conditions presented upon arrival. That same company officer would make sure the company would be at the top of their game every run. This covered from the preparation put into the call even before it happened, preparing us for that incident through developed good habits on every call and anticipating that every sparking outlet or odor of smoke was a real fire.

No Internet site or picture should encourage our firefighters to not be fully prepared for each incident, and even worse not taking FULL advantage of the state of the art Personal Protective Ensemble that is afforded to today’s firefighters. The duty of the Company Officer or the person riding the right front seat is to champion the Combat Ready attitude and the donning of all PPE.

Do the right thing even when no one is watching, or in this case when someone important is not on location.