Where There’s Smoke

   Many of you have probably seen the following stories in the media: 

   1. Aerial ladder skids out of control on ice, spins around, grazes a car and nearly hits a house. 

   2. Fire station is destroyed by fire in Missouri with all of their apparatus inside. 

   3. Tillered aerial struck by heavy rescue. 

   4. House burns down - nearly to the ground - no more than 150 feet from a fire hydrant with the PPV fan running 15 minutes before hose crews are ready to attack the fire. 

   5. Add your own story here. 

   A lot of these scenarios can happen to any of us. Roads are icy and we have to respond, fire stations do catch on fire, and accidents between apparatus can happen. We preach fire safety and yet many of our stations have extension cords and power strips - and, by the way, no sprinklers. 

   We know that many firefighters die in wrecks of fire apparatus. We train on defensive driving and yet it doesn’t always sink in. We use fire suppression tactics we know about - but we know just enough to be dangerous. 

   Every day in America and every day in Kansas, fire crews - career and volunteer - respond to incidents. In fact, while you take the time to read this there will be at least a half dozen calls for assistance that fire departments in Kansas will respond to. So, what is the answer to wrecks with fire trucks, with fires in fire stations and poor tactical decision making - well obviously the answer is training. Regional fire schools sponsored by the Kansas State Firefighters Association - your association - are the best thing going. They are free. They are accessible in all areas of the state. They give you huge opportunities for networking with your fellow firefighters and they give you skills that you need to make good tactical decisions on the fire ground. Then once that information is received don’t hold it in your own brain - tell (teach) the firefighters in your department about what you have learned. Training keeps us alive and it keeps us acting as the professionals that we all are. 

   On the negative side we have departments that haven’t sent anyone to regional fire schools for quite some time - and they haven’t sent anyone out to outside training, perhaps ever. Leaders of departments - step up. Encourage training. New firefighters - train like your life depends upon it - because it can. On the positive side I see lots of departments across this state and nation that do value training and they know that this is the way to encourage new folks to get involved and stay involved in fire departments. 

   My department is a small volunteer fire department that meets weekly. We are building a training building. We send folks to schools both in and out of state. We have sent people to the National Fire Academy. Perfect? No. But we try every day to do the best we can for the citizens that we protect. You are the life blood of your community, because where there’s smoke...