By Ron Kanterman
I’m sure one of these categories fits you:
- Summer camp is done and the kids are bored, and they’re driving you nuts.
- The kids are back to school or are going back to school shortly.
- You dropped off your college student at the campus for another year of who-knows-what.
- The vacation at the campground, Disney, a resort, a remote island, the South of France, or the backyard stay-cation is a distant memory.
Did I hit it yet? One thing is for sure. We’re about to embark on the fall season, and school is just about in session, or it will be any minute everywhere. So, the old bumper stickers being distributed and affixed to everything and everybody that says “School’s Open, Drive Carefully.” (So, when school is not open, can we drive like idiots?) What struck me this time is that, for us, school is always open, so we need to drive carefully every single day.
My career department trains every day. Volunteers have one or two drill nights a week or on the weekends. Add to this our thirst for knowledge as we read every magazine and view every Web site that starts and ends with the word “fire.”Yes, for us, school is always in session.
So what’s your point, Chief? Thanks for asking. My point is that we get comfortable and complacent with driving like we do with everything else. For those of us who see frozen water in the winter (you guys in Phoenix and San Diego, take a reading break) we always seem to buckle up, drive really careful, and—out of true necessity—go slow so we can get there and take care of those wonderful folks we call townspeople, constituents, customers, tax payers, and so on. Wemustdrive like that under those conditions. It only makes sense. But what about now: the fall and the spring?
For busy urban departments, where companies are taking 10, 15, or even 20 runs a tour, it becomes second nature for that driver. How many drivers/engineers/chauffeurs do you know who can whip around an engine or tower ladder like he’s driving a Camaro? I know…lots. But cooler heads must prevail. If the driver is too comfortable or he gets complacent, the other passenger sitting in the right front seat needs to step up and slow him down.“Ahhh, dry pavement on a warm sunny day, it’s Indy time!”No, it’s not. Leave that to the guys and gals who make left turns really fast on an enclosed track. School isalwaysopen for us.
We train for the things at which we need to be good (I’ll spare you the list). The idea is not to become lazy and complacent. I agree with the muscle memory concepts so we really don’t have to think about certain things we do, but I’ll ask that you think about re-committing to driving carefully so we get there and back in one piece. A lot of apparatus accidents have occurred recently involving two of our own or us and a civilian.
We can do better. Set the example on the road. Big, bad, red, and noisy does not give us mental permission to go through red lights and stop signs. It’s about getting there in one piece with everyone on board staying in one piece. Drive carefully and don’t kill anyone on the way. We had 932 firefighter fatalities from 1977-2007, responding to and returning from. We can fix that.
Like the Earth, the fire service is a rotating ball. We naturally gravitate to it, and yet there is always the potential for it to spin out control. We crave to absorb information to make us better at what we do, like the Earth needs rain to re-nourish itself. For us, school is always open and always in session, so always drive carefully, not just in September. Remember, it’s not just a car that can be recalled by its maker.
Ron Kanterman的首席威尔顿(CT)消防部门吗d a 40-year fire service veteran with experience in municipal and industrial fire protection, volunteer and career services, emergency management, and emergency response. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire administration and master degrees in fire protection management and in environmental sciences. Kanterman is a contributing author to Fire Engineering, FireEngineering.com, Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II, and the new edition of The Fire Chief’s Handbook. He co-hosts an FE Blog Talk Radio show “The Back Step Boys” and lectures around the country on various fire service topics. He is an adjunct professor of fire science and emergency management at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Kanterman is also an advocate for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and its programs and is the chief of operations for the annual National Memorial Weekend.
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