I was checking out Firehouse.com this morning and read the headline “N.J. city Bans On-Duty Firefighter from Gyms”. After reading the article, I realized that many of the people that we are accountable to (i.e. citizents and politicians) really don’t get it.  They don’t get how physically demanding this job is and they don’t get why we need to maintain active lifestyles and still get plenty of sleep and rest(even on duty).  Perhaps we (as a fire service) are not doing a good enough job of educating and justifying our programs.  During times like these, the need for us to justify almost everything should be expected.

The City’s Business Administrator justified their actions by saying “the cost of medical claims, not to mention loss of personnel as they recover from those injuries, makes the gyms an expensive liability.”  There are numerous long-term studies that confirm that comprehensive and ongoing health and fitness programs reduce worker comp claim and associated costs.  The collateral benefit is that you also get a healthier, happier and better prepared firefighting force.  The Administrator goes on to say, “Until someone tells us that working out is job-related, you can’t do it”.  Really?!

Perhaps someone should educate them on the  IAFF/IAFC Wellness Fitness initiative or on the “Firefighter Health and Safety Research” project being completed by Indiana University on the effects of physical conditioning and sleep on firefighter health.

Below is a short news clip of the I.U. Research project from WTHR 13 in Indianapolis.  Watch it and share it with your crews, your chiefs and your city officials.

FTM-PTB & Be Safe

It’s already been 2 years since the sofa superstore fire in charleston, sc.  I was on duty that night, surfing the web when I caught a headline that (at that time) 2 firefighters were missing at a commercial building fire in charleston.  My crew stayed up (pretty much) all night as the count continued to rise.

It hit home for us because a friend of ours works on the first due Truck to that area and we knew that if it was good fire, he’d be in the middle of it.  The feeling that we had was a combination of and denial, disbelief and gut-wrench.  Remembering that feeling actually brings it back and reminds me that what I felt is nothing compared to what those who lost loved ones feel every single day.

That fire is probably one of the most widely critiqued fire that I’ve ever seen (appropriately).  If you’ve read the “Routley Report”, listened to the audio and read the articles, you probably know that there are tremendous lessons to be learned from that fire.

Did you, or your department, learn any lessons from the tragedy in Charleston?  If not, that also is a tragedy.  That fire and the two years that have followed have brought tremendous change to the cfd.  DiD your department use the “Routley Report” as a tool to improve it’s command, Accountability, RIT, radio or daily operations?

The only truly appropriate and adequate way for us as a fire service to honor our fallen Brothers and sisters is to learn from the circumstances and events leading up to, and contributing to, their sacrifice.

FTM-PTB & Be Safe