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"The" Fire Vs. "A" Fire
Article Submitted by:
Capt. Ryan Christen - FullyInvolvedFire.com
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"The Fire vs. A Fire " - Part ONE
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The lessons you learn could save someone's life!
Original Article By: Ryan Christen
More available at www.FullyInvolvedFire.com
Whether you’re in a house staffed by volunteers with a 1972 tanker conversion or full a time paid house running a fleet of brand new apparatus the stories are often the same. We pass the time in the evenings and weekends between calls by rousing the other members with chronicles of our experiences. Sometimes it is the veterans teasing the rookies with morsels of “How it was, before your time”. Or it may be the rookie telling of his first fire just last week. The stories can be of massive multiple alarm conflagrations or humorous anecdotes told simply to embarrass another member. They may even just be a trip down memory lane to remember a different time. Over my years in the fire service I have noticed one common thread in all these stories. They are either about “The Fire”, or “a fire” and they all have inherent value.
It’s difficult to go through a single shift without hearing someone tell a story about a “The Fire”. These stories can differ dramatically but, the one common thread is that for each member that specific incident has had some lasting effect on themselves, career, and / or crew. Regardless of the reason, that fire has embedded itself in their brain as a significant event. It has earned a memory in their minds as “The Fire”. It’s not uncommon for someone to have several “The Fire” stories. But all too often these stories are passed down with a complete lack of conveyance as to why that member labels it as “The” rather than “a” fire. On top of that it seems that these stories rarely make it out of the day room and never bridge the gap from one station to the next, much less one department to the next. Our “war-stories” are the simplest training tool in our arsenal. Yet when we pass on these tidbits something seems to get lost in the translation.
It is time to utilize these stories in a much broader capacity. We need to use the technology at our disposal to maximize the educational potential.
Before I get too much further into how to “spread the word” about your experience I would like to offer a couple of examples.
Several years ago when I was a rookie firefighter we caught a late night working fire in a duplex. It was about three a.m. and damn cold. I was just finishing the first half of a double when we were woken up by the tones. Since I was new to the service I was practically jumping out of my skin with anticipation over a working fire. As the engine bay doors opened we could smell the smoke and see the orange glow in the sky just a few blocks away. There was no doubt that this was a working job! We piled on the truck and I began donning my SCBA as fast as I could. I knew we would be on scene in just a few seconds. We soon pulled up to a heavily involved structure. My officer turned to me and yelled out which line I was to pull, and then he bailed off the truck. I jumped out of the truck, grabbed the nozzle and stretched the line to front door. By time I got there my officer was just finishing his 360 of the structure. We crouched down at the door and yelled back to the Engineer to charge the line. As I bled the air from the hose I distinctly remember hearing my Lieutenant blurting out, “What the hell is that? I said pull the two hundred!”
He had been expecting me to have a two hundred foot inch and three quarter pre-connect. Not the two and half inch one hundred and fifty foot pre-connect that was in my hand. Although he was wearing an SCBA mask and it was very smoky I still remember the look in his eyes, and wondering if he was going to beat me with the nozzle right then or after we fought the fire.
Ultimately we got the fire out, and I never did get beaten with that two and half nozzle. Everything worked out okay in the end, but mistakes had been made. This is where the story usually ends. This is where most stories usually end. Not today. Not anymore. These stories all have a lesson hidden in them, and that must be conveyed to your audience.
That night, as we pulled up and he barked out his order I only heard, “pull the…two…” I was a rookie and was looking at the biggest fire I had ever seen. I assumed that he thought the same and wanted the larger two and half. In retrospect the fire wasn’t that big, and the extra maneuverability and length on the inch and three quarter would have been perfect.
I still refer to that fire as “The Main Street Fire” (street name changed to protect the innocent) because I learned an important lesson that night. It is critical that clear orders are given, and that orders are clearly received. If there is a rookie on your truck take an extra two seconds to make sure they get it right. And if you’re the rookie: PAY ATTENTION! Check your excitement. If you don’t understand part of the command DON’T ASSUME YOU DO!
READ PART TWO OF THIS ARTICLE TO LEARN MORE....
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Original Article By: Ryan Christen
More available at www.FullyInvolvedFire.com
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