Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
The following is not directed towards the department in the video but to everyone.
The video below shows a small house with some fire. By all accounts, the firefighters did a decent job knocking down the fire and I would imagine there was more fire prior to this video beginning recording.
What I found humorous was the commentary coming from near the camera. I don’t know who it is but most of it seemed like unnecessary micromanagement (if it came from an officer). If it came from a spectator I would have soaked them to shut them up.
What I wanted to talk about is the firefighters who wore SCBA packs on their backs but didn’t utilize the clean air contained inside and rather breathed the toxic smoke. I don’t know about you but I find this disturbing.
We all know that it is impossible to work on the fireground without breathing in at least a little smoke, but this seems idiotic.
Maybe they didn’t get the memo about smoke causing cancer…especially smoke from all that stuff which might be burning in a house.
I recommend using the SCBA and breathing the clean air inside…or just taking the pack off. Why wear it if you aren’t going to use it. They were put on the rigs for a reason.
I grew out of that macho, smoke breathing, invisible, can’t hurt me mindset a long time ago. I realized that if I am going to make a life of being a firefighter and still try to live a long life and enjoy my family that I should decrease all risks I have control over.
The point is where the pack and use it!. Breathe the clean air, and decrease your chances of getting all the cancers which have killed firefighters for years.
On the flip side of the coin is how in the world can firefighters fight for presumptive cancer benefits when we have video showing actions such as these. It would be hard to argue your case for presumptive laws if the other side of the aisle is streaming video like this.
The video:
