By Ray McCormack
Detractors are always swimming just below the surface of what seem to be calm waters , depending on which group is upset with firefighters this week–either expressing how great we have it or how little we do. It can be politicians once they’re finished praising our sacrifice, business people who think our idle time could be better spent with a paint brush, advocates who dismiss the level of消防活动ty, or preventionists who think we’re not making enough progress. They are all wrong, of course, and there is probably a study somewhere to prove it.
The fire service, although expensive to run, is a staple that every community needs. Some fire departments adopt models that place them into other lines of work because someone has decided that their value is not high enough because of downtime. Our critics should work to shine that narrowly focused beam on other lines of work; they will find that others are not as efficient and dependable as the fire service. We are unique in that our response is time sensitive and that being available and not tied up in extraneous matters is critical to assisting others in need.
Whether our detractors come from within our organizations or from outside, firefighters are not living the life of Riley. I’ve heard somewhere out there that firefighters are indulging in heated lava rock treatments where stones are placed on their backs and down their spines while laying on 300 thread count cotton sheets. It sounds nice, but that’s probably just an old chief’s tale.
Firefighters are suffering from sleep deprivation! Really? What an amazing discovery. And they are probably tired, too…can you imagine? So sleep on your day off. Yes, this business takes a toll on your health and you need to manage your life, but sympathy and loathing come at a cost, too, especially in tough economic times. Maybe another study can get us some neck rubs from hoods that are too tight. Firefighters should enjoy luxuries on their time off and care about things that can harm while at work, but if you think the public’s support of firefighters has waned, just wait. It is not about being macho; it is about realizing that although all studies have some point to prove, not all of them are worth proving.
Being careful what you wish for is a phrase that we don’t always see coming. Consider your studies wisely. Maybe we need to better monitor the grant process so that studies that are done in and for the fire service do not become the latest example of wasted tax dollars on the nightly news. This just in: A seven-year, seven-million-dollar federally funded study found that firefighters who were denied Web access missed nearly six beats per minute while taking patients pulses. Or maybe it’s just a case of bad math.
In an effort to right all wrongs (real and perceived), the fire service can fall victim to junk science. Where the measurements are faulty or the subject matter too narrow to have a tangible result. Correlating results to fireground performance is difficult and although it makes for interesting reading, we have to be careful that the results can stand up to further enhanced scrutiny and actually work toward improvements.
Even without department budgets or taxpayer largesse approving in-house spa treatments for firefighters, your tactical safety level should stay reasonably balanced (although I don’t have a federally funded study to back that up), even if the closest you ever got to a mud bath was a plaster and lath shower.
Next Tactical Safety – Blind Dating Toxic Twins
Thank you for reading.
Keep Fire in Your Life
MORE RAY McCORMACK
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- Emotional Responses
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RAY McCORMACKis a 30-year veteran and a lieutenant with FDNY. He is the publisher and editor of UrbanFirefighterMagazine. He delivered the keynote address at FDIC in 2009 and he is on the Editorial Board of188金宝搏是正规吗Magazine.
