EPIDEMIC SWEEPING THROUGH AMERICA'S FIRE SERVICE!!

Indeed, there is an epidemic sweeping through our fire service! It is called, "Invincibility Syndrome." What is that? It's the line of thinking that too many of our firefighters have today, "I've been doing this for years. Nothing is going to happen to me!" Or, "I'm a young guy/gal. I can do all this strenuous stuff. I passed the physicals. I'm fine. Nothing is going to happen to me."

How many of you who are reading this post, have felt this way, whether you have voiced it or not? You love the rush the adrenaline gives you when the bells ring or you're toned out. You jump aboard your rig or you drive to the station to meet the equipment. The driver pulls out of the bay, your lights flashing and siren(s) screaming. You finish securing your gear, grab your equipment, just hoping this one is "worker" and you can do your stuff. Right?
Listen, we've all felt that way. I doubt there isn't a firefighter, alive or passed, who didn't have that feeling course through them when the alarm sounded. However, you're wearing an "armor" with a chink in it. And that is, underneath your armor, you have a physical body that must react in its own way.

As firefighter morbidity reports indicate, while the total number of fatalities are down, a large percentage of those fatalities are due to preventable health reasons and to firefighters below the age of approximately, 55. Why? Why are we seeing this shift in our Line of Duty Deaths.

In my mind (and I speak only for myself) it is due to the fact that we honestly don't believe anything will happen to us on a call. And all too often, internally, we define that "call" as on the actual fireground itself. However, you could not be further from the truth! Many of our health-related LODD's are occurring after the call; after you're back home or back at the station and all tucked in for the night (or so you hope!)

Imagine what it is like at a station, when, at the going off-duty roll call, one of the firefighters is not there. Someone goes back to the bunk room, finds them unresponsive and calls out for help. That is exactly the scenario that has played out several times in the last year or so.
Or, you're a volunteer/on-call firefighter and when your pager goes off, you jump in your car, hit your lights (and siren, where allowed), and head down to the station. You believe you're driving responsibly, but there are other drivers who caught up with their audio books, phone calls, email and texting. One cuts in front of you, never even realizing you have the right of way and BAM! It may not have been your fault, but the results are the same, another LODD off the fireground.

And how many of you acknowledge that you might very well have one or two health problems, but you're afraid to say anything because you'll be put on light duty or taken off duty altogether, until you bring in a doctor's note that you're fine? Maybe you need to drop 10-15 pounds; maybe your BP has been running high for the last six consecutive months; or maybe you find yourself becoming winded way too soon than you used to?

Every month in FIREHOUSE(R) Magazine, Chief Billy Goldfeder, writes a terrific column, "CLOSE CALLS." And if you're the avid reader of his column like I am, you see just how quickly "routine" turns into "crap!" Most of the time, you don't have any idea it's heading that way, until you're already involved in it. If you want to see just how fragile you are as your perform this job that we all love, make it a habit to read this column every month.

Speaking of FIREHOUSE(R) Magazine, in the August 2016 issue, Chief Marc S. Bashoor of the Prince George's County Fire Department hits home in his "Chief Concerns" column, "LODD Reality Check." It is going to happen and when it does, all of us have to deal with it! 
 The ripples of an LODD travel far; far beyond just your department. The Chief's article presents the succinct reality of the procedural structure necessary to deal with this tragedy. 

It's imperative that you remember this - an LODD is like the first domino that falls, out of thousands. The first one falls and the rest do as well. We're often referred to as the "Bravest." To be honest, we often are. We do some crazy things that other folks wouldn't ever consider, no matter the circumstances. However, being the bravest does not mean we're the absolute best and that nothing will ever happen to us. Fire history has knocked that chip off of thousands of shoulders. 

In your own mind, you may deny that you have any problems that could affect your performance as a firefighter. However, bear in mind that the man/woman in the mirror knows all and see all. Moreover, he/she never lies! You are not invincible. You can be hurt. You can die. You don't casually cross an eight-lane interstate just to get to get to the other side. do you? So why would you jeopardize yourself or your comrades, if you know you have a health problem?

Remember this, no matter how popular you are in the firehouse, no matter how popular you are with your friends when you all hang out, not one of them wants to stand at your grave. Not one!

Stay safe and let's make sure that everyone does go home!
 

New Podcasts and More

Hi all - Hope you're enjoying your day. Seems Winter is making its way in and the holidays are almost upon us. First, we want all of you who follow us here, on Twitter with either @DalmatProd or @CAUSE_ORIGIN, how much we appreciate your follows and your support. As we've said before, TV is a very, very tough business! However, your faith and support buoy us up and helps us to continue to work as hard as we can to bring this TV show, all about you, to the viewing public. And for that, we are deeply grateful to every one of you.

On to the new Podcast - We are hoping to launch the first podcast after the first of the year. Our goal is to present you with a great mix of important information, some excellent education and a little bit of fun, all thrown together (much like in the firehouse!)

Our podcasts will be prerecorded and archived. That way, you'll be able to listen to it at your leisure. As you may realize, there are hundreds of topics we can discuss.  We are planning to produce two shows per month. However, since the purpose of this show is for YOU, we want to give you the opportunity to let us know what topics you would like to hear discussed.

While we do have our own experience in fire/rescue, I've been out of active-duty for quite a while. So my sole role on this show is to be your host. And with that in mind, we have already lined up three excellent members to be our first guests. And we're looking for plenty more.

Along that line, here is a list of some of the topics that we hope to address on the show (in no special order):

1. Firefighter Health Initiative 2015 - 2016
2. Job Stress and its tolls on our lives
3. Job attraction and retention
4. Educating the public we protect and the public officials we deal with 
5. Healthy Eating and Firehouse Recipes!
6. Command & Control
7. The purpose and need for the PIO
8. Fireground tactics: Size-up, Analysis, Plan & Execute or Surround & Drown
9. The importance of proper record-keeping
10. The benefits of a well-trained fire department
11. Employing and promoting personnel
12. Budget develop and management
13. The role of discipline in strengthening personnel
14. Identifying and addressing fire department staffing issues
15. Automatic aid and mutual-aid versus adding more personnel
16. Capital equipment planning: identifying needs and resolving them
17. Why do some firefighters fail to wear (or properly wear) their PPE?
18. Preparing to compete for a chief's position

And that's just for starters! Because this is your show, we would like to hear from you about topics that you would like to hear addressed. Additionally, if you're comfortable being a teacher, presenter, etc., we're officially inviting you to contact us and let us know that you'd like to be a guess. Thanks to today's wonderful electronics and the Internet, you won't have to travel to South Florida to be on the show. We'll use cellphone, Skype and/or Face Time to connect with you. So, if you're interest, please leave a comment here, send us a Twitter Private Message to either @DalmatProd or @CAUSE_ORIGIN, or send us an email to steve@dalmatianproductions.tv. If you'd like to be a guest, please include a brief bio and the topic you'd like to present.

Finally, unless there's big news from L.A. this week, we will probably save our next post until after next weekend. With that in mind, from Rich, Tom, Jesse and me (Steve) we extend our best wishes to all of you and yours for very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Safe Christmas and Kwanza holidays. Let's use this season to take one more step, reach out a little further, and touch someone's life who needs us, but is afraid or embarrassed to ask for it. Just like laying a tile floor, we build it one piece at a time. It can be a slow, tiring job. But when it's finished, it's beautiful. Let's do the same thing in our lives. 

May the Good Lord bless and protect each and every one of you and yours.

Steve Greene, President
Dalmatian Productions, Inc.
Cause and Origin Productions, LLC