New For Us - New for you - Let's Do This Together

We have been creating these podcasts only since last November. Yet, we have been very lucky to have had some excellent guests who have shared their passion for one aspect of this job or another. And we are very grateful to them for having done so.

If you have followed some of our "tweets" on Twitter from @Dalmatprod, and/or rerad some of our messages here in the Blog, you know that there are two areas we are dedicated to: leadership and premature LODD's due to preventable health issues. Well friends, we're adding a third area as of today - the immediate reduction of firefighter cancer incidences.

Earlier this week, we interviewed a new guest, Bill Banks of Fire-Tec in Margate FL. he was a Ft. Lauderdale firefighter for over 20 years and retired a few years ago as a battalion chief.We had a great interview and even though we had previously said we were going to release a new "5-Alarm Task Force" podcast every other Monday, we're going to work our butts of to get Bill's interview on the air by this Monday.

We didn't find Bill on our own. A couple of months ago, we had a new follower, Cindi Ell, who is the president of the International Firefighter Cancer Network. Their goal? "Working to Extinguish Firefighter Cancer Throughout the World" We also were followed by the people behind the new, "Cool Towel." And they told us about Cindy and her work and Bill and his work.

Now to many of us, when we think of firefighter cancer, we immediately look back at the terrible tragedy of 9|11 and the brave men and women who worked that pile, day in and day out. We now know that many of them contracted all different types of cancer and other afflictions, all due to their selfless efforts. However, that assumption would be incorrect. Here's a cold hard fact for you: The cancer rate in the U.S. general populace is 22%. The cancer rate among U.S. firefighters is 68%!!! 

So, in the next few weeks, look for our interview with Bill Banks, Cindy Ell and the team from "Cool Towel."

Stay Safe
Everybody Goes Home

WHERE IS OUR "TELEVISION" PRESENCE?

Where is it? Where can we find our presence that we are proud of? 
Where is our presence that we enjoy, both for its entertainment & educational values?
Oh, you mean that one show on that one network? IS that one that you would sit and watch with your kids?

CAVEAT: What I am about to say has no negative meaning or tone to our comrades who are LEO's. Please understand that.

Now, use your "TV Guide Magazine," use the guide on your satellite or cable menu, and count how many "police shows" are on American TV. Whether it's the police in a city, sheriffs in a county, state police in cold climates, wardens in woods and lakes of our beautiful country; they all deal with one form or another of law enforcement. Oh, there are more to come. Coming this week on Animal Planet will be, "Lone Star Law."

There are nearly 1.1 million firefighters in this country; active. And what about those of us who are retired or disabled? Add in spouse, children, extended family, close friends, all of whom who know that you are, or were a firefighter. You risk your life every single day that you are/were on shift or on call. You never were a "no-show" when contract negotiations broke down; no one has ever heard the term, "Red-Flu," when firefighters wouldn't show up for duty because those negotiations collapsed. You were always there. Moreover, even when you're off-duty, you will always respond to an emergency or any place where your skill, knowledge and yes, perhaps, bravery, are needed.

So, how many TV shows demonstrate those facts to the viewing public.

Yes, I'm venting! For over at least one decade, there were no shows about the fire service. OK, several years ago, the Chicago show appeared. However, I can count on one hand the number of fire, rescue and EMS people, who like it and feels it reflects positively on what we do.

Listen, when the Devil wants to "dance," he doesn't care whether you're a career firefighter, a volunteer or you work on-call. He doesn't care if your a male or a female. He doesn't care if you live alone or have a wonderful family. We step up and dance. Most of the time, we beat him. Sometimes,we lose.

With all that, how do you think the average firefighter is viewed by the public? Think of this:
1. We had a big house fire; we rescued the family, saved most of the house. ->Heroes
2. We had a huge brush fire; hundreds of us responded and pounded and cut aware through thick forest and brush, working 18 hours a day. ->Heroes
3. We responded to a call of a soft mewing sound from a drainage pipe. We responded and spent 3 hours to rescue a little kitten who had wandered away. ->Heroes
 4. At our bi-annual meeting with the city's Human Resources to discuss our next contract, we ask for a 1.2% pay increase and an additional 2% increase in the retirement account. ->LOSERS & TROUBLEMAKERS
5. At a meeting with the villages Fire Commission, we explain that our 1989 engine has become a money pit. It's old, breaks down often, and has a bad pump. It's time we replace it with a new and technologically advanced unit, to help us perform our most important job - saving lives! ->LOSERS AND TROUBLEMAKERS
6. The newspaper writes an editorial stating that we have one of the "cushiest" and easiest jobs in the country. We're paid to sit on our asses and wait for the bells to ring. We're paid to sleep on an overnight sleep, and most of the time, we knock off a full eight hours, because there are no calls. We always have our hand out for more of something. No, we don't mean when you have your "Fill the Boot" campaign for MD. We mean you firefighters are always asking for more money, when you're overpaid already. Add your extra shifts, overtime, etc. and you folks earn much more than people who work much harder than you do!

Yes, all three examples in numbers 4, 5, & 6 are true in some form. However, how aware of those views were you. Right after the horror, trauma and tragedy of 9|11, we were heroes. Yet, just a few months later, when our FDNY brothers tried to get better medical care for those suffering severe respiratory problems and PTSD, we were castigated for always asking for more. I personally saw in various publication, accusations to the effect of, "We just knew that the firefighters would use this disaster to get more for themselves."

Why? Why does the public think this way? Why? For the same reason that your six-year-old is not scheduled to perform brain surgery tomorrow morning. The answer is EDUCATION! Take the great idea of "Firefighting 101" classes that more departments are trying to promote. Bring the politicians and news reporters, dress them in our turnout gear and put them through the ringer. When they emerge, sweaty, with soot covered faces, they suddenly have a new view of our jobs.

All of the above will be integrated into our show, "CAUSE & ORIGIN." Our show is about a real, big-city fire department, not from a small, "Mayberry-type" village. Our show deals with many of the most important issues that many of us face every day, from the moment you show up as the new "probie," to trying to get accepted into this houses tight group. We deal with the stresses of our lives; not just the calls we respond to or the training we have each shift, we deal with the family crisis, a family that no longer can live like the "perfect" American life, where Daddy goes to work and Mommy takes care of the kids. Today, many of us work two, sometimes three jobs. Our spouses or significant others work at least one full-time job and often wind up picking up an additional part-time job to help keep the home on an even keel.We'll also deal with the problems of attrition and retention. Oh, and don't forget how some of the "youngsters" of this "ME"-society we now live in, just starting out, and who don't share the same work ethic. 

So, what does it boil down to? We need your voices. That's all we're asking for. Your voice. 
Start your own email campaign writing to the networks that you're tired of all the law enforcement shows, you want to see a show about firefighting.

You can write a comment here and say, "Thank you, guys. You're right!"
You can send us an email at info@dalmatianproductions.tv and we'll add that to our portfolio to show at our meetings with TV execs. 

Can you imagine us walking into one of these meetings with over 500,000 emails, comments etc.? They'd be flabbergasted. Let's do it!

We don't mind being the leaders here. We'll be the cheerleaders to! Just speak up. 

Stay Safe - Make sure everyone goes home!

Podcast coming this week!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

The Tough Road Ahead...

One of my relatives recently asked me, "Why are you writing this blog? Does anybody really read it?"

I thought for a moment, (perhaps so I wouldn't bite her head off) and replied, "Because it's about the fire/rescue service. That's important to me and I hope it's important enough to my friends on Facebook and the followers on Twitter, because it's important to me and all most every other firefighter out there."

"Oh," was her sole reaction, as she turned and walked away.

I don't know why I was thinking about that little episode today, but as I did, it appeared to me that her reaction is symbolic of the general public's reaction to the fire/rescue service today in 2011. Unless you're a volunteer in a relatively small community, most of the residents you protect are better acquainted with their exterminator than they are with you, the person who just might save their life! However, that's not to say that your residents don't know about you!

If you're in a career or combo department, there's every chance that the paid crews are members of the IAFF, and rightfully so. However, whether your union initials are "IAFF" or "UAW", your residents pronounce those initials as "U-N-I-O-N." And to them "U-N-I-O-N" means money out of their pockets through their taxes, fire access fees, etc. Because as we all know, firefighters get paid for doing very little. We sit around the firehouse 95% of the time and occasionally respond to an alarm. And for that little amount of work your salary (which is also too high, to them) is augmented by this huge pension you're accumulating, so that you can retire in your mid-to-late 40's, receive a juicy pension, and then work in a new profession. You'll be living in the high class at their expense. Never mind that besides working your shifts, you work another full-time job and/or grab as many overtime shifts as possible, all just to make your mortgage payment each month. Oh, and your wife is working two jobs, as well.

Yet, no matter how many times those bells ring during the middle of the night, you're up out of your bunk and on the wagon, rescue, or truck, to answer the alarm. And you never know what that alarm is going to bring to you.

Thus, your section of the "tough road ahead," from the title of today's posting, is that every member of your department must do whatever it takes to convince your government officials and the public, that we earn every penny of our salaries and pensions. And to remind them that we NEVER say NO to answering an alarm. No strikes, no "sick-outs;" we answer every alarm. When they dial 9-1-1, they know that we will show up as quickly as safety allows. We will care for them and their property. We will comfort them. We will assist them. This is who we are and what we do.

Now, if you're a member in a combo or volunteer department, your road is going to be just as difficult, if not even more so. And that's because beside your dependence on your municipality's funding, your department cannot and will not function without increasing the number of volunteers that will serve your department and your community. In a volunteer department, we must invest our time in successful recruitment and fund raising campaigns. We must take both of these responsibilities seriously, or we face the dangers of being under-staffed and ill-equipped.

Very few volunteer departments receive enough funding through their municipal tax base. That money may be augmented by insurance taxes, i.e. New York State's "Foreign Fire Tax," which mandates that any foreign or alien insurance company that writes fire insurance in New York State, must contribute 2% of the fire premiums written on property located in NYS to be distributed to the fire departments and fire districts statewide, or other types of assessments. More importantly, a lot of the necessary additional funding comes from fund-raising projects run by the departments, from direct-mail campaigns, to annual carnivals, barbecues, etc.

Yet, without enough volunteers, all the money in the world will not make a difference. And those recruitment efforts are also facing difficult, uphill battles. In this economy, the person who used to work one job, is now working two, as is their spouse. The kids are are more involved today in extra-curricular activities than ever before and the family depends on carpools to shuttle those children. And for the family where a parent or parents are unemployed, they need to spend almost every waking minute seeking employment. Who has time to respond when that siren goes off?

Listen, it's up to us. No one is going to "sell" us to the public better than we can do it ourselves. However, to do so, the first thing we have to do is stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Yes, both of these situations stink. We can either bury our collective heads in the sand and wallow in the muck and mire of the situation, or we can task ourselves to rise above the negativity and educate the public about who we really are. How hard we work each and every shift or on each and every call. We all know that the simplest of calls have resulted in the ultimate price being paid.

Be positive, be strong and remember, 343 of our brothers will always have our backs.

Till next time...

We Who Sacrifice Are Being Sacrificed!

"WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE"

I recently opened the latest edition of "Firehouse" magazine. On the Editor's Page, there's a copy of an old "WANTED" poster. The face was blank below a fire helmet. I added the edited version above.  Either way, it's a sad truth of the times, on multiple levels.

First, in almost any and every municipality's budget discussions, the fire service is often served up, frequently, first, as the sacrificial lamb. Be it a volunteer, combo, or career department, their budget is ripe for the chopping block. Whether it deals with pensions, pay-rates, personnel, and/or equipment, fire-rescue service budgets are being sliced and diced as if they were in a Ron Popeil, "AS SEEN ON TV" hand-slapping chopper!

So what does the above have to do with our saga and efforts? The connection is quite simple: the TV executives are treating the fire service the same way, as a pariah.

It was almost a decade ago that members of the fire-rescue, EMS, and police services, were the heroes of America. Every politician couldn't wait to get have his/her picture taken with a member of the emergency services. Of course, after the tremendous sacrifice of our 343 brothers from the Fire Department of New York, firefighters became the "darlings" of the politicians and public alike. All around the country, people would stop in to visit their local firehouse; families would bring cakes, brownies, even entire meals for a shift. Pictures were taken of thousands of kids sitting on apparatus, wearing helmets and turn-our gear that were multiple sizes too big. And smiles were on everyone's faces.

Now ten years later, we're the pariah, the "enemy." The budget crisis being faced by villages and towns, cities, states and the feds, are being blamed on unions, especially those of the emergency services. Never mind that a fire department may be a 100% volunteer organization, whatever benefits they are entitled to (usually relating to Line of Duty Disability or Death) are being cut wherever possible. Money for turn-out gear, equipment, and apparatus has been or is being allocated to different areas or trimmed to the point of being useless, if there is any left at all.

The same holds true for television. A decade ago, every major cable/satellite network couldn't program enough hours of fire-rescue footage. From old episodes of "Emergency" to the latest reality-style ride-alongs, prime-time was full of flashing red lights and wailing sirens. Sponsors might wait in line to sign up to have their products seen on one of these shows. It was a great time to stand up as a member of the emergency services.

Today, we're old hat. The production company in LA that we've been working with for the past year, has gone to numerous production meetings with the networks. They're looking for the next "big thing," something with substance and meaning like, "Jersey Shore," Teen-Age Mothers," and "Swamp Men." Not to say anything about our brothers and sisters in blue, but their shows are continuously making the airwaves. Besides, "COPS," we've recently seen reality police shows about female police officers, especially those who work in vice (prostitution) and narcotics. There's even a new one, based right here in Broward County, about police dogs. And that's fine. I'm glad that at least one branch of the emergency services has a spotlight.

But what about us? Try to propose a reality show about the fire-rescue service, even one that is not a ride-along, and before  you can even finish the word, "fire," you're shown to the door, ordered never to return until you can bring a show about, cheating, cross-dressing firefighters, who secretly wed those teen-age mothers and move their new family to the Fire Island Shore!

All our agents have heard from the network buyers is, "Don't bring us anything connected to the words, "fire" or "rescue." They are not even given an opportunity to present an idea that's never, ever, been done before (OK, like ours). And to me, what is so ironic, is that in the event of an emergency at their place of business or their home, each one of them will most likely dial "911" and eagerly await the members of their local fire-rescue agencies.  And when their emergency has been mitigated, they will proffer their profuse appreciation, perhaps with words like, "We don't know how to thank you."

You know what? It's about time that we start providing them with a suggestion for how they could thank us. And I'm not just talking about our show. I'm talking about the fire-rescue service in general. Look at procedural dramas. There are close, if not more, than a dozen police dramas on TV today. When was the last time you saw one about the fire service? Was it ""Firehouse" with the actor who played Ben Casey, or was it "Code Red," with Lorne Greene?

So next time you have pause to think of a way to thank your local fire-rescue services for assisting you through an emergency, bake the brownies, but also, drop a line to the big cable/satellite networks and ask them, "Where's your show about the fire-rescue service?"