Changing Landscapes of Television....

 

Unless you've been hiding within the confines of an old cathode-ray tube (that's a non-flat screen TV), for the last ten years or so, you have seen your viewing choices undergo a rare scientific occurrence. The number of accessible channels as exploded into hundreds, while the types of programming have imploded into one form of another of news, procedural drama, or reality. OK, especially reality! From racing around the world, choosing a spouse in eight weeks, fishing with your fingers, and being arrested for drinking in public while wearing half a woman's ballet leotard, to eating bugs in the dark, erecting an oil well, gold miners, coal miners,driving on ice, or chopping down a tree, your local TV magazine is bloated with mostly debasing, loathsome, and gross, reality programming.

If you've read this blog before, you are aware of the fact that we have been working for several years to bring the one type of reality show to the viewing public. It is a show that tells the real story of the fire-rescue service. Yet, as excited as the networks are, to air the type of shows alluded to in the above paragraph, they are just as adamantly opposed to airing any show that deals with the fire-rescue service.

Numerous programs highlight, police, lifeguards, pilots, boat captains, etc. Yet, not a single one has or does focus on the brave men and women who protect every single member, not only of the viewing audience, but of the producers and network execs, themselves! Just imagine, if you will, if but one of those execs has a true emergency, places a call to 9-1-1, and there is a delay in response by their local emergency agency. Now then, I could guaranty you, that a "reality" program would soon follow. Recently announced by NBC-Universal (a division of Comcast) is the "green light" for Dick Wolf's new show, "Chicago Fire." However, before you get your hopes up, Wolf, who is the creator of such cop hits as, "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: SVU," has created a procedural drama about the Chicago Fire Department. If it turns out to be anything like previous dramatic attempts such as, "Rescue Me," (Fox) and "Third Watch," (oops, NBC, again!), the rank and file will quickly lose interest in trumped up storylines and incongruous TV situations.

Until most recently, I too, had lost interest in our show. This was the second time we had worked so hard to bring this type of show to broadcast. Yet, I felt there had to be something I was missing. Some aspect that I could use to alter the show somewhat, without losing its identity. And several weeks ago, I came up with the concept. Instead of trying to sell a weekly show, what about writing a six-hour documentary? It would have a two-hour premier, followed by five nights (subsequent or weekly) of one-hour each. Long enough to cover the material, short enough to maintain interest, ratings, and financial backing. So, I re-wrote the treatment to change the title and reflect the new ideas and subject behind the program. But where should I go with it now? There are not a lot of networks that air non-salacious reality documentaries. Thanks to a friend of mine, I may have finally found a friendly ear.

This gentleman is a well-known and well-experienced documentary filmmaker. Coincidentally, he is currently working one a program to mark the upcoming eleventh anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. My friend told him about our project in scant detail, but it was enough to pique his interest and that news was enough to pique mine. Though he and I haven't spoken yet, as of Monday, he advised my friend that he is anxious to speak with me about the concept and see where it leads.

No, there are no contracts, promises or guaranties...yet! However, at least, some is willing to listen...finally.

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...

"In Sickness and In Health..."

There are several subjects I wanted to address in this post. First of all, we finally have the additional video that we shot in early spring at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Fire & Safety. I've reviewed it a few times and looks like it will add some better explanations, voice-overs, etc., to what we shot in San Francisco last year. I might be overly optimistic, but I could see the new "teaser-reel" being reading in the next 4-6 weeks. We'll be sure to post some snippets on the web site or Facebook in the near future.

(If you have an interest in the fire service and you're heading to South Florida, you should make a point of stopping by and visiting the museum  http://bit.ly/p5VA0U)

Whether active or retired, the four letters that no firefighter wants to hear, are LODD - Line of Duty Death. When this tragedy happens on the fireground, as happened in Worcester, MA, Pompey, NY, and Charleston SC, to name a few, the stories are usually spread all over the media. From the live reports of "Eyewitness News," to large, dark headlines in daily newspapers, the news of a firefighter or firefighters dying "in the line of duty," is all-too-often understood to mean that they died from the fire, or a collapse, entrapment, etc.

However, that understanding is actually a misunderstanding, for the majority of firefighter LODD that occur in this country often happen no where near a fireground or rescue scene. Instead, they happen in the firehouse, at home, at the gym, and other mundane locations. For many of these tragic losses might have been prevented if the person/people concerned had taken better care of themselves.

Look, we all agree that those of us in the fire service are the crazy ones - we run into a building everyone else is running out of. And we're also the ones ready to rush to someone's - anyone's aid, at the drop of hat. But who rushes to our aid? Who takes care of the firefighters who do not take care of themselves?

One of the leading industry magazines is "Firehouse," under the terrific leadership of long-time editor, Harvey Eisner. Each month's issue contains one dedication to firefighters who died in the line of duty and a second and separate listing of firefighters, rescue personnel, and affiliated civilians who died in the line of duty. And in almost every dedication or listing, the smallest number is attributed to an actual occurrence on the fireground. The rest are often either road accidents and/or personal health issues. And with nearly 70% of this country's life and property protect by volunteer or paid-on-call firefighters, the men and women dying are our neighbors and, God forbid, our family.

So, how are these deaths attributed to LODD? The actual standards are developed by government and professional organizations, such as the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). Thus, if a firefighters dies on the way to a call, on the way home, during the night after a call or a strenuous training exercise, etc., the death is classified as LODD. In a recent issue, a rescue responder, who had developed Hepatitis as a result of performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation more than a decade ago, was declared an LODD. But those type of attributions are few and far between. All too often, it happens either on the way to, or subsequent to, a training exercise or actual call.

And we, the firefighters and rescue personnel, are our own worst enemy. Because we will always make time ti help someone else, but we're too damned busy to take care of ourselves! We're told we have to lose weight, improve our conditioning, stop smoking, reduce stress, etc., but we're too busy to do so. And if today's American fire-rescue crews do not start taking better care of ourselves, our families, neighbors, and communities are going to suffer. Being a firefighter is not the once glorified job it used to be when I was a kid, or even ten years ago after 9-11 and the loss of our 343 brothers. Weeks later, fire departments across the country were swamped with applications. Yet today, with civil cut-backs, loss of benefits, both union and personal, and the ever-growing need for the heads-of-households to work two jobs each, the "job" isn't as attractive as it once was. And please, visit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation at www.firehero.org

It's time we take care of number one or we'll all be stepping in "number two."

Speaking of 9-11, it's hard to believe that the 10th anniversary is almost upon us. The pundits and "news" stations are already rolling the videotapes of that terrible day and it seems that after what this country just went through regarding our debt crisis, we should be ashamed of ourselves to look back and see our "loyalty" after that tragic time; flags fluttering from almost every vehicle and flying from homes and buildings. No "red"  or "blue" states, just one country of Red, White, and Blue!

Is history bound to repeat itself? Are we all going to be Americans for just one day, again and then return to our bickering and squabbling? Are we not greater than this? What will it take for us to join hands as a country again, and come together to govern and lead our country?

With that in mind, what are you going to do on September 11, 2011? There's a national organization you can check out, http://bit.ly/nx53vA or check with your own communities to see what they are planning. At the very least, visit a local firehouse, whether it's on a shaded, rural road or in the heart of "Da Bronx," and say, "Thank you." Oh, and it wouldn't hurt if you also added, "And please take care of yourselves, too!"

A brief post-script here: A big "hello" to a great friend of mine from my early firefighting days in Guilford County, NC, Roger Brooks. Roger was one of three, rotating duty-men, who worked the 24/48 shifts. He's a great guy and was a terrific mentor to me. We were able to get together for the first time in nearly 20 years, a couple of weeks ago. He retired as a Captain, from the Greensboro Fire Department about three years ago. At his home, he showed me a beautiful "life-line" plaque, with every badge, stripe, and bugle he earned in his career in the fire service. But he also told me about a new project called, "The Thin Red Line." While it started by promoting the NC Fallen Firefighter Foundation, it has grown way beyond that. The thin red line represents us, the firefighters of your community, who always show up to face the "thin red line," and hold that line to the best of our ability, for as long as we can. Roger was kind enough to give me my first "Thin Red Line" wristband, and I've been wearing my own and passing new ones out to other firefighters or telling them about the project. For more information, visit www.ncfff.org. Thanks, Roger!

Till next time....

"With a Turn of the Word - It Wasn't My Heart I Left in San Francisco!"

Thanks to a social networking site, I was able to re-establish contact with a very good friend from days gone by; very good days gone by. And in the passing nearly forty years, I knew that she had fulfilled one of her dreams, of becoming an actress. Though now she busies herself with her husband, grown kids, and many community theaters, back in the '70's you might have spotted her on a little TV show called, "Happy Days," or in a theatrical release, called "Grease." More about her good wishes in a moment.

So, as I was about to leave at the end of last week for this trip to San Francisco to shoot the pilot for a new TV show, she gave me the long-traditional showbiz wish for a successful journey and endeavor "Break a leg." My problem was that I apparently took her at her literal word.

We had a great flight to San Francisco aboard Virgin America Airlines. For the most part, I would have given them a 9 on the proverbial 1-10 travel scale. Staff was very friendly, the seats, even in regular economy, afford a wider birth, as well as a couple of inches of additional leg room. Their entertainment system, found at every single seat, though some aspects have yet to be activated, is pretty good. If you ever travel to a location serviced by both JetBlue AND Virgin America, give VA a shot. I think you'll like the experience.

After pickup up the car (another saga all by itself), and about a 1/2-hour drive, we arrived at our hotel, The Intercontinental-Mark Hopkins, One Nob Hill. By far, this was one of the nicest hotels I've stayed in and yes, we did receive a reduced rate based that we were a media group AND we were also shooting a piece from my partner Joel's other business, Travel TV News. Rooms can be had mid-week for around $144++, which is decent, especially if you know the area and realize you are right across the street from the Fairmont! Not that there were not a couple of surprises as well. For example, the average tip for a bellman or chauffeur (who valet parks your car) is $5.00. Overnight valet parking is $50....YUP, FIFTY BUCKS, per night. Now you might be thinking, "Heck, I'm not going to spend $50 parking my car, I'll find a place on the street!" And that, my friend, is where you will be making your first mistake...there IS NO parking on the street throughout most of the City of San Francisco, especially in a ritzy neighborhood like Nob Hill. Even the public garage was $40.00, and they don't even let you take your car in and out, as the Intercontinental does. Also on the list of surprises was chipping in $12.95++ per 24-hour period for the most basic Internet service at 256 kbs and no access to a VPN. Though the hotel finally agreed to comp it for us because of what we did for them (shot another piece for TTN), it was too little to late, at least for me, since they did so at checkout.

Sunday morning, after a nice breakfast at one of the multiple "Mel's Diners" in San Francisco, we met Division Chief 03, Tom Siragusa. Now in the last 10-12 years, visiting departments all over the country, I have not met a more personable, knowledgeable, or nicer guy than Chief Siragusa. What was the best part was that his vision of what we would do with his gang at Station 7, was really close to what ours was. And sometimes, the Chief would find a better way for us to get those points across. As a matter of fact, he told us yesterday during our parting words, that if he had had more prior notice, he would have been glad to spend all of the days we were with the fire department, with us, even though two of those days would have been his days off.

We reviewed our plans, schedules and activities with the chief and quickly set about setting up our camera equipment, making sure our "host," Joel, was set to play his role, and got right to work shooting. Over the course of the four days with the department we shot over ten hours of video and mind you, they were neither on film or tape, but digitally on, what are called, "P2" cards. Think of them as your SD cards you use on your MP3 player, digital camera, or computer, but on "steroids," as the entire shoot was done in HD-High Definition.

Luckily, we only lost one day to weather, which was Tuesday. For Monday, we had scheduled an interview with the chief of the department, Chief Chief Joanne Hayes-White, for the morning and a ride aboard one of the department's two fire boats for that afternoon. (Hint, hint!!) Monday morning went fairly well, but there were some unexpected complications that had nothing whatsoever to do with the good ladies and gentlemen of San Francisco's Bravest.

Now we come to the "turn of the word." After lunch, we headed down to the Embarcadero which is where all the piers are. So if you plan on sailing out of San Francisco in the future, this is where you'll have to be. We arrived at Station 35, home to Engine 35 and the department's two fire boats. However, the station is under renovation (we could see why!), so the regular crew has been temporarily moved to a nearby firehouse. Here, we were met by a division chief who is in charge of the city's AWSS - Auxiliary Water Supply System. Dreamed up in 1903 by the then fire chief after the city had suffered multiple fires that destroyed a large part of the downtown area, the plan was to bury very wide pipes that could be supplied either with water from an inland, elevated, (you know how hilly San Francisco is) reservoir, or with bay water, pumped into the system from San Francisco Bay.

Unfortunately, the 1906 Earthquake occur ed, killing the fire chief immediately and igniting the Great Fire of 1906. However, once things had calmed down, the right people remembered the late chief's dream and started working to make it a reality. A large reservoir was excavated up in the Twin Peaks area that holds up to 10,3 million gallons of water. Additionally, two additional storage tanks were build with one holding nearly 750,000 gallons and the second with a 500,000 gallon capacity. Furthermore, the city constructed two large pumping stations, that still exist today, one located in the basement of Fire Headquarters and the second just outside of the pier area. Any of this water bypasses the public water supply and is directed to special, high capacity hydrants throughout the city. The water from the reservoir and two tanks is gravity-fed downward and the bay water is circulated by the massive steam pumps mentioned above. "Why such a massive back-up supply of water," you may ask. Because San Francisco is a peninsula, surround on three sides by water. The Fire Department must be self-sufficient for at least, 72 hours, when (not "if") the big even occurs.

There was a good wind off the water that day, as there is almost every day in the "City by the Bay." After the interview, we had to await for the firefighting crew (in addition to the boat crew of three, Captain, Engineer, and Hand) to arrive. Also traveling with us this day, besides my shooting crew, was the Chief of the Training Division and a high school senior who was shadowing him for the day. Well, after those two climbed down the pier ladder and arrived on deck, it was my turn...and what a turn it was.

I climbed down the iron ladder that led from the pier towards the boat. Now, with the renovations being down on the station house, a marine crane on a barge had been towed in and placed between the two fire boats. And being on a barge, every swing of its boom, up or down, left or right, created a responsive wave action all around the pier. I looked down and saw that I was one rung below the transom of the boat (the top rail). So I stepped up again one rung and got myself down with both feet on the transom.

Looking down, there were no steps to be seen so I reckoned that I had to get down the 3 1/2 feet or so from the transom to the deck, on my own. Now having had five surgeries on my left knee since 1977 and knowing that a knee replacement was in my future sometime between the age of 60-62, I knew there was no way I should go with that leg first. In hindsight, the smartest thing to have done was simply and easily jumped down with both feet together. But that's why hindsight is so damned accurate!

Instead, I decided to come down on my right leg and stepped of the transom to do so. As I did, the crane twirled, the waves bobbed and the boat slipped about a foot lower in the trough than I had anticipated. Thus I came down on my right leg without being balanced, whereupon the knee, quite promptly and quite painfully gave way. As I headed down, to fall upon the deck, the right side of my chest crashed against the manifold, a series of five brass ports, painted fire-boat red, to which hoses could be hooked up either to allow the boat to pump to engine companies or to pump seawater directly through hoses to fight a harbor blaze.

I crashed to the deck like a harpooned walrus, pulled over the side, squealing like a little piglet. Indeed, the pain was searing. Since three of the firefighters who had preceded me on board were also paramedics, that wasted little time attending to me to determine the extent of my injuries. We carefully straightened my bent right leg, which surprisingly hurt very little. Once done, I jiggled the knee a bit and the knee cap popped back into place. Hooray! A simple displacement of the patella and we're back in business. After a couple of minutes, with everyone calming down, I asked for their help and support in standing up and taking a few "baby steps" to see how I would do.

The first step was fine. The second felt better. The third, well, that one wasn't so good. My knee gave way again, very painfully, and I had to be helped to get to a sitting location. They had already called for one of the fire department ambulances to respond and now told them to keep on coming. So there was no doubt in any of our minds that I had quite plainly blew out my right knee; most likely by a tear of the meniscus and a torn MCL or ACL or both, if I had done it in BIG way!

There's more to tell, but we're descending down on our approach to Ft. Lauderdale. Tomorrow I see my orthopedist, I'll have an MRI next week and surgery soon after. So, to my sweet Judi, thank you for your words of good luck. I just need to not take them so literally next time!