HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE
I read with great pleasure the words on the front page of Firehouse.com that spoke of the 3.1 billion dollars that the Senate attached to the defense-funding bill that they approved during this week. Being a realist, my joy was tempered for a number of reasons.
There will be negotiations between the house and the Senate. This is a mandatory part of the way that our government works. And there will be people, who are not of the fire service, out there lobbying against us. There are probably few groups in Washington who are tougher to battle than the defense contractors. As a retired U.S. Army Reserve Officer, I know how hard they work on behalf of our interests.
They will be arguing that buying more helicopters for the military is of greater importance that letting a bunch of yahoo firemen buy more toys for their hobby. The will tout the value of preparation for a war that might happen over the battle against fire that is being waged daily all across America. And they will say that money for emergency response should go to the National Guard and the various Reserves forces.
Talk about a bogus argument. I was in the National Guard for a long time. If you are going to wait for the forces of your local armory to muster on your behalf for a haz-mat incident or a raging fire, you had best phone ahead, because it takes awhile to round up the troops. And I say this as a veteran of numerous alert scenarios. We were steady, but we sure were not fast.
If this were a truly fair world, we would simply lay out our argument in a logical manner and be done with it. But as I write this commentary, fire departments across many parts of our country are out begging for the precious elements of emergency equipment that many of us take for granted.
I know this to be a fact because just two months ago, my Webmaster and I assisted two small volunteer fire departments in Texas. The Smithland Volunteer Fire Department, in the person of Assistant Chief Ricky Stevens, came knocking at the door of HarryCarter.com. After several weeks of hunting, my Webmaster, Bruce Lukaszewicz and I were able to bring Assistant Chief Stephens together with Chief Jim Gentry of Roxboro, North Carolina.
Upon seeing the call for help on my website, Chief Gentry went to his town government and gained approval for the donation of a 1978 pumper to Smithland. Chief Gentry then had the unit, which had just passed its underwriter’s test, repainted with Smithland’s name on the doors. What a truly caring and generous act this was. Members of the Roxboro department then drove the pumper to Atlanta, where it was turned over to Chief Stevens and members of his department. They continued the overland pilgrimage to Smithland, where the unit now proudly serves its new home in East Texas.
About two weeks later Chief Gentry assisted us in bringing Chief Fred Peterson of Uncertain Fire Department, Texas, together with Chief Bruce Lynch of Moriah Volunteer Fire Department also from North Carolina. Chief Lynch was able to arrange the donation of another fire truck. Arrangements to have it transported by flatbed trailer to East Texas were made by Chief Peterson.
This type of caring and concern is not found often enough. If you look back at our words over the past several weeks, you will see that I have been discussing a whole litany of uncaring fire chiefs, city administrators, and politicians. One of the interesting replies to last weeks commentary on the sprinkler sell out in North Las Vegas, Nevada struck a real nerve.
This individual who, asked for anonymity, told me of the time that a similar sell out was proposed in his community. He called it to a halt in a very simple manner. He convinced the city government that if they were to grant the waiver, it should come at the expense of a restrictive deed covenant.
The fire department agreed to drop the requirement for sprinklers with one stipulation: Each recorded property deed had to carry notification to the purchaser that said property was outside the boundaries for acceptable response distances for timely delivery of emergency services and that said purchaser accepted this situation.
This individual’s city council supported this compromise because its goal was to inform a potential purchaser of the department's limitations at that time. Because of this approach, the developers saw the responsibility dumped right back on their shoulders. The result was that they installed the sprinkler systems. The developers realized that in this case the purchasers would value such protection, particularly when they are properly informed about its importance.
But folks, life is not always fair. As we have all probably heard, life is tough and then you die. Let me tell you folks, we in the fire service are making it a lot tougher on ourselves than it needs to be. I hate to be the one that brings this up, but as a Fire Service, we cannot seem to get our act together.
In the world of Harry Carter, there is but one fire service. It is a world populated by caring, concerned people who are working hard to deliver a valuable service, that is an absolute necessity for every community. But my dream world is sorely out of sync with the reality that I see.
We seem to be nothing more that a continuing series of warring camps. There are the big cities against the small towns. There is a north versus south, and east versus west dichotomy. There is the industrial versus municipal world. And I am also sick to death of hearing people say that nobody fights fire like we do in "My Little Fire District No.45". I have fought fire in areas ranging from the wilds of Alaska, to the coastal regions of Vietnam, to the suburbs of New Jersey, to the steaming city streets in Newark, New Jersey. Gang, fire is fire.
Folks it has to be said by someone, so I guess I will be the sacrificial lamb on this issue. Heaven help me for uttering the magic words, but I feel that I must speak out on the career versus volunteer world argument. Although many people will skip over this paragraph and these words, I shall write them none-the-less. I take no side in this issue. And I strongly decry those who make political hay by criticizing others. We are here to fight fire and protect the public. No wonder the police are so far ahead of us. They all agree on two things.
- Crime is bad.
- Police are good.
I continue to be amazed at the venom and vitriol that takes place anytime the words career and volunteer come into the picture. I believe that the Hatfield and McCoy feuds from the late 19th and early 20th Century took their cue from the fire service. I have followed a number of threads in a variety of Internet venues. Folks, wake up. We are all on the same team. We had best cut the internal family squabbles and get out act together.
I am truly sickened when I hear career people referred to as greedy, money grubbing, non-caring people. I have worked with a lot of really caring and hardworking career fire people. And I have helped to bury career people during my 34 years in the fire service.
And those equally sicken me within the career world that choose to call volunteer firefighters scabs. For the record a scab is the person who crosses the picket line of a striking union despite knowing the consequences of their action. Labor history tells us that a job must first exist that is then taken by a non-union member, before the term scab labor can be used. In a great many places, there are no jobs, there are only volunteers. And by the way, I have helped to bury volunteer people during my 34 years in the fire service.
It is my firm personal belief that a great deal of our problems in dealing with the Congress of this nation comes from our lack of unanimity at the operating level. I was a union member for all of my time in Newark. And I have been a volunteer fire and EMS person since I was a kid in high school back in the 1960’s. And I remain a retired member of a labor union.
I am here to tell you that fire really does not know the difference between the many types and kinds of fine, brave, and diligent people who are out there engaged in active combat with fire. Did the building that fell on my head in Newark care if I was a full-time career chief? Did the buildings where I earned my knee operations in Adelphia care if I was a volunteer? The answer in both cases is fairly simple. No they did not.
The danger in writing commentary such as this comes from the fact that people on both sides of this issue will say that I am taking the other side’s part. On my website, I have a very simple motto. "We say what we mean, and we mean what we say." It is at times like this where our courage is tried.
Folks, you can say that you heard it from Harry Carter here and now. We, yes, you and I, are the American Fire Service. We are that family of dedicated people that stands between the greatness of our country, and its destruction by the forces of nature, the ravages of fire, and the simple mistakes made by our fellow citizens.
And like all families, there are differences among the relations. We have career brother and sisters, as well as volunteer brothers and sisters. And sadly, we have the rich relatives and the poor relations. That is why the federal fire bill money can be of such great importance. Every aspect of the American Fire Service will be better off for the much-needed infusion of capital.
The passage of this bill can be a defining moment. People on all sides of this issue are working hard to secure its passage. But until we stand truly united on every issue, we will be sitting on the side of the road, watching the parade of new police vehicles passing us by.
This is a message of unity, not division, and that is the way it should be in a truly fair world. Of course if the world were really fair, I would weigh about 195, and still fit into my high school varsity team jacket.
The commentary in this column does not necessarily reflect those of Firehouse.Com, Firehouse
Magazine, their employees or parent company Cygnus Business Media.
Harry R. Carter, Ph.D., MIFireE, is an internationally known municipal
fire protection consultant and contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine. He recently retired as a Battalion Commander with the Newark, New Jersey Fire Department.
His commentary appears regularly on Firehouse.Com. For more commentary and information,
visit Carter's web site at www.harrycarter.com
Harry has published several books available for online ordering, including
Firefighting Strategy and Tactics
and Management in the Fire Service
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