Today across our nation firefighters will pause and reflect on a tragedy that occurred one year ago today. Last year 9 Charleston SC firefighters lost their lives in a fire that to this day the ramifications ripple across the country and have most of us still shaking our heads in disbelief. Obviously the loss of any life in a fire is devastating, as a Professional Firefighter who has seen more than my fair share of time in the “breech” what makes the loss of 9 firefighters in Charleston unpalatable is circumstances surrounding their deaths.
When you are in the business where, on occasion, you walk a razor thin line between success and failure you fall back upon and draw from past experiences, training, equipment, leadership, and gut feelings to get you home at the end of your shift. Leadership, equipment and training failures in Charleston have created Widows, grieving families and fatherless children. The leadership or lack of in Charleston should be held to a criminal standard. In the civilian world the case studies and precedents are clear let us change the circumstance. Let us pretend that a truck driver was allowed to take to the road and he had not received the proper training to drive and he hit a bus killing 9 people…he would certainly be held to a criminal standard as would the people or company that allowed him to do so. Tactics in the fire service change on nearly a weekly basis. Command officers owe it to themselves and to the men they command to stay abreast of the latest information, the latest classes, the latest training. We rely on them to see the much broader picture, to forecast the outcome, and to actively and safely mitigate the problem.
Management of tactics change however management philosophy does not. Take these two texts from a centuries old manuscript on leadership during warfare.
“When the men are well trained, rested, properly fed, clothed, and equipped, if their spirits are roused they will fight vigorously. However, if physical or material conditions have blunted their spirit; if there is any imbalance in the relationship between command and troops; or if for any reason they have lost their motivation, they will be defeated”
“If the leader is weak and unenlightened in his instructions and leadership and the deployment of his troops into formation is askew, it is termed chaotic”
Centuries old management philosophy that still holds true today yet leadership by its very core definition is seemingly a foreign concept to those leaders who were on scene that day in Charleston. Through inept, outdated, and antiquated tactics, strategy, and philosophy are directly responsible for such a tragic loss.
Across the country the same attitudes and directives of outdated tactics, below par training standards and inept leadership that exist in Charleston exist in fire departments to this day. We are not advancing fast enough in the fire service we are simply dodging bullets playing a dangerous game and counting on mathematical probabilities. Tactics, philosophies, training and attitudes that existed in the 70’s no longer have a place in the fire service neither do the ones possessed in the 80’s or 90’s. We can glean valuable lessons from such tragedies as Charleston, Worchester, Brockton, and the countless other Line of Duty Deaths that occur across this country every year. These lessons have been paid in full by guys who have been failed by incompetent leaders and outdated practices. Lessons that our own incompetent leaders seemingly ignore……we are simply dodging bullets.
