Common-Sense Symposium
This week, a Missouri volunteer firefighter was sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter for a fatal crash that killed a 17-year-old boy. In November 2006, the volunteer was responding to a brush fire in his private vehicle — no lights or sirens — at an estimated 84 mph. While passing one car on a blind hill, he hit another car head-on, killing the high-school junior.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration‘s provisional report on 2007 firefighter fatalities, two of every 10 firefighter fatalities occurred while responding to or returning from an incident. While seatbelts and speed were not necessarily factors in all of these fatalities, they were contributing factors for most of them.
I sit on the program committee for the Fire Department Safety Officers Association‘s 20th Annual Apparatus Specification and Maintenance Symposium. We discussed including a program on driver safety. I pushed hard for the committee to bring in a speaker on the Smith System, which trains drivers and instructors for a number of large commercial fleets. I learned about the Smith System when I worked for United Parcel Service as a customer-service manager. I was required to take the same driver-training class as all UPS package car drivers, and the Smith System‘s five keys to safe driving remain with me to this day.
The symposium begins on Jan. 20 in Orlando, Fla. The afternoon speaker will be James A. Smith, senior vice president of training for the Smith System. Smith (no relation to the founder) will talk about safe driving for emergency vehicle apparatus.
“Reading the [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] reports, I kept seeing two things: departments had to put SOPs into practice and that people needed to be trained in driving,” Smith said about preparing for his presentation. “Is that training being accomplished?”
Smith will talk about forward-motion accidents, rollovers and the issues involved with higher centers of gravity and cornering. “People aren‘t seeing it early enough and are letting their head and feet get ahead of their minds and eyes,” he said. He also will discuss safely entering intersections, based on his experiences training ambulance drivers.
“We‘re going to give attendees options and something that they can take back and use — the keys to safer driving,” Smith said. “It‘s not how to operate specific vehicles; it’s about driving safely.”
As I‘ve said in previous years, this is my favorite no-frills, common-sense symposium for chiefs and officers involved in specifying emergency vehicle apparatus. Other speakers include Chief Billy Goldfeder on “The Apparatus People: Why You Do What You Do?” and my favorite dynamic speaker, attorney Jim Juneau, delivering a reality-check with “How to Keep Your Butt Out of Jail: The Liability of Apparatus Operators and Spec Writers.”
It‘s too late for the Missouri volunteer firefighter to stay out of jail, but the programs offered at the this symposium will help you specify and maintain safer apparatus and hopefully will keep you out of jail or the funeral home.
Related Topics: John Linstrom, Apparatus, Leadership
January 11th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Common sense is only derived from common knowledge. Specialized knowledge and training will obviate common sense at every turn.This newbies common sense got the kid killed. If you grew up in our society, your common sense tells you to hurry in an emergency situation. Specialized knowledge and training says that the increased risk outweighs the time saved benefit. Many of our responders either don’t have this training….or choose to disbelieve.
Commons sense tells you if you see a fire put water on it. Specialized knowledge and training says if it’s a Class D fire you will experience an explosion. At higher temperatures the water doesn’t turn to steam…it separates into elemental components of Hydrogen and Oxigen. Thus the resulting explosion.
IN OUR BUSINESS COMMON SENSE GETS YOU KILLED
SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING IS THE ONLY ANSWER
January 15th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I served as a firefighter in the State of Missouri for 14 years. Missouri has what is known as the Blue Light Law. Any firefighter career, paid on call or volunteer responding to an emergency using their personnel vehicle may respond in the emergency mode if they are using a blue light visible 360 degrees around the vehicle and an audible siren. If they are using a blue light and audible siren then the personnel vehicle is considered an emergency vehicle. They can not use one or the other they must use both. If a pserson uses only a blue light and not a siren then they must obey all traffic laws. The person must also have in their possession a Blue Light card which is issued by their department and states they can operate in the emergency mode. Many departments in Missousri have now tightened their policies and before a Blue Light card is issued and a person can respond in the emergency mode they must go through an emergency driving class and have completed their probationary period. Unfortunatly many departments still just issue the card.
The firefighter who hit and killed the high school student was definitely in violation of the Missouri Blue Light law and in the wrong. He was suppose to obey all traffic laws if he was not using a blue lIght and siren. Whether he was or wasn’t using a blue light and siren let’s think about common sense. Responding 84 miles an hour to a brush fire and passing on a blind hill. He must have not had much regard for his own life.
There are many excellent emergency response driving courses and instructional packages available at little or no cost so let’s train and re-train along with reviewing policies and procedures for emergency response driving.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:29 am
This tragedy was a failure on several fronts. One, HIs department perhaps, could have trained or better trained their members in the do’s and don’ts of responding in POV’s. Two, What was he going to do when he arrived in his POV?? If there was no equipment on scene what could he have done? Three, HIs department should require members to report to the station and not respond to the scene(this insures other apparatus can respond). The department should hand out stiff penalties if it happens to get the point across. Lastly,The volunteer Firefighter forgot the basics of driving,not to speed,not to pass on a double yellow line and MOST importantly NEVER pass on a blind hill or curve. He will have three years to ponder on that point..
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