The Other 10 Commandments
What new way can you deliver a message about fire apparatus safety that will make people listen? That was attorney Jim Juneau’s challenge at the recent Fire Department Safety Officer Association’s Annual Apparatus Symposium. Only somebody as gutsy as Juneau would choose to rewrite the 10 Commandments and accompany them with grizzly photos and factual data.
Of the 114 firefighter line-of-duty-deaths in 2008, 29 were from vehicle collisions, and Juneau said a lack of maintenance and driver error accounted for the majority of those fatal accidents. In fact, between 22% and 25% of LODDs each year since 2001 have been motor-vehicle related, despite better safety features on fire apparatus.
“The number of firefighters that die in suppression activities has gone down,” Juneau said. “What’s embarrassing in this professional service that uses vehicles every day [is that] we do not see a decrease in firefighter fatalities with motor vehicles.”
Juneau’s first commandment is, “Thou shall keep thine apparatus in good working order, for the life of thy brethren doth ride on its wheels.” He explained there are 15,000 fire apparatus accidents every year and approximately 5,500 lost-time injuries connected to those collisions. “These injuries amount to a loss of $7 billion to $8 billion a year,” Juneau said.
In his second commandment, Juneau told symposium attendees, “Thou shall not fail to secure thy precious butt to the seat.” Juneau used Boston Fire Department’s fatal accident earlier this month as his example. Returning from a medical call, the driver of Ladder 26 could not stop the truck, hit two parked cars and went through a brick wall. The accident sent three children to the hospital and killed Lt. Kevin Kelly. Juneau asked pointedly, “And was Lt. Kelley seat-belted?”
Conversely, firefighters in Amorith and Arlington, Texas; Atlanta; Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada; and Marathon, Ontario, Canada, are alive today because they wore their seatbelts.
“Wouldn’t an accident that kills your brother firefighter bother you?” he asked the attendees. “As a driver, don’t move the truck until everyone is belted. If you don’t have the guts to tell people what they need to do, then don’t sit in that seat.” Juneau said it is the captain’s job to support and enforce it.
The Boston accident was initially attributed to a brake failure, and reports show that Ladder 26 was not inspected or certified for 10 months preceding the accident. The department had 13 uniformed personnel, but no certified mechanics, said Juneau. The department didn’t perform regular preventive maintenance and of the first 12 apparatus inspected, six had to be taken out of service and the inspections had to be stopped.
Juneau’s other commandments related to stopping before entering intersections and railroad crossings, speeding, and driving under the influence of alcohol. “You have as much of a duty to protect the people en route to an incident as much as the people on the fire scene,” he said.
You should hear what Juneau has to say — hopefully not from the witness stand. Anyone who has ever heard Juneau would agree that he is not someone you want against you.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
With all the examples of loss due to not utilizing all safety equipment on fire apparatus. It is embarrasing when civilians question why firefighters do not receive tickets and they do when they fail to use safety equipment in their povs. It would only take one ticket in a locality for the word to spread and everyone else would breathe a collective sly of relief that it was not them. They would make sure everyone was belted and seated from then on. The police officer or officer that ticketed the firefighters would play havoc but at least they could feel good about possible saving a life and “everyone would go home”.
January 30th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
George, You’re absolutely correct! My cousin is a Chicago cop and I asked him why he didn’t ticket the firefighters we saw driving down State Street. He asked me if I was crazy.
Gosh, I forgot to ask him he if was on detail for the funeral of one of the Chicago firefighters that got killed because they were not wearing seatbelts.
Who’s crazy?
j
January 30th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
When I get ready to pull out of the bay in the tanker I normally drive, I ask if everyone is belted but I can only see the person in the Officer’s seat. If I get an affirmative from those in back, I go.
January 31st, 2009 at 8:50 am
The third sentence says it all “only someone as gusty”. . .
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
Most departments for some unexcusable reason do not discipline their drivers for what can only be called careless and sometimes wreckless driving habits. If a police officer gives an apparatus driver a ticket, it’s seems to do nothing but tear down the relationship between the fire and police services. We must begin by policing this within our agencies. If a fire truck is exceeding the posted limit in traffic on a rainy day by 25 miles per hour and not slowing or stopping when going through a red light at an intersection, the driver should be suspended without pay. This would send the message that this dangerous behavior will not be tolerated. When are we going to learn that it doesn’t come naturally to be proactive externally if we don’t embrace this way of life internally.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hello Janet,
Our department was one of the early ones placed on the list for the national seat belt pledge. For us this was simply a formality. The State of Florida has had a seat belt law for years. The Department has had a standing order, not a guideline, that all personnel must be seated and belted before the truck can move.
This issue was being discussed at an apparatus safety symposium hosted by FMC in 1986. The seat belt issue was discussed and the following experts made their comments:
Leo Stapleton, mentioned that the seat belt law in Massachusetts had just been repealed due to the efforts of a radio personality.
Lou Gallante, mentioned that seat belt use is a matter of training. He then added, “you can lead a man to water, but you can’t make him drink”.
Brunacini put it all in perspective with the following remark. (edited for this column) They say that you can lead a man to water but not make him drink, but, I guarantee that if the Chief will shove his head under water and pull a vacuum on his (butt), he will drink!
The answer is that the Department head must demand safe practices and live by the same example.
Dennis Sargent, Leesburg Fire Department
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I still to this day find it so hard to believe, that with ALL the bad we see while responding to jobs, cutting people out of cars, grabbing people out of burning buildings (I could go on but you have the point) we still don’t take the time to ensure our own safety. I recently had to make the tuffest decision I ever had to make and that was to leave a fire department, that I literally grew up in and rose to the rank of Captain. My reason for leaving, is that this department was more concerned about overloading manpower onto the trucks & not wearing belts and ignoring other serious safety concerns that I could not in good faith remain. I on numerous ocassions brought my concerns to higher powers (Chief) and was basiclly told to “knock off the crap” and to stop “making the members mad”.
I applaud any officer or even the newest of probbies who stands up and says THE BS STOPS NOW. We come back with same amout of people we left with.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Excellent piece as usual, Janet! And kudos to Jim Juneau for saying it with “guts”! We have to stay on top of this issue if we are ever going to change the fire service culture. Accidents and fatalities and injuries responding to and returning from alarms must be erased from the ledger.
Accountability need to start at the top. How many fire chiefs have suffered negative consequences–beyond the obvious emotional consequences when one loses a firefighter in the line of duty–when negligent conduct while driving a vehicle kills a firefighter or causes serious injury? If a department kills a firefighter–let’s get rid of the euphemism, losing a firefighter; they’re not lost, they’re dead–then the fire chief should lose their job. Period.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Janet, good article. Are the ten commandments printed somewhere? I’d like to share them with our people.
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