Some pics and a good debate..

I wanted to show you a few more pics from the National Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial Weekend held last week in Emmitsburg, Md. I’m getting a little more comfortable with “word press” and love the fact that I can now easily add slide shows. Check this small one out…
I also wanted to make sure you guys got to hear a great debate that happened last night on Firefighter Netcast. The discussion centered around details from South Fulton and Obion County, Tenn. where firefighters watched a house burn to the ground over unpaid fire protection dues. The story is spreading like wildfire…here’s just one video.

A lot of big names in the Fire/ EMS blogging world took the time to call in and voice their opinions. I even put in my 2 cents. My points are this…

  • Don’t blame the Firefighters or the home owner. Blame the County admin.
  • Subscription vs. taxes??? A fancy name and word play by legislators to save face
  • Where does the tax money that should have been spent on fire protection go? They must have one hell of a sewer, water or trash collection system.
  • Much like we use on the fire scene, government officials are using loss / benefit analysis. They have the attitude of there aren’t a lot of fires .. “it’s not going to happen here” and if it does, it will only happen seldom.
  • This is why the IAFF and other orginizations push Political action. This is what happens when we vote gun rights and abortion vs. firefighter issues.
  • All departments face similar issues except for some (or most) it’s min. staffing, equipment, training etc. We don’t get it because the result would be a tax increase.
  • Mutual -aid and auto-aid issues … What if South Fulton had an incident while responding to or on scene out in Obion County?
  • Maybe he couldn’t afford the $75 fee. We see that all the time BUT they have nice rims (20’s) or a 60″ big screen sitting in the living room.
  • Rules and guidelines, SOP’s, SOG’s were established. Our survival depends of following set guidelines etc.
  • Nobody mentioned the homes construction etc. In today’s fire service, had someone have responded; they very well may have made a “defencive” or “surround and drown” type attack anyway. The home would have still burnt to the ground. I would have much rather stayed in house and let it burn rather than standing there and watching it burn.
  • Bottom line, the Fire Service as a whole as well as local governments (large or small) needs to take this incident and LEARN from it.

I could go on for hours but will spare you the headache. Listen to the show here for some more great points / debate on the issue. Thanks to Rhett and John of Firefighter Netcast for providing another great outlet for our voices to be heard. I’ll catch ya later tonight. Until then, stay safe and in House.

Captain Wines