Chief's Corner

Everyone Goes Home
You have heard me talk about this subject before. But it is something that you can really never hear too often.
As Firefighters for the Combine Community, we have an obligation to place ourselves in areas of danger for the citizens. It is an obligation of being a Firefighter, but if someone asked any of us, we would tell you that it’s just part of the job. No big deal. Nothing any other Firefighter wouldn’t do.
That is true. It is one of the things that makes me proud to be a Firefighter and especially proud to be the Fire Chief of Combine.
But as Firefighters, we also must remember that our own lives are at risk and that we have an obligation to our families to come home after every call.
Hence, the “Everyone Goes Home” campaign.
In my career as a Firefighter, I have attended 4 funerals personally. One of those was for Firefighter Al Voris from Combine. If you have never been to a Firefighters funeral, it is one of hardest things to do. I never wish to attend another, but unfortunately, I probably will.
My effort and every Firefighter on Combine VFD efforts, should be to make sure it is not a funeral for one of our own. That is where our obligation to each other comes in.
Each Firefighter must be committed to making the extra effort to ensure that they personally and each of their fellow Firefighters on a call are operating in the safest manner as possible. It starts with them and continues as they look out for each other. It takes courage and discipline to make this happen.
Each time you are paged out to a call, are you driving in a safe manner to the station?
Are your seat belts fastened before the apparatus leaves the station?
As the driver of that apparatus, do make sure everyone’s seat belt is fastened before you leave?
Once on the scene, do you have all your PPE, Personal Protective Equipment on?
On the scene, do you follow our SOG, Standard Operating Guidelines?
On the scene, do you follow the ICS, Incident Command System?
On the scene, do you pull yourself out of the front line when you see a dangerous situation or when you become too fatigued to be effective?
Do you do the same if you see another Firefighter placing them in a dangerous situation or have become too fatigued to be effective?
Do you take care of yourself physically to be as fit as you can for operations?
During training exercises, do you attend and take part to learn even the smallest detail concerning Operations, Equipment, Guidelines, or Procedures?
I could probably list out 10 scenarios for each of the questions above that would result in an injury or death for the Firefighter involved that has not taken those questions seriously. If you thought about it, you could name them also.
So just don’t take the chance. Follow your trainings and procedures. Use common sense when on the scene of a call. Have the courage to step in with another Firefighter to tell them what they are doing is dangerous.
It’s too easy to not do the above items. But it is also much easier to go home tired, dirty, sore hunger and just plan worn out, then not to go home at all.
Everyone Goes Home