By Bill Adams

The Raisin Squad once again demonstrated we know more about drills and training than the active firefighters that actually participate in them. It’s just like putting out fires. At morning coffee, white hairs run drills quickly and efficiently without getting hurt, wet, tired, or dirty. However, occasional differences of opinion can push blood pressures to critical levels. The other morning, yours truly was accused of always screwing up the drills back in the 1980s. I was surprised some of them could remember that far back. Most can’t remember what they had for supper two days ago.

What they were talking about were evolutions considered “the basics”—everyday stuff like making a big fire hookup or throwing a ground ladder and stretching a handline to a second floor. Career departments always have a set number of firefighters staffing a rig, so the training was geared toward volunteers and the possibility of an unpredictable response. It never fails on drill night that there are always full crews. What aggravated the white hairs today is that back then on the second and third times an evolution was run, a firefighter was pulled off the rig. Whatever a full crew did the first time, they had to do with one fewer the second time and two fewer the third time.

The geezers moaned and groaned. “It wasn’t fair ‘cause fewer people had ta do all the work.” I maintained it’s just like real life. During the weekdays, most volunteer departments can’t guarantee a full crew on the rigs, so they should train to do more with less. We timed the evolutions to show the troops the difference. No sympathy was shown back then and less shown today.

One geezer chimed in, “Ya screwed up the natural order of things.” He was semicorrect. In one evolution when a pumper was laying in LDH, the crew was told the piston intake relief valve was broken and to find another way to get water to the pump. In another, the ladder truck was told to fly the stick to a roof and bring up the K12 (that’s all we used back then), a pike pole, ax, and haligan bar. When the rig pulled in, they were told the aerial device was out of service and to use ground ladders. “You were playing with our minds.” I said that things can break. “Well, it wasn’t broke. You just wanted to aggravate us.” After the evolutions were run, most black coats understood or learned that there were alternatives to the way things were always done. And, they realized the additional time it took to accomplish the tasks. Mission accomplished. 

I believe similar training is worthwhile. Most raisins don’t. “It just ain’t right. It’s trickery.” I said the United States Marine Corps has a slogan: “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome,” and it is written someplace that Marines are taught to overcome obstacles, especially in the chaos of combat. “It wasn’t combat. It was a damn drill, and we ain’t Marines.” The final stab in my back was “Hey, wait a minute. You weren’t in the Marines. I remember you got drafted into the Army, and you were just a clerk.” Some of them might have agreed with my theory but weren’t willing to admit to it. It’s the Raisin way. I went home, took two aspirin, and had an early nap.

Harvey Eckart, a fellow white hair and Raisin Squad member from Pennsylvania emailed, “I just came to the realization that most current fire trucks do NOT come equipped with spotlights. Unity spotlights have been with us since the 1930

Three dogs were rescued from a burning home in Puyallup Sunday afternoon. The fire broke out at the home in the 9100 block of 190th St. E. sometime before 5 p.m., according to Graham Fire officials. No people were home at the time, but firefighters found three dogs in need of rescue. The dogs were brought outside where two of them had to be treated with oxygen for smoke inhalation, Graham fire officials said.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2019 7:17:44 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000

Three dogs were rescued from a burning home in Puyallup Sunday afternoon. The fire broke out at the home in the 9100 block of 190th St. E. sometime before 5 p.m., according to Graham Fire officials. No people were home at the time, but firefighters found three dogs in need of rescue. The dogs were brought outside where two of them had to be treated with oxygen for smoke inhalation, Graham fire officials said.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2019 7:17:44 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000

ESO, the leading data and software company serving emergency medical services (EMS), fire departments, and hospitals, recently shared the trends it predicts will have the biggest impact on fire departments in 2019: Visibility and accessibility to data will continue to be important; mental health and wellness will grow in awareness; response to large-scale events will remain in the spotlight; and budget scrutiny will increase.

“In 2019, fire departments’ usage of data will evolve and play a vital role on both the operational side as well as helping create a narrative for the community,” said Shelley Koegler, Vice President of Fire for ESO. “Mental health and overall wellness, in particular cancer and cancer prevention, will gather momentum as topics of discussion in the industry.”

Key Fire Predictions for 2019:

·         Awareness of mental health and overall wellness will be an area of focus:

Increased acknowledgement of wear and tear (especially around cancer and suicide since they are the top two killers) – and ways to address the issue – will continue to gain momentum. Departments will need to create programs to prepare, educate, and respond to mental and physical health needs, including budget consideration, preventative measures, and the potential impact on other resources. From a software perspective, we will begin to see functions and features that create reporting and automatic flags to help agencies develop proactive programs for responders.

·         Large-scale events will place funding challenges and response times in the spotlight:

Large-scale events will continue to occur and bring into sharp focus funding challenges, response times, mutual aid resources, etc. Many large-scale events are regional in nature; however, the response to these types of events tends to be national in scope as departments from around the country send people and equipment to assist. Data will play an increasingly important role to help firefighters improve response planning and objectively provide responses to criticism of managing large-scale fires.

·         Visibility and accessibility to data will continue to increase in importance:

In 2019, the value and importance of data and data insights will increase as departments across the country leverage data to determine long-term impacts of code changes and to help shape implementation of service delivery enhancements. Additionally, data will help fire departments create a narrative that can easily be shared with government officials and citizens.

·         Budget scrutiny and pressure will continue to increase:

Budget scrutiny will continue to be an issue in 2019 and budget pressure will ratchet up. According to ESO’s 2018 Fire Trends Report, fire-related calls accounted for 30 percent of all calls while EMS-related calls accounted for about 70 percent of all calls, which will increase scrutiny around investments and budget dollars related to fire. Tracking of dollars to create benchmarks and measure relevant outcomes, including anticipating needs during large-scale events, will improve conversations with city council and local governing bodies.

Download the 2019 Fire Predictions whitepaper here.