A first responder has died in California while battling the second-largest wildfire in state history, fire officials said Saturday.
The fatality was reported Saturday evening in Cal Fire’s incident update about the devastating Dixie Fire burning above the Cresta Dam near Feather River Canyon in Butte, Plumas, Lassen and Tehama Counties.
While Cal Fire did not release additional details about the death in the update, a representative for the agency told FOX40 Sacramento that the individual was suffering from a previous illness. No details about the illness were given.
While the victim was not immediately identified, the representative said the first responder was an assistant fire engine operator with the Lassen National Forest and had died on Saturday.
Three other first responders have been injured battling the blaze that first broke out on July 13. No civilian deaths or injuries have been reported, according to Cal Fire.
The Dixie Fire is the second-largest wildfire in state history, having consumed at least 889,001 acres. It is 56% contained, fire officials said.
The fire has destroyed at least 1,282 homes, businesses, and other structures.
The Dixie Fire was about 65 miles north of the Caldor Fire, which threatened Lake Tahoe, and was one of the dozens of California blazes that more than 15,000 firefighters were battling.
Since March, 2020, 680 U.S. Forest Service employees in the agency’s California Region have tested positive for COVID-19 according to Anthony Scardina on September 7, 2021, the Deputy Regional Forester for State and Private Forestry. Of those, 561 were wildland firefighters, he said. *Stanton Florea, Fire Communications Specialist for the Forest Service at the National Interagency Fire Center said on Sept. 8 that approximately 918 wildland fire employees within the entire agency have tested positive for the virus.
Mr. Florea said they do not formally track the number of their employees that have been hospitalized with COVID.
In the last week word leaked that one of those firefighters who tested positive died due to the coronavirus, and a reporter discovered that another died of an unspecified illness. Subsequently, the Lassen National Forest released a statement late at night September 5 confirming the two fatalities and the names of the deceased, but nothing about the cause of death, dates, or the location.
Marcus Pacheco was an assistant engine operator who had 13 years of fire experience with CAL FIRE and 30 with the FS. He died of an unspecified illness while working on the Dixie Fire.
Allen Johnson was a semi-retired 40-year FS veteran and was serving as a Liaison Officer on an Incident Management Team on the French Fire when he contracted COVID.
During an interview September 7 with Wildfire Today we asked Mr. Scardina how many FS firefighters had died in the line of duty after contracting COVID.
“I’m not going to report fatalities of our employees when it comes to personal illnesses and other privacy matters in terms of deaths at this point in time,” he said. “We’re taking a look at those situations, what the review process will be to make sure we understand the facts. And it’s just simply too early out of respect for the family of being appropriate for us to comment at this point in time on those situations.
The deaths were first officially announced to the public in a manner more formal than Facebook Sept. 7, 2021 by Mr. Scardina at a news conference. It was tweeted by both the FS and the California Office of Emergency Services. The CAL OES recording below had much better audio than the FS version.
On September 8 Mr. Florea said there have been two deaths of FS fire personnel that are suspected to be related to COVID. Requests for more details, such as names, dates, name of fire, or location did not receive a response, so it is not certain if these two are the fatalities disclosed by Mr. Scardina on September 7, who also provided no details.
Historically the FS has disclosed fatalities within 24 to 48 hours. The agency usually waits until the families are notified before releasing the names of the deceased, which may take a little longer. Most of the time the general circumstances will also be released, such as hit by a falling tree, vehicle accident, or entrapped by a fire. But for firefighters who contracted COVID on the job, the FS has been extremely reluctant to disclose any information about these line of duty hospitalizations and deaths. The agency’s public information officers whose job is to inform America about FS activities, fires, and circumstances that affect the health and safety of their employees and the public, have been keeping it secret, slow-walking and dissembling when finally responding to requests from journalists about line of duty illnesses and deaths of fire personnel.
One firefighter told Wildfire Today about something he noticed about supervisory personnel at fires. “I’m noticing that all Incident Management Team members are wearing wristbands and being screened everyday,” he said. “This is not happening for firefighters. They are wearing colored wristbands to show they cleared the screening, but nothing for firefighters.”
The firefighter said in order to help protect his family when he got home, he asked to get tested while being demobilized from the fire, but the request was denied.
We are hearing rumblings that some fires are being hit very hard by COVID, with large numbers of personnel testing positive or being quarantined but this is difficult to confirm without the agencies’ cooperation.
Opinion
Fighting wildfires has always had a long list of recognized risks. An analysis by the National Interagency Fire Center determined that from 1990 through 2014 there were 440 fatalities in the line of duty among wildland firefighters. The top four categories which accounted for 88 percent of the deaths were, in decreasing order, medical issues (usually heart related), aircraft accidents, vehicle accidents, and being entrapped by the fire.
The COVID pandemic adds a new category and level of risk from which these firefighters now have to defend themselves. They already wear Kevlar chaps to prevent a chain saw from cutting into their leg, a helmet, leather gloves, hearing protection, safety glasses, fire resistant shirts and pants, and a five-pound foldable shelter to climb under when entrapped by a fire.
Many of these highly-trained firefighters comprise more than 100 hotshot crews. They are tactical athletes who carry more than 30 pounds of gear up and down steep, rugged terrain for up to 16 hours every day while battling a fire, sometimes miles from the nearest vehicle. They immerse themselves in wildland fire science and fire behavior to anticipate what the fire will do in order to avoid unnecessary exposure to risks.
But now their employer, the US Forest Service, is reluctant to fully disclose to them a key fact related to their safety — how many of their fellow firefighters have been hospitalized or killed in the line of duty by COVID.
Ventana Hotshots holding a line on the Monument Fire in Northern California, August, 2021. USFS photo.
The FS has not been disclosing COVID line of duty deaths the same way they announced that two firefighters were killed in an airplane crash or one died after being hit by a falling tree, all within the last two months.
COVID among firefighters is not really a “personal illness”, as described Mr. Scardina, when it is caused by a requirement from their employer, for example, to travel across the country and work with 4,809 others at the Dixie Fire in California. For decades the Forest Service and the other four federal land management agencies have, as far as we know, reported all line of duty deaths, including illnesses such as cardiac issues, which might be described as a “personal illness”.
It is puzzling that the leadership in the federal wildland fire organizations are so scared or reluctant to talk about the effects of COVID on their work force. I don’t see any upside in a doomed-to-fail effort to keep it secret. Maybe it is a holdover thought process from the previous administration whose leader said at least 38 times in 2020 between February and October that COVID-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing.
By refusing to be transparent about pandemic related illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths on the job, the perception could be that the government has something to hide or they want to restrict the disclosure of news that could reflect negatively on the administration. It would be impossible to argue that withholding this information is in the best interests of the employees. And it degrades the trust that an employee would hope to have in their leadership.
Far more important than protecting the political future of the President, is being honest with their firefighters about the degree of risk they are taking while serving their country battling wildfires.
Something has to change
Federal wildland firefighters work for the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service. The first responsibility of these agencies is the safety of their personnel, including the 15,000 firefighters. If they are so cavalier about this responsibility to not even care how many have been hospitalized in the line of duty, and keep secret as much as possible the extent of how many have gotten seriously ill or died from COVID while working for them, then something has to change.
The primary job of these five agencies is not fighting fire — it is very far from it. They inspect meat packing plants, issue what used to be called Food Stamps, clean rest rooms, manage visitors, and grow trees. Those at the top of the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior where they presently reside, in most cases have no background in emergency services. It is not in their DNA to worry night and day about those under their command being injured or killed in the line of duty. Career fire personnel understand this.
The firefighters in these five agencies need to be exfiltrated from the DOI and DOA and given refuge in a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security where top management pays attention to the risks emergency management personnel face. If I was a betting man, I would wager that they care how many of their employees have been killed or hospitalized by COVID, at least publicly to the extent allowed by the White House.
This new agency of 15,000 wildland firefighters could be named National Fire Service. It could even welcome the structural firefighters that work for the Department of Defense.
On Wednesday 40 firefighters from Quebec, Canada arrived in the United States to assist in suppressing wildfires.
In Boise they received an orientation briefing and fire shelter deployment training at the National Interagency Fire Center. The crews have since traveled to the Schneider Springs Fire on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington.
The National Wildfire Preparedness Level has been at 5, the highest level, for nearly two months. Currently, 99 large wildfires are burning across the western U.S., with 57 of them having a strategy of full suppression.
Chief Micky Fyock’s 1950s-era Mack Ladder Truck 16 was the only apparatus small enough to get inside the Pentagon
September 11, 2021 – By Mary Grace Keller – For The Frederick News-Post, Md.
FREDERICK COUNTY, Md. — Micky Fyock had just finished his supervisor shift at the Frederick County 911 center when he got a phone call the night of Sept. 11, 2001.
The Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company chief answered the call. A dispatcher told him the Pentagon needed Woodsboro’s 1950s era Mack Ladder Truck 16 to help contain the fire that started after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building.
The Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company chief answered the call. A dispatcher told him the Pentagon needed Woodsboro’s 1950s era Mack Ladder Truck 16 to help contain the fire that started after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building. (Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company)
“I thought somebody was messing with me,” Fyock said.
But the need was real, and it was urgent.
Like Woodsboro fire station’s engine bay doors, the Pentagon’s entrance stood 10 feet tall, and they needed apparatus small enough to get inside. Someone in D.C., Fyock doesn’t know who, remembered that Woodsboro had an older, smaller truck that just might fit.
Fyock directed the local 911 center to dispatch the call like they would for any other fire. The first four qualified firefighters to arrive went with Fyock, and they headed for the Pentagon.
The truck only held two people and wouldn’t go faster than 55 mph, according to Fyock. The other three firefighters followed in a duty vehicle.
Fyock doesn’t remember much about the journey, but he does recall how eerily empty the roads were. He only saw one other vehicle.
When the Woodsboro crew arrived, they had to hand over their cell phones before entering the Pentagon. Their target was the inner courtyard, nestled within the rings of the building.
“We went inside and they told us that because of the jet fuel in the building basically they had decided to not fight fire that night but just to hold it where it is,” Fyock recalled.
Authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman detail the effort in their book, “Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11.”
Working alongside other fire crews, Truck 16 aimed its 65-foot ladder and hose at the roof, the authors wrote. The truck lacked remote control to operate the hose, so firefighters rigged a pulley system with ropes to move the hose around. Once it was stable, firefighters in pairs took turns directing the water.
Fyock, chief then and still chief now, supervised the group. They were on scene for about 13 hours, he told the News-Post. A three-star general loaned Fyock his cell phone so he could check in with command.
When Fyock found time for breaks, he took in the scenes around him. Exhausted firefighters slept on body bags, and inside the Pentagon, knee deep in water, Fyock came upon a hole where the cockpit came crashing through.
Body parts were scattered around it. He later realized they must have belonged to the terrorists who hijacked the plane.
Eventually, fresh fire crews started to arrive at the Pentagon, along with food trucks. In the midst of the new flurry of activity, Fyock noticed a man in a suit, just standing there staring at the wreckage.
Fyock asked if the man needed anything.
“I was at the dentist,” the man told him. “But my fellow workers weren’t.”
Fyock put his arm around the stranger, and they sat on a bench.
“I just held him for a while,” Fyock said.
The man left eventually, but Fyock never got his name.
Twenty years later, Fyock feels like it was yesterday.
“The visions I saw will never leave me,” Fyock said. “In my lifetime, I’ve seen a lot of tragedy.”
But he’s also seen a lot of good.
“I remember the morning of the 12th we had our ladder up, and it was flowing water, and we put an American flag on the end of the ladder,” Fyock said.
As the sun beamed down on the water and the flag waved, a rainbow appeared.
“I said, we’re gonna be all right,” Fyock said.
Relieved of duty, Fyock and his crew returned to Woodsboro.
After two decades, Fyock is the only member of the 9/11 crew who is still active with the Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company.
Truck 16 eventually became too old to meet modern needs and was sold to collector and longtime firefighter Kyd Dieterich, who was once fire chief in Hagerstown. Though he retired from career firefighting, he still volunteers on the Board of Directors at the Funkstown station in Washington County.
When Dieterich worked in fire truck sales, he knew Woodsboro planned to sell Truck 16 not long after 9/11. After Woodsboro didn’t get any enticing offers, Dieterich made a bid. The company accepted it, and Dieterich moved the truck to storage in Hagerstown.
He’s kept it in good condition and rolls it out every now and then for special occasions such as parades.
“It’s part of our nation’s history. It’s something that I think our citizens should be proud of,” Dieterich said in an interview.
He believes Truck 16 should stay in the area and, ideally, be on display.
Clarence “Chip” Jewell, president of the Frederick County Fire & Rescue Museum in Emmitsburg, thinks he can help.
Jewell, a retired director of volunteer services at Frederick County and currently assistant chief and president at Libertytown, would love to see the truck displayed at the museum. It’s just an idea in its infancy at this point, but it’s a hope he has for the future. The museum would need to be expanded to fit the truck.
“It really is an iconic piece of fire apparatus,” Jewell said, adding it has become known as “the little truck that could.”
When the 9/11 anniversary comes around, Fyock tends to stay at home. At 69 years old, he has 56 years of volunteer fire service under his belt. There have been times in those years he questioned whether he’s had enough.
Then he gets another call.
“You get reborn again, because you know you did good, you’ve helped people,” Fyock said. “You know you have a purpose.”
(c)2021 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.)McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The newly released footage shows the work of first responders during last week’s severe storm from the remnants of Hurricane Ida
September 09, 2021 – NJ Advanced Media
Those were just part of several rescues made in Princeton Wednesday night and early Thursday.
“We are sharing this as a reminder to not drive around barricades,” Princeton police said. “They are there for your safety and we do not have the resources to have our officers physically at each road closure to enforce the ‘road closed’ sign.”
In all, Princeton police responded to 393 calls between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m. Thursday. The calls were for stranded or trapped motorists, abandoned vehicles with possible trapped occupants, flooded roads and residents trapped in flooded homes on top of regular service calls, officials said.
Bellingham firefighters confronted heavy flames upon arrival before striking a second alarm to battle a fire at a church in the Sunnyland neighborhood.
September 10, 2021
Sep. 10—The Bellingham Fire Department battled a two-alarm blaze at a church early Friday on Cornwall Avenue in the Sunnyland neighborhood.
Crews were called to the 2500 block of Cornwall Avenue at 4:25 a.m. for a commercial fire, according to the PulsePoint app.
“First arriving crews found heavy fire with fire through the roof,” a Bellingham Fire Department tweet at 5:15 a.m. read.
An earlier tweet said traffic in the area was impacted and asked people to avoid the area.
A follow up tweet at 5:39 a.m. said that there were no injuries and investigators were on the scene.
The nearly $3 billion to compensate police, firefighters and others injured responding to the 9/11 attacks is part of a $3.5 trillion federal spending proposal.
September 10, 2021 – By Jonathan D. Salant For NJ.com
The $3.5 trillion spending bill now making its way through the U.S. House will include $2.9 billion to compensate police officers, firefighters and others injured responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said Thursday.
The money would go to shore up the 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program, which permanently was extended in 2019 along with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which provides financial help for injured first responders.
The bill was named for James Zadroga, a New York City police officer from North Arlington who died of a respiratory disease attributed breathing in dust at the World Trade Center site after 9/11.
It also was named for two other first responders who died after 9/11, Ray Pfeifer, a New York City firefighter, and Luis Alvarez, a New York City police officer.
But with the fund now running out of cash, Pallone said additional money will be included in the section of the bill being drafted by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which he chairs.
“As we prepare to remember the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our country, we must renew our commitment to never forget the sacrifices first responders made on that day and the survivors who continue to endure the physical and emotional trauma,” said Pallone, D-6th Dist.
“We can never fully repay the debt of gratitude we owe to responders and survivors, but we can make sure that we do all we can to make sure they have access to the medical care they rightfully deserve.”
Other House committees are writing different sections of the legislation, which will address child care, health care, education, climate change and the Republican tax law’s $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes.
Congressional Democratic leaders plan to pass the measure, a top priority of President Joe Biden, under a process known as reconciliation, which will prevent Senate Republicans from filibustering the measure and allow it to get through Congress by a majority vote in both houses.
The Father’s Day Fire, 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and COVID-19 triggered evolutions to the FDNY in ways expected and otherwise.
September 11, 2021 – Thomas Richardson – Firehouse.com
The FDNY’s 20-year journey since Sept. 11, 2001, has been challenging and emotional—and the impetus for self-reflection as an organization.
Father’s Day, June 17, 2001
The FDNY responds to approximately 4,000 medical emergencies and 1,500 fires and other emergencies every day. On a typical day in New York City, we might have as many as a dozen working structural fires. Father’s Day 2001 was no different, except for the fact that we experienced a tragic fire in a commercial building and lost Firefighter John Downing, Firefighter Brian Fahey and Firefighter Harry Ford, when a massive explosion occurred about 30 minutes into the operation at the building.
Why do I begin by mentioning this fire? The members who were on scene that day were faced with a chaotic, emotional situation yet continued to operate to recover our brother firefighters. This started the process of making some needed change within our department as well as in the fire and building codes in New York City (NYC). We learned much and persevered moving forward.
September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2,977 souls were murdered by 19 hijackers, inclusive of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the site at Shanksville, PA.
The FDNY is a large and robust organization that’s capable of responding to and handling just about any emergency. Admittedly, we were humbled on 9/11. We needed assistance. We lost several of our senior leaders, including our Chief of Department Peter Ganci Jr. With several hundred members missing and two 110-story buildings completely collapsed and still burning, we needed to quickly adapt, improvise and overcome. I can say proudly that we were able to do that but with a lot of assistance. We are rather good at incident command for most fires and emergencies, but for an event that was as large and as complex as 9/11, we needed to learn from others.
Early on, an incident management team (IMT) from the state of Alaska came to assist to establish and organize a solid framework for command moving forward for several months. We learned what an IMT is and how valuable a formalized expanded incident command system structure would be. We were introduced to the incident action plan concept for long-term events. We learned how really important a unified command structure is and of the value of building relationships with other agencies and partners.
The FDNY hired the consulting firm McKinsey & Company to study our response to 9/11. The firm produced a report that focused on how to increase the FDNY’s preparedness moving forward. Key recommendations that were in the report included: significantly improve our communications infrastructure and radio systems; develop technology to instantly account for members who operate on scene of fires and emergencies; build an automatic recall capability to enable the department to quickly bring in off-duty members when faced with a complex, long-duration incident; and develop a state-of-the-art Fire Department Operations Center (FDOC) to be a central node for situational awareness and reporting to senior leaders and field commanders.
One of the most rewarding relationships that resulted from the 9/11 attacks is the partnership with all of the branches of the military. The military has played a large role in the FDNY’s professional development and leadership programs. This relationship continues to evolve and is stronger than ever.
Superstorm Sandy
Superstorm Sandy hit the NYC tri-state area on Oct. 29, 2012. We experienced what essentially was a conflagration in the southernmost part of the city. NYC had 43 fatalities. Sixty-five hundred patients had to be evacuated from certain hospitals and nursing homes; 90,000 buildings were in the inundation zone; 2 million New Yorkers were without power; numerous major transit hubs flooded.
Eleven years after 9/11, little did we know that much of what we learned from 9/11 would be the foundation for future major emergency responses.
If that wasn’t enough, a strong nor’easter hit the east coast nine days later.
Many of our members were severely affected, losing their home and belongings. A fire lieutenant who lived in South Queens in Rockaway would receive the highest medal of valor that we award. He and his teenage son donned wetsuits and, using surfboards, rescued 25 people as houses were engulfed by fire.
Photo credit FDNY
Much of the planning that was done to prepare for major storms would come to fruition. We were able to sustain continuity of operations even amid the circumstance whereby many of our firehouses and EMS stations were being flooded.
Once again, the FDNY learned and adapted its capabilities. We truly understood the benefit of decentralizing command. Headquarters served as an area command, and our five borough commanders that were closest to the boots on the ground managed their resources to accomplish the mission.
We expanded our swiftwater capabilities within our Special Operations Command. We added high-axle vehicles. Several units that are located in flood zones received training in the use of flat-bottomed boats to access flooded areas.
Prior to Superstorm Sandy, the IMT only operated outside of the city at other major events around the country. Sandy was the IMT’s first major deployment within NYC, and it performed several different missions admirably.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The first pandemic memo that we in the FDNY published to our members was on Jan. 28, 2020. It basically gave a brief synopsis of what was happening in Wuhan, China, and that we would need to prepare for those who were traveling from that region.
The first case of COVID-19 in NYC was reported on March 1, 2020. The FDNY had two major concerns: Do we have enough PPE and how will our workforce be affected? Will we be able to maintain continuity of operations if a large part of our workforce becomes sick?
FDNY Chief of Department John Sudnik requested that our Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness prepare an executive-level tabletop exercise to play out the scenario. This occurred on March 10, 2020. As the case load in the city started to mount and more of our members became sick, we adapted by changing the work schedules of firefighters, EMTs and paramedics to maintain adequate staffing levels. FDNY Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Prezant was our guiding force when it came to appropriate levels of PPE and on what members should wear to protect themselves. The IMT was put in charge of managing our PPE inventories. Our Management, Analysis and Planning Unit (MAP) was tasked with creating electronic dashboards for senior executives to use to manage staffing, PPE, unit activity, medical leave rates and other metrics.
Photo Credit FDNY
At the height of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, specifically early April, our Bureau of EMS had a day with 6,500 medical responses (on a normal day, it does 4,000). In NYC, we average about 60–70 cardiac arrest calls each day; during this time, we saw 250–300 per day. Our members saw a lot of death. We have a young workforce, particularly in our Bureau of EMS. This no doubt had a significant effect on our members. In fact, regretfully, we had a couple of suicides. Our Counseling Service Unit, which in my opinion is the best in the business, was overwhelmed by the situation.
We modified responses to medical calls for our fire units to try to preserve the workforce. This was a priority strategy for us. Our medical leave rate normally is about 7 percent on any given day. At the height of the pandemic, we were close to 20 percent. To date, we have had more than 7,000 members contract COVID and take medical leave at some point. This represents about 50 percent of our fire and EMS workforce. Sadly, 15 of the FDNY—six uniformed members (one firefighter, five EMS) and nine civilian support staff employees—lost their life because of COVID. We also remember Paramedic Paul Carey from Colorado Springs, who answered our call for help from outside of NYC, who passed away because he contracted COVID.
Remarkably, no FDNY frontline responder who works on an ambulance or in a fire company died from COVID.
Even with the staffing and schedule modifications, our members worked a lot, and we knew that this wasn’t a healthy recipe, but we knew that we had to continue to perform our mission.
So, what did we learn? We know we didn’t get everything right.
We had an existing Pandemic Response Plan that was very detailed. As we evolved throughout this pandemic, we dusted off the plan and revised it. This was done methodically, with the guidance of our medical professionals. We used data extensively. We constantly reminded ourselves that we had a mission and had to continue to meet that mission.
Our relationship with the labor unions was a key factor in being able to make changes on the fly to sustain staffing and service. I certainly won’t say that we didn’t experience bumps in the road, but the FDNY and the unions were able to work together for the greater good.
Arguably, the key to making it through the pandemic was communication. It had to be timely, it had to be accurate, and, most importantly, it had to be transparent. Our members essentially were bombarded with information every day, sometimes several times a day. In fact, we finally decided that all messages would be transmitted at the same time each day because of the volume of information and guidance that we put out. The unions’ use of their platforms to message the membership was helpful. Our IMT Public Information Officer function was invaluable, helping us to draft regular updates to be disseminated to the field.
Technology became a very important tool in communicating with the field. As Chief of Operations at the time, I was able to use a Webex platform to communicate in real time to the on-duty field units with important information and, very importantly, my leader’s intent. As senior executives, we often are accused of not being in touch with the boots on the ground. We wanted the troops to know how much we cared about them and that all of us who were working in headquarters were committed to making sure that they had what they needed to do their job and that they were being heard.
One of the things that I felt was most helpful was when we deployed our senior executives to visit firehouses and EMS stations to personally visit with the troops—taking questions and hearing the members’ concerns. The most frequent concerns that were expressed by the members, particularly at the height of the pandemic, were the lack of available COVID testing and the worry about members bringing the virus home to their family. We eventually were able to provide testing capability, and NYC did institute a hotel program for members.
One of the best definitions of resilience is “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress.” I would argue that the fire and EMS service along with the health care profession took resilience to another level.
Moving forward
Responding to and managing major crises is challenging, emotional and absolutely stressful. In my humble opinion, we need a set of guiding principles to be successful. We can’t always predict the outcomes, but we certainly can affect process.
These claims definitely can assist our organizations in beginning to discuss how to prepare for these events that we call, generally, crises or disasters.
In conclusion, I present to you the triangle, which is the strongest of geometric shapes. If one side fails, the triangle collapses. We all know that a strong foundation is critical. Throughout these past 20 years, I believe that our foundation has remained strong and maybe even became stronger as a first responder community. Along the way, we have developed relationships and networks that provide support at all levels—organizationally, strategically and tactically.
With a strong foundation, a willingness to self-reflect and understanding of our guiding principles as individuals and as organizations, we can sustain a focus on our mission to serve.
Guiding Principles
Preparedness: Sounds easy, but it isn’t. It requires commitment, not only individually, but collectively as an organization. It starts at the top. An organization that’s committed to being prepared must get buy-in from the troops. It’s a daily routine of being prepared, not only for the major incident. If we have a preparedness mindset, it’s easier to be ready when disaster strikes.
Trust: Everything that we do in this business is about trust—trust in oneself and trust in one another. If we don’t have trust, we don’t have relationships. Without relationships, we can’t accomplish the mission.
Respect: Respect for others, respect for differing opinions and views. Very simply, if we treat people with respect, they might be more willing to listen to our ideas. Organizationally, we must have the utmost respect for our workforce, for without them we don’t exist.
Teamwork: As all of you know, there is no “i” in team. To be a cohesive team, we must have mutual respect and trust in one another. The very essence of the work that we do is incumbent on the success of the team. This should be preached by leadership constantly.
Moral Imperative: When we all raised our right hands to be first responders, we should have understood the moral imperative that we are expected to adhere to. We have a duty to act, a duty to respond, and a duty to be prepared to the best of our ability. This can’t be taken lightly. I believe this is a key principle in our business.
Tulsa firefighters performed life-saving measures on a man who required emergency surgery after his wife ran him over during a domestic dispute.
September 9, 2021 – By Mike Stunson – The Charlotte Observer
A woman was arrested early Wednesday after injuring her husband in an argument that turned violent, Tulsa police said.
Lacey Maxwell called 911 around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers she ran over her husband outside their home, police said. Firefighters performed life-saving measures on the husband and he was taken to the hospital, where he was rushed into surgery for non-disclosed injuries, according to police.
Officers have not given an update on the husband’s condition.
“After investigating, officers learned Maxwell and her husband have a history of domestic violence, with Maxwell typically being the aggressor,” Tulsa police said in a news release.
Witnesses also told officers that the woman has previously threatened her husband’s life, police said.
Maxwell was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon. Jail records show she was booked into the Tulsa County jail at 4:11 a.m. and is being held on a $500,000 surety bond.
