Print
Email
Save
2008 began just like any other year. People all around our country planned to start the year off right, lose weight, save money, change jobs, and do more for their community. Volunteer Firefighter Paul Ellington began 2008 doing what he loved to do, serve his community. Unfortunately for Firefighter Ellington, his family, his community, and the fire service as a whole, he became one of the first line-of-duty death (LODD) statistics for 2008. Firefighter Ellington died in a motor vehicle accident while responding to an incident on January 1, 2008.
In May 2007 I was an invited guest speaker at a spring business meeting for a state associations here in my home state of New York. I was doing a 60-minute segment on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and one that I boast of as "one of my specialties" when it comes to speaking and training--safe apparatus operation, both responding and returning. Following my presentation, one of the more senior Emergency Vehicle Operator Course (EVOC). trainers in my state approached me to compliment me on my lecture and also pose a question to me.
He asked why I didn't spend more time talking about the vehicle and traffic laws that apply to emergency vehicle drivers in our state. First of all, I only had 60 minutes to make my point, so I didn't have time to burn; but my primary answer was that I wanted the class to pay attention. In my opinion, speakers and instructors have recently begun to dwell too heavily on the "legal" aspect of driver safety and vehicle operations and are not spending enough time on the emotional or human element.
We also need to focus on what is going on in the driver's head or in the department that may have contributed to a particular fire apparatus accident or may have created an environment of high risk for an accident. I do not mention Firefighter Ellington's accident in this article for any other reason than that I would like you to keep him and all of the other firefighters who have died in the line of duty in motor vehicle accidents in your mind as you read this article. I know of no wrongdoing on his part that resulted in his accident. I just want you to read this article and ask yourself if you are ready to ramp up your commitment to keep drivers safe in your department in 2009 and beyond.
When I first started looking closely at fire apparatus and emergency vehicle accidents to begin my endeavors as a fire service trainer, writer, and speaker, I hoped to see what event or exact chain of events made each of these accidents that killed or seriously injured our brothers and sisters unique and different. After all, there had to be a reason our LODD numbers never seemed to decline, despite the fact that in many parts of our country we were dedicating more and more time and money to increasing training programs at the state and county levels to improve drivers and overall firefighting skills. I began to realize that the accidents I researched and discussed in my workshops were the same types of accidents that repeated themselves over and over again--in different departments and in different parts of our country--but the same types of accidents nonetheless. We were rolling over apparatus, getting in pile-ups at intersections, and running off the road in all 50 states. Often, speed was a root cause of these accidents. If we know what type of accidents we are continuously having and their root causes, why have we not been able to successfully reduce or eliminate the number of apparatus accidents we have annually?
That question has caused me to begin to break away from traditional discussions of safe apparatus operation and the standard lessons found in the curriculum for canned EVOC courses taught across the country. I believe the lessons taught and learned in the traditional EVOC setting and from the traditional curriculum have considerable merit and should remain an integral part of a successful driver safety program, but there seems to be a significant enough disconnect between the information taught in EVOC such as managing speed, center of gravity, centrifugal force, friction, road conditions (all of what we hope drivers are considering as they operate their vehicles), and what is actually running through the drivers' minds when they are driving.
Also, aside from traditional EVOC lessons, we have to look closely at the attitude toward and examples of safe driving set by the leadership in our departments and the seriousness with which our fire district or department boards or our local governments take the importance of budgeting for and purchasing up-to-date, modernized fire apparatus. Modern apparatus safety features and technology can save lives and often reduce the chances of having accidents in the first place. There are reasons firefighters are having accidents; we can boil it down to basic principles of defensive driving, such as cushion of space, speed, and so forth. But to truly make an impact on your firefighters or emergency vehicle drivers over the long term, you must couple quality EVOC programs with attention to other details that are not often discussed, the details I ask you to consider in this article.
Why do firefighters choose to exceed the speed limit? Hopefully, you noticed that I used the word "choose." Fire apparatus drivers involved in wrecks where speed is a contributing factor made a decision to accelerate their vehicles from a safe speed to an unsafe speed. We cannot let the operator off the hook. Truly, the operator is responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle, both responding and returning. A number of factors may cause them to choose to speed; however, if our department leaders can get a handle on these factors, we can begin to reduce apparatus accidents.
A Culture of Speed on Television
This may sound farfetched, but from the time they are born, everything firefighters see about emergency vehicle operations in movies and on television is all about speed, excitement, adrenaline, and theatrics. Firefighters hear what we tell them during training courses and workshops, but their brains keep repeating television images over and over. Although they know what is right, their mind tells them emergency vehicles must go fast. One way to try to break this "TV brainwashing" is to integrate scenes or clips from some of the most popular movies and TV shows into your classroom driver-training sessions and have firefighters critique what they see Once they make the connection between the actions of emergency vehicle drivers on TV and what they have identified as wrong when behind the wheel in the real world, you can begin to break those bad habits. .
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Another reason firefighters speed is that they attend training sessions and drills where speakers and officers drone on about safe driving and then they see the same officer or chief exceed the speed limit in the department SUV on the first call that comes in after the drill is over. I have seen this scenario play out in departments where certain individuals, either through position, friendships, or perceived experience, are given a pass when it comes to speeding while other members are disciplined for it. It does not matter if you are the chief's best friend, have been driving apparatus for 12 years, or hold rank yourself: The rules of safe driving should apply to all.
Hurry Up and Get There
Firefighters also exceed the speed limit and put them, their crews, and the motoring public at risk because of statistical and geographical issues. Response times areheld over the heads of fire departments whenever quality of service, labor contracts, and funding are discussed. Many firefighters who drive apparatus have the importance of response time in the back of their minds on a regular basis while responding. Have we as department or government leaders done our part to maintain minimum staffing levels? Have we planned for the growth of our communities and constructed fire stations where they are needed? Have we closed or temporarily removed companies from service to save dollars? The longer your fire apparatus has to travel to respond to an alarm, the longer your response times are going to be. Many fire drivers will subconsciously respond to this added pressure and may use speed to compensate for the greater travel distance to alarms, thereby increasing their risk for speed-related accidents.
One final note about speed: In volunteer fire departments, firefighters are often using speed to make up for a delayed response because of a lack of personnel and multiple tone-outs. By the time a firefighter arrives at your station, especially during the day, your department and neighboring departments may have already toned out the call two or three times. When that firefighter finally rolls off the ramp with your rig, he is probably thinking he is already "late" for the fire. Think about that mindset for a moment. We all know what it feels like to arrive at work, school, or a fire department meeting five or 10 minutes late. For most people who care about their jobs, their mind is already working on them about the five minutes. Take that feeling one step further: A fire driver's mindset is already programmed for a quick response, and making that person feel like he's "behind" or "late to the call" will often result in speeding.
Why Are We Rolling Rigs Over?
First, many department driver trainers have not looked our drivers in the eye and told them plainly and directly that the truck can and will roll over. Our training programs must cover the rollover risk for each of our vehicles. During behind-the-wheel drills, we should be showing firefighters specific areas in our communities, response area, and mutual-aid areas that are high risk for rollovers. Make sure your members understand soft shoulders and the impact heavy rains and roadside ditches can have on the stability of the shoulders. Teach your drivers how to recognize areas where three or four inches of pavement have built up over the years, leaving a road edge that has the ability to literally "grab" the rig and draw it toward the ditch. Firefighters must carefully practice, under controlled conditions, the feeling of the rig's dropping off the pavement and understand how to gently bring it back on the road surface or allow it to fully stop and then slowly drive it back up on the pavement before accelerating. Regular hands-on training in rollover prevention will help reduce the risk of rollover accidents.
Why Are Firefighters Getting Ejected?
Firefighters are ejected from vehicles because they are not wearing their seat belts, DUH! But it is not that simple; there are reasons firefighters are not wearing seat belts. Many departments are still operating apparatus that may not be equipped with seat belts or may be equipped with seat belts that are broken. We cannot continue to speak about seat belts at conferences, promote seat belt pledge forms, and write about their use in magazines if there are no seat belts to use when they get in the rig to go to a call. Noncompliant apparatus must be phased out, or every effort should be made to retrofit old rigs to bring them as close to compliance as possible. If your local government is not supporting your apparatus updates through their actions, comments, or funding, it is time to bring the trucks to them and make them come out of their cushy meeting room and sit in the seats and try to buckle up. If they cannot buckle up when they get in your rig, ask them why.
Enforcement by Officers
Again, so much of the responsibility for reducing the risks for injury and death falls on the people with the gold badges and fancy hats. From the top down, we must establish a culture where seat belt use is the standard, not the exception. Your best friends need to be told to wear seat belts. If you don't care enough about them to talk to him about seat belts, maybe you are not a best friend or a good officer after all.
Many apparatus drivers also feel that the seat belts restrict their movements too much or fear they may be trapped inside the rig in an accident. Departments should address proper attire and footwear for drivers of fire apparatus. Drivers should have a full range of motion in the driver's seat and have the ability to see all around the vehicle. To make sure they have the ability to control the vehicle, drivers should test how they feel in the apparatus while wearing boots and turnout gear before driving a rig to an emergency response. Also, drivers should not cut corners for safety to achieve a timely response to a call. Your drivers should understand that the 15 seconds or less it takes to buckle up are meaningless in the big picture of a timely response.
Tell your drivers the truth about many of our rigs: When I was a young child, there was something about fire trucks that always caught my eye. They were very different from all of the other trucks I saw around my town, such as dump trucks, highway plows, or garbage trucks. I believed fire tucks could do almost anything and that no harm could come to them. When I first started driving fire apparatus as a young volunteer firefighter at the age of 19, I still had that "mythological winged chariot" view I had of our rigs as a child. Because of that perception, I drove our apparatus as if no harm could come to me, the community, other motorists, fellow firefighters, and the rigs themselves. Twenty-five years later as the manager of a fleet of 80 school buses, I now understand how a vehicle is built and how it should be operated safely. We need to teach our fire drivers the nuts and bolts of our apparatus. The sooner they clear their mind of the "almighty fire truck" attitude and get down to a "the truck is a manmade tool that must be respected" mindset, the better off we will all be. I am all for team spirit, gold leaf, slogans, and for using a "super truck" mindset to ensure that our members value and care for our rigs; but when we hit the road, our drivers should switch mindsets and remember a truck is just a truck is just a truck. If we let ourselves or our personnel push that rig too far, the apparatus will not correct our errors or do anything more special for us than any other truck on the highway. Our rigs most assuredly do not have a mind of their own; but if we push them too far, they can and will take over the driving, and you won't like the ride they give you.
How 2008 Ended.
On December 31, 2008, around 9:10 p.m., 24-year-old Firefighter Jarrett Little was driving his pumper responding to a reported chimney fire. Reports say that while making a turn, his pumper struck a pole and rolled over. Firefighter Little ultimately succumbed to his injuries and was the final 2008 LODD from a motor vehicle accident, responding or returning. Please keep all of the firefighters who have died in the line of duty in your minds as you coordinate your training programs and theme for this year and beyond. I prefer not to know how 2009 ends, but based on the fire apparatus accidents I have been made aware of lately, I can only imagine.
It is my hope that while reading this article you have been able to identify some key areas in your driver-training program that you can address with some of the above concepts and thoughts. At the very least, I hope I have provided some stimulating talking points for your next pizza and wing or coffee session around the firehouse kitchen table. Of course, I am always available to answer questions or evaluate driver-training ideas or policies. E-mail me at MPDBUS1@aol.com, or visit my Web site at www.respondsmart.com.
Michael P. Dallesandro is a 24-year volunteer firefighter and chairman of the Grand Island (NY) Fire Company board of directors. He has taught at FDIC and is a trainer for the fire service, the public transportation industry, and certified commercial vehicle drivers.
