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A + B = C…Do the Math

By Thomas Miller, National Volunteer Fire Council

Article appeared in October 2010 issue of Firehouse Magazine.

It is simple math applied to the fire service…Attitude + Behavior = Consequences.

Dictionary.com defines attitude as the “manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, esp. of the mind.” Behavior is defined as “observable activity in a human or animal.” Combine attitude with behavior and you get consequences, which are “the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier.”

Consequences can be both positive and negative. For instance, a good fire safety education program can promote increased community awareness, or reckless driving in a fire truck can result in an accident, injury, litigation, and/or even death. We train for and strive for positive consequences in the fire service. Our goal should not be to have an event and/or incident which results in injury and/or death, nor do we want to add to the number of victims of an incident.

I have heard many of the rationalizations in my 25 years in the fire service. “No one is going to tell me I can’t wear a beard.” Or, “I can drive a fire truck like that because I drive trucks for a living.” Or, “That seatbelt gets in the way.” These are the types of statements that reflect attitudes which, coupled with the behavior of doing what you know you shouldn’t be doing, lead to tragedies. Is your attitude and behavior towards safety infecting others in your department? Is your attitude toxic to the organization as a whole? Yes, I used the terms “infecting” and “toxic,” meaning just what you initially inferred – poisoning, seriously harming, even “killing.” No offense to the legal profession, but are you willing to put your fate, and your fire department’s fate, in the hands of a judge or twelve people who could not come up with a reasonable excuse to get out of jury duty because of a bad attitude and inappropriate behavior?

Often behavior cannot change and/or improve without a change in attitude. If we don’t perceive things as a problem, then we are likely not to change anything. The $10,000 question becomes: “What has to happen for us to see it as a problem?” Do more firefighters have to die from not wearing seat belts in vehicle accidents, or do more firefighters have to die from heart attacks and strokes before we recognize the need to promote health and wellness programs? How many more – one, five, a dozen?

We all too often are oblivious to the obvious. Before one can get an organization like a fire department to change its behavior(s), the individuals in that organization have to recognize the need to change and be willing to take the steps necessary to make those changes happen. In reading a recent NIOSH report on an incident that resulted in two (2) firefighter line-of-duty deaths, I was surprised to see the references made to the presence of facial hair on members of the department during the post incident interviews. I thought to myself, “If what just happened within their department – two members being killed related to the use of SCBA PPE - didn’t prompt a behavior change, what the heck would have to occur?” There has been a great deal of talk about a “unified fire service,” but first we must first change our own personal attitudes and behaviors. If we can’t change our own personal attitudes, then organizational attitudes and behaviors will never progressively change.

What are your personal attitudes and behaviors towards how you do your job? Are you a “Do as I say not as I do” person, or a “Lead by example” type. Do you brag about your health as you eat the jelly donut and take your blood pressure pills? Can those around you call you a hypocrite? Are NFPA standards only for “career” firefighters? Are safety regulations “silly”? Do you cut corners on safety, e.g. not using an accountability system, by using “not enough time” or “not enough manpower” justifications? Do you complain about those who you outrank not respecting you or not taking you seriously? Your answer to those questions may cause you to take pause and look at your attitude and your behavior(s).

What is your attitude and behavior with regard to your health? Do you ignore your personal health and wellness unless you are injured and/or sick? Are you proactive in terms of staying fit and healthy so that you can help others? Do you manage your stress in your personal life effectively so that the added stressors of the fire and rescue business don’t drive you crazy? Do you or someone on your department have a substance abuse problem – that “elephant in the living room” that no one talks about but everybody knows about? Do you have that, “It will never happen to me” attitude? What does your department offer its members in terms of health and wellness programs? Do they have access to exercise equipment, necessary vaccinations (tetanus, Hep B, etc.), respiratory fit testing, etc.? Do you have people actively fighting fire that have been previously classified as disabled?

As firefighters and first responders it is in our nature to push ourselves, but we must recognize the limitations of how hard and how long we push. How does a department justify spending $1,500 for turnout gear, $350 for a pager, and $1,000 for training and related material per firefighter but then balk at spending $100 for a physical for that same firefighter to see if they are healthy enough to wear and use that equipment?

What is your attitude and behavior towards that “routine call” – the single vehicle MVA into a ditch, the “frequent flyer” medical call? Everything may go smoothly 99 times out of 100, but what about the 1? How will you explain it to others when the routine goes horribly wrong? Can you change your attitude to treat all incidents and scenes as serious and not just “routine”? Why do we continue to risk lives to save nothing?

Too many times we have seen how the seemingly routine went horribly wrong and firefighters were hurt and/or killed. How many of us have had a chuckle at the pictures – now videos – of our peers caught doing things like wearing a bunker coat, helmet, gloves, SCBA, and shorts?-?-? Have you ever been surprised by what is posted on You Tube? What attitude about safety is conveyed when video is shot from a dash cam perspective of a fire truck going 40 mph the wrong way or up on the curb of a multi-lane road in heavy traffic to go to a car fire while the occupants are laughing and joking about “busting” traffic? Many in the fire service may call it good-natured humor, but a plaintiff’s attorney calls it “evidence.” When the adrenaline is pumping it is always prudent to ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?” Then take a moment to evaluate all the potential answers. We often don’t get second chances so we need to learn how to get it right the first time.

What is your attitude and behavior towards personal protective equipment? Are SCBAs for wimps during overhaul? Do you factor in where you have to get your bottles filled when deciding whether firefighters wear SCBAs or not? Do you not wear your ANSI/SAE vest on highways because you are not directing traffic? Is PPE a departmental priority or do the trucks come first? What part of your department’s budget is dedicated to PPE? Do you regularly inspect your PPE and report problems? As referenced earlier, are you willing to testify in a court of law about why your department purchased T-shirts and ball caps with department money when firefighters had defective turnout gear?

What is your attitude and behavior with regard to standards and codes? Do you even know all of the standards that apply to you and/or your department’s primary operations? What do you risk by adopting and meeting a recognized standard? Do you understand the difference between “core competencies” and “mission specific” with regard to standards? If you can’t comply with the whole standard, what parts of it can you comply with?

It has been my experience that much of the anxiety and resistance to the implementations of standards comes from them being read and/or interpreted in excerpts and not in their entirety. NFPA, OSHA, EPA, DOT, etc. standards are not designed to put fire departments out of business; they are designed to save us from ourselves – to set guidelines that will allow us to go home after an incident is closed out. They set forth minimum competencies and job performance requirements that state that we should know what we are doing so that we don’t kill ourselves or others. I agree that not everyone has to be trained to the Technician level in everything, but there must be a minimum standard to measure our ability to do our job(s). What if we applied the same logic to the certification of doctors? Don’t lives depend on their competency, or we could just open up the door even broader to firefighters and fire line officers being charged with malpractice? Which choice would you prefer?

What is your attitude and behavior towards training? Are you one who attends but doesn’t participate? Do you grumble and groan throughout, never letting your fellow students forget how “stupid” and “worthless” the training is? Do you take refresher courses or do you feel once is enough? Are you the one who thinks that you don’t need any more training because you have done it all, seen it all, and are omnipotent when it comes to fire and rescue? Have you identified your own personal areas that need skill development, or do you just take whatever interests you? Do you have access to on-line training programs that take less time away from home and family? Is your fire department’s training program tied into an analysis of the number and types of calls that your department responds to or specific hazards that you encounter? Does it require recertification on apparatus or on SCBAs on a regular basis?

In summary, the B.E.S.T. way to ensure that you and your fire department experience positive consequences is to demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviors. I am not saying that you must swallow everything like grandma’s cooking. If you disagree with something, voice your opinion but be able to support it with facts and/or data. Impassioned pleas tug at the heart but quickly falter when confronted with facts. Become involved and informed - offer constructive criticism, proffer alternative solutions, and research situations as you may find your answers without the need for a protracted battle. Pick one thing that you personally can change or something that you feel needs changing in your department that has been leading to negative outcomes and/or consequences. Look at the attitudes that surround it and the behaviors that support it in its current state. Then develop a plan to change those attitudes and behaviors in order to achieve positive outcomes and consequences. I challenge you to become part of the solution to the issues that face today’s fire service. Let us make “Everyone goes home” a reality and not just a battle cry.

Thomas Miller, MA, LPC, CAC is a 25 year veteran of the fire service. He is a Fire Instructor III and holds numerous other fire and rescue certifications. He is the West Virginia Director for the NVFC.