Lessons Learned…..
The fire service has taken a few hits over the past couple weeks. Asheville Fire Department lost a veteran captain and brother to a fire in a medical building. Dallas Fire lost a brother as well when the roof collapsed below him as he was making the roof in an apartment blaze. Lt. Krodle, and Capt. Bowen along with their families, both blood and fire, are in our hearts and minds. Love you guys. I titled this blog as lessons learned, but the lesson has yet to be taught. I’m not talking about the lesson to be learned from the tragic loss of two brothers in the service we all love. I’m talking about the lesson that needs to be learned from pointing fingers, naming names, and playing the blame game ( or monday morning quarterbacking as I like to call it ). Its time for some hard words my friends. Theres nothing more infuriating to me, when I read other blogs, and listen to other firefighters when they sit back in their chairs and give their assessment on exactly what they feel was the cause of a tragic LODD. How can you sit there and play the blame game? Who the hell do you think you are? I PROMISE you that you’re not all that and a bag of potato chips when it comes to the fire service. Go ahead and listen to the Mayday from Asheville on youtube. Read some of the awful things some of our own brothers are saying about the situation. Can something be learned out of the ashes that we must sift through in order to try to make sense of what and how and why something went wrong? Yes. Can something be learned from pointing your dirty little fat sausage fingers at the men and women who worked that scene and took charge of that scene? Actually yes….. I’ve learned that there are a bunch of sorry ass firefighters out there that need to learn a lesson in humility, or maybe just a lesson in being a decent human being. You know NOTHING of what happened, how it looked, how it felt, smelled, or tasted. The ONLY piece of information you have, is excerpts of radio traffic you listened to over the internet. Its one thing to sit at the kitchen table, or in the watch room or out in the bays and talk about what MIGHT have happened, and what MIGHT we possibly do to adjust our own tactics and strategies incase something like this happened today. Knowing what we now know, what little that might be, what can we take away from this today to make sure that we go back to our home and families tomorrow? To me…. that’s how we make sure that someones tragedy does not go in vain. When you get online and spout ridiculous rhetoric out of your un-educated mouth ( well, typed from your un-educated fingers) for all to see, including im sure from those who actually were THERE, all you’re doing is spitting on the memories of ALL those loved and lost. Imagine the impact of your words on the people who were there. Walk a mile in THEIR bunkers for a while. You Dishonor yourself, and your profession with your filth. You should absolutely be ashamed of yourself, because im ashamed for you. Ashamed to call you brother or sister, and that you’re a member of MY family. Take a lesson from me right here, and right now. Keep your ridiculous assumptions to yourself, hang your head in shame, and get your ass on the rig when the tones go off. This is an honorable service you are being privileged to be a part of, so start acting like it.
R.I.P. Brother Bowen and Brother Krodle
Fraternally, and in Solidarity
-Chaos
Excessive Leather Accessories For Firefighters 
Well said. Maybe we need to wait for the NIOSH and NFPA line of duty death investigations to come out before we GUESS at what happened, what was said, and what was done.
After we have chance to review what the investigation shows, then we can determine how to prevent this type of LODD from occurring again.
In the meantime, stick to your training because it has proven that it works.
Keep safe!!!!
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Great post, Chaos. You definitely hit the nail on the head. There was a great comment on a video which Dave Statter posted. It did not involve a LODD, but could have. Mike Legeros posted the quote on his blog…here it is:
“Blah blah blah.
I’m better than you. I’ve eaten more smoke. I live on a roof. You’re an idiot. I’m smarter. I like PPV. Me too. I think that’s stupid. No you’re stupid. Try being a real firefighter. Get your head out of the standards and journals. Try being a modern firefighter. Get bent hairbag. Why don’t you read something from this century? I’m a fire instructor. So am I. The job is dangerous. People are dangerous. You’re a fat slob. Get a grip. Get a clue.
Have I summed this and most other comment threads up well enough?
What a bunch of whiny little bitches. You remind me of my 7 year old nephew and his friends.
Every department does their own risk benefit analysis (whether they admit that is what it is or not). The analysis for Detroit that can afford to throw dozens of firefighters at a two story frame is different than for the department that shows up with a ten guys for the same job. Both departments get the job done. They just do it differently. That doesn’t make it wrong. It just makes it different.
Not that I think I’m going to change the minds of any of you fire service bigots; I just needed to vent.
I’m quite certain there’s somebody who will tell me I’m doing it wrong….”
-Whatever
Pretty much the way every armchair QB rant goes. I’m better/smarter/older/more badass than you and I’ve never, ever, ever screwed up on a fire scene.
-Lt. Lemon
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