By Bill Adams
At morning coffee, it was my turn in the barrel. One geezer harassed me about using the word “kibitzing” in a recent column. He said you shouldn’t use words you don’t understand. I retorted that kibitzing is just offering an opinion or breaking someone’s private parts—regardless if deserved or in jest. He must’ve looked it up in the dictionary because he fired back “it’s someone who looks on and offers unwanted advice and you do that quite often.” Although not every Raisin Squad member is guilty, there are younger active members who are convinced any white hair’s opinion is unwanted advice. In this raisin’s “opinion” they’re wrong.
Many moons ago, my old fire chief never openly chastised a volunteer’s wrong doing; years later, he said there were two reasons why. One was he didn’t want to embarrass the guy (we were all guys back then) and possibly make him quit. The other was if he expressed his displeasure in the form of a question, it might influence the guilty party and other volunteers who were listening “to stop and think” and that’d make them better firemen (that’s what we were called back then). It made sense.
Questions
Still on topic of questions, some vendors as well as active firefighters can get their bunkers in a twist if they’re asked a question they can’t or don’t want to answer. It doesn’t matter if you’re just “chewing the fat” (aka kibitzing) in the firehouse kitchen or if you’re seriously looking for an answer. A few examples:
*If firefighters have to be “seated and belted” when riding in the apparatus cabs, why do they demand raised roofs on them?
*Ask the same question in a different way—If the NFPA says firefighters aren’t supposed to wear helmets in the cab, why do you manufacturers keep putting raised roofs on them?
*If you only have three or four people riding the rig to alarms, why do you insist on buying cabs with six or more seats?
*In speaking of raised cabs, how come apparatus manufactures don’t make the roof raised on the whole cab, like European-style rigs? I think some of the new electric-style fire apparatus do—or at least it looks like they do.
*If we’re not at war and there’s no chance of being bombed into the stone age because an enemy can see a light or reflection, why is all the chrome and shiny stuff on some fire trucks “blacked out”? Does it make the rig less visible to radar?
*Does painting a fire truck’s roll-up (shutter) doors make them last longer or increase their warranty?
*When pumpers carried 2½-inch and 3-inch supply lines, they always carried a hose clamp. How come with the 4- and 5-inch supply lines commonly used today you seldom see pumpers carry an appropriate-sized hose clamp?
*How come some pumper-rescues (or rescue-pumpers) have 200- to 300-foot-long preconnected hose lines but their preconnected electric cord reels only carry 150 feet of cable?
*With all the battery-powered hydraulic rescue tools, smoke ejectors, and lights, as well as 12-volt LED chassis scene lights, why do fire departments keep specifying large-capacity generators on their rigs?
*If you really want to fire up the young crowd, ask them if they put their fire department’s name on both sides and possibly the front of the rig is because they can’t remember the name of the department they belong to!
Crashes
Accidents involving fire apparatus make for sensational media coverage—especially when they have tragic results. Unfortunately, in most instances media conjecture appears to be any accident occurring when the apparatus is responding “could be” the fire truck’s fault. Amazingly, when a parked rig is struck at the scene of an emergency, it seems the media infers the fire truck shouldn’t have been parked there in the first place. Perhaps I’m biased.
Accidents occurring when fire apparatus are struck when parked on roadways have resulted in apparatus carrying more traffic warning equipment, increased reflective markings, as well as numerous brighter rear-warning lights. Additional in-service apparatus, as well as older ones specifically intended to be sacrificial, are dispatched for blocking. Perhaps “why” apparatus are being struck should be looked at more objectively.
First off, is it the fire department’s responsibility for traffic control and scene safety on major highways? Should it be a law enforcement matter—similar to a shooting or a domestic disturbance where the fire department has also been dispatched? “We’ll stage until you secure the scene.”
Numerous studies, reports, and articles have been written about fire apparatus being struck. I believe, but can’t find any documentation indicating, the majority of those incidents have occurred at night. If they have, perhaps the following question should be questioned!
*The NFPA “mentions” that turning off the lower warning lights on parked fire apparatus might prevent motorists from being distracted by the lights when driving by. If a motorist plows into a parked fire truck with its NFPA “required” lower warning lights turned off, is the rig still considered an emergency vehicle that can legally block the right-of-way? Can the fire truck driver be held liable for turning off the warning lights? Caution: All the warning lights, traffic signaling devices, vehicles in the blocking mode, and law enforcement presence can not prevent impaired or stupid motorists from being on the road.
The accompanying photo, courtesy of Jim Burlingame, shows why “emergency cars” is what old people call today’s rescue trucks.
