Coos Bay
I am more angry than sad and that bothers me. I should feel more sad about this horrible tragedy.
I feel horrible about the deaths of these firefighters who were taken so young. I feel horrible about the families that are left with nobody at this holiday season and for that matter for the rest of their lives.
I was not there at the incident and I will not be critical but I am angry at some of the facts that I have gleaned from this incident from a distance.
3 firefighters have once again lost their lives. I am angry.
The building's occupants appear to have been all accounted for. The building was vacant of life hazard. Firefighters have lost their lives in an unoccupied building. I am angry.
The roof collapsed and contributed to the entrapment and loss of life. Firefighters died when the roof of a structure collapsed. I am angry.
The fire was in an auto parts, auto body occupancy like Chesapeake, like Hackensack, and others. Firefighters died in a high fire loaded dangerous occupancy. I am angry.
There were two quotes as reported in the Firehouse.com website that I have no knowledge of personally but I am taking this from these articles... The chief said "I thought it would never happen here.", a lieutenant is attributed a quote that " this is a dangerous job and people will die, but..." I cannot in good conscience believe that what these men said was said clearly, but it was said in a time clouded by grief. I will accept the fact that they made these statements under extreme duress. I forgive them for these statements. I have heard them both too many times before when firefighters have died. For that I am angry.
Something went horribly wrong at this emergency. Firefighters died. I am angry.
Firefighters in the United States must be a terribly unlucky group. Firefighters are still dying the same ways in the same occupancies.
I am angry.
Firefighters from all over the Untied States will gather in their dress uniforms to form a "sea of blue" to honor their dead. We have done this lots of times before. Why the hell didn't we try to keep them alive. I am angry.
Please learn from this incident, if mistakes were made I hope the people in Coos Bay will share them with others so that others may live.
Save some quiet thoughts and prayers for these men and their families. Save some other private soul searching thoughts and prayers that you have the strength to make a "safety difference" in your department. Safety is not popular, it can be difficult for those who are really trying to practice it. Pray and gather the inner strength to say the tough things and make the tough decisions.
Please do something within your own department to prevent this from happening. Stop the lip service we continue to give to fireground safety and risk assessment.
Go to this week's training page and do the steps there so that you can take a positive approach.
Join me in becoming S.A.F.E firefighters.
S.A.F.E mean Stop Accepting Fatalities Ever. They will occur but we must never, ever accept them.