An after-action report was just published on this fire. It cited 22 issues that contributed to the firefighter mayday and possible the death of the civilians. Looking through these 22 issues confirms that it is the basic fundamentals of this job that make or break the operation. Learning our response area, checking off equipment, stretching hoselines, and practicing communications may not be fun and exciting, but mastering those skills is what gets the job done on the fire scene. Failure to master those skills is what costs lives on the fireground. Also, being willing and able to put ego aside and conduct a thorough and honest self-evaluation and post-incident analysis after every incident can help continually improve and prevent these mistakes. Too often we get lucky in the fire service: we make mistakes on the fireground but are still successful. If we fail to identify those mistakes and learn from them they become reinforced as acceptable. Once the little mistakes become acceptable they tend to multiply until they culminate into a tragedy such as this one.
Though we can never achieve perfection, we should never settle for anything less. One mistake can cost lives in our profession; settling for mediocrity will virtually guarantee it.
Click here for the report:
http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/857177_The-22-issues--East-Madison-Street-fire-report-excerpts.html
Amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practice until they can't get it wrong. Be a student of your profession and master your craft.
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