importance of fire fighting
Uploaded by outtacontrol on Dec 11, 2007
The most essential element of successful firefighting is confident leadership. Those who fight fires in our country are taught three main values: duty, respect, and integrity. They must be proficient at what they do, make timely and sound decisions, and ensure tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished. They have to develop their subordinates to be leaders, they must look out for them and their well-being, and they need to build them into functioning teams.
Each individual is taught to seek self-improvement, seek and accept responsibility, and above all, set the example, sometimes these examples are life and death situations where we learn from it and teach others how to react and or prevent it. Simulators and those that invent them can only think of so many unpredictable situations and contraptions that can train us, for the sheer fact that the fury of a fire can not be predicted and anything can happen.
The business of fighting fires is no joke, it is a serious encounter and your decisions as well as the entire command structure will contribute to the conclusion of each very different type of crisis. Firefighters from throughout the country, salaried and volunteer, are battling fires with everything they’ve got. But before all this is achieved, first you must not only fulfill the physical requirements, but you must establish a mental desire and develop discipline.
All firefighters know how to physically fight a fire and what is needed to complete the tasks involved, but what some may not be aware of is the respect that is required toward the instructors while we train. A very common mistake that young trainees make is not treating instruction and exercise as if it was a legit operation. Some goof off, give half the effort, and yes some do give there all, and make mistakes and learn from them. They are the ones that will make the difference on the fire ground, and those that thought training was a breeze, will not know how to handle the fierce complications that a fire offers because they were not mentally focused and determined. Rules as simple as “two in two out,” and “no person is left alone,” is required for approved interior operations, the same should apply to anything instructed outside. If one trainee fails to perform and is punished by rolling hose, he shouldn’t complete this alone, it should without thought or hesitation...