Letter to the Editor Fire Engineering December 2021 page 20 & 21
The Reason We Exist
The article “Civilian Rescue: The Reason We Exist” by Brian Bush and Anthony Kastros (July 2021) is excellent. The concept of collecting detailed data about fire incidents and actual behavior of firefighters to control and mitigate the loss from fire will help firefighting become more effective and efficient.
When we combine the clinical (real time under life and death conditions) with our ever-expanding laboratory research (controlled environment, no life hazard) we will begin to get science and research-based knowledge, skills, and abilities about firefighting. This will help us increase our professionalism.
The challenge remains to change our thinking from manual fire protection as our first principle to automatic fire protection as the primary mitigation factor to reduce civilian and firefighter morbidity and mortality. The risk to firefighters and civilians will continue to increase if our future fire culture is stuck on 20th century dogma about people on pumpers and ladder trucks racing to the fire to save people. Whether it is another World Trade Center, Western Forest Fires, Grenfell, or a single-family house fire, the “fire bandit” will continue to win when the bell in the firehouse rings if we don’t change the odds in favor of citizens and firefighters. Until we change the fire culture, our chances of winning at the fire casino are not good.
We need to be honest and add the impact of building/fire codes, smoke alarms and fire sprinklers (and not building structures in the urban wild land interface) into our clinical and laboratory science and research. If we don’t, we will not be telling the truth about what firefighters can and cannot do to save citizens or ourselves.
The data is in on the efficacy of codes, smoke alarms, fire sprinklers, and not building in high fire risk zones. Automatic Fire Protection is the best way to save civilians and firefighters.
Remember, telling the truth is the foundation of why a profession exist, even the fire service.
Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO
