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Fire training gone wrong


DFIB

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I controlled burn goes terribly wrong whe firemen used lot's of gas to light a controlled burn. Junior firefighter gets burned.

http://pahomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=276722

What do you tell his mom? Sorry ma'am, We didn't mean to set him on fire .....

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Just what do you say? We f'd up? Nope that would make them look like they didnt have things under control. Wait....... They apparantly didnt.

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Local VFD around here has a very few amount of JFF's, as well as very few members that actually responds to call. So for the most part they do everything that the regular FF's do. ( with the exception of going in to structure fires and driving the trucks.. can't do that till 18.) They responded to a MVA and the scene was almost cleared. One of the victims was pulled out and placed on a gurney and while being wheeled away she stated that her purse was in the back seat. There was a JFF standing by the car and one of the FF's following along with the victim yelled over at him to get the purse. The JFF with only bunker pants, and shirt lacking the rest of his gear climbed through the front seat to reach to the backseat to grab the purse and the airbag deployed on him while climbing back out. He was also taken to the hospital for minor treatment. I hang around the fire department here and there for a bit, made some good friends there and the chief made a statement saying how the phone call to his mother was probably worse than the kid being hit by the airbag. Appartently his mother was a sheltering and over protective person and took her quite awhile to let the son volunteer. In a way sort of blame the kid, he didn't have all of his gear on, plus the back door was completely openable which he failed to take proper precautions. Yet the FF's forgot to remove the battery, though the department took full fault, of course.

I think juniors need to be limited to almost everything so accidents don't happen to them because if something happens with them you have to deal with the legal guardians. Also terrible when the juniors responding to the fire department speeding down the road and getting into accidents.. been there, done that!

Just my little input.

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My 2 cents..... They should have a VERY passive role and basically should be with a FF buddy who is in charge of their safety. This is almost impossible in the real world, so should they even be there?

I'm not saying that they should or shouldn't...... I'm asking

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It is possible to keep people safe and let them participate in a more than limited capacity. I don't think the screw up was having a kid on the scene. They screwed up in burning him. Every redneck I know understands that gas on a brush pile is going to explode. The brush forms a net that first breaks the gas into microdrplets and then traps the vapors.

I think that letting kids participate is formative so long as we remember that they are kids and must be protected.

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I agree...this incident shows that the entire dept is defunk'd...the "officers" weren't there, probably had other plans, a "JR. Officer", likely another kid, was in charge. They didn't follow protocol, threw a bunch of gas on the bushes so that they could hear the kids say "Wow! You're so brave and crazy!", without making sure that everyone was clear, or had their bunker gear on....

Obvious fix to this situation? Two choices, per Fire history. First option, do nothing. This accident was obviously unavoidable..no one is at fault. Pencil whip a training session to show that you've taken it seriously and have inproved because of it. Second option, Don't let 16 year olds on scene.

The only unacceptable option? Hold people accountable, send them down the road, and make positive changes.

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This is kinda local.. When I was a young member, we did a lot of shit that would be frowned upon today. But we didn't do stupid shit. This, is stupid shit. Learning in the fire service, education, if you will, is when someone teaches you something, like a valuable skill. Pouring gas on a brush pile, to burn it, and watching it burn, is not education. If we were called for a pile of brush, on fire, I'd assume someone meant it to be on fire. Provided it wasn't windy, and dry.. We'd probably let it be. If not.. you put water on it. That kind of stuff comes along with common sense.

Someone should get their ass kicked here. Just saying

You just don't use gasoline in fire training, unless you're training to extinguish a gasoline fire.

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At least it isn't, as far as I can tell, a case of someone in an FD deliberately starting a fire in an abandoned building or vehicle, just so the department would have a fire to "train" on. Over my years in EMS, I've heard stories from VFD members, as well as read in the newspapers, and heard stories on TV and radio. Most of them had the "aronist/rescuer" both bounced from the department (thank goodness!), and brought up on criminal charges.

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