Just to remind everyone, this post comes from an old, retired fire captain who spent a good part of his career either training fire personnel to operate safely or helping w/the fight for safety while in the Union office.

An unusual career that gives an unusual perspective. That perspective leads to an extreme feeling of frustration about what happen over the last 2 weeks. For all active members of the NFD, a reminder of a simple truth.

𝗬𝗢𝗨 never stop being a firefighter. The brotherhood extends beyond your retirement date.

I’m writing this for the young firefighters. Over the next couple of months, what happened to our brothers is going to be dissected.

Safety experts are going to investigate what happened moment by moment. People who may never have seen the inside of a fire building, let alone a burning ship, are going to assign blame & recommend change.

Change? After the collapse on Pennington & Orchard Streets in 1972, there was a push by the City to tear down abandoned buildings.

After Harry Halpin died in 1980, there was a similar effort.

After Jimmy Murry died in 1984, the City gave us PASS devices.

When Lawrence Webb died in 2001, his PASS device wasn’t operating.

Reviews & recommendations only go so far. Let’s not lose sight of the horror our fallen brothers experienced & become complacent after the “smoke” clears.

The active guys are often riding one & two. This has been happening for decades, but 20 years ago it was only a few companies per tour.

18 one & twos is an emergency safety issue. What happened on that ship can happen at any fire.

We’ve all been there! You stretch in, you’re lightening up a line, you hear a noise & go off the line to check it out, or the water is delayed, or you’re on a truck doing a search, or - - - - the situations where things aren’t perfect in any given fire are endless (and I was only in the field 7 years). But the end result is you become disoriented.

Unsure of how to get out.

Think of that feeling. It may have lasted for a few seconds until you got your bearings. It may have lasted for a couple of minutes as you crawl through the stucco ceiling that came down on you.

Maybe it’s a few moments of doubt that you’ll get out alive when the room you’re waiting in for water flashes over.

Empathize w/that feeling.

That’s what Augie & Bear felt.

Use that feeling to inspire yourself to learn your craft that much better.

Their lose should not go to waste.

Because in the end, you can only depend on yourself, on the firefighter w/you.

What people say afterwards will not help you out of a dangerous situation. Only the skills you have attained will get you out.