Firefighters: A Career In Law Enforcement

Matthew E. Barnes was a firefighter who could be called many things including a hero, a friend, a husband, a father and even an angel. The story begins like many 9/11 stories do, with the planes being hijacked, he was one of the men working that day in the New York City Fire Department that would go into the World Trade Center, but would never come out. The 37-year old resident of Monroe, New York was a father to three boys and the husband to Ms. Susan Barnes; he would spend all his available time with his family, somehow slipping out of chores and such just to go fishing with his boys. Two years before the 9/11 he had saved two twins, Isabella and Jacob Kalodner from a fire in their mother, Linda Kalodner’s apartment, by climbing up a 100-foot aerial ladder to the 10th story to save the 6 week old twins.

Also on the job duties task list there are many hazardous situations firefighters are involved and faced with. Another source states, “Firefighters also may come in contact with poisonous, flammable, or explosive gases and chemicals that may have immediate or long-term effects to health.”(www.allthingspolitical.org online). Another way to explain this is firefighters have to look out for the dangers that may cause them to die on duty. According to another website, “Firefighting involves hazardous conditions and long irregular hours.”(www.bls.org online). Obviously, this career is dangerous and has longer hours than usual jobs. As one website says, “Fire stations usually have features in common with a residential facility like a dormitory.”(www.allthingspolitcal.org online). In other words, fire stations serve as a secondary home for the firefighters. Experts say, “When an alarm sounds, fire fighters respond rapidly, regardless of the weather of hour.”(www.allthingspolitcal.org online). In other words, no matter the weather or time of day fire fighters are required to respond to the event as soon as possible. Another source states, “Firefighting involves the risk of death or injury

Firefighting has specific duties such as put out fires with specialized hoses and treat sick people and get them out of houses with burning buildings. It requires a lot of commitment and you will be forced to carry a person outside of a burning building and you must not be claustrophobic because you will be in a burning building with thick smoke trying to find somebody and you will get cramped by the smoke and debris. In this career this person need to be allowed to perform in the career with excellence and they need to be able to withstand heat and they need to be able to have the strength to be able to carry out a person in a burning building or any

Firefighters do more than just put out fire. It is not just a one sided job. There is a medical side of the firefighter job. They have house calls constantly for people requiring medical attention. It is quite a bit more than just fire. The calls that they go on are mostly medical rather than structure fires. They also go to

Both are very great and skilled at what they do, but you gotta hand it to volunteer firefighters as they lay their lives on the table to save someone they barely know and don’t even get paid a lot. Volunteers catch crap for not being a career they are given the privilege to run blue cautionary lights to alert people to move over and slow down. A volunteer firefighter does not have to respond a career firefighter does. A volunteer firefighter gets out of bed and uses there own relax time to go help a complete stranger never knowing the scene they are walking

With that being said, society has raised its standards on what it thinks that a fire service member’s behavior should look like, and if we don’t meet those standards, we can be

What are the generational differences facing the fire service today and what tools can we employ to navigate these differences?

As a police officer’s career moves ahead one only thinks of the good that can be done by having this career. Ask anyone what the purpose of being a police officer is and they will answer that it is to keep people safe and maintain the peace. What many people do not realize is that being a police officer can damage a person emotionally. Many people see officers helping others and doing good but they do not see what happens when they are off duty. Just like any job being a police officer has its faults. A fault that being a police officer has is the emotional toll it can have on the officer and his family. Several people focus on the officer and how he has been affected by the job but they do not consider the family, the family that is there to help and support

The need for help is always there at all hours of the day and night. A firefighter has to be able to shift from dead sleep and when the call comes through, he must be up, mentally prepared and completely focused on the job and performing it as expected, no matter what time of day, or how little sleep he has gotten. The average working conditions involves responding to residential areas to provide medical services, as this is the majority of the tasks of firefighters. According to the NFPA, 2 out of 3 calls a firefighter responds to are medical assist related calls. Firefighting has a large number of dangerous aspects in the job, as that is what the firefighters know and acknowledge when entering this field. There may times that become unpleasant, but when the job is done, you feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction knowing that it was you that made the difference in a humans life.

Training for firefighters closely resembles a professional military organization. A life that can be spared by a firefighter performing a specific task or high-risk tactic that may cost the firefighter’s life is and always has been an acceptable and expected. The qualifier is time. If they have the discretionary time, they should use it, and immediately request the additional personnel and/or resources necessary to perform the task in the safest manner possible. Firefighters are there at devastating ravages of fire, motor vehicle accidents, tornadoes, hazardous material incidents, rescue operations, explosions, medical emergencies and many other critical incidents. Firefighters are civil servants as sworn officers, following standard policies and procedures of the fire service and standard operating procedures of their departments; they are there to prevent human suffering and death, to stabilize the incident and prevent damages and loss of property.

It is a bond that knows no geographic boundaries. And it is this strong kinship that guarantees, without question, that firefighters can count on one another no matter what must be done to get the job done” (Yoder XVI). A brotherhood is something that every firefighter and paramedic has, this is something that can never be broken, it is something that every person knows that someone has their back no matter the situation. While they are on their shift, they must live and eat together. This makes working in a firehouse a unique job.

The position that the alluring pioneer has good concerns are as the firefighter in light of the fact that feeling are included. The impact of acknowledgment the magnetic pioneer the "upgrade profitability, lower mishaps, and improve work fulfillment," as indicated by DuBrin, 2013 p. g. 74.

Firefighters are ordinary, standard people who put themselves in dangerous situations to save faultless people. For instance, firefighters are rescuers, who are trained to extinguish uncontrolled fires. This

I truly enjoyed reading the material for this week 's discussion. I found it fascinating to read how these people of passion were so revered as leaders. Something I found difficult while reading the stories of these various leaders was the details of what they did within their respective industries that made them successful. Although I recognize the importance of the details, I found myself continually fanaticizing about how the many different approaches would directly translate to the fire service. Because of the uniqueness of the fire service as an industry, I found it easier to relate to themes and concepts rather than the details. 'Strengths Based Leadership ' by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie For example Simon Cooper stated: "people create memories, not things. If we ask guests what color the carpet was in their guest room, they probably won 't know. The real value comes from the ladies and gentlemen (employees) who bring that hotel to life. Ten percent is the platform, but the rest is people. (Rath & Conchie, 2008, p. 43) As I read this I couldn 't help but think of the fact that our customers in the emergency response world (fire service) likely remember more about how we treat them than what uniform we wear or what kind of apparatus we arrive in, so long as we bring true caring and compassion to their bedside. In addition Cooper 's people over platform approach was obvious in this Rath & Conchie description: "then when he talked of the night-and-day difference that a

The greatest threat facing the Modern Fire Service is the rate at which firefighters are dying in the line of duty. Excluding the terrible event of 9/11 that occurred in 2001 that forever changed the dynamics of the emergency response services1, firefighter deaths have averaged around 100 fatalities each year for the since 1990. This unacceptable rate of firefighter deaths has found its way to be a benchmark in the industry. The problem is that the benchmark should be zero firefighter deaths while on duty and every year that there is a fatality is a year that the fire service has failed its members. The number one cause of firefighter related deaths yearly is proven to be medical, stress, or overexertion related fatalities2. All of these causes of firefighter deaths can be avoided with implementation of training and awareness.