2012 Sucked So I Will Simply Move On

I’m not going to sit here and reflect on a year that was filled with so many disappointments.

I like to think that I am an eternal optimist, but did anyone else notice the negative tone of wherever you looked? It was everywhere.

ONE positive that I noticed is that, firefighter fatalities were down in 2012. Since 2009, firefighter deaths have been well below the “100 per year” threshold. Also noteworthy is that deaths attributed to cardiac issues were also down. It would appear that health and wellness initiatives are starting to see some positive results and we should. There are plenty of blogs and books dedicated to firefighter fitness. One that easily comes to mind is Fire Service Warrior and its founder, Chris Brennan.

In fact; when you partner the work that the FireSmoke Coalition is doing with its research on the effects of gases present at the foreground that adversely affects firefighters and preventive measures AND we work to improve over all fitness, it is no wonder that there has been a reduction in cardiac-related episodes.

So, when I say that last year sucked, it is a broad response to the many personal negatives that have affected me. It is not summed up simply by saying that “my guy lost” the Presidential election. It goes much deeper than that. Since I started preparing my first article for 2013, I have lost another brother-in-law and it leaves me with the opinion that I am attending more funerals of family members than I care to.

All I know is that it has hit me like a ton of bricks and has forced me to be more introspective on setting priorities in this Life. I will strive to find the edge that saw several readers of Chief Reason blogs, but in order to do that, I have to get a couple things off of my chest.

So, this is To Whom It May Concern:

I am tired of all of the “fiscal cliff” dramedy. Our federal government has proven time and time again that the two-party system is self-destructing. The two houses of government want to go in two, separate directions with a President who doesn’t understand the art of compromise. Instead of finding real solutions to the problems that we face, they want to spend time looking for gimmicks that kicks the can down the road for future generations.

I mean; what has happened to “representative” government? When did it become this bloated behemoth of amendatory bills and points of order and all of the trickery and chicanery that it has become?

How is it that, in Congress, John Boehner decides what goes or doesn’t in the House and the singing duo of Reid and Pelosi decides what goes to the floor of the Senate?

Did you know that you don’t even have to be present to filibuster? Now, all you have to do is notify leadership of your “intent” to filibuster. You know; “phone it in”, as they say. Jimmy Stewart (Mr. Smith) must be rolling in his grave.

And why are legislative bills 2700 pages long? I actually know the answer to this one. It is because of all of the “augmentations”. Let’s call it “pork” or “sausage”. Regardless, it goes through the meat grinder known as Congress and is packed into a prophylactic to make it easier to shove…well, you get the picture.

And for the record; Illinois has its version of Boehner, Reid and Pelosi. It’s called Mike Madigan, the “most powerful politician in the state”.

Having little influence THERE, I will spend my time focused at a local level. As a trustee for our fire protection district, I will not use the federal budgetary process as a template for our fire district finances. For me, that means a balanced approach. Borrowing will be limited and money will never factor into discussions of firefighter safety. Firefighter safety will always come first and we will tax and budget for it. Period.

I have seen too many fire districts struggling just to pay the interest on apparatus or a new building that they can’t afford. If either was needed, then a budget plan that included savings, applying for available grants, increasing tax rates or calling for a bond referendum should have been in the plan. You don’t just wake up one day and discover these problems. They can be years in the making, if you don’t exercise restraint.

Next; I am tired of the pension banter. Illinois has the distinction of having the most underfunded pension system and the worst credit rating in our country. So, again I say;

To Whom It May Concern:

You believed that it was your civic duty or your “calling” to serve on your city council or in the state legislature. You sat there while your loyal public servants were negotiating employment contracts-legal, binding contracts.

And even though you didn’t bother to look at actuaries, investment statements or take the advice of financial analysts; you kept agreeing to new contracts; knowing that you would have to borrow money to pay them or skip payments all together.

Why would you lock in return on investment at 8.5 %, even though statements were showing anywhere from 0 to 5% and then express total shock to hear the economy was driving everything down?

In the Land of Lincoln, pensions are underfunded by $95 BILLION. And because pensioners are expecting YOU to honor YOUR word, you are now labeling them “selfish and greedy”!

Do you even realize that a contract is a legal and binding PROMISE? Because if you do, then quit whining and figure out a way to pay them without sending my taxes even higher than they already are; keeping in mind that I am trying to save for my own retirement.

Two years ago, Governor Quinn got a 67% increase in the state income tax to pay past due bills to medical care providers and schools, to name a few. It was only to be for one year and it has been two. He lied. He also said the added revenue would go for the purposes that I stated. Instead; the money went to pension funds. He lied again.

I am so fed up with the convoluted process known as politics that I a swearing off blogs about politics UNLESS they directly affect the fire service. You may quote me.

And last; to my friends at NIOSH:

Since we are seeing fewer firefighter deaths per year, can we see a more timely and detailed fatality report? Could you possibly widen your pool of resources and end the “template” approach?

I, for one, appreciate the work that you do, but let’s be honest; can “poor communication” or “a lack of leadership” be present at every fatal incident? You might be right; I am just asking, but consider that there is a culture to change in the fire service that may require stepping outside of the box, because without compelling, well written reports; fire departments will continue to dismiss NIOSH firefighter fatality reports as “same old/same old”.

To my fellow bloggers and critics: I am bringing back a strong voice of reason in 2013. However; I will continue to be uniquely qualified in matters of opinion.

TCSS.

The opinions and views expressed are those of the article’s author, Art Goodrich, who also writes as ChiefReason. They do not reflect the opinions and views of www.fireengineering.com, Fire Engineering Magazine, PennWell Corporation or his dog, Chopper. All articles by the author are protected by federal copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form without expressed permission.

Ohio; Community Organizing-Platinum Edition

I find it hard to believe that no one in the fire blogosphere picked up this post-election story and especially since Ohio Governor John Kasich’s very political existence may have hinged upon its defeat.

But, $30 million union dollars later, “Issue 2”; otherwise known as SB 5 was repealed by the voters of Ohio and Governor Kasich was left wondering “why”.

From my perspective, it was the classic political cage match.

The union brought its street fighting style and the conservatives who thought that they were going to hold collective bargaining to the days before John L. Lewis came to the fight believing that there would be “rules”. Consequently, it was no contest.

This story in Ohio had dominated the news media from sea to shining sea since early April with so much media muscle that you had to wonder what Kasich had up his sleeve to beat back this well-organized union effort. If he had a plan, he wasn’t telling anyone.

And now, it has many circles believing that this was the litmus test for Obama’s re-election, even though on the same day that Ohio was voting to protect collective bargaining, they were voting down ObamaCare AND most of the tax increases for many of the school districts in Ohio. Huh?

Both sides claimed victories. However; I think both sides were too full of themselves to see the unintended consequences of Election Night’s results and here’s why:

First; the union thinks that this victory is the end all for any effort to limit their right to represent their members in the public sector, when all that it has done is given the state an opportunity to write another bill that will be more palatable for Ohio voters to chew on. And in the meantime, watch how many jobs are slashed in order to balance the state budget.

In fact; when I saw the results of the vote, the first thing that came to my mind was, “Oh-oh; now there will be big layoffs”. A blogger in Ohio seems to agree. See the link:

http://thirdbasepolitics.blogspot.com/2011/11/issue-2-defeated.html

I have to wonder if Governor Kasich thought anyone in Ohio with a computer would visit the website that answered the many questions surrounding SB 5. I went to the site and took a tour and I must say that it was very thorough, but with trust in government at an all-time low, how many were going to believe those answers. Check out the SB 5 FAQ here:

http://www.aproundtable.org/pdfs/faqonOH_SB5.pdf

Does Ohio have a balanced budget law?

From what I understand, they don’t have a balanced budget requirement per se, but if you look at their state constitution, it would indicate that the legislators cannot spend more money than they take in during a fiscal year. According to the state website, there are provisions that speak to the balanced budget issue. I quote the following from the state guidebook:

Balanced Budget Requirements
Although no one statute or section of the Ohio
Constitution explicitly states that Ohio must keep its
budget in balance, there are several provisions that,
when construed together, make such a requirement
clear. The directives in Revised Code sections
126.05 and 126.07 along with Article II, Section
22, Article VIII, Sections 1 through 3, and Article
XII, Section 4 of the Ohio Constitution ensure that
Ohio keeps its budget balanced by:
• limiting the state’s ability to incur debt;
• requiring the General Assembly to provide
for raising revenue sufficient to defray state
expenses each year;
• permitting money in the state treasury to be
spent only pursuant to an appropriation made
by law;
• limiting the duration of appropriations to two
years;
• requiring the Governor to curtail spending in
the event of insufficient revenue.
If appropriations bills that set forth a balanced
budget cannot be enacted and approved by the
Governor in time to become effective on or shortly
after July 1 of the new fiscal biennium, an “interim”
appropriations bill is necessary to provide for
continued funding on an emergency basis. Usually,
“interim” appropriations bills provide funding for a
month, but on occasion they have been enacted for
shorter or longer periods.

The entire guidebook can be viewed here: 
http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/guidebook/chapter8.pdf

I have also included Ohio state employee pension definitions here: 
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/145.01

Now; because I am a full service blogger, I have crunched some numbers for you. I have used the state of South Carolina as a comparison to Ohio, because, quite frankly, South Carolina is a right-to-work state and unions often cite right-to-work states as “problematic”. I am in no way endorsing one over the other; at least, not this time!

It was widely reported that the unions poured $30 million into their efforts to beat back SB 5. Given that there are 358,276 state union employees in Ohio, that figures out to $83,735 per employee that was spent to preserve their collective bargaining rights. That’s breath-taking!

State employees in Ohio who are considered full time employees earn $40,603 on the average and part-time employees average $9861 per year and that is NET pay; not gross pay. South Carolina full time employees, on the average, earn $34,203 per year and part-time employees earn $9925 per year. In both states, it was noted that over 54 percent of the public employees were in education.

With regards to pensions and benefits, Ohio state employees contributes 10 percent pre-tax per pay period to their pension and the state kicks in 14 percent for the state employees. They also get 10 paid holidays and can choose from five medical plans for medical care. Cost is $26.74 - $30.50 per month for individuals and $78.91 - $89.25 per month for families. The state pays the remainder of the premium in all cases. Dental coverage is free to the employee and dependents. The state pays the full cost of the dental coverage. Vision care is also free. Life insurance is equal to a year’s salary. That is; if the employee earns $40,000 a year, then their life insurance policy is worth $40,000.

In South Carolina, state employees contribute 6.5 percent into their retirement fund and the state kicks in 9.24 percent. They have the choice of putting it into a 401K plan or the South Carolina Deferred plan. They get 12 paid holidays and can choose from 3 medical plans for medical care. Each plan costs the state $260 per individual. Employees pay $93.46 per month for the standard plan or $185.56 verses $251 per month to either of two HMO plans. However; premiums are due to go up. Dental coverage is free and the state pays $11.71 per employee per month in premiums. Vision care is $7.76 per month for employees choosing to take it. Life insurance is $3000 if the employee is under age 70 and $1500 for those over age 70. Employees also qualify for annual and sick leave that they can accrue up to 180 days, if they have been employed for at least one year.

And speaking of “sick” leave; I offer you this: sick time “cash outs”. A small piece taken from the article states: In Ohio, 2,164 state retirees eligible to cash out sick time at a 55 percent rate received an average of $5,646 in the 2011 fiscal year. More than 4,300 departing Florida employees who retired or otherwise left state service last fiscal year averaged about $3,000 in sick-time payments. At least five received 10 times that.
 
Read the entire article here:  
http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=569521

On an annual basis, state legislators in Ohio earn approximately $19,600 in gross retirement benefits-about the same as a teacher or police officer. In South Carolina, state legislator earn $10,400 in gross retirement benefits annually.

So that you can see the data that I have quoted for yourselves, I have included the links:

Ohio state employees’ salaries listed:
http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Ohio_state_government_salary

South Carolina state employees’ salaries listed:
http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/South_Carolina_state_government_salary

Also, at the same time that population has grown less than 2 percent in Ohio, it has risen in South Carolina by 15 percent in the past ten years. I’m just sayin’…

AND to be fair; since Illinois leads the nation in unfunded pension obligations of at least $85 billion, we are seeing more news outlets pressing our state government to do something. However; in most of the country where the entitlement programs are the “third rail”, hot button issues; here in Illinois, it’s messing with the unions or Mike Madigan that could be your political hemlock.

See opinion piece here: 
http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=569546

So; was the defeat of SB 5 in Ohio the result of a very unpopular Governor John Kasich as Brent Larkin of Cleveland.com would suggest in his article?

Or is this just another example of how powerful the Obama community organizing efforts can be, because, let’s face it; the Obama Administration was backing the union’s efforts to defeat SB 5?

And with that said, then why was Obama willing to lose on healthcare in Ohio?

With this victory, will we see the many fire departments like Chillicothe, Columbus and Cleveland that have already been cut restored or will we see more departments being downsized as the various governments struggle with a constituency who wants the services with no increase in taxes?

As an example; voters were upset that public employees get healthcare for little or nothing, but yet; THEY VOTED DOWN OBAMACARE!

Voters can definitely be fickle!

Stay tuned. Ohio was only the beginning and not the end.

The opinions and views expressed are those of the article’s author, Art Goodrich, who also writes as ChiefReason. They do not reflect the opinions and views of www.fireengineering.com, Fire Engineering Magazine, PennWell Corporation or his dog, Chopper. This article is protected by federal copyright laws and cannot be re-produced in any form.

You Have the Right to Remain Salient!

Yes; I like titles that are a play on words.

Salient – (say-lee-ent) adj. Projecting or jutting beyond a line or surface; protruding. Strikingly conspicuous; prominent. Noticeable. Springing; jumping.

As we are seeing, many Americans who have held silent over the years are now speaking out about the condition of the human condition (and especially THEIR condition); how exclusive our “representative” form of government has become; how they can feel a positive future slipping through the loopholes in legislation passed in the dead of night, when few were watching; how the “needy” have become the “greedy” with their selfish sense of entitlement; how “community organizing” is nothing more than code for organized demonstrations that are designed to deceive the majority into thinking that they are the minority; and how they are seeing their voice getting smaller, as the private sector shrinks and government grows bigger by the day. It has allowed for the unions to add another layer of bureaucracy onto the already-bloated bureaucratic behemoth of government.

Of course; I am stating my opinion, which is salient.

Have you ever noticed how some will disguise their opinions as statements of facts?

Or, how some will state fact and then offer up their unsolicited opinions? The news media has been doing a lot of that lately.

No; it isn’t just the “mainstream” media doing it.

TV, radio and print media have all been practicing various spin mastering for the candidates of THEIR choice. Bias has been around for some time in that once unbiased arena known as our world of news.

It’s funny, but I could never figure out where Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, Peter Jennings or Dan Rather were positioned politically, because they approached their jobs as newsmen; as if they were asking questions for the rest of the nation, regardless of political affiliation.

But, look at the state of the media today. Truly; it’s not like the old days. Investors with political agendas pour money into a news company and exert tremendous influence on the political direction of the news outlet. I’ll stop there for fear of sounding like Glenn Beck.

But let me ask you this: if people with special interests are spending millions of dollars in political campaign contributions in the various political parties, then how can they NOT be buying influence on legislation that affects them? If that is not the case, then why can’t they put containers out like UNICEF and get their money that way; that is, if what the money is going for is a worthy cause?

I have to point out the irony in National Public Radio (NPR), though.

Their name would lead one to believe that they exist for the public-the ENTIRE public, but it doesn’t. Yet, they receive public (taxpayer) funding. I suppose if you are an intellectual elitist or have liberal tendencies, then you probably have the channel programmed into your radios and I would suspect that you also enjoy your share of public television too. It’s OK; public radio/public TV; it’s all the same. It’s funny but it was public television where I first met Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Benny Hill, Black Adder, Fawlty Towers and Red Green. Exquisite comedy is its only redeeming quality, I guess. Wait; I can’t forget Austin City Limits. It reminds me of the old days of Midnight Special hosted by Wolfman Jack or Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. I must pause…

How can groups of people, who are participating in freedom of assembly, exercising their rights to free speech-both that are rights provided to Americans under the Constitution-use these very tactics to trample the same rights of those with opposing views?

When did it become fashionable to shout down differences of opinions?

Don’t bring a bullhorn to a PA address.

When live, streaming video shows these organizations using tactics designed to intimidate or coerce their political opponents, then why is it so surprising that some reporters would refer to them as a “mob”? Why is there a criminal charge of “mob action” that can be filed under the law under certain circumstances, but disrupting the workplace of elected officials and littering state property is OK?

These are just some of the questions that populate my mind.

Next subject:

I have read many articles lamenting about the fire services’ loss of status; post 9/11.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the heroes of 9/11 were at Shanksville, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on that day. From every day Joes to the police, port authority, fire/EMS and hospitals; heroism was on display for the rest of the world to see on September 11, 2001.

Suddenly and without warning, ALL fire, police and EMS were seen and treated as heroes.

9/11 wasn’t some PR campaign. It wasn’t a “light bulb” that went off in someone’s head.

It was the darkest day in the history of our fire service and of our country.

While families and friends of those who died on 9/11 were grieving, many others were recognizing and realizing the complexities and risks of those in public safety. A profession that was already held in high regard was taken to even greater heights.

In my opinion, it is denigrating and disrespectful to even consider an “upside” to this tragedy, because there should be no mistake that this act of war was perpetrated on a country with a rich heritage of helping the rest of the world for nothing more than humanitarianism. No upside; no takeaways; simply people helping people.

But, one “upside” discussed in several articles on the subject was the new-found elevated stature of public safety employees.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I have seen 9/11 used as a “marketing” tool and I think that’s wrong. It is my opinion and there are those who will disagree with me. That’s cool.

I believe that our “fall from grace” is due to over exposure; too many pictures and video clips of public servants “just doin’ their jobs” as they would say. The public face is one of compassion, commitment, strength, honor and courage. It is a reminder of why communities could sleep easy at night. THEY are fearless because their public servants are fearless in protecting them.

And at the time, the cost for that protection didn’t seem to matter. No one seemed to care. Very few participated in their participatory form of government, so unless the very few were very vocal or worked for the newspaper and felt that public payroll issues were “newsworthy”, then it was regarded as budget expenditures…no big deal!

That seems innocuous enough, but then, the economic bubble burst.

Cities and states began “skipping” their payments to the pensions, mistakenly believing that their financial house would improve and the money would be paid into the pension fund at some point. And the money that WAS getting into the pension funds and then into investment funds were taking a beating along with the rest of us who had retirement funds.

With less money coming into the cities, states and yes, the unions; no one was doing anything to rein in spending. Their “economic engines” weren’t very “fuel efficient”!

So; with regards to what I have seen with fire departments: taxpayers believe that they are paying taxes that are too high. They won’t say that they are being assessed a fair cost for services; they only know that it costs too much in their opinions.

All of a sudden, benefits and pensions are “Cadillac” plans. Illinois firefighters contribute 9.5% of their paycheck into their pension. What I don’t know is what is contributed by their “employer”. But in the end, the firefighter is to get somewhere around 85% at retirement. It will vary because there are five public employee pensions that are governed by five different pension boards and that could be lending to the problem. That is; Illinois wasn’t paying its agreed-upon contributions; yet nothing was popping up as a cause for concern. It’s also an example of how close state government-i.e. representatives-have gotten to public and private sector unions. Who was the union listening to while payments were being skipped? The people that they supported for election/re-election; that’s who.

If you listen to Illinois Republicans on the most recent legislative session; they are the only ones trying to reduce spending. They want legislators to “be honest with their constituents” and to tell them that the money isn’t there to spend. So; has the process lacked honesty, if they are now calling for honesty?

It’s interesting to note that, when THEY had the majority AND a Republican governor, THEY weren’t that interested in spending cuts. Oh wait; they would want to pull out the “we had a surplus back then” argument. Really? My taxes didn’t go down.

NOW; everyone in government and their lobbyists on a leash claims that they have seen this coming for YEARS. So; I guess that they are complicit after-all.

Anyone with a stake in this can shoulder some of the blame.

From governments not honoring their commitments to an apathetic/disengaged electorate to unions feeding their own bureaucracy; the once rosy picture is now a harsh reality.

No one should be shouted down for raising questions or for voicing opinions.

Solutions may very well be found during very heated exchanges.

Hopefully, if the debate remains respectful, consensus will build and communities will flourish once again.

Regardless; you have the right to remain salient!

TCSS.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author, Art Goodrich, who also writes under the name ChiefReason.  They do not reflect the views and opinions of www.fireengineering.com, Fire Engineering Magazine, PennWell Corporation or his dog, Chopper. Articles written by the author are protected by federal copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form.

If We Can Find bin Laden, Then Why Can’t We…

Like most other red, white and blue-blooded Americans, I savored the news that Osama bin Laden had been found and shot dead by a U.S. SEALs Team.

Blogger Sidebar: Has anyone else noticed that the mainstream media has been spelling “Osama” with a “U” instead of an “O”? I think you know why.

I have no doubt that bin Laden is dead. I have no reason to question the validity of our President’s claim. Therefore; I need no other “verification”, but I would view the “official” photos of a dead bin Laden, if given the opportunity.

Let Cindy Sheehan and the other nut jobs perpetuate the conspiracy theories. The rest of us should briefly rejoice and then get back to keeping our guard up and supporting our government and our troops, as we continue our war on terrorism.

But, I have to wonder; if we can find bin Laden, then why can’t we find common ground at the center of a myriad of issues?

When you think of all of the information that was processed; all of the planning required and all of the practice needed to drop our men on the “head of a pin” at precisely the right moment, in order to confront and kill bin Laden, then fixing our federal government doesn’t seem like such an arduous task.

I am sure that the members of our SEALs Team came from different social, ethnic, religious or even political backgrounds, but all of that was compartmentalized, so that they could focus on the plan/the mission.

Imagine what would happen if our military-though, at the mercy of bureaucrats for funding-behaved like our federal government behaves: nothing would get done, each would be blaming the other and we would be the laughingstock to the rest of the world.

But, fear not; our nation’s fire service isn’t far behind with their inability to find common ground on important issues as well.

We can find bin Laden, but our fire service can’t find agreement on what the top issues are.

First and foremost; I believe some of the separation is due in part to the number of trade magazines, editors, writers, bloggers and the many different agendas that are being saturated by very personal opinions.

Yes; that includes me. I don’t pretend to be an Everyman. My opinions are mine and I don’t necessarily look for agreement; I look for “diversity in opinion”.

The trades and their websites all run the same top stories (competition is brutal for who gets the story up FIRST), videos and pictures, but the similarities stop there. From website layout to cash layout; they become very different, in terms of content.

I believe that the nation’s fire service organizations are driven by the opinions of the people who populate the various committees, in much the same way that Congress operates.

In other words; our special interests group (national fire service) is being influenced by special interests groups that drive us further away from common ground and a general consensus.

The priorities identified at the national level often miss the smaller targets of local fire departments. I will use residential sprinklers as an example.

I think that it’s a great idea and a worthy project to push for a nation-wide initiative, but why would a small department struggling to keep fuel in their 30 year-old fire engine that is housed in their dilapidated, mold-infested, asbestos-lined fire station even SEE sprinklers as a blip on their radar screens?

Everyone Goes Home®?

Well, some in the fire service believes that some won’t. Some believe that firefighting, by its very nature, requires us to accept that firefighters will die in the performance of the job, so the program is a lie and a failure. I don’t believe that, but unfortunately others do. They embrace the notion that there is acceptable risk and acceptable deaths, because “that is what we do”.

We can find bin Laden, but we can’t find agreement on when to do a primary search and when it is too dangerous to do so. We can’t agree on what abandoned/vacant, tenable/untenable or even what “risk a lot to save a lot; risk little to save little” means anymore. The measure of success or failure is not that someone has been seriously injured or killed, but rather, how much risk was your department willing to take; regardless of outcome? And anything less is considered an exercise in “yard breathing”. The problem as I see it is that many of us who have worked some tough scenes won’t accept or understand someone else reacting differently to a similar set of circumstances. We are expecting the new breed to be JUST LIKE US and we are disappointed when they aren’t. They don’t have the heart or at least the same heart as we do. We want THEM to look in the mirror and see US.

We can find bin Laden, but some firefighters can’t find enough common sense to drive to an incident scene in a careful, safe manner. Whether it’s in a personal vehicle (POV) or apparatus, we still have some who believe that getting there as fast as they can without due regard is acceptable. And we can’t agree on the “honors” paid to that firefighter, who dies while recklessly putting the public at risk, because there is this twisted notion that the driving public should ALWAYS yield to the big, red fire truck! Remember that last year, a firefighter returning from a fire school was drag racing with another car and caused a wreck in which an innocent motorist and the driver that was drag racing were killed. The firefighter was given LODD status. Shameful. Yeah; some of us don’t agree on that either.

We can find bin Laden, but we can’t find agreement on reducing LODDs and especially deaths from heart attacks. We want to believe that they are caused from the thermal pounding that we take at a fire.

Yes; that would account for maybe 2% of the LODD heart attacks, but that doesn’t explain the other 98% that have an undetected, congenital heart problem, because we can’t agree that pre-employment or yearly physicals thereafter should be required (again; see “fueling 30 year-old fire engine); or high blood pressure that goes untreated; or obesity to borderline morbid to morbid obesity, because of poor diet choices and eating habits, coupled with a sedentary life-style. We can’t agree on healthy diets, because of the many different diet plans that are pushed by big, corporate money.

We can find bin Laden, but we can’t find unity of career and volunteer.

That leads to disagreements on what constitutes professionalism and builds, then nurtures, mutual respect. We argue about “purity of heart” and other “why we do what we do” issues. We can’t even find common ground on common issues, such as 360 size up or ventilation or nozzle types.

We can find bin Laden, but we can’t find objective and open-minded thought on the state of our local economies and our pension systems. In the minds of the public sector employees, their wage and benefits package has been a matter of public record, but in the minds of their taxpayers, the details have been buried in the language of their union contract and out of the public eye.

It’s one thing to read that a city employee will make a salary of X and the rest of the employee benefits package, including pension, is described in ambiguous terms. Employee will receive medical, dental and vision coverage and city will contribute to employee pension does not tell you what that costs.

So; we can find bin Laden, but we can’t find two people who agree on what is fair for public employees during an economic downturn or local fiscal crisis. The divide between career and volunteer firefighters gets wider, because cities start talking about replacing career with volunteer or paid on call personnel. In cities with career departments, the unions representing the career firefighters will unleash a torrent of public relations tools to bolster the needs for a career department.

Ironically, there is no talk of replacing street and sanitation workers or police with volunteers; only the fire department. Appeals from the career guys will go out to their volunteer “brothers”, who were, moments earlier, “scabs” to resist being used in this manner-a scare tactic pitting “brother against brother”.

Yep; we can find bin Laden, but finding unity among the factions in our fire service will remain elusive for now.

But, if we want to continue to draw comparisons between the military and the fire service, then we need to adopt philosophy, in addition to the strengthening programs.

That way; firefighters with very diverse backgrounds will come together and work with the same plans to accomplish each mission.

That’s how I see it, anyway.

TCSS.

The opinions and views expressed are those of the article’s author, Art Goodrich, who also writes as ChiefReason. They do not reflect the opinions and views of www.fireengineering.com, Fire Engineering Magazine, PennWell Corporation or my dog, Chopper. This article is protected by federal copyright laws and cannot be re-produced in any form.