As we move into the spring season, it seems as though we are also entering a new sort of hunting season. It seems as though someone has painted a bulls-eye on our backs. And it looks like drivers all across America are taking aim at us.
As the list of injuries and fatalities on the roads of America seems to grow on a daily basis, I have to ask a simple question: Has someone declared an open season on the fire, police, and EMS workers of America? Are we now in the crosshairs of some diabolical anti-safety wizard?
Has someone created a giant kick-me sign? Has that someone pinned that sign onto all of our backs? Everyone that operates on a highway faces the same problems. It is just that in some places the danger is greater and more frequent. We have to wake up to the need to train harder.
Much like the sudden onset of hunting season in the classic Warner Brothers' cartoons involving, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, and the Wasscally Wabbit, Bugs Bunny, people have suddenly decided that the time is right to begin mowing us down with moving motor vehicles. One minute it is safe, and then in the next moment, it is now the Highway Hunting Season. And we are the endangered species.
As I sat waiting for the news to come flooding into my living room from New York City on Monday night, I was blasted out of my recliner with an NBC News report of the fatal highway incident on Long Island. Much like my own volunteer fire department, these dedicated volunteers from the Roslyn Rescue Fire Company were honing their skills on a regular drill. And wham! Tragedy struck. A young husband, father of three, and a dedicated fire officer, was stolen from our midst. All because of a damned drunken driver.
Apparently all of the proper procedures were being followed. This week's Firehouse.com article written by Heather Caspi and Lon Slepicka stated specifically that, " … they had cordoned off the right hand southbound lane with barrels, cones and flares." Short of posting sentries with shoot to kill orders, I guess that is about all that you can do. I would imagine that fire police with vests and lights might have added to the safety, but then they too would have been targets.
However, I guess drunk drivers really never care about rules, procedures, roadblocks, or the sanctity of human life. If they did, they wouldn't become people who drive while they are drunk. Remember, the law specifies that we cannot drive and operate a motor vehicle.
This sad tragedy was the topic of much discussion at our fire company drill the other night. I spoke to one of our fire police about this senseless tragedy. He spent the next several minutes regaling me with scary stories of his time on the streets protecting us Adelphia firefighters.
Bill shared a simple thought with me. "People think that it is easy duty being fire police. Like hell! It's dangerous out there." My friend Bill Megill has covered my back many times. He is a testimony to the level of training, dedication and common sense that are essentially necessary for operating out in a highway area. He has done this critical duty for many years.
Our fire district has one of the busiest state highways in New Jersey running right through it. We also protect an area of our township that has a number of busy local and county roads. We are out on the roads with an increasing frequency. The Adelphia Fire Company, as well as all of the other units in Howell Township are growing busier by the month.
Our local fire police unit has received all of the mandated training required by New Jersey law. There have been close calls, but no injuries. Yet in spite of the danger, they continue to practice their dangerous skills with an honest regard for the hazards of directing traffic in an area that abounds with lousy drivers.
The tragedy on Long Island follows on the heels of incidents in a number of different states. A young firefighter was mowed down and killed in Mississippi, as he stopped to render aid on an interstate highway. Two Norfolk, Virginia firefighters were struck and injured while operating another interstate roadway.
I would urge all of you to reinforce these sad lessons with your personnel. We should never ignore a tragedy. As the lessons become known, we need to share them with our people. We would urge you to go to our link to the NIOSH report on Traffic Hazards to Firefighters While Working Along Roadways. Come on folks, the button is just to the right of this column.
I would urge you to set up a drill for this topic today. If you have one fine, if you do not, you can use the NIOSH information to get the job done. And as the Sergeant on the Hill Street Blues police drama used to say when he sent his patrolmen out onto the streets, " … let's be careful out there."