Posted by lisabassin on July 8, 2007 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Those of us that are in the fire family wish it to be that the press stay out of what they know of! These men, these firefighters have a job to do and they chose that job. Not for the money or the glory but because most of them live and breath the fight.They would not know where to go without it or without the family they have made in the field.If they were to not go in and "do thier job" and save these properties or these lives then you people would complain about that as well.I pray every minute my husband and his "brothers" are at work.I hope he comes home to me and our two children.I would never ask him to leave the fire department because it is his life and OUR family.

My point is leave these men alone, support them as you do the military! It is as much of a choice as the miltary was for those boys. Funny thing is the military doesn't have a choice they HAVE to go where the government tells them, the firemen go where they are needed, NO QUESTIONS ASKED! DO NOT JUDGE! IT IS WHAT THEY GET PAID TO DO!!!!!

Posted by SouthernLieutenant on July 8, 2007 at 4:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Miss Bassin, Thank You for caring about the Fire Department family. However, I have issue with some of the comment that you penned. I am a career firefighter and I am not paid to die. I may be caught by an unforeseen tragedy someday, but to knowingly put myself in harms way for property?...not a chance. I wouldn’t care who would complain. I have a wife and two children. The five men that I supervise all have wives and children as well.

Now in reference to “the job” and fire……

Being a career professional, I take pride in the fact that more things are taking into consideration than just pulling a hose and blindly going in and extinguishing the fire without question. As a first-in company officer you look at the smoke/fire and its relationship to the structure. How big is the structure? Where is the smoke coming from? How fast is the smoke moving? What does the smoke look like (color/quality)?A good “Rule of thumb” is \\\"a little bit of smoke coming from the inside of a large open-space building should raise a lot of eyebrows.\\\" The smoke has to fill up the inside before it starts coming out. So, a lot of smoke from that same building should be throwing up warning signs the size of Texas. Now the name of the business also should throw a few hints, too. One could easily assume that a furniture store contains a lot of furniture. Modern furniture consists of low mass to high surface-area synthetics. They are petroleum-based products that burn fast and hot. The smoke produced when synthetics oxidize is like diesel fuel. To be quite honest, fires do burn differently now when compared to several decades ago due to the change in fuels involved. And, to go at them with the same mentality of 20 to 30 years ago is not the correct choice. Everyone says that speed kills, sometimes so does tradition.

You, and probably a few other people, may be angry at what I just wrote. I can live with it. You maybe saying you would have been just scared to go in. Nope, I have my share of toasted helmets from true fire-incidents. (Not taking my helmet during a training exercise and holding it over the burn barrel.) I look at them now as \\\"idiot awards.\\\' To tell you the truth, I\\\'m lucky that my name hasn’t made it on the Memorial at Emmitsburg.

In parting, my way of honoring those Nine Heroes is to prepare everyone that I work with to do their job in the safest and most professional manner possible. Because, if we continue down the same path, the Charleston Nine’s sacrifice would have been in vein.

Posted by burton on July 8, 2007 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mrs. Bassin,
I too think you are missing the point. No one is going after the firefighters but the leadership over the firefighters must be held accountable if rules/regulations were broken. When the state and ATF reports come back and it shows that procudures and techniques need to change then who is supposed to implement those changes? Who should the families hold responsible for those broken rules/regulations? I think once the reports come out, you will see a few of the families wanting to hold someone accountable for their tragic lost and it will probably be via the avenue of a lawsuit. I too agree that everyone should learn from this tragic event so that it will never be repeated!

Posted by bickleseagrave on July 8, 2007 at 7:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sort of like all the stuff coming out about the broken rules and regulations during the recent Baltimore training incident. Heads are rolling there!

Posted by lisabassin on July 8, 2007 at 10:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well you all can feel the way you want to about the things I said, My husband is a career fireman and I know the things he has to go through and the CAREER he has chosen. I am in no way shape or form an idiot as to what the "job" intails. So therefore I also know it is not to risk thier lives for property but if they are unaware of persons in the building or if there can be something done to save the proprty and it isn't life threating then they will do so.WE ALSO have 2 children, incase that was missed and I know that i don't want him to risk his life for no reason. But i also don't understand how leaders can really be help responsible for a sending men into a buliding when they think there are individuals in there and are unsure of how bad the fire may be.I guess maybe I am just not a brilliant as everyone else when it somes to the fire department.You are right everyone should learn from the event not cause more heartache by suing people and just remember the loss and move one and figure out how to better things not make it worse.

Now we agree to disagree...peace.

Posted by czech66 on July 8, 2007 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I concur with the intelligent statement made by the Southern Lieutenant. Firefighters are public servants providing fire/rescue duties for the cities/counties they are assigned to. Out in California large depts. Like LA City/County Fire hardly have any deaths over the last few decades because of heavy training and aggressive fire retention policy. Basically, prevent loss of live and fire containment and finally protect the foundation. Recently there were 5 deaths of CDF firefighters who got caught up in protecting empty houses in a wild fire and had the fire rapidly spread over their location. In subsequent investigations it was found that they should have paid more attention to proper procedures. Any loss of life is tragic but even more if it could be prevented.
A lot of time it is for the money or the glory that young firefighters join their departments. The southern Lieutenant will probably agree as a supervisor he needs to curb the enthusiasm for the younger troops for their and his own safety. As a young P.O.I was first on scene to a burning structure and went running in to a house unprotected. I got about three steps up the stairs and got a lung of hot air then ran back outside to wait for the FD!. My supervisor was on me for two weeks for not following PROCEDURE>>

Posted by chiefswife on July 9, 2007 at 2:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

lisabassin,
Those of us in the fire service family are supporting the Charleston firefighters by wanting better for them. I am not sure where you have misunderstood that. Would you support sending troops to war without training or weapons? I think not. When one life is lost in a fire procedures should be reviewed. When nine lives are lost, there are a lot of red flags. My husband is also career firefighter. The fire service has been a part of our lives so long that neither of us would know any other way. That goes without saying. I know the risks my husband takes, but like Southern Lieutenant said, they are not paid to die to save someones property. You cannot honestly view the footage of the Charleston fire and then defend the actions of the department. The best way to honor the nine who lost their lives is to ensure this does not happen again. Under the right leadership, this fire scene would have been commanded totally different and with a much better outcome. You have the right to disagree with me, but don't ever say I am not supportive because I think the firefighters circumstances!

Posted by featherbrained on July 9, 2007 at 4:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I cannot believe that I am on a page with a handful of painful stories about our nations firefighters. With emotions still running rampant, people grieving, people looking for answers and solutions, people trying to get on with their lives...can we print some supportive, positive firefighter stories? If it puts a smile on our face, or a smile and a tear in our eye...that seems to be a whole lot better than so much anger and sadness. As a community, and even a nation, we are supposed to be healing, and for a lot of us, becoming more aware of what we take for granted. Let those people in charge do their jobs, lets stop pointing fingers, and come up with solutions when we get all of the facts. Honor our heroes by remembering those we still have with us, respect their grief, their families, their choices. It is in taking care of our own that healing can begin to take place.