If you have gray hair, or missing hair, you may remember the cartoon, Dudley Do-Right. He was a conscientious and cheerful Canadian Mountie (Police Officer) who was always trying to get the bad guy, Snidely Whiplash. He always tried to “do right” but just like in reality, his lack of training (or following that training, when provided) lead to his inability to nail Snidely Whiplash.
Poor Dudley.
We have always been huge and vocal supporters of cops-and these days, they have among the toughest jobs out there. Not unlike us, they are expected to fix bad stuff-with the main difference being that the scenes they go to often feature people who don’t want the cops to be there-whereas people are generally glad to have us arrive. That’s the nature of the job. Both jobs.
When cops respond to fires, they sometimes arrive first (before firefighters) and are confronted almost always with conditions they are woefully unequipped (and untrained) to deal with-but yet, understandably, they have a natural interest in helping and serving. Police often attempt to do (what they think is) right, but unfortunately what they-or any non fire trained person attempts to do, often makes fire conditions worse-much worse.
Another recent tragic example (just last week) was in New York City, when NYPD cops took a 91-year-old woman out of her relatively protected apartment during a fire and took her into the smoke filled hallway – where she took in so much smoke, that it killed her
Ethel Davis in her 12th-floor bedroom last Friday morning, when officers came to the door and told Davis’ daughter, “You can’t stay, you have to leave now!” … “But I’m safer with her here,” Marcia recalled saying. “She can’t stand; she can’t walk. She’s too heavy for you to carry her down. Please let her stay, please!”
She claims the officer then went to the bedroom and picked up her mother — taking the frail woman into the smoke-filled hallway. Carrying Davis in his arms “like a baby,” Marcia said, the cop took her mom into the hall and dropped her on the floor.
Predictably…the family plans to file a lawsuit against the NYPD…“They left her to die,” said the family’s lawyer. “Had that officer not removed her, she’d still be alive today.”
Click the link** below to read the entire article – but the fact is law enforcement officers, police, deputies, cops-whatever you call them need to fully understand what to-and what not to do-at a fire.
THERE IS AN EXCELLENT SOLUTION.
Police officers will often arrive first at a fire – but yet so many DO NOT HAVE TRAINING on what to specifically do when they arrive. Even the NYPD who has a policy (following the the 2014 LODD of Police Officer Dennis Guerra and the critical injuries of his partner Officer Rosa Rodriquez – when they were overcome by smoke in a hi-rise*) – is again under fire for this most recent event.
*LISTEN TO THE NYPD “URGENT” RADIO TRAFFIC AT THAT 2014 LODD FIRE:
(NYPD 10-Codes: http://www.n2nov.net/nypdcodes.html )
-THE SOLUTION:
ISFSI (The International Society of Fire Service Instructors) created a fantastic program SPECIFICALLY to educate Law Enforcement Officers on what to do when they arrive at the scene of a fire:
-THE PROGRAM:
Safe Law Enforcement Operations on the Fireground
The ISFSI LEO fire ground training curriculum addresses the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement officers responding and controlling the fire scene by tying together modern fire behavior research and the appropriate sequence of actions from arriving law enforcement officers.
-WATCH THIS “ON DEMAND” WEBINAR
Learn about the program specifically designed by and for Law Enforcement officers on this free “view on demand” webinar from Gordon Grahams folks at Lexipol & ISFSI.
http://info.lexipol.com/safe-le-ops-fireground-sl
-CONTACT
TO CONTACT ISFSI FOR DETAILS ABOUT THAT PROGRAM FOR YOUR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, CLICK HERE: http://www.isfsi.org/p/cl/et/cid=1004
….or send an email to: [email protected]
**HERE is the link to the article about the fire that occurred last Friday:
https://nypost.com/2018/01/18/nypd-cops-left-my-elderly-mom-to-die-in-a-fire/
Please take the time to share this information with your area police/law enforcement officers-so they can be properly TRAINED to do right-upon arriving at a fire.
Take Care. Be Careful. Pass it On.
BillyG
www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com