A friend of mine-a well respected retired member of the Chicago FD and avid fire buff and photographer. Steve Redick dipped into his fire video vault today came up with a great piece of firefighting history. You will LOVE this video.
Many of you may have never heard of the documentary “The Noble Breed”. It was produced by the Kemper Insurance Company in the late 1960’s. They spent quite a bit of time riding with CFD Snorkel Squad 3 with some footage also from the LAFD and others.
At 5:30 you will hear the narrator, talk about the “motto” of the fire company… “AGGRESSIVENESS”
When I heard that today, it really struck a chord. It’s unfortunate that the word “aggressiveness” has these days, by some, taken on a negative or bad meaning (or definition) of being untrained, unprepared, freelancing and play-grounding hot-dog. It’s unfortunate because that’s the complete opposite of the intent. It is impossible to be an aggressive Firefighter unless you are well trained. One of the key words in defining a Firefighter has to be aggressive. How can you be, if you are not?
Being an AGGRESSIVE firefighter should bear a sense of pride. But before you go walking around in your gear in front of the mirror pretending your cell phone is a fire radio, aggressive must also define a firefighter who is trained, highly trained, expertly trained, always re-training, always focused, team oriented, sizing up, disciplined and doing the best possible for those having the fire …based upon your crew, your officer, your FD’s policies and guidelines.
Aggressive means making an all-out effort to win / succeed in the task we are faced with. Firefighters respond to “losing” situations where people would like us to help them win-they called us because they were losing, The key factor is being TRAINED (constant, never ending) to be AGGRESSIVE well before you are expected to be aggressive. In other words, you cannot be aggressive unless you are expertly trained and re-trained, it just won’t work.
It’s being “one of those” energetic, gung ho, “love the job” Firefighters , especially in the use of initiative, training, skills and forcefulness in taking a risk when needed to help those in need.
As you will hear in the video: “Their motto is AGGRESSIVENESS.”
For it’s time, this video was probably one of the best FD documentaries ever produced. It was narrated by Rod Serling..a very well known actor back in the day. Steve has posted the video on his website for all of us to enjoy, Due to size limitations, it is posted in 2 parts..take a look. Here is the link ..be sure to expand the viewing window to a larger size.
THE VIDEO:
As a Son, Brother, Husband, Dad and Poppie, the Firefighters who protect all of my family better be aggressive. What do you want for yours?
As a fire officer, why wouldn’t any boss want aggressive firefighters? We need to take time and provide the resources to make sure their training and discipline allow them to be as aggressive as required. Know that the heartbeat and bloodline to the success of being an “aggressive” Firefighter is training-with everyday being a training day, as GG reminds us. The members should always arrive at the firehouse knowing that training-real hands on job related and realistic training-is “of course” a part of everyday-even on weekends and holidays. The aggressive ones? We’ll take’m everytime.
