As fire service professionals, we are both experts and continuous students in the sciences of fire. But what exactly are we studying? While our rookies can state from memory the history of the Maltese Cross, the importance of Benjamin Franklin and the evolution of large-diameter hose, how many of them can also recite from memory the historic fires that shaped our nation and our fire service as well as the continuous thread of causes, beyond strategy and tactics, that lead to the loss of life for both civilians and firefighters alike? Which focus of study is more supportive to our mission of fire protection?
Forgotten history
Since the founding of our nation, fire has been perceived as a major threat to American cities and lives. In addition to advances in fire suppression equipment and techniques, these early fires subsequently resulted in sweeping changes to fire codes, labor laws and even civil rights. A large cornerstone in our nation’s foundation was forged in these historic fires. However, the threat of fire has subsided from the American conscious, and without the constant history lessons as reminders, the deadly side of this history will continue to repeat itself at the peril of those we are sworn to protect and those sitting next to us on the apparatus.
Today when a fire kills, it is no longer a community-changing event. While it is certainly an emotional situation, the event often appears transient, random and personally insignificant to those not directly impacted. There are no historic frames of reference for people to recognize the easily corrected, yet continuously violated, basic fire safety issues that constitute a constant threat: overcrowding, blocked exits, lack of sprinkler systems, excessive combustible storage, lack of functioning smoke detectors, lack of inspections or adherence to violation notices. These are just a few of the dots that need to be connected to illustrate that fire tragedies are not transient or random, but rather continuous, personal and easily corrected.
While the emotions that are generated by these tragedies may lead to a corrective process, it often becomes a temporary process, as the sights and horrors slip behind a new media-driven hype. So even while new codes, laws and policy may result from a recent fire, these emotionally driven and largely symbolic gestures are weak without those historical references that are needed to help drive permanent change. History is then forgotten—and then repeats itself.
Legal ramifications
This lack of historic reference on behalf of the public has led to a sense of societal apathy toward the fire threat we face, as evident by our very own justice system. Throughout history, when there has been a loss of life due to fire, even with evidence of gross negligence in fire code violations as a cause, very rarely are those responsible charged or brought to any level of justice. So while a single emotional event may generate new laws and codes, it’s the overall desire and will of the people that drives those changes to be permanently etched in courtrooms through an enforcement and justice process called a legal precedence.
An example of the will of the people as established through precedence concerning fire deaths: A nightclub owner was charged with 100 counts of manslaughter due to his negligence of fire codes but served no jail time, and his brother (also partner) served only four years of jail time for those 100 lives. What does that say about the will of the people when it comes to our enemy fire?
When a terrorist kills, it draws national attention, outrage, debate and demands for change with an intensity that spans decades. The government failures in the attacks on 9/11 are continuously referenced in subsequent attacks, such as in San Bernardino, Boston and Las Vegas. These infrequent terrorist attacks seem to build upon one another as the public links the continuous failures in policy, laws and security measures to protect its citizens, and they demand action. Whether you live in a large city or rural America, all citizens feel the insecurity and fear of terrorism, and they demand to know what is being done to protect them.
As a result, those accused of terrorism, even if it never amounted to more than a plot or threat, have been held accountable to the maximum extent of the law. While terrorist attacks are serious, they are also random and transient. A fire, on the other hand, can strike any person in their very home at any time, and according to the NFPA, this is happening at the rate of one life per 2.5 hours.
Why is a building owner who knowingly blocked a fire exit, resulting in the loss of life, slapped on the wrist, while a private citizen making a terroristic threat is sent to prison for 20 years? If there was a security measure that would all but eradicate terrorist attacks, do you think the American people would demand it regardless of any costs or infringements? Yet there IS such a tool that would eradicate fire deaths, but government leaders boldly strike down any attempt at adopting sprinkler codes. So where is the will of the people when it comes to dealing with fire?
Go forth and educate
Our firefighters should be educated on the history of our fire service that is directly applicable to our purpose—the protection of life and property from fire—not simply the history of red fire trucks. We should strive to possess a proverbial doctorate degree in all things fire, and it is our duty to educate our citizens on the repetitious circumstances that have killed more Americans and leveled more American cities than any terrorist known to man.
We need to provide our firefighters a solid education on the historic connections of fire deaths caused by the failure of the government to protect its people by not following the minimum fire code or by not embracing modern fire protection standards and technology. In turn, those firefighters can then go forth and educate citizens and voters alike that the fiery tragedy on the 6 o’clock news is not transient or random, but rather another breakdown in societal action to protect itself due to the lack of public will to stop it.
The ultimate core goal of our profession is the protection of life and property from fire, and a supportive rallying cry is “Everyone Goes Home,” referring to accomplishing the aforementioned without the loss of life to firefighters. It doesn’t take an actual doctorate degree to realize that preventing fire is the number one way to achieve this, but until our firefighters are educated on the historic nature and causes of fire loss, our history is doomed to repeat itself.
Fire protection is a 360-degree approach, and it’s time the historic failures in fire prevention and code enforcement be studied and analyzed for changes and new approaches as closely and aggressively as fire attack. If our firefighters are not educated on this, how can we educate the public? If the public is not educated, how can we expect the tragic history of fire loss, and LODDs, to change?
Daniel Byrne
DANIEL BYRNE is a community support officer for the Burton Fire District, Beaufort County, SC, and a retired assistant fire chief of training for the Georgia Air National Guard 165th Fire Department. A third-generation firefighter, he holds an associate degree and a bachelor’s degree in fire science as well as a master’s degree in public administration and disaster management. Byrne is an alumnus of the National Fire Academy. He received state and local awards for public relations and educational programs as well as community partnerships and served as a conference presenter and keynote speaker.
