Interview with Firefighter Neil McDevitt:
A. I never really "expected" to become a firefighter. It was always something that was in the back of my mind. Similar to "I'm going to travel the world" or "I'll learn to paint something more than "color by numbers" (which is the extent of my artisitic ability.. I even have a hard time with that!)"
I was VERY surprised to have the opportunity. I think part of the reason was because of the firehouse.com thread where people were either FOR or AGAINST the idea of a deaf firefighter. I've since learned that the department has a very progressive approach to volunteers: In order to be an organization that serves the public, we have to accept everyone and utilize whatever talents they bring to the organization.
Q. How do your family and friends feel about it?
A. My older son loves it. He's 2 years old and gets a thrill when he comes to the firehouse to visit. He even gets upset if Ladder-18, his favorite, isn't in the house. My younger son is only 2 months old.
My wife is also deaf. She teaches sign language part time and she's been very supportive of me. I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful wife that's understanding. That's not to say she loves it when I leave the house with a terrible-twos kid and a needy infant but she's very supportive of me overall.
My friends are perplexed. They think I've entered an early midlife crisis. (I'm 30) and they're patient with my constant conversations on the fire service but they'll come around someday.
Q. How has the experience met your expectations when it comes to operating as a deaf firefighter, or just becoming a part of the fire department family?
A. The experience has exceeded my original expectations. I was nervous at first that I would be given menial tasks or be told, "uhh, jump in the van over there and wait for someone to come and drive you over." Rather, I'm given an assignment that usually has me assisting with fireground activities (eg. getting hoses to where they need to be, helping with the hydrants, etc.), riding the trucks and observing, firsthand, what goes on.
My biggest fear was that I would be treated with kid gloves and they be holding me back from training exercises, etc. Again, none of that has happened.
Q. During a typical emergency call, is there anything significntly different about your experience compared to a hearing firefighter? For example, do you hear the alarms and sirens, or does somebody tell you when an call comes in?
A. I can't hear in the high pitch ranges so I'm never sure which tones are ours. When I'm in the station and I see guys running to lockers that's my cue. This department is PERFECT for me because they use text pagers so I'll know what the call is for.
I know of one deaf volunteer firefighter who used the Minitor pagers. He could hear enough to know his department's tones had dropped but he wouldn't know what was going on until he arrived at the station. He told me he heard the tones dropping while he was buying some food, responded to the fire station, and they looked at him and laughed: the tones were dropped to remind members that there was a general meeting that night.
As far as what's different for me on an emergency call, unfortunately, all of my calls so far have been either investigative calls or false alarms. The one "live" call we had, I was on the second-due engine and we arrived after the excitement had been taken care of by the first-arriving truck.
However, all these experiences have exposed me to different individuals within the department and they all ALREADY know this: What the officer says, is relayed to me instantly by one of the guys sitting back with me. If Lt. Henricks in the passenger seat says, "Neil will help Joe with the hoses," Joe or Carmen will tell me exactly what the Lt. said without delay.
After I've taught the non-verbal/sign language class, these guys will be able to tell me AND any of the other firefighters using a few simple signs and say, "Neil-Help-Me-Hoses." This benefits everyone because you can have a guy FULLY suited with SCBA ready to go and not have to fidget with the SCBA trying to tell the guy who sits less than 3 feet away from you something.
What a LOT of people don't realize is that what benefits me as a firefighter benefits all firefighters. How many firefighters have some kind of ringing in the ears from hearing the Federal or the air horn go off one time too many? How many firefighters can honestly say their hearing is what it used to be?
Q. Can you describe some of the communication solutions you have come up with, such as signs for firefighters to use at emergencies?
A. In the next few weeks, I will be teaching a class to the department on non-verbal communication. Since there are no formalized signs for things like Halligan bars, jaws of life equipment I plan to actually have these guys come up with gestures or signs for the items themselves.
I've told more than one person that I think firefighters know more about non-verbal communication than they care to admit since firegrounds are nosiy places. They know that extending your hand, and moving your palm downward means "get lower." They know that the typical "slash across the neck" means "stop." Hopefully my class will give them the tools to accomplish more in a noisy environment and keeping the radio free of chatter.
I'm still trying to figure out one sign though. It has an extended middle finger and gosh darn it, I can't seem to get that one. Any ideas? :-)
A deaf Pennsylvania man attained his lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter this summer when he joined the Fire Department of Montgomery Township, becoming one of the few deaf firefighters around the country.
"Our vision was that our bay doors are open for everyone," said fire department president Bernie Heinze. "There's something to do in every firehouse for anyone who wishes to volunteer."
Firefighter Neil McDevitt communicates with other members through speech and lip reading, and he gets some help from a hearing aid. He does not fight fires but plans to provide fireground support and to specialize in vehicle rescue and fire prevention.
He is also teaching firefighters how to better respond to victims with special needs and to communicate non-verbally at noisy emergency scenes. For example, he is teaching firefighters the best way to evacuate people with disabilities, how to communicate with the deaf during an emergency, and he is creating simple signs for tools that firefighters can use at emergency scenes.
"I told him, 'You will probably be able to teach us a lot more than we can teach you,'" Heinze said.
It all began in July when McDevitt brought his little boy to see the firehouse and started talking with several firefighters, said Chief Dave Vasconez. McDevitt told them he had always been interested in joining a fire department but didn't think it was possible.
Fire officials talked it over and agreed that McDevitt would make an excellent member even though he would have limited duties on the fireground. "He's very enthusiastic about it, as are we," Vasconez said.
Vasconez said the only special consideration firefighters have to remember is to look in McDevitt's direction and avoid mumbling when they speak.
"He's one of us, a really tremendous young man with a beautiful wife and two young children," said department president Heinze. "We couldn't be happier to have a gentleman of his caliber and his convictions in our organization."
McDevitt is in touch via the Internet with several other firefighters who are also deaf and have had mixed experiences with the fire service. Firehouse.com interviewed a few of them over email.
Audrey Sharon Sch
