Why?
DEPARTMENTS
EDITOR’S OPINION
“Hey kid, pull this ceiling. Over here, at my light beam,” the lieutenant said. The young firefighter was always ready. He threw the pike pole into the overhead. “Damn, missed it again,” he thought.
The scowl on the officer’s face was routine, and so was the retort that was coming next. The firefighter had heard it so often, he could mouth the words through his plaster-encrusted lips. “Not there, here,” the aged leader said. The officer actually believed his light beam would bring the ceiling down, this idiocy was also our fault, for we actually practiced throwing our hooks with pinpoint accuracy to stem the quiet ire of our “boss of bosses.”
We never questioned why the hook had to hit the structure exactly at the small circle of light; there was no time or place for that. Nor was it a question that was permitted to be asked aloud in those days. The firefighter asking Why? back then put himself in the shoes of Oliver Twist brazenly asking the absolute autocrat, Mr. Bumble, “Please, sir, can I have some more?” The fire service in those days comprised direct-order givers and direct-order followers. There wasn’t much room for dialogue seekers or questioners. 1 honestly believe that had that officer told me to jump out the window, I would have jumped.
Thank God we are all further along than that today. The “new-breed” firefighters, God bless them, have pushed us that far. Today’s fire service recruit is a highly intelligent, thinking individual. Recruits today have something we couldn’t afford in the Fifties and Sixties: the courage and the desire to ask the question Why?
Those three little letters have changed our fire service. They have identified the dinosaurs and made them uncomfortable. That question has also forced the instructor to be more dynamic and more responsive to the attending students needs, and has helped the firefighter feel assured that procedures make sense. Today’s leaders must hold their position by strength of will, character, and, most important, expertise.
Most ot all, the question Why? is creating better firefighters. We’re now operating with thinking, aware firepersons who understand what they’re doing rather than simply memorizing what’s expected.
The “red devil” is still the enemy. However, today it’s in battle with a firefighter whose actions are based on dynamic knowledge and understanding. When the “crap hits the fan,” today’s firefighter falls back on reason, not the void that can be left by relying only on memory.
The questioning firefighter is causing frustrations for some of us, but in the long run, the questions are making us more professional, more effective, and safer. Keep it up!
