By Captain Vincent Curry
Everyone Goes Home® Pennsylvania State Advocate
Originally Posted on FirefighterNation.com

As a state advocate for the Everyone Goes Home® program, I was asked by a department and a good friend to come speak during the 2009 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week. I was very impressed with how this department has made the steps to improve and adopt the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives. Before the presentation started my friend and fellow instructor gave me a tour of his department and we got to talking. He said that a few of his neighboring departments probably wouldn't show up. I asked why and he said one department said "We had that class before" and another one stated, "That's our drinking night." That kind of hit a nerve for me knowing that some things seem not to change until there is a LODD or until it is a standard that is mandatory.

Over my 17 years of fire service I have seen a lot of unsafe acts on and off the fire ground. When I was the green horn probie, my Captain at the time told me training and safety are the key to the fire service. From that day forward, I decided to train all the time and I continually make sure that my crew and I are always safe so Everyone Goes Home.

Comments like "It's our drinking night" don't fly. So what if you had the class years ago, things and times change and you just might learn something new; especially from a different instructor. Why can't we, as firefighters, GET IT? Times have changed and the "do as I say, not as I do" motto doesn't sell anymore. Every year we lose over 100 firefighters in the line of duty but the number of fires we run has gone down. Technology gives us better equipment to be safe but we still hit 100+ LODDs a year. Most of us seem to accept that and most of us still think it won't happen to me. Well I can't accept that number and I know it can happen to me. I have lost several friends in the line of duty over the years, with the most recent this past August. For me, it's a reality.

We all need to understand change has come and it is going to continue. We have to adopt the changes and the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives and become safer and better firefighters, officers, and chiefs. Forget the drinking night until after training. If you had it before take it again and learn something new. Why are some of us afraid to lead from the front and get our departments on track with the cultural change in the fire service?

You don't have to be an officer to be a LEADER. I have heard a lot of excuses from "Well, I am just a firefighter, not an officer, I cannot help change anything;" to "Well, I just do as my officer says, no matter what, they are the officer;" or "I am a volunteer officer, I need their votes for next year." When I read about you because your officer said "run into a vacant structure because wimps only stay outside," then you become a statistic and not a solution to the problem. Officers, if I read that you didn't keep your crew in line and let them fight a car fire without an air pack and then one of them gets hurt or becomes a LODD because you were afraid you wouldn't get their votes next year to stay as a officer, all I will have to say is YOU JUST DO NOT GET IT!

Remember if we get hurt or lose our life in the line of duty, it doesn't just affect us, it effects the department, our family, and our friends. So, the next time you have the chance to make a difference so that Everyone Goes Home, DO IT. If you have the choice to train or go drinking, go to the training. A trained and safe firefighter is still the key to the fire service. But a firefighter, officer, or chief willing to adopt change, safety, and training is the master key to the fire service and is a great thing in the changing fire service. Stay safe, do the right thing, every day is a training day, and make sure that above all, Everyone Goes Home!