If you haven’t heard, last week, firefighter Michael Arizaga from Hemet, Calif., was charged with vehicular manslaughter. Arizaga works for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection-Riverside County. The charge comes a little more than a year after the fire apparatus he was driving en route to a call spun out on a wet road and rolled down an embankment. Firefighter Christopher Kanton, 23, was killed in the accident, when he was ejected from the apparatus. Kanton was not wearing his seatbelt.

Arizaga was charged because:
• The engine brake was not turned off on the wet road;
• It is reported that he should have been driving at least 15 mph slower than his traveling speed of 45 mph; and
• He should have ensured that Kanton was seatbelted.

Last week, a Prince George’s County (Md.) Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department firefighter fell — that’s right, FELL — out of the fire apparatus he was riding in.

It’s no surprise to me that a firefighter has now been charged in the death of another firefighter as the result of an event where an apparatus operator was at fault. And it doesn’t surprise me that today, firefighters still fall out of fire apparatus.

It seems that, as a group, we refuse to learn from our mistakes. It doesn’t matter how many of us are hurt and/or killed by doing some things over and over. For most of us, we have a “it won’t happen to me” attitude.

There’s a theory about behavior observation and personal safety. In a nutshell, the theory states that if you point out to someone that they’re engaging in an unsafe act and give them the knowledge necessary to perform the task safely, they will most likely correct the unsafe act. However, they usually only correct the unsafe act initially, especially if they know they’re being observed. The problem: There are usually no consequences to performing the unsafe act and, therefore, more often than not, they ultimately go right back to performing the act unsafely. They do so out of habit and because it’s probably easier and faster to accomplish the task unsafely.

Company officers must do their jobs and ensure that all of the firefighters on board are wearing their seatbelts. Why? Because COs cannot trust firefighters to wear their seatbelts. We’ve proven it time and again. The firefighters must know that the apparatus will not move until all of them are seated and belted.

Lastly, I should mention that those killed or injured in traffic accidents where they weren’t belted share the blame as well. Besides plain ol’ everyday common sense, seatbelts are state law everywhere and should be required by each and every fire department’s policy.