By Tim Collie
Sun-Sentinel
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — With titles like "Man Shoots Hand with Nail Gun" and "Swat Team and Firefighter Look for Drug Dealer in House Fire," the videos being posted on YouTube show a side of Pompano Beach firefighters the public doesn't often get to see.
Shot as both minor and major rescues unfold, the one- and two-minute films by someone calling himself "61Squad" feature firefighters as they pull victims from mangled cars and play jokes on each other at the fire station. But, after being posted for months, all but one of the videos were taken off the site by Thursday following inquiries by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
These are only a small slice of the thousands of videos being shot by firefighters throughout South Florida and across the nation that are posted on viral video sites like YouTube and specialized sites with names like firefighterspot.com and firefighterclosecalls.com.
Traded among firefighters and enthusiasts who often use them to discuss techniques, share ideas and recognize brave rescues, many of the videos are shot in the midst of burning houses and horrendous roadside rescues.
Some use miniature helmet cameras that can record hours of video that is then edited to music like the theme song from the firefighting drama Rescue Me.
"I'm still like a little kid being a firefighter - I love the lights and the siren and I think that's what makes these fun to watch," said James Pilger, 25, a Fort Lauderdale firefighter who has posted videos of his father, a Miami firefighter, on YouTube under the moniker "SouthFlaFirefighter."
"I do it because I think it gives people an idea of what you go through as a firefighter, the adrenaline rush of going through a red light in a fire engine, pulling up to a house that's fully involved," said Pilger, who stressed that he never shot any footage while working.
The explosion in filming has happened so rapidly over the last year that many fire chiefs and city administrators are still unaware of the trend, experts say. Their display on an open forum like YouTube could raise legal issues involving privacy and malpractice in situations gone bad.
"I had no idea anything like this was going on, but I can see some problems with it right away if firefighters are shooting on the scene," said Barry Baker, head of the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association. "As you can imagine, we're pretty busy when you're dealing with an emergency, and having somebody shooting video instead of doing something else could cause some problems."
E-mail sent to 61Squad's YouTube account were unanswered. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue Chief Harry Small could not be reached for comment despite several messages.
In Palm Beach County, officials were also unaware of the phenomenon despite postings by someone calling himself "firerescuelieut." They included videos of "E45 responding to vehicle fire," an oven fire and the hazing of a rookie firefighter getting water dumped on him. "I wasn't aware of it, and I don't think anybody else is, but the only problem I could see would be any violations of privacy at this point," said Capt. Don DeLucia, spokesman for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. "An emergency scene is a public event, and after the privacy issues, anybody shooting video is really allowed the same leeway as you guys [the media.]"
Elsewhere, some city departments have found themselves embarrassed by video shot by working firefighters at the scenes of emergencies. In Detroit, a firefighter who posted videos closed his YouTube account earlier this year after city officials became concerned about the content.
But firefighters who maintain their own sites say they are very careful to either edit out victims or identifying factors like addresses or license numbers. They view the work as sharing potentially life-saving information as well as good public relations.
"We want people to see what we do without showing anybody's private lives, stuff like driving around in the fire truck, training tactics, so people can know what it looks like next time they're on a fire scene," said Mark Treglio, a Jacksonville firefighter who posts as "oldnumber10" with the knowledge of his commanders. One of the most popular Web sites displaying work of firefighters shot around the nation and the world is firefighterspot.com, run by 31-year-old Jason Poremba, an architect and volunteer firefighter in Southampton, N.Y.. The site has hundreds of videos and links that Poremba hopes can help save lives by spreading good information.
"From the outset, I decided to focus on what I'd call firefighter close calls and mishaps," said Poremba, who studies video daily for safety mistakes he can spot on the video downloaded. "The hope is that firefighters don't keep repeating some mistakes because they are avoidable."
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