Years ago I worked for a city manager who used to tell me to “stop bringing up dead babies” in my discussions with elected officials and during public budget hearings. He, of course, didn’t want the emotional aspect of what we do as firefighters to influence overall budget decisions.
He had a problem with the fact that the community and the elected officials tended to support the fire department during budget time. I will never understand why that bothered him so much. But, boy did it.
We absolutely get that we have to use raw numbers, facts, various options, and not just emotion when presenting budgets — especially these days when we have to be the best stewards of the taxpayers dollars.
I absolutely get it.
The fact is that there are emotions related to what we do. We are, in many respects, ERMs (Emotional Risk Managers — a new term that we’ll have shoulder patches made up for you very soon, promise). We are in the business to help minimize “screaming insane” emotions (such as moms who find out their kids are trapped in a fire) when it comes to those we protect.
In other words, we should do as much as we can to help people have a good or better day. Few would argue that there are very few worse days than those where parents lose their children — the peak of emotions.
A mother’s pain
The anti-fire sprinkler gang may choose to ignore Saturday night’s fire in Maine — the single-family dwelling fire that took the lives of an Orrington man and three of his children. Dead are 30-year-old Ben Johnson III, his sons Ben, 9, and Ryan, 4, and 8-year-old daughter, Leslie.
The sole survivor of the fire was the wife and mom, Christine Johnson, 31, who was rescued from the roof by neighbors and firefighters. She will physically survive from what we have been told.
The fire was reported at 2:38 a.m. by neighbors who heard a woman screaming. The bodies of Johnson and the three children were found a short time after the Maine firefighters entered the burning house.
They may not want to know about the three Wisconsin kids who died in a house fire Thursday in Racine, Wis. Eight-year-old Dalijah Scott and 9-year-old Dayja Scott died when their house caught fire. Their brother, 7-year-old Michael Scott, died later in the hospital. The children’s 5-year-old brother, Luther Patterson, is still in the hospital.
Immediately after removing the last child, Racine Fire Chief Steve Hansen had four of his firefighters “literally dropped from (heat) exhaustion.” They were treated at the scene, then immediately returned to the house and continued fighting the fire. No surprise.
Who should decide
These fires reminded us that the residential fire sprinkler battles continue. The National Association of Homebuilders and related groups keep fighting. The NFPA has analyzed statements by anti-sprinkler interests in their proposals to diminish or delete the IRC’s fire sprinkler requirements. The NFPA’s response is right on the chin.
The antis argue that installing residential sprinklers should be up to homeowners. That’s like saying speed limits on highways should be up to drivers.
Sometimes, just sometimes, laws have to be in place to protect folks, in spite of ourselves — or to protect those who are too little to make the decision to include residential fire sprinklers.
If these horrific pre-holiday fires don’t emotionally impact those who won’t support fire sprinkler legislation, then it’s further defining of what their true “non-emotional” priorities are.
But you already knew that.
