In the Line of Duty: Firsthand Lessons from Line-of-Duty Deaths
This program reviews several line-of-duty deaths from a firsthand experience. Lessons learned or reinforced are explored and discussed by a 45-year urban career firefighter with fireground operations and training experience in one of the largest and busiest fire departments in the country. In addition to the deaths of 26 firefighters during his career, the instructor spent 2013 on the Texas State Fire Marshal's LODD task force, which included 20 LODDs in a 105-day period involving four fire departments. This presentation addresses the challenges most organizations are struggling wth regarding attitude, behavior, beliefs, and cultures that impact or contribute to injury and death within the fire service. Controversial fire attack beliefs, unproven opinions and bias, problematic training, and arguable expectations of the community are reviewed in a way that students will feel empowered to perfect their firefighting skills so they can be more aggressive on the fireground while serving their community.
