whybother?

A couple of weeks ago, this happened. Check it out, else this post won’t make much sense.

My husband (and consequently a few of our closest friends) are professional firefighters, employed by the New South Wales Fire Brigades. They are employed on a retainer, meaning they are essentially part time. They have regular jobs, and are also on call 24/7, should they be required. They have a pager, which ‘goes off’ when the station receives notification of an incident. When the pager goes off, you literally drop everything and run. You have no idea what you may be responding to. It could be a motor vehicle accident, a bushfire, a smoke alarm at a nursing home. Or it could be a massive explosion.

On that day, my husband and his two friends were going about their daily business, when the pagers went off. They were the first to respond. They received the printout at the station, changed into their gear and boarded the big red truck. As they approached, they could see the plume of smoke. They knew it was bad, but had no idea of the scope. They called for backup, and were refused.

Upon arrival at the scene, Darren and Linda were instructed to enter the building. Their first mission was to conduct a search and rescue. The flames were towering above them. The smoke was thick and black. They were unsure how many people were in the building, and had no idea whether or not there would be another explosion.

With no thought for their own safety, they relied on their professionalism and training, and the quality of their protective gear. They entered the inferno, where their thermal imaging camera informed them the temperature was 700 degrees Celsius. 700 degrees. They immediately located the two victims, and quickly established there was no hope for either of them. At that point, it became an exercise in containing and extinguishing the fire.

After 30 minutes in there, which must have felt like a lifetime, they had to come out to replace their oxygen. There was still no backup, so they geared up and went back in. Finally, they were relieved by a support crew. Together with the other members of the team, they spent the entire day on site.

I couldn’t sleep that night. The danger had passed, my husband and his friends were safe. Sadly, two lives were lost that day, and there was nothing anybody could do to help those men. What disturbed me was knowing that the guys didn’t have the backup and support they needed. By joining the Brigade, they understand that these situations can arise. They are not complacent, but they do accept that there is always an element of risk. That’s ok. I deal with that by not thinking about it! I wasn’t worried while he was out there, because I was confident that a) he knows what he’s doing and b) he has professional backup. I was wrong about b), and I guess I’ve lost faith.

The guys are angry, and rightly so. They should be. What if there were survivors? What if Darren or Linda became overcome by heat and smoke? We rely on our emergency services. We put our trust in them. Without support, what are they supposed to do? They are not superhuman. Next time, they may not be so lucky. It’s food for thought.