Lessons Learned Climbing The Ladder

By Ron Graner

The death, injury and stress rate for firefighters and others in public safety service continues to grow. Could the root cause of these conditions be leaders who have failed to learn from past experiences?

This book relates many of the dangers and hazards that have been learned over the years to help those who want to become better public safety leaders. This is a guide for current and future Fire Chiefs and for their families. This book provides elected officials, taxpayers and private citizens with a true insight into the dangers and challenges facing those who serve in public safety. This is an eye opening account of the dangers every community and every citizen faces if their elected officials fail to assure efficiency effectiveness and safety in the delivery of their public safety services.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ron Graner
• Release date: Mar 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386767862

Ron Graner

Chief Ron Graner fire chief (retired), public safety consultant, has always believed in the management philosophy of the benefits of economy of scale for providing government services. The Chief began as a volunteer and has worked in every facet of emergency services in his career: He was part of the team that developed one of the nation's largest Countywide 911 emergency communications centers at that time. Created a successful Countywide fire rescue EMS agency by merging 17 volunteer fire departments, two career fire departments, and a county ambulance service into a single County agency. Served as fire chief in a city with a career department, Chief Graner has conducted many studies for local governments and public safety agencies and worked in solid union settings and right-to-work states

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Lessons Learned Climbing the Ladder

2nd edition

All Rights Reserved © 2017 by Ron Graner

This book is an autobiography. These are just some of the many lessons I learned climbing the fire service career ladder from firefighter to fire chief. I have been fortunate to have served in four departments in three states during my career.

The information in this book is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or the publisher. The author and publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced prior to written permission from the author or publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover photo: Ron Mendolera Deputy Chief (Retired) Rochester Fire department

Dedication

Dedicated to the memory of Fire Lieutenant Bernard J. Spillman

My Rochester Fire Department rookie school classmate, best friend and Godfather to my daughter.  Lt Spillman died in the line of duty serving the citizens of the City of Rochester. His death motivated me to move forward with my public safety service career with the aim of helping others learn the lessons of his life and death.

This book is also dedicated to all the many other great public safety professionals that I have had the privilege of knowing and serving with over the years.

The public may never fully understand or appreciate your devotion to the service of others that I have witnessed however, I hope this book will help them see the challenges, stresses and the dangers that you face.

Contents

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

What twisted path led me to this career I never really expected to be in?

Lessons learned in my early years

I am a Rookie

Lessons learned as a Rookie

Just Some of what I Learned Climbing the ladder

Question Authority

Lessons Learned: Question Authority

Learn from those who have been there and done that

Lessons learned from those who have been there and done that.

The law of Gravity

Lessons learned regarding Gravity

Basements, Cellars, and Pits

Lessons learned; Basements Cellars and Pits

Rivers & Water Rescues

Sprinklers

Lessons learned: Sprinklers

Railroads

Lessons learned: Railroads

Haz Mat & Flammable Liquids

Lessons learned: Haz Mat & Flammable liquids

Churches

Lessons learned: Churches

Searches that still haunt me:

Lessons learned Searches

Fire Station Life

Lessons learned: Fire Station Life

Fire House Dogs

How do I get there?

Lessons Learned: How do I get there?

Real Heroes

Lessons Learned: Heroes

Employees

Lessons Learned: Employees

Supervisors

Lessons Learned:  Supervisors

Incident Commanders

Lessons Learned: Incident Command:

Booze and Drugs

Lessons Learned: Booze and Drugs

Vital Services

Training

Lessons learned: Training & District Familiarization

Fire Marshal Services

Lessons learned: Fire Marshal

Emergency Communications

Lessons learned: Dial 9-1-1 for help

So You Still Want to Be a Fire Chief

Basic Requirements To Become The Chief

We Are Seeking a new Fire Chief

The Primary Issues Facing Every Fire Chief

Why do you really want to be a Fire Chief?

Congratulations, we would like you to be our County Fire Chief

Congratulations, we would like you to be our new City Fire Chief

Personnel  and  Labor  Relations

Unions

Politicians

Why can’t we run government like a business?

Budgets

Current Observations

View from the Fire Chief’s Office

Fire Chiefs mental health

Family

The Future

Conclusion

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my wife Diane for over 50 years of love, understanding, patience, and especially your willingness to pick up and move around this country as I became a Fire Chief in different jurisdictions and states. Your love has made life much easier for me.

Thank you to Laura and Rob for being great kids who grew up to be FANTASTIC adults. Thank you for bringing the loves of your lives, Alan and Louise, into our family. Thank you for giving us the greatest grandkids in the world: Rebecca, Kate, Jacob, Andrew and Elizabeth Sky. I am, was and always will be proud of all of you. I am more than extremely proud that each of you has dedicated your lives to helping and being concerned about others and that each of our grandkids is doing the same.

Thank you all for putting up with me and for the love we have all shared as a family.

Introduction

Every day we must all learn from what we saw & did

Every day we MUST REMEMBER what we learned

Failure to learn is NOT an option

If we fail to learn from what we have done

&

If we fail to use what we have learned

We are doomed to continue repeating the same mistakes

Our failures to learn can injure & kill our firefighters

Our failures to learn can injure & kill the public we serve.

What could you learn from this picture?

I feel honored to have been in the fire rescue service from the time I was a 16 year old high school volunteer firefighter. I have served in two volunteer fire departments and four career departments in three states. I was one of the very fortunate ones in my career field to have been able to reach the top rung of my profession and serve as The Fire Chief in three different career fire departments. During my career I have met thousands of members of the fire rescue and public safety family, and thousands of other truly dedicated public servants from all areas of government from all over the world. I have also lost good friends who gave their lives in service to the public.

For over forty years, I served the public from the rank of firefighter to Fire Chief. My public safety career has spanned three states and four governments. This book is a look back at my career and what I learned that may help others do their jobs more safely. These are my war stories and the lessons that should have been learned. Over the years, I have observed across the country that one of the major shortcomings of the Public Safety services has been the failure to learn from the past. In every department there are still people who want to learn by making the same mistakes that others have already made. It is not a badge of honor to repeat the mistakes others have made. The resulting deaths and injuries can be and are a disgrace to this noble profession.

During my career I have seen, as well as been a part of the good, the bad and the ugly. I pray that by sharing my experiences with those readers who are in the fire rescue public safety service, they will not feel the need to make the same mistakes and place themselves and their crews in unnecessary danger. It is my goal to help today’s firefighters and fire officers, as well as taxpayers, and voters, understand how their public safety service delivery can be more efficient, effective and safer for both firefighters and the public. I hope all will learn from the lessons of my experiences.

Life is a series of ongoing lessons that should be used to protect you from repeating actions that can harm you. Even a child quickly learns not to put their hand on the hot stove the first time they do it. In our lives, we all have many experiences that should teach us the results of doing things right and wrong. In public safety services, the major lesson experiences are called war stories. The telling of these stories is one of the most effective informal tools for learning from past mistakes in the public safety service. It is through them that firefighters relate their experiences in battling fires and mitigating other emergencies. It is these stories that open the dialogues for all to review what was learned from each experience. The goal of every war story is for lessons learned to be carried forth for improved operations and safety in the future.

As a taxpayer, you are the true owner of your local fire department. You are the employer of every person that works in your fire department. As the owner you have a right to know what is going on in your business. You have the right to demand services that are safe, efficient and cost effective. Also you must never forget that as a voter, elected officials are your employees. You elect them to represent your interests; to set policies that will assure your safety and to assure the delivery of efficient, cost effective service to your community. As the true owner of your government, you must assure that your elected officials hire managers and staff who are able, and willing, to perform their duties in a safe and efficient fashion. If you are the taxpayer, owner of your local fire department these stories will accurately portray the situations facing your employees. If you are the voter boss of your elected officials, you may be shocked by the facts I have observed and will report in this book.

As a taxpayer owner of these services you also have a responsibility to your employees to assure their health and safety in their work place to the best of your ability. You have an obligation to the general public in your community to assure them that they will be reasonably safe from the dangers of fires and other unsafe conditions in your community. Sadly, some of the people we have elected to represent us have failed to remember who they are employed by. Many seem to have forgotten what the only true purpose of government should be. Many elected representatives, and the department heads they have put in charge of agencies in your government will not want you to know the facts surrounding some of the issues raised in this book. Your failure to learn about your government’s business is a costly factor in terms of needless injuries, deaths and money wasted as a result of lawsuits brought forth because of poor behaviors by your elected employees.

As an employee or volunteer, in any fire rescue department, you have a right to expect and demand that you will be treated by your employers and supervisors with respect and dignity. You have the right to expect and demand that your leaders will establish work policies, procedures and practices that will help to protect you from unnecessary injury and harm in a profession where there are real dangers around every corner. You have the right to be directed by competent leaders.

As a fire officer in every rank you have one primary responsibility: Competency!

As an officer you are personally responsible for the protection of life and safety of each and every member of your team in every action they take as well as being responsible for the safety of the public you serve.

For the record before we move forward: I have never met a Fire Chief who did not have strong opinions on everything that he or she did in life. Most of us also have an ego at least the size of some of the largest buildings we have fought fires in. The size of our egos may be because of the things that shaped us as we rose through our career ladders or it may just be a genetic defect that Fire Chiefs have. I will leave that decision to others.

During my long career in public safety, I have fought fires in very large buildings and I have certainly developed not only a strong self confidence in my technical abilities, but also the extremely large ego that goes hand in hand with the ability to get the job done. I freely admit to a bad case of ego. Throughout this book, I will freely express my opinions on a wide range of issues related to government and service to the public. The opinions and recollections expressed in this book are solely mine. I have written nothing in this book with the intent of besmirching anyone’s character or reputation, although, some folks have certainly done their own self besmirching well enough on their own. The observations in this book regarding individuals are solely my recollections of what I remember feeling, hearing and seeing, and how it all affected my view of certain people and situations. I know there are some things in this book that may offend some people but again, they are my opinions and my recollections. I hope that the facts, as I remember them, have remained accurate.

Most Fire Chiefs have similar career backgrounds. Most reached the rank of Fire Chief by climbing up the career ladder of firefighter, company officer and District or Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief etc. As rooky firefighters, one of the first things we were taught is that our officers are in charge and we need to follow their direction without question. When each of us made officer ranks we immediately found we had the responsibility, and the duty, to make immediate decisions and give directions for others to follow.

We arrive on the scene of major buildings, where there were hundreds, and in many cases thousands, of people; we get off our fire trucks and issue directions to these people that we had never seen before in our lives; They and those folks actually under our command generally follow our directions. When we became Chief Officers we expanded upon those powers to control the movements of others. We already had learned that we had the ability to control the lives of the public as well as those people who actually worked for us. The more runs we went on and the more decisions we made, the greater our self confidence levels would grow. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to become The Fire Chief in any jurisdiction, had to have, and exhibit, an air of confidence, self-assurance and technical competency to assure the public and the people in our departments that we actually know what we are doing.

Yes, some Chiefs might show a lot more confidence and competency than they really have.

This book may help those who have known and worked with me in the past to understand why I did some of the things the way I did, and why I was such a hardhead regarding safety of personnel and service to the public. For the general public, I hope this book allows you to imagine yourself at these incidents and in these situations. I hope that it will provide you with an interesting insight into the lives of your public servants who serve you, especially those in the public safety service. Some of these stories are also presented as general interest to give you a glimpse into the more routine things which affect the lives of your firefighters and other public safety personnel.

The first sections of this book are a series of individual firefighting war stories organized by category of incident or event. The next sections are a series of war stories and life experiences from the period when I was The Fire Chief in several very different jurisdictions. There are many more stories which I could have placed in several categories but my goal is to teach the lessons that should have been learned from each category of stories. The lessons learned in one category should be remembered for all categories and each should be carried in your memory for future decision making. In general, throughout this book, I do not refer to the actual dates of these incidents because the lesson learned is the key point and it does not matter when it happened, as long as the lessons are learned and the errors are not repeated.

Sadly, the fact remains that errors made years ago were repeated yesterday, are still being made today, and most likely will be made tomorrow by those who just do not get it. The lessons that should have been learned from incidents responded to yesterday and today are being forgotten daily, as injury and death counts continue to climb in our profession.

The key message of this book always reverts back to the old adage:

Learn from the mistakes of others.

What twisted path led me to this career I never really expected to be in?

I was warped toward the fire rescue service at a very young age! I was born in New York City and spent the first four and a half years of my life in the Bronx where my family lived on Sedgwick Avenue just up the street from an FDNY fire station. When I was a toddler, my grandmother often took me to play in the park near the fire station. One of my earliest memories is seeing and hearing the fire engines race out of that fire station. We often went into the fire station to see the trucks, and the firefighters would lift me up to let me sit in the driver’s seat.

When I was in kindergarten, my family moved from the city to Cold Spring, New York, a beautiful small town in the Hudson Valley across the river from West Point. While I was in elementary school, my father would often take me with him when he went down to the city to help a friend who owned an iron work and welding shop in the south Bronx near Yankee stadium. It was near the welding shop where I saw my first major structure fire. I remember running by myself down to the fire scene and watching all the action; Flames and smoke bellowing from the building; Ladders going up on the building; Hose lines being stretched into the burning building; firefighters working together to attack the fire. It was like watching a magnificent show. The show ended for me when my father came down to drag me back to the welding shop. As we drove back to Cold Spring, in our red car, I pretended I was one of those firefighters and that we were going to a fire. I told my father I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up. My father, who was a Research Engineer at IBM, sternly told me that when I grew up I was going to college to become an Engineer and that I would not be a fireman.

I had totally forgotten about wanting to be a firefighter until I was a junior in high school. It was a fateful day when our history teacher told a group of us that the Nelsonville Volunteer Fire Department was looking for junior volunteer firemen to help around the station and at fires. He also mentioned the important key words for me that would make me want to take this step. You will be excused from school to report for firefighting duty if the siren blows during the school day.

In his recruitment talk our teacher had not mentioned the required New York State training class entitled Essentials of Firemanship. Classmate Chet Warren and I soon found ourselves driving to the Garrison Volunteer Fire Department to take our classes to become volunteer firefighters. Our state fire instructor was a volunteer firefighter who worked full time as an electric power company lineman. The only thing I really remember years later from his class is his knot tying ability. This instructor was like Houdini standing in front of the class. He would bring his hands together and bring them apart and a series of knots would magically appear:

A Bowline, swoosh; A timber hitch, swoosh; A half hitch, swoosh. On into the evening he and his magic hands went. Knot after magic knot. And like all the other folks who had watched Houdini, I left his show without a clue as to how he did it. For years, I wondered how he had tied those knots. But I was still not able to tie a good knot.

At the Nelsonville Fire Department we learned how to operate and drive the two engines, one of which was an antique but still in service 1930 Seagrave right hand drive pumper. With its 12 cylinder motor and hand fitted brass 750 GPM pump, this machine could out pump most of today’s modern machines of the same capacity. I responded to several minor building fires while in high school. I went to many woodland fires where we would spend hours, days and nights, with water tanks on our backs and fire rakes or brooms in our hands beating out the flames on the mountains of the Hudson Valley.

As a kid I also had one trait I have found to be common in many of my fellow firefighters over the years. I always loved to climb. Trees, barn silos, ladders up on to roofs, stone cliffs, stage lighting spot lights in school, any place high was the place I wanted to be. It was great that I was living in a rural area where there where thousands of places to climb. Some of my favorite climbing spots were the two and three story barns behind our house and on adjacent farms. I always found a reason to climb up to the roof tops and loved to jump off into little piles of hay. I climbed up the interior and exterior sides of many barn silos and once I climbed up the side corners of my school to the roof. I climbed the rock cliffs on the mountains of the Hudson Valley to see the spectacular views up and down the river. I never heard of or thought of a safety rope.

After graduating high school I went to Rochester, New York to attend college. Certainly not to become an Engineer, but rather to study to become a hotel and restaurant manager like my grandfather. I still had no idea about becoming a firefighter for a career. College was good. I was getting an excellent education in business and restaurant management and I met a beautiful girl who would become my wife.

But one Saturday night in the fall of my sophomore year in college, a group of us ended up in a bar for a few beers. (OK, I lied when I said one Saturday night we ended up in a bar. I should have said one particular Saturday night while we were in a bar...). That night changed my life but I did not know it at the time. That particular night, I got into a conversation with a guy named Bob Myers who told me about the Protectives. The Protectives are the only City of Rochester volunteer fire department, having served the City of Rochester as a salvage company since the 1850’s. (A salvage company is the unit that goes into the burning building with tarps to cover and protect furniture and belongings from water damage on the floors below the fire floors.) His story was very interesting to me, and I asked him if he could show me the company sometime.

The next week I visited the Protectives’ quarters, which were in part of the building that was Rochester Fire Department headquarters. During my tour of the station I found out that several volunteer members actually lived at the station with the stipulation they had to respond to every call while in the station. The volunteers paid $10 annual dues to be members and paid no rent. I signed up on the spot. Two months later, after some basic training and showing proof I had already passed the New York State Essentials of Firemanship course, I became a full time resident volunteer member of the Rochester Fire Department Protectives.

The Protectives responded to every alarm in the downtown area and to every working fire citywide to perform salvage duties and to protect property from damage. At large fire we often manned hose lines and other firefighting duties too. The first year of living at the Protectives, I responded to over 500 calls. Most of the career firefighters treated us like brothers. The next several years would set the path for my future. I truly enjoyed my life living at the Protectives and working with the Rochester Fire Department team as a volunteer. One night while I was at the Protectives Battalion Chief Fred Vogt came to talk to me about applying for a summer job working at the Fire Alarm Division as a relief fire dispatcher with a couple of other college students.

The fire alarm division was located right across the street from the Protectives, so my commute would be very short. I worked as a relief fire dispatcher for the next two summers. I was on the telephone switchboard the night we received the first call for help in what would turn out to be a major race riot. This riot caused several deaths and destroyed large sections of the city. It was one of many race riots across the country which changed the social climate of this nation forever.

Before the fall before my senior year of college I decided to take a break from school. I took a position as assistant manager in a large hotel in downtown Rochester while living at the Protectives. The Vietnam War was just starting to heat up, and the draft board was breathing down my neck. In high school I had always wanted to join the Navy. I enlisted and went to boot camp the next week, only to find myself being discharged 30 days later due to a n old high school football knee injury. I returned home to Rochester, the love of my life Diane, and the Protectives, with plans to finish my degree and reenter the hotel and restaurant business.

However, once again Battalion Chief Vogt came to see me with other ideas for my future. He told me that the civil service entrance exam for firefighter had just been announced and that I should take the exam. I told him I expected to return to college and the restaurant business. He kept after me day after day to put in my application. He told me I could finish college while I was a firefighter. I gave in and sent in my application for the exam.

When the written exam and physical agility test were scored, I came out as number one on the list of eligible candidates. Chief Vogt told me that with that score, I just had to take the job. I truly liked and respected this Chief, so I took the job of rookie firefighter with the full intent of going to recruit school and then working for one year as a firefighter before returning to the hotel and restaurant business. I retired from the Rochester Fire Department twenty six years later with the rank of Battalion Chief.

I retired from the Rochester Fire Department to begin my career as a Fire Chief. The next ten years my career as a Fire Chief took me to Cherokee County Georgia, Stamford Connecticut and Fulton County Georgia. I also served as a Peer Assessor, Team Leader and Technical Advisor for the Center for Public Safety Excellence, Commission on Fire Accreditation International for over 17 years traveling all over the United States to review fire rescue agencies for their accreditation. Today I operate my own public safety and management systems consulting practice serving local governments and fire rescue agencies.

All in all, not bad for what I had intended to be a one year hitch in the fire rescue service.

Lessons learned in my early years

Kids and people in general respect and are interested in the fire rescue services. They will, for the rest of their lives, remember the hospitality and warmth extended by firefighters when they visit a fire station.

This is currently even more noticeable since the tragic day of September 11, 2001.

The public in general is strongly supportive of the fire rescue service and we need to build on and maintain those feelings.

Every taxpayers and voter should always remember that they are the owner of their local fire stations. They should never hesitate to stop in and check them out. Everyone should get to know their employees, ask questions and offer support for quality service delivery.

After they visit, they should also not hesitate to follow up with a phone call or note to the Fire Chief if they find fault with what they see and hear on their visit. Certainly, every Chief would also like to get a quick note saying that his bosses enjoyed their visit to their fire station.

As a firefighter while you sit at the watch desk, think about the kids who visit your fire station. One of them might just grow up to be the Fire Chief.

I repeat, open your fire station doors to the public.

Befriend the kids in your district at every opportunity. They are our support, our friends and their families are our bosses.

There are many people and events in your life that will exert influences that will change your life forever. The choices are yours alone to make, so make them wisely.

Love for climbing is one of the many traits I have found in good Firefighters: in many of my conversations with people in the fire rescue service I have found a great number of them have had childhood histories of loving to climb.

There are many things that can be used to motivate people. Do what you can to motivate others to succeed.

I am a Rookie

I began rookie school in the icy cold month of March when I reported to the Rochester Fire Academy to meet my 16 classmates in rookie school. We would be a family for the next 6 weeks, and for the rest of our lives we knew we can depend on each other no matter what.

Fire department rookie school is a firefighter’s first full orientation into life in the fire rescue service. Most rooky schools are run like military boot camps. The City of Rochester Fire Department valued its employees and set high standards for personal conduct both on and off the job. Our fire officer instructors made those issues clear to the rookies during the first days of orientation. Academy days were filled with class room instruction on the chemistry of fire, fire ground safety, first aid practices, principles of hydraulics, and most importantly, chain of command. We were taught to respect for our officers and the importance of following orders immediately and without question was hammered into us. We learned the many skills every firefighter must be able to do without thinking: stretching hoses, raising ladders, climbing, ropes and knots and many others.

Due to the severe cold and deep snow, our instructors held many of our skill development classes inside the academy gym. We learned and practiced things like ladder raises of various types, proper ladder carrying and climbing techniques, hose stretching, how to don and operate self contained breathing apparatus, and my dreaded knot tying. After classroom instruction and much practice inside we were formed into engine and ladder company crews with a fire officer instructor for each company. We were directed to take our respective apparatus down the back hill to the drill field. We did so by following a snow plow truck to the drill area which was still covered with many feet of the Rochester winter’s snow accumulation.

There is an expression that Rochester has 3 seasons: Winter, July 4th and fall. That is mostly true, however, there is also a season in late summer where the temperatures can go over 100 degrees and the humidity supplied by Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes is 100%. I lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area for many years and never experienced heat there that felt as hot as Rochester in August.

The Rochester Fire Department drill field had a 5 story tower building which was used for practicing ladder work, high rise building hose stretches, fire escape rescues and entries and repelling down the face of the building. There was a large multi-story burn building for practicing fire extinguishment, ventilation, self contained breathing apparatus practice, confined space and victim searches. The yard had flammable liquid burn pits of various sizes and shapes, plus various other live burn props such as a railroad tank car and an electrical transformer station. We practiced our first week’s field evolutions in waist deep snow which well prepared us for our careers as Rochester firefighters. As the snow melted under us