Firefighters have been backed over by their own trucks and killed.
It hasn’t happened in Snohomish County recently. But it’s the kind of tragedy fire departments locally and nationwide hope to prevent by dedicating part of this week to firefighter safety training.
“Those deaths are preventable,” said Everett Fire Chief Murray Gordon.
The training is undergone by firefighters anyway on a regular basis. But as of May 1 this year, 50 firefighters nationwide had lost their lives in the line of duty – putting 2005 on pace to be the deadliest in 28 years, excluding 2001.
This statistic spurred two nationwide organizations of fire professionals to stress the importance of the training by asking departments to “stand down” from non-emergency related duties this time around.
The event, called the Firefighter Safety Stand Down, is “to make everyone stop and contemplate their actions” on how to be more safe, said Edmonds Fire Chief Tom Tomberg.
Staff meetings, nonsafety-related training, fire prevention education sessions with the public and some fire inspections will be put on hold during the training.
In Edmonds, the fire inspector and fire marshal will still do their scheduled inspections, but they are also regular firefighters and will participate in most of the training, Tomberg said. Regular firefighters also do inspections but won’t do so during the training.
In Everett, the department has specialized inspectors who won’t be doing the training, Chief Murray Gordon said. Regular firefighters also do monthly inspections, but none is scheduled this week, the chief said.
“Anything we would do in a regular shift not directly related to safety we’ve precluded,” Gordon said.
All calls will be answered, the chiefs said.
The day targeted for the stand down is today, but since firefighters don’t work every day, the training will take four days to cover the Everett shifts and three days for Edmonds, the chiefs said.
The departments will stick to the stand down each of those days. Everett started Monday and Edmonds starts today.
The stand-down tactic has been used by the military in response to mishaps for many years, both fire chiefs said.
Training will include vehicle checks, gear inspection, review of basic safety rules, investigation of close calls, a review of how to deal with people who get violent (such as domestic abusers), and physical fitness training.
Driving safety is a big one, Gordon said. Nationwide, 25 percent of firefighter line-of-duty deaths are in some way related to vehicles, he said. “It’s unfathomable to me and appalling,” he said.
In his career, Gordon has seen fire vehicle accidents, firefighters fall from roofs and ladders, and burns that could have been prevented. “I think all in all we’ve been pretty fortunate,” he said.
Monroe Fire Chief Jamie Silva said his department won’t participate in the stand-down event. He hadn’t heard much about it, he said.
“We’re always practicing safety,” he said.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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