Another Lesson from DeKalb
By now most everyone in the industry is familiar with the story of the recent firing of five DeKalb County Georgia firefighters for failing to investigate a 911 call because they did not see any signs from outside the structure. Their attitude (no doubt casual and atypical) toward handling the incident is as baffling as trying to comprehend the reason for lack of adherence to department policies and procedures on that day.
Certainly by this time local wrongful death attorneys have been reviewing the Incident Report filed by the department itemizing the responding personnel’s failures to follow established SOPs in order to establish liability beyond the qualified immunities afforded first responders.
As is usually the case, there are lessons to be learned at every instance where fire and EMS personnel are taken to task about the manner they perform their duties. These events serve as “wake up calls” to pay attention, take every response seriously, and in almost every instance follow department guidelines to the letter.
Our department’s Mission Statement contains six succinct, but equally important directives, one of which is “solve the problem.” No customer or patient can be satisfied unless first responders solve their problem. The most efficient and effective path to that result is by adhering to department SOPs.
I echo the sentiments of my good friend at firecritic.com and wish only the best for members of the DeKalb County Fire Rescue in weathering the storm that will come from this incident. And I am also confident that they will persevere and demonstrate the professionalism that will ultimately define that department in the years to come.
