Professional Firefighter 1
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Running head: PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 1 Professional Firefighter Richard Glover Honors Paper University of Florida PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 2 Abstract The role, responsibilities, and the significance of the firefighter or the fire officer have evolved over the history of fire protection services. Of the professions that are identified as public safety that include police, fire, and the emergency medical system (EMS), none of the professions have had to explain, justify and adapt their occupation as much as the fire department. Firefighting has evolved from a predominate volunteer commitment from individuals at the community level of the society to being significant career personnel that is part of local and state governments’ obligations to provide public safety to the public. Fire departments have enhanced and expanded their skillfulness to better serve the communities that rely on public safety and to defend their profession to elected officials, community leaders, community stakeholders, and the citizens of the community. The value and importance of the fire department is always in question during budget negotiations when elected officials in local communities are determining where to spend financial support. Because over the last three decades the world has experienced many natural and manmade catastrophic disasters emergency management is a priority of local, state, and federal governments. The fire department and the firefighting profession is the most logical industry to adapt their role to better prepare, respond, and to assist with the mitigation and recovery policies for communities that are impacted by disasters. The greatest way for both to adjust their responsibilities to fulfill this public safety need is to validate their profession with higher education requirements. PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 3 Professional Firefighter Introduction The role of the firefighter is one that has evolved and adapted to the needs of the community for which it serves. Every community and its citizens have placed different expectations and responsibilities on those members who have chosen to be firefighters. When communities and its citizens are presented with the question “What is a firefighter and what does he or she does?” the answers will vary from one community to another. According to the World Population Review (2020), in 2018 the United States had 19,495 incorporated communities. There are probably as many answers to this question as there are communities. This is both a positive and negative for the firefighter profession. Firefighters have been described as paramedics, EMT, first responders, rescue technicians, civil servants, volunteers, and professionals. There are many more descriptions for what firefighters are and what they do, but no one only describes them as only firefighters or believe they only extinguish fires. This is because firefighters are a valuable part of the public safety professionals that protect local communities and is a key element of the communities' pre-hospital care that responds to all the emergencies and disasters that can impact a community. Fire departments have adopted the title of being All-Hazard Response departments (FEMA, 2020). By providing multiple public safety services to the communities over the history of firefighting the organizations are a necessary expense that is becoming more expensive. Despite all the public safety services that the firefighter has embraced to provide to the communities they are most often asked to find ways to cut their budgets, justify their value, and to do more for less. The firefighter must continue to develop and define the profession through increased education challenges that support the PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 4 concept that the fire officer is the most ideal person or profession to be a community’s emergency manager during an emergency crisis. Firefighting Before America The resourcefulness and threats of fire were long recognized before communities and fire protections were developed in the United States. Before the development of the Roman Empire, the threat of fire was acknowledged by many civilizations and under the rule of Emperor Augustus, the empire developed its first fire brigade. Because of the unsuccessful efforts of private fire protection to battle configuration with groups of slaves called Triumviri Nocturni (three men of the night), the Roman Empire developed fire brigades that resembled the fire brigades in Ancient Egypt. For the protection of the Roman Empire and after a fire destroyed a large portion of the community, Augustus organized a fire brigade with a group of watchmen over the community called Corps of Vigiles who patrolled the community for public safety and fire protection. The men patrolled the community with buckets to fight fires and were nicknamed Sparoli which means little bucket fellows. There was a shortage of volunteers for the Vigiles and Augustus offered citizenship and salaries to those who joined the Vigiles. Even with the development of the fire brigade, citizens were required to be diligent in their efforts to assist and support the volunteer fire protection for the community in the event of a fire (Canter, 1932). Firefighting in America Throughout American history, firefighting has not always had the pleasure that other professions have had and has not been seen as a service that deserves to be paid for. In the early years of the United States, civilizations had determined firefighting was a duty for everyone to engage in for the security and safety of the community. It was expected for everyone to contribute to the efforts of putting out fires that impacted the safety of the local community. It PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 5 benefited every able body to assist with emergencies that involved fires because the potential of damages from the spread of the fire was reasonable if a neighbor or establishment did not quickly control or extinguish a fire. According to a firefighter, fire historian, and author Paul Hashagan, (2003) the first English settlement was in Jamestown, Virginia, and was established in 1607. The Virginian Company of London had designated Captain John Smith as one of the leaders of the colonization of the new country, America. As the success of the colonization of America improved more immigrants began to land on the shores of the new world and the community began to expand. The community had an increase in the building of wooden structures and Smith was one of the first community leaders to notice the increase in the potential of the fire threats in the community as more wooden structures were built to accommodate for the increase in the number of settlers that arrived. The community was severely damaged by a catastrophic fire in January 1608, Hashagan (2003) stated, “The devastating fire destroyed most of the colonists’ provisions and lodgings” (Para. 3). The threat of fire continued to be a concern throughout the seventeenth century. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia rapidly became popular communities because of the harbors in these communities served as entry points for resources, new arrivals to the country, and referred to as Harbor Cities. Housing became an issue and homes were built very close to one another, with roofs made of straw and wooden chimneys that caused a serious fire threat according to Deborah Threadgill (2020), a contributing writer with the Collectors Journal. Captain Smith is quoted to have said, “I begin to think that it is safer for me to dwell in the wild Indian country than in this stockade, where fools accidentally discharge their muskets and others burn down their homes at night” (as cited in Hashagen, 2003, Para. 3). The State House in Jamestown caught fire multiple times and was relocated after each fire because of the extensive fire damage after each fire that eventually caused state leaders to move PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 6 the State House to Williamsburg and this was a decline of Jamestown to an agriculture community (Werner, 2007). Because fire continued to be a threat during the Colonial times, Governor Peter Stuyvesant in the mid-seventeenth century passed fire safety laws, home fire inspections, and issued fire safety fines to those that did not adhere to proactive fire safety measures (Threadgill, 2020). The Governor organized eight volunteer men referred to as the Rattle Brigade that performed Rattle Watch at night as they patrolled the streets with wooden rattles and used them to alert citizens of fires that were discovered. Citizens would awaken and assist with the extinguishment of fires located by the Rattle Brigade. Hashagen (2003) stated, “This is generally recognized as the first step in organized firefighting in America” (Para. 7). Volunteer Firefighters Even after the catastrophic fires that impacted the early American communities, firefighting was largely considered a volunteer service that everyone in the community participated in when a structure was on fire. Public services like the sheriff, doctor, blacksmith, and even the saloon owner was considered services that individuals received a fee for providing to the community. Threadgill (2020) described early firefighting by stating “In the early days putting out fires was primitive at best. The first response of community members would be to form "bucket brigades"--neighbors around the fire would toss buckets into the street so that volunteers could fill the buckets with water from a well or nearby water source and pass it forward to each successive man, woman or child down the line” (Para. 5). Fires have always been a real threat to public safety and uncontrolled fires significantly endangered lives and had the potential to cause extensive property damage that could devastate a community. Everyone in the community was needed to manage fires and to bring unchecked fires under control. PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTER 7 During the seventeenth century and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the threat of fire to life and property continued and with the development of the Harbor Cities, local governments began purchasing resources such as engine pumpers to combat fires in their communities.