WARNING! This post may offend some, but it is 2013 and to have house fires today with NO WORKING SMOKE DETECTORS, well someone needs to get offended. That 4-year old little girl DESERVED better and I will not relent to political correctness when we are KILLING our children because we have misplaced responsibilities! This video is making the rounds, as it is a dramatic sight to witness this rescue on tape. Although as a safety professional and former FF there are a couple of things that struck me while watching this video that are VERY TROUBLING and quite frankly just pissed me off. The structure involved is a public housing unit, which was reported by the local media to be housing 10 people – two parents and eight children. She was trapped on the second level and rescued by FF’s. Residents from the complex can be heard making comments in the background complaining about the speed the FF’s are moving and how long it is taking to enter the BURNING BUILDING. Once the child is brought out, everyone wants to rush to her and police have to keep them back, which angers the crowd even more. What angered me the most is that this is a pubic housing unit and the item missing from this video… the sound of a working smoke detector from the unit!!! It was not until the fire spread to neighboring unit, because the lack of a firewall (old construction) a smoke alarm could be heard. Now when you watch the video do the following: 1) count the number of cell phones you see in use, 2) look at the cars in the parking lot, 3) look at the attire of the residents… yet a $1 9-volt battery was allusive to the residents of both units involved!!! Get your priorities in order people and thank your God that there are people in this world who will risk their lives to save yours. And anyone who thinks they can do better than these FF’s, I have one simple piece of advice for you… suit up, train, and spend your waking hours crawling around burning structures risking your life to rescue others!
My hat is off to these FF’s and the Chief on scene. This response was as close to text book perfect as we can hope for in these types of situations. The chief was CLEARLY UNDER CONTROL, had a plan, and the team executed their plan with near flawless perfection. This folks is how it is suppose to be done when a life is at risk!