One of my earliest fire service mentors told me, "If the fire service is ever going to get the credit its due from the public, sometimes it's going to have to blow its own horn." Recent events have proven this advice to be both very wise and very accurate.
In the past weeks, there have been terrorist attacks of one form or another in several locations around the world. These included shootings or bombings in Ankara, Turkey; Bamako, Mali; Paris; Colorado Springs, Colo., and San Bernardino, Calif.
The media carried live coverage of the attacks in Paris, Colorado Springs and San Bernardino, followed by several days of news conferences, updates and analysis. Yet there was very little mention or no coverage whatsoever on the role of the fire service during these incidents.
Even an untrained observer has only to look back at the video of the three simultaneous attacks in Paris to note that the once the perimeters were secured, the only vehicles entering or exiting these road blocks were fire engines and paramedic units of the Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris or as we would say, the Paris Fire Service.
Videographers positioned blocks away captured dozens of pompiers in their distinctive turn-out gear with silver or gold helmets entering the night club where hundreds were killed or injured to assess those most critical and return outside carrying victims to a caravan of waiting fire department medic units to be treated and transported to area hospitals.