This is in response to the Feb. 1 letter from Bill Bryan regarding the “pathetic” PTC FD. As a resident of Fayette County and a full-time Fulton County firefighter, I have just three letters for you: S.O.P.

Standard Operating Procedures are put in place for the sole purposes of safety and effective operations—for firefighters and citizens alike. The mere suggestion that a homeowner re-enter a burning structure, or any hazardous situation, in order to shut off gas and disconnect power is not only ludicrous, but irresponsible as well.

How dare you, a former firefighter, instruct citizens to place themselves in harm’s way in order to “assist” the local fire department. Absurd!

As for your reign as a firefighter, 1974 to 1984, allow me to inform you that, although firefighters of that time were, indeed, instructed to pull power meters while fighting fire, more than 20 years of experience has taught fire departments across the country, including DeKalb County, that this is not a safe practice and could result in the unnecessary deaths of our public servants.

Therefore, S.O.P. now dictates that no firefighter, under any circumstance, should attempt to kill power to a burning structure, but, rather, wait for the experts in that field (public utility departments) to arrive and perform their job.

This does not in any way, shape or form, mean that firefighters simply “twiddle their thumbs” awaiting the arrival of the utility departments before aggressively attacking a fire. In fact, the exact house fire that you referred to in your letter had a response time of 2 minutes 40 seconds and was aggressively brought under control within nine minutes. Can’t do that with a garden hose.

As for the firefighters “bunched up at the nozzle” fighting a car fire with “an almost straight stream of water,” any given fire, including a car fire, may be fought with a straight stream, semi-fog, or full fog pattern depending upon the circumstances. The “bunching up at the nozzle” is required for stability of the firefighter due to the amount of pressure being delivered.

Another cause for firefighters “bunching up at a nozzle” would be referred to as the Rapid Intervention Team (RIT). It is their job to stand by, at the nozzle, in case of an emergency situation inside the structure. Upon recognizing such an emergency, it is the responsibility of this team to rush in and take control of the situation. A far cry from “thumb twiddling.”

By wearing full turnout gear, including breathing apparatus outdoors, this is also Standard Operating Procedure to prevent inhaling super-heated gases and toxic fumes. (I think that wearing full turnout gear in the event of a structure fire speaks for itself.)

Your views on “wetting” the area surrounding the structure fire are confusing as well. Fire departments refer to this as protecting exposures. I’m sure this made the neighbors very happy.

Perhaps the “bureaucratic weenies of PTC Fire Department,” as well as fire department “weenies” across the country know a little bit more about operations than you do.

Donald Russell
monarussell (at) bellsouth.net

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