Friday, June 22, 2012

Firefighter's response to bridge fire was remarkable ... just another day at work in their eyes

By Mike Ullery
Chief Photographer
mullery@dailycall.com

A tragedy of sorts occurred in Piqua this past week. The bike path bridge over the Great Miami River burned — again.

In the grand scheme of things, the fire was sad, disheartening and will again cost money out of taxpayer’s pockets to repair, but I would not call it a tragedy. The tragedy in this case was the attitude and remarks made by a few pathetic citizens regarding the fire department’s response to the fire.

Within hours of the fire, some Facebook folks were making derogatory remarks, claiming that the fire department took 20 minutes to respond to the blaze. Some questioned the amount of time that it took to actually begin to put water on the fire.

I was appalled that people actually have the nerve to question a group of dedicated professionals who, many times, are all that stand between citizens and their very life … or death. They unquestionably accept the risk to their own safety, in order to preserve life and property, yet we have local citizens with the nerve to not only question firefighter’s actions, but to embellish and possibly even lie to make themselves look “big” or “important.”

The bottom line is that our fire department was dispatched to a fire on the bridge and responded in a timely manner. There was no delay. What would they be doing to delay a response anyway? Do some folks think that firefighters are waiting on a re-run of “Emergency” to end before leaving the station?

People also need to realize that to even reach this fire, firefighters had to go more than half-way across the 530 foot span. They also had to get hoses and equipment to that location. There were also two long flights of steps to be climbed … before reaching the start of the bridge.

As firefighters reached the location of the blaze, the fact that the fire was burning under the floorboards and whipped by a stiff wind made the bridge a very dangerous place to be. Flames would pop-up at random places. At any time, a firefighter could have been cut off from a safe retreat.

Those were just some of the factors that had to be weighed while water lines were stretched, and added-to, then charged to keep flames at bey, then shut-down and additional sections of line added, then re-charged. All of this was accomplished with the thermometer sitting around 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

Working a fire scene such as that one, does take time. To a bystander, I am sure that time seems to crawl. To the firefighter on the scene using every ounce of strength and energy to haul sections of line over the length of a football field, time seems to fly. They do know that seconds count.

Perhaps it should also be mentioned that when this fire call came in, the Piqua Fire Department already had two medic units out on runs. That means that five personnel were out on other runs, protecting and saving the lives of other Piqua citizens.

Firefighters responded with everything they had, given the manpower constraints they must constantly struggle with. In spite of all of that, I do not recall hearing one gripe as these professionals worked to bring the very stubborn and persistent fire under control on one of the hottest days of the summer.

I can say all of the above with great certainty. I was on the bridge with the firefighters last Tuesday. I mention that because the rude and vocal minority who claim that they were also watching the event unfold, did so from blocks away, if they actually saw anything, as they claim.

Citizens of Piqua are blessed to have firefighters and police officers who are highly trained professionals. I can also say that to a man, or woman, they are also fine individuals. They have families, just as we do. How do you think that your children would feel if someone made disparaging and unfounded remarks about you?

These men and women put it all on the line for us. How about showing them the respect they deserve?

17 comments:

  1. we never questioned the PFD, we are QUESTIONING the time it took for 911 to relay the call to PFD. is that something you, YOU can look into for us Mike. PFD has ALL of MY respect. ALL. if ANYONE reads MY comments, THIS is ALL you will find that I question. i UNDERSTAND that the fire was in the center of a BIG bridge. and getting water TO it was only a fourth the battle, and STANDING on a bridge as it fades from under you as u fight the fire is NOT my cup of tea. i RESPECT the PFD. PERIOD. lets get flame RETARDANT covering on the bridge, OR cover it in concrete, or put up a HUGE sprinkler system. we OBVIOUSLY cant keep STUPID people OFF the bridge with flames. (fireworks or cigs or matches/lighters) cameras at a minimum need to be installed. im asking for ALL of you peeps to put some thought into HOW to make this bridge LAST. Thank you for your imput. Artie Parker.

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    1. Hi Artie,
      I truthfully have no idea about time from when the call(s) were received by 9-1-1 and the time they actually dispatched the fire department. I will see what I can find out next week when I get back to work.
      I hope that some sort of flame-retardant material is researched before they again re-build the bridge. I hate that we can't seem to have anything nice but what someone either accidentally (read - stupid) or on purpose ruins things for the rest of us.

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    2. Mike your biggest problem is you have to be right!! To be in your position and be so confrontational shows your lack of professionalism. There is a book"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, It's all Small Stuff" that i recommend you read. There is a chapter about not having to be right all of the time.You need to read it. You being so argumentitive sure makes the PIQUA DAILY CALL look bad!! You have the right to call it the way you see it, just the childish name calling takes any crediblity that you may have had disappear!! You should work on that!!

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  3. I have never disrespected or dissed the PFD either. I was only trying to put together a timeline with the information that was disclosed to be able to put EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in perspective.

    And I have never claimed to see the fire myself, not once. But I believe that I have been included in the VOCAL minority because of the questions I have asked on public forums and private messages.

    I have stood and will continue to stand behind the PFD, as a whole and as each member individually knowing that they have the courage to endanger their own life to protect mine so I won't tolerate being grouped into a pathetic citizens remark.

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    1. http://thedaythebridgeburned.blogspot.com/2012/06/aftermath.html

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  4. I have the utmost respect for the Piqua Fire Department and all they do. In some aspects I agree, and in others I disagree. My only thought is, no one knows just what went on that day except for those involved (the dispatch team & the fire crew). Has anyone not stopped and thought about the fact that people witnessing the fire were all at different locations? I wasn't there. I'm not making any judgement, but maybe before anyone points fingers the facts should be examined. I know that is the point being made by alot of people so instead of standing against each other, maybe you should all come together as citizens of Piqua and work together, and be thankful that no one was hurt in this fire.

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  5. I grew up in Piqua many years ago and I grew up with many of these people who have been involved in this controversy. I know that many of these people are hard working and upstanding people in the community. I still keep tabs on this community and I am sad to see this event come about. It is in bad taste to report your personal feelings and beliefs in a professional public forum if you are a professional reporting on community issues. If this is a personal page or a personal site then by all means share your personal opinion, but if this is not and you are a professional then it seems that you have wronged your reading public by interjecting your personal feelings into a report as opposed to reporting the facts. To call anyone “pathetic” is a personal opinion and does not have a place in a fact based report. Remember to that YOU represent the company that you work for and what you say in a public forum reflects upon that company and does make a difference if this company is in the public eye and does depend upon the public for it’s income base and your livelihood is dependant upon the well-being of this company.

    Be a professional and apologize to the readers that you have offended. I for one am a nostalgic sort of person and I enjoy the news paper. I fear for the day when I hear them say on the news on TV that our local papers have closed their doors because no one buys the paper anymore. Please do not become a tool to shut the doors on the local paper by offending those who still do advertise, purchase and read the paper. I don’t care who thinks they are right or wrong, I care that professionalism has been thrown out of the window and that instead of adults working and living in Piqua, it seems that we’ve all gone back to elementary school where we call names and make threats to get our way. Each person involved in this is equally important; the PFD, the 991 Call Center, the reporter, the eye witnesses, the individuals with comments and thoughts on the subject matter, and the readers; and each deserves to be treated with respect despite ones views or opinions. Isn’t that what it all boils down to, showing disrespect and respect? People are angry because they were disrespected or believe they were disrespected. We are all human and from time to time over step our boundaries, with that being said we can all ask for forgiveness and be forgiven as well. Let us apologize to one another and be forgiving and move on as adults should do and set good examples for our children to live by.

    Betty Grise

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  6. I was there as PFD arrived. It was only a small amount of smoke at that time. The fire erupted as they were carrying the hoses to the spot of the fire. As I sat and watched how spontaneous the fire was erupting in other locations and re-igniting, I find it hard to believe that the response time was 20 min. In my opinion if it took them 20 minutes the WHOLE bridge would've been ablaze!

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    1. My desk and our lot faces the bridge. Again this is the third time it's taken 20 minutes. I'm not the only witness. I'm tired of explaining the truth. No one is closer to that than our car lot. Next time I will not call. The whole thing can burn. Obv there is something in the dispatch time but no one wants to acknowledge there is a problem. Pretend it didn't happen and it goes away. Thats Piquas motto.I'm sure he will delete this like he did the last one. That's ok...the truth hurts...and. He admitted he really didn't know the time of the calls to arte Parker. I will be in pdc office Monday bc his namecalling and slanderous statements won't be tolerated by this Bayman. We have been in business too long to have some picture taker call us liars. ESP my well respected parents.

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  7. I have read most, if not all, of the discussions in relation to the recent fire and I don't recall reading ANYWHERE that the PFD itself was being questioned or disrespected in any way. What was, and still is, being questioned is the amount of time that it took for the PFD to be DISPATCHED to the fire. I don't believe that anyone is questioning the amount of time it took the PFD to respond once the RECEIVED the dispatch. However, for you to call the people who are questioning this "a few pathetic citizens" is extremely unprofessional. At least one of the citizens is a friend of mine and this person knows EXACTLY when at least one of the calls was made because they made it PERSONALLY. So for you to insinuate that they are lying for whatever reason is absolutely reprehensible!

    These “few pathetic citizens” are exactly the OPPOSITE; they are caring and concerned citizens that are simply trying to find out why it took such an inordinate amount of time for the PFD to get dispatched on this fire. If this had been the first time this had happened then maybe people wouldn’t be quite as outraged over the delay, but it isn’t.

    You also claim that “the rude and vocal minority” were BLOCKS away while they were “watching the event unfold”. That would be blocks away as you would drive it, when in reality their location was right across the river. So, to respond to your comment “if they actually saw anything”, they had a pretty good view of what was going on.

    I have to say that I think the statement that disgusts me the most from your diatribe is: “How do you think that your children would feel if someone made disparaging and unfounded remarks about you?” Not ONCE did I read ANYWHERE that ANYONE made any type of disparaging and unfounded remarks about anyone associated with the PFD. In fact, the only disparaging and unfounded remarks that I have found being made about anyone and have come from YOU, sir. If you need examples please refer to the second, fourth, twelfth and thirteenth paragraphs of your blog.

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