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Priorities, Priorities

© Robert Moyer

Before I get started on the article, I would like to explain the issue why we must protect ourselves, before we protect the public. If we do not protect ourselves, who is going to? If we become victims, who is going to save us? And if we cannot protect or save ourselves, who is going to save you? So if you see that firefighter, hazardous materials team or paramedic just standing there waitning for more help or additional resources, try to understand why they are not rushing in to save that child or elderly person who desperately needs their help.

Incident Priorities

Incident priorities are the basis of the decision-making process Firefighters use at an incident scene. These incident priorities are:

1. Life safety
2. Incident stabilization
3. Property conservation

These priorities are in the order of their importance and consideration. Life safety is always of utmost importance. Firefighter lives come before the lives of those of which we are trying to save. This may be hard for the general public to swallow, but you have to realize that if we put our people in places where they could be injured or killed, we would just be adding to the overall problem. Throwing gas on the fire so to speak. Incident stabilization comes second in the order. Although this priority order never changes, the order in which they can be implemented can vary. For instance, a natural gas fire traps victims; quickly shutting down the gas supply could stabilize the situation faster than trying to fight the fire itself.

Life Safety

Life safety is always our number one priority, which never under any circumstances ever changes. Life safety of the firefighters and emergency personnel responding the of higher priority, than those of the victims. Don't take this the wrong way, we care deeply for those we are sworn to protect and serve. Like it was said before, if we put emergency personnel in a place where they can be injured or killed, we would just be creating a bigger problem. The lives of both are none the less equal, but we have to protect our own people. This is a tough situation for a lot of people to understand. Firefighters will always try to save a life. As always, they want to err on the side of safety by protecting firefighters, yet affording the best chance of survival for the victims. One life lost, as tragic as it may seem, is better than costing six more firefighter lives.

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