Deaf Firefighter’s Blog

A week or so ago, I was contacted by Jennifer Reeger, a reporter with the Tribune-Review out of Westmoreland County, PA (south and east of  Pittsburgh) with a bit of news that absolutely floored me. 

A deaf man was elected Fire Chief of his department.  Not house manager, not go-fer-in-charge, or any other position that I’ve personally seen given to deaf people.  Mark Kite was elected Fire Chief by his peers at the Yukon Fire Department. 

Chief Mark Kite

Just to give you an idea of the enormity of this accomplishment:  In most jurisdictions, deaf people aren’t even allowed to get their feet in the door even though it’s blatant discrimination.  The two deaf gentlemen I wrote about last week from Prince William County are being told that even though they were trained and served with distinction in the department, they cannot re-apply for any position in the county-run department that takes its place. 

So to see that in the same week, another deaf man is chosen by his hearing peers to lead the department is a source of pride. 

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting or talking with Chief Kite, but consider this:  He’s been active since 1977, rose up through the ranks from Lieutenant to Assistant Chief and now to the title of Chief of the Department.   It’s obvious that the men and women who serve under him trust him explicitly and understand the accomodations that he’s put in place. 

This does, however, highlight an issue that has been a sore spot with me ever since I got into this field: the NFPA’s standards and a very haphazard implementation of those standards. 

FossilMedic at Firegeezer.com has often talked about firefighters who aren’t fit for duty and Chief Billy Goldfeder often spends a lot of his time yelling about how we’re often killing ourselves despite our best efforts not to. 

For me, the issue is selective application of the NFPA standards for firefighter fitness.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard departments tell a person with a hearing loss to hit the road but they have no similar thoughts about welcoming chain-smokers who can’t go a minute without hacking up a lung, people who have beer-bottle-eyeglasses, people who can hardly lift themselves from the E-Z-Boy, etc.   They’re all technically violations of the exact same NFPA standards that supposedly prohibit deaf people from being firefighters. 

Quite simply, the NFPA needs to revise its guidelines to accept shades of grey rather than stark black-and-white choices.   If we expect people with hearing losses (or any other disability) to be partners in fire prevention, community safety, etc, we need to give them the same ability to respond to events and contribute meaningfully to the success of the entire effort. 

Getting back to Chief Kite:  Yukon, PA is a very small and rural community (approx 8,000 people) and the call volumes they have make this a very workable arrangement.   It probably would not work in a community like mine with 28,000 people, running over 700 fire calls last year alone, several major state highways running through the town bordered by another county, and at least 7 other mutual aid fire departments. 

If you doubt his abilities, consider this: he was elected to the position by his hearing peers.  They, just as well as anyone else, know what the NFPA standards are and they, just as well as anyone else, are aware of the dangers of the job.  They chose, as a body, to put their faith in Chief Kite with the full understanding of his limitations and accomodations because he has proven himself over and over for the past 32 years. 

Stay Low, Stay Dry, and Stay Safe.

As a responder, training is often a necessary evil.   We don’t necessarily like to do it but it’s required by both law and departments.   As a training professional, I know how difficult it is to fit training in with all the other demands on time so that’s why I really like having the opportunity to train online.

Here’s several links that people might like to use as references for preparing for and responding to emergencies that are captioned for their benefit:

• Pets America - In conjunction with Project Readon, the videos try to teach people and emergency responders about pet CPR and giving oxygen to pets.  LINK

• Ready.Gov - Disaster preparedness videos that are also captioned - LINK

• CEPIN - Two videos were produced.  One focuses on Emergency Preparedness in the home and the other is for emergency responders.  (full disclosure, I’m the director of the CEPIN project)

• CDC - The Centers for Disease Control produced ASL videos re: hurricane preparedness and recovery.  You can find those at : http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/psa.asp

Been a while since I wrote last.  Happy new year to all of you guys.  I’ve enjoyed reading many of your comments and emails over the past several months. 

In Prince William County , there’s been an interesting situation concering the Gainesville District Volunteer Fire Department.  The County’s Board of Supervisors essentially dissolved the fire department after an audit found many allegedly irregular practices.  You can read more about these at Statter911 and Firegeezer. 

However, one of the more interesting things to come out of the report (on page 12) was that the department in question had two deaf members.   The audit does not clearly state what type of  hearing loss they had.   I do, however, want to take issue with some of the findings in the report. 

For example, GDVFD has two hearing impaired volunteer firefighters who were trained and certified by external vendors.  One was also trained and certified as an EMT by outside sources.  Although the State governing body allows for the training and certification of people with disabilities, training and certifications conducted at the PSA (ed note: public safety agency)  would apply appropriate local standards consistently for all members.  Out of concern for the safety of the hearing impaired members, fellow crew members and the public, the PSA may not have certified hearing impaired members.

I have a very serious problem with this finding.   First, the auditor acknowledges that the State’s governing body does not prohibit deaf people as long as they receive the appropriate certifications.  The auditor furthermore acknowledges that those certifications had been properly obtained.   So based on what state or local law or regulation does the auditor base the italiacized comment on?   

The auditors are making some extremely dangerous and frankly, paternalisitic assumptions here with regard to the capabilities of people with disabilities in the emergency services world.   

The audit report does not indicate clearly what operational roles these members had on the fireground and EMS services but it does go on to say they drove the ambulance and performed EMT services as well.  The audit does not state whether or not these trained and certified deaf members did an exemplary job in their roles or if they caused any harm at all.  

Essentially, without providing any supporting documentation, this auditor is guilty of injecting their own personal perceptions on the ability of any person with a disability, be it glasses, hearing aids, a bum leg, or whatnot to serve as volunteer emergency response personnel.    Their goal may have been to support a more legitimate concern: notably, whether or not external training providers can meet the same standards that government-affiliated trainers can but they have failed to show what, if any, actual effect this has caused. 

In my case, I am trained and certified by the appropriate agencies in the State of PA.  I have an understanding and constant dialogue with my department about the roles I undertake in the various emergencies we respond to.   To essentially bar people with disabilities from even participating in emergency response efforts as trained and certified volunteers is discriminatory at worst, and short-sighted at best. 

The rest of the report is like reading a script for a soap-opera storyline and it seems this department’s leadership had it coming.  But I do want to make sure people understand that this audit report with respect to the section being quoted is very poorly written.

Ed. Note: I had to type the section from the audit report as I couldn’t copy/paste.  Any typing errors are my own. 

Thanks to Bill Creswell for captioning this.

UK Fire Safety Video

 I’ll admit it was the first time I’ve seen the suggestion to use a wet cloth rather than a lid but then I realized that not everyone HAS a lid for their various pots and pans.  

I’m a big lover of Alton Brown’s Good Eats program.  If you watch the program, you’ll know that AB loves the multi-taskers but makes room in his heart and kitchen for only one uni-tasker: the fire extinguisher.  Be like AB and get one.  Don’t put it under the counter back behind the pots and pans.  Keep it in a very easy to reach place. 

Good stuff and thanks, Bill.

The title comes from Walt Kelly’s comic strip Pogo and it references our tendency to be our own worst enemy.

Courtesy of this blog, I received the following communique from another deaf firefighter.  Identifying details have been removed to protect the innocent & guilty alike:

“I’m from a volunteer station.  Since they found out for sure that I have a hearing ‘disability’ its just pure insensitivity, almost like they are trying to test me to be able to say I can’t do the job.  They will turn their backs when talking, make me have to have them repeat themselves, which they give me a look, or lately if i ask if they can repeat it they yell “never mind I’ll just do it”.  Its like “Um I can do it.”

I went to the toughest firefighter classes around here to prove to myself that I can handle the job, and the guys I did the classes with all agree that they would bring me in over A LOT of guys in their depts, not to sound conceited, but I know I can pull my weight.

I just recently took and completed a RIT (ed note: RIT is Rapid Intervention Team: trained to rescue fellow firefighters)  course in which the guys in the other depts were actually mad at how my dept treated me…the first day everyone kinda looked at me funny, which I’m used to, but than I showed them what I could do and they were a lot more willing to help me out, ie making sure I can see their lips if just talking in a group, using the sense of touch a ton more in a search. “

This sort of stuff just pisses me off.   I know there are people out there who believe deaf and hard of hearing people have no place in the fire service.   But hello, common decency anyone?   It’s this sort of infantile behavior that reinforces the notion that emergency responders are a good ol’ boy network.  I’m fortunate that I haven’t seen this in my current department.

This applies to both firefighters and deaf people alike.  Even if you don’t agree with what a person represents, treating them in a way less than you would treat your own neighbor only serves to dehumanize you.

… and admittedly, I haven’t. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy lately. Here’s a brief recap along with what I did at those fires.

12/16/07: Single Family Dwelling Kitchen Fire: Arriving on the Ladder truck, I started to open up all exterior doors as requested by the officer of Ladder 18. By that time, the fire had been extinguished for the most part and they need to ventilate the smoke.  Most of my work was geared toward overhaul.

___________

12/23/07: Townhome Fire: Again, arriving on Ladder 18. While enroute, we were advised that there was heavy fire and smoke and no entrapment. Upon arrival, I followed officer of Ladder 18 into the house with a can and hook. After doing a cursory search, I reported conditions back to officer and then was tasked with monitoring the side B and D exposures until additional manpower arrived. The fire was knocked fairly quickly but damage was very severe.

___________

1/28/08: Fully involved house fire. This was THE biggest fire I’ve been to in the 4 years I’ve been a firefighter. Originally dispatched to a kitchen fire, we were en-route when the neighboring chief said the fire was through the roof. Ladder 18 officer immediately started giving fireground tasks and we were ordered to take out windows on the second floor to reduce the potential for an explosion. We were also ordered not to enter the building.

We found out why shortly after. After we laddered the 1st floor roof and took out windows, the place basically went up in flames. Live ammo started exploding and that basically was the reason no interior attack took place (all residents got out safely). We started to set up for an exterior attack with a 2 1/2 inch line on side ‘D’ when the wall started to collapse giving us some initial excitement.  We were there for about 5 hours total just putting water on the fire.

___________

So yes, Virginia: Deaf firefighters can do it.  We take on different roles that contribute to the larger effort, and are (relatively) safe for us and our brother firefighters.
On a more somber note, this has been a deadly week for firefighters. Head over to Firefighter Close Calls or Firegeezer to get more information. Then take a hike over to Firegeezer’s take on how the building and construction trade is trading residents and firefighters lives in the name of greater profits. It’s compelling stuff.

I usually have to travel a fair bit for my work as Program Director for CEPIN. Usually, most of those travels deal with administrative things or find me attending/speaking at conferences.

Wednesday was no different. I was scheduled to attend a Summit on Emergency Preparedness and Special Needs Populations and then a gala reception later that evening for the American Association for People with Disabilities. Sounds nice, but usually my function is to show up, make a few salient points, and wonder why I didn’t just stay home.

Wednesday actually was different.

The conference was hosted by Booz Allen Hamilton, a well-known government consultancy. They put forth their concept of a “Megacommunity” as a way of resolving the problems that are too big for any one entity to solve. Years ago, we came to expect the government to solve all of our problems. After 9/11 and Katrina, we realized that this isn’t possible.

The Megacommunity concept basically says that the public sector (government), private sector (corporations), and civil sector (non-profits and other Non-Governmental Organizations) should band together to apply their resources to a fairly specific set of problems.

To use an example from their documents: After Hurricane Andrew practically flattened parts of South Florida, the state government at that time realized that they couldn’t possibly single-handedly prepare and recover the entire state on their own. What they did instead was bring all groups of stakeholders to the table and basically said, “We can do this together. What can you bring to the table? How can we keep this from happening again?”

Well, there hasn’t been a category 5 hurricane in that area since, they did have 5 hurricanes hitting the state in 2004. We did not see the same level of human suffering that we did in Andrew because building codes had been strengthened, awareness and preparedness efforts were improved, and nonprofits were ready to help their constituents. I won’t say everything was hunky-dory but when you compare that to Katrina, it certainly was a much better result.

While at the AAPD Leadership Gala, they recognized Eric Rosenthal of the Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) for his work in exposing the horrible conditions that people with mental disabilities are exposed to in countries around the world and his work toward getting the United Nations to recognize basic human rights for people with disabilities worldwide.

An emaciated and dehydrated little girl, suffering from life-threatening diarrhea, tied into a crib at Kulina. Photo Marc Schneider 2007 (c - MDRI)

I’m sure deaf people worldwide are subjected to the exact same conditions and we don’t know about it. Or is it because we don’t care? We’re so caught up in the relatively petty squabbles about Pepsi ads, and deficit thinking that we’ve lost sight of some of the very real problems that exist out there in the world.

There are countries that lock up deaf people because they’re deaf.

There are countries that lack any type of telecommunications access for their deaf citizens.

There are countries that don’t provide hearing aids or other basic hearing services

There are countries that actively repress signed languages.

So what are you doing about it? For my part, I just made a donation to MDRI. But for the deaf community to actively attack this problem, we need to start working together with people we never thought we’d ever share the same room with. That means sitting at the table with NAD, AGBell, HLAA, the VRS companies, government agencies, etc. .

We need to start by identifying what the problem is. We need to start by saying “This is the problem that we all share.” Each entity at the table doesn’t need to “give up” or compromise on their core beliefs but they can say, “This is what we can do to help.”

We can apply this to whatever problem we have and achieve a long-standing resolution to the problems that face us rather than wasting our breath on insignificant, trivial issues.

So what will you do today?

“Check your six” started out as a cry from pilot-to-pilot to have them take a look behind and see if they had any enemy fighters on their tail.

I think most of us who work for deaf agencies use email.  I would say 99% of us who do, also use a signature at the tail-end of the email to list contact information.

For some reason, I always had problems trying to send emails to several of my colleagues and kept getting rejected by their spam filters.  We both tried to figure it out but to no avail.

My good friend Rob over at  seerobcode.com, a programmer in his own right, figured out the problem and posted the solution over there.  If you’ve had problems with emails being deflected by spam filters, Rob says to change (or remove) the dynamic IP address.

As a former info security guy, I can give you a pretty good guess as to why spam filters are doing that: they don’t want people being redirected to phishing websites.

-Neil

I know many of us deaf parents have funny stories relating to their hearing kids. Heck, all you gotta do is watch the Olson Brothers to see the other side of that equation.

So in the comments section below (or your own blog posting), why don’t you share your funny stories where deaf parents and hearing kids create hilarious stories that are told every time the “kid stories” come out.

In the interest of breaking the ice:

One of my favorite musicians is Eric Clapton and many of his older songs can be found on my iPod and the CD in my car. When my oldest son was about 4 and his brother was 2, I was playing a mix CD in the car. Generally, I’m pretty aware of what song is playing and when one particular song came on, I’d just skip that song or jump to the next one.

This day, I wasn’t really paying attention and I let the song play for a good 2 minutes before I realized it was on. So I went ahead and pressed the “next” button on the radio. My older son immediately started waving and let me know he wasn’t happy with my decision to change the song upon which hilarity ensued.

The song? Clapton’s “Cocaine”.

My son’s comment? “Daddy, I want more Cocaine!”

———————

Just so everyone understands: the song was intended to be a anti-drug song (see the linked wikipedia article) but I usually skipped it over because I had visions in my head of the kid singing “cocaine” at school.

Anyway: Deafread is so damn serious these days and needs some lightning up. So let’s see what your funny stories are and share them in the comments (or create your own blog entry and trackback to this one).

Thanks, Karen for a great article: http://deafhhcareers.blogspot.com/2008/01/neil-mcdevitt-firefighter.html

Also: In my previous entry, I talked about “Whammo” moments. That article was published last Thursday by the City Paper. You can read it here: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2008/01/31/buzz-worthy