GETTING CRITICAL DISPATCH INFORMATION

摘要

Critical dispatch informa-tion―some people just don't get it ... or do they? It's a chance we can't afford to take. Edward F. Croker, chief of the Fire Department of New York from 1889-1911, once wrote; "Firefight-ing is a hazardous occupation. It is dangerous on the face of it. Tackling a burning building, the risks are plain; consequently, when a person becomes a firefighter, their act of bravery has already been accomplished. Everything else is their daily duty." Hazardous occupation? Daily duty? How many of us wish we would have listened to our parents and stayed in school so we could become a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant? The job we face as firefighters, especially in today's post-9/11 world, requires a career-long commitment to education, training, preplanning, and survival. We must give each other and ourselves a fair chance at a long, healthy retirement after a wonderful career of service to the communities we were sworn to protect.