By: Mark E. Brady, Chief Spokesperson, Prince George's County, MD, Fire/EMS Department
Another violent
incident involving the response of the Fire/EMS Department ended without any
firefighter/paramedics safety ever being in jeopardy in College Park early on
Tuesday morning. This incident comes on
the heels of two recent incidents in
Prince George’s County, MD, including a double homicide in New Carrolton where
a suspect was alleged to have set an apartment on fire while barricading
himself and his two victims in the burning apartment and an incident where a
shooting victim was dropped off on the ramp at the Ritchie Fire/EMS Station. Of course, the tragedy of firefighters being
ambushed in Webster, NY, is still fresh in the minds of public safety officials
everywhere. Tragedy after tragedy, massacre after massacre; firefighters, paramedics and incident commanders are committed by duty to act and perform in situations where a violent act is in progress or has occurred.
In this morning
tragic incident the first due station was alerted at around 1:00 am, Tuesday,
February 12, 2013, for a shooting in the 8700 block of 36th Avenue
in College Park. As firefighters and
paramedics from Branchville were still en route to the original shooting incident that involved a college-aged student suffering from a gunshot
wound to his rear torso other firefighters from College Park and Berwyn Heights
were alerted to an outside fire at another location in the 8700 block of 36th
Avenue. The two incidents were dispatched just 2 to 3 minutes apart. The outside fire assignment was soon upgraded
to a structure fire as additional information indicated a possible fire inside
the house.
Firefighters responding to the fire incident arrived not to find a raging blaze but found two additional college-aged males suffering
from gunshot wounds outside the house. One patient located in the front yard was treated and transported to a
nearby Trauma Center where he was pronounced deceased a short time after his
arrival. The second victim, found in the
backyard, presented with a fatal gunshot wound and was pronounced deceased on the scene.
The original reported shooting victim was treated and transported to a
Trauma Center where he will survive his injuries.
A small fire was
found in the basement by the egress door resulting in little to no damage. Police accounts indicate the victim found in the
backyard had allegedly set the fire and once outside opened fire on his two roommates and
then took his own life. As police work
out the details of the incident and possible motive, incident commanders and firefighters
of all the aforementioned incidents should reflect and critique their response
and determine if anything could have or should have been done differently.
While none of
our personnel were injured or placed into harms way other then what we normally
deal with in battling a structure fire, each incident should be reviewed,
knowing the facts of each incident as we know them now, and use these as
teachable moments in situational awareness. Consider the "what if" in each of these incidents.
As these tragic
events demonstrate, not every violent incident can be anticipated. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) report that fire, EMS, and law
enforcement experts agree that being prepared can often make a difference.
The NFFF is
joined by the IAFC, CFSI, NFPA, and NVFC in an effort to get fire chiefs,
company officers and firefighters to ask critical questions that will help
evaluate a department’s ability to effectively deal with a violent situation. Nine
Questions You Should Ask is the work of Chief John Oates of East Hartford,
CT, based on the report from a focus group of fire, EMS and law enforcement
leaders held last year in Baltimore. That report has identified 14 National
Recommendations to identify potential risks and stay safe. The full report is available here.
Below is a
summary of Nine Questions You Should Ask.
Detailed information on the
questions and resource material, including the final report, are available here.
Nine Questions
You Should Ask
1. Do you use
risk/benefit analysis for every call?
2. Do you
have an effective relationship at all levels with the law enforcement agencies
in your community?
3. How good
is the information you get from your dispatcher?
4. Do you
allow members to “first respond” directly to the scene?
5. Does your
law enforcement agency use an incident management system?
6. When
responding to a potentially violent incident, do you seek out a law enforcement
officer when you arrive?
7. Have you
told your fire officers/personnel that it is OK to leave the scene if things
start to turn bad?
8. Is there a
point where you don’t respond or limit your response to violent incidents?
9. Is your
uniform easily mistaken for law enforcement?
I believe every
firefighter/medic can agree that situational awareness is important on every
call and should become a regular routine in how you prepare yourself and your
crew to respond to the increasing demand for emergency fire and emergency medical services including violent incidents.
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