Tapes show split between fire officials, union
Video
Fire Department Training Video
Clips from a 2003 Charleston Fire Department training video.
Old fire training tapes that surfaced Thursday stand as a symbol of the division and distance between Charleston officials and the union that represents about half of the city's firefighters.
Union leaders view the 5-year-old tapes as fresh evidence of the department's antiquated tactics and unsafe ways. City officials see them as a slice of ancient history that say little or nothing about a department moving forward in the wake of last year's deadly Sofa Super Store fire.
The videos from 2003 show new recruits, or "probies," undergoing training at the Fire Department's Milford Street training site. They practice hooking up hoses, setting up ladders and rescuing dummies from smoke-filled rooms.
Much of the training is overseen by Battalion Chief Ricky Shriver, the department's chief training officer at the time. Shriver was recently reassigned, and the city has hired a veteran Virginia fire official to serve as director of a revamped and expanded training program.
In one training video, several firefighters without air packs sit inside a room laughing and joking as a sofa is ignited as part of a demonstration. At one point, Shriver, also not wearing an air pack, sits down on the burning couch, inches from the flames.
Another segment shows Shriver vigorously shaking a ladder as he stands near the top rungs, wearing no protective equipment. Another video shows firefighters without air packs enveloped in a cloud of black smoke as they practice dousing flames in a burning fire pit. They walk away covered in soot.
Michael Parrotta, president of the union-affiliated South Carolina Professional Firefighters Association, said there is no excuse for firefighters not wearing full protective gear, including air packs, when around a fire, whether it is training or real world. "It looks like a circus act," Parrotta said of the training tapes.
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said he had not seen the videos but stressed that the methods don't represent current training methods. "That is not how training is conducted now, and that will not happen in the future," he said. "That is the past; this is now."
Some critics said they are not convinced the old ways have been abandoned.
Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, cited the tapes during a press conference in Charleston on Thursday. He said a news photograph in Wednesday's Post and Courier showing firefighters without air packs dousing a car fire illustrates that some in the department still haven't embraced safe practices.
Roger Yow, head the local firefighters union and a former captain with 25 years experience, said a female recruit was recently injured during training performing ladder-raising techniques that the union has complained about.
Mark Ruppel, public information officer for the Fire Department, said the city could not comment on the incident because of personnel privacy issues.
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Paul (anonymous) says...
Let the firefighters all unionize and then see the massive changes that are needed take effect immediately !
March 28, 2008 at 6:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
The tapes just show water under the bridge that no one can do anything about. Both the city and union officials are politicians. They need to get their gut out of this, sit down and agree on some action steps, work up a price tag, and get started fixing whatever they both can agree on while continuing to talk about the other stuff.
March 28, 2008 at 8:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jameschucktown (anonymous) says...
Harpo, get a life. I haven't visited this site in a while but you have written the same thing today that you did weeks ago. No amount change and improvements at CFD are going to change your closed mind, as is the case with others who act like you. You must be one bitter person whose success in life is writing on blogs (which aren't worth reading).
March 28, 2008 at 9:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
firefightersforthetruth (anonymous) says...
These tapes show a history of disregrd for safety practises. It will not changed until the culture of the fire dept. is changed, nothing else will eather. These same type of poor practise are stll evident in the dept., view the photo taken on Monday. As of the last class of rookies these same things were taken place. Joe can spin all he wants, and thoses of you who wish to defend him have that right, but be assured this will expose the Mayor and the Chief to nation wide scurtny. The firefighters of this nation will not tolerate this type of culture to continue to put firefighters in more danger than is is already inherent in the job. Yes firefighting is a dangeous job but safety should always be a number one interest. If these people can not look out for their own mens saftey then why do you expect they would look out for the publics.
March 28, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ThePhink (anonymous) says...
chuckie is on this one.
Those who can't change their minds can't change anything.
Quit the past and begin the future. It's not so hard to do.
March 28, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LPhoenix98 (anonymous) says...
In fifteen years our knowledge of products of combustion haven't changed all that much. We do know more about them now then we did then but as a baseline fifteen years ago they were still known as extremely toxic, carcinogenic and something you should protect yourself from. The old training tapes of guys sitting in the burn-house without SCBA's is great if you want to use it to show new guys and rookies what NOT TO DO. I agree the dept needs to move forward but you can't reach the future without the lessons learned from the past. Also these tapes are only five years old and are contradictory to standard fire fighting training and doctrine not to mention OSHA and MSA mandates both state and federal at that time. How a training officer or fire Chief can sign off and let their guys be trained like this is very unsettling. I have never really cared much for ole' Joe and I always liked Chief Thomas but like I said in other posts it's all about personal accountability. If the upper echelon failed to take care of the guys five years ago, like not training firefighters to wear SCBA's or go up a ladder without any PPE, should we trust them to re-structure the safety and training of new firefighters? It's easy to say brush off the past and just look forward but we really have to be objective about this. Can someone competently handle the task at hand when they couldn't five years ago?
March 28, 2008 at 2:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jameschucktown (anonymous) says...
Harpo,
That is good advice but it is good to know what the stupid people are writing.
March 28, 2008 at 5:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Full terms and conditions can be read here.