In honor of tomorrow, I’d like to dedicate this blog to the Charleston 9.  Unfortunately, there are actually two South Carolina “Charleston 9’s” and both are very tragic stories.  Today, I am here to talk about the City of Charleston Fire Department’s “Charleston 9”. 

On June 18th 2007, there was a large commercial building fire at the Sofa Super Store in an area of the City of Charleston known as “West Ashley”.  I can remember this day like it was yesterday, because this was the day that completely shaped my entire life and career. On that day, nine firefighters were killed in the largest Line-of-Duty Death incident since 9/11.  Two of those firefighters were friends of mine; I served at a volunteer fire department alongside them as well.  These were men that I had gone into burning buildings with, ran numerous calls with, and literally would have put my life in their hands if something were to have happened to me on scene.  Now, this is an EMS site so I won’t go into the specifics of this incident, however there is a valuable lesson that can be taken from this, and that is how important training is.

There were MANY factors that went into this incident; some of which may have been avoided with adequate training. By no means am I trying to blame these fine men who laid down their lives to help others, but, what I am saying is:

It’s simple, without adequate training  WE ARE DESTINED FOR FAILURE!!!

Tradition has plagued this career for too many years, and it has to stop here.  I know the saying is “why reinvent the wheel”, but when that wheel is going to harm, or even kill someone, something needs to change.  I’m tired of hearing the statement “well that’s just how we’ve always done it”.  Just because that’s how you’ve always done it, doesn’t make it right.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

– Rita Mae Brown

Why is it that the medical field is CONSTANTLY changing and adapting, but many field crews continue to do the same things that they were taught back in EMT school, no matter how long ago that was???  We look back at the practice of placing sandbags on someone’s chest to assist with a pneumothorax and think “how the hell did they ever think of doing such a thing?”.  Well I’ll tell you… EVERYTHING IN THE MEDICAL FIELD IS TRIAL AND ERROR!!!  The medical field is always adapting and creating new and better ways to do EVERYTHING.  Want a more recent example? How about backboards?  I’m sure half of the people reading this right now are irritated that I would even mention backboards, but it’s true.  Now, I’m not going to argue the validity of their use today, but I’m willing to bet that they will be used MUCH less in the next couple years, when more evidence is brought to light on the negative effects that they can cause for our patients.

So why do I bring this all up? Because it is common practice in our field to acquire the necessary training to obtain the certifications that are required, and then we stop learning. Even if we attend continuing education classes, we are set in our ways and don’t necessarily want to change old practices.

You may be solely relying on information you learned when you were in school, that has more than likely been updated since you learned it, to get by.  This is not only irresponsible but can be dangerous for yourself, your partner, and your patient.  Similarly, you may be relying on your memory to recall the necessary information at the time of need.  Reading this, it may sound stupid, but at the end of the day we are all guilty of this to different degrees.

I can think of two VERY good paramedics at the service I currently work for, who are the top of this career when it comes to knowledge, and I have personally heard others say that their level of EMS knowledge is “useless”.  THIS COULD NOT BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!!!  You will NEVER know too much information when it comes to saving someone’s life.  The best of the best in any career didn’t get there by coincidence.  Skill takes time, and education is that time.  Without education, you are going to go around like a dog chasing its tail.

So what I want you to take away from this is this: Don’t ever place training and education on the backburner.  I’m not saying you need to dedicate your entire life to it, but I am saying to make it a priority.  You don’t have to become a “doctor on the streets”, you just need to do your best and keep up with your training/skills.  Sadly enough, if there had been continued training and development of skills with the City of Charleston Fire Department 14 years ago, two of my friends and a total of nine men who I call brothers may still be alive today.  Don’t ever forget that this job can actually be dangerous for everyone involved.  Do your part and train, train, train… And when you’re done, train some more!

Rest in peace brothers, gone but never forgotten

Captain Louis Mulkey (Engine 15)

Captain William Hutchinson (Engine 19)

Captain Mike Benke (Engine 16)

Engineer Bradford “Brad” Baity (Engine 19)

Engineer Mark Kelsey (Ladder 5)

Firefighter Melvin Champaign (Engine 16)

Firefighter Brandon Thompson (Ladder 5)

Firefighter James “Earl” Drayton (Engine 19)

Assistant Engineer Michael “Frenchie” French (Ladder 5)