Most of my Post about Denver Post Reporters has been blocked.

Seems my post about the reporters for the Denver Post got someones attention, the last half of the blog has been censored so if you want to finish reading it you can see it on my other blog, here http://bloggingfirefighter.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your support.

Denver Post could have Saved More live than Rescuers!

It seems the Denver Post has hired two extraordinarily gifted emergency medical advisors, or possibly two desperately stupid reporters that feel that from the safety of their adorably decorated cubicles they can fairly judge the conduct of the emergency personnel that responded to the Aurora shootings.

It seems Karen E. Crummy (no irony in her name and her reporting is there) and Chucky Murphy feel there is some story here, they imply cowardice on the part of some responders. They imply that some medical crews were hiding out mere blocks away from this tragedy because they were unwilling to risk themselves.

By Karen E. Crummy and Chuck Murphy
The Denver Post

Read more: Aurora shooting: Ambulances available but many went unused - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/theatershooting/ci_21168806#ixzz21vJVtdtr
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Well I’m sure with the staggering experience these two valiant reporters have in dealing with chaotic, dangerous, and unpredictable scenes entitles them to sit in judgment over the men and women who do this work on a daily basis. The sheer volume of their collective reporting must afford them their clearly superior position.

This is how they choose to begin their piece.

“Even as Aurora police begged for ambulances at the scene of last week's theater massacre, at least six nearby medical responders weren't called to the scene for 20 to 35 minutes — or were never called at all.”

Well there you have it why write further? Definitive proof that these cowards were hiding out in dark alleys with their lights turned off, ducking down in their seats any time someone walked by. It is obvious at this point there must be a full investigation and some heads should roll.

I’m sure if Karen and Chuck had left their offices or homes that night they undoubtedly would have scooped one of these poor souls up on to their back and carried them to a hospital on foot.

After all they have been reporting on tragedies of all kinds for years. They know this business as well as any paramedic or EMT does, they know what it is like to be in the shit. Heck I’m sure the newsroom gets pretty chaotic some days, especially when someone brings in homemade cookies, you know those big fat chocolate chewy chip ones. Now that is scary when you get the news of the arrival late and have to fight your way in there for some of that sweet goodness. I’m sure they have seen some bad injures when a hand got mistaken for a cookie.

Because reporting on emergencies days later is just like being there. I’m sure they have conducted numerous interviews with the innocent people traumatized by this horror. I’m sure as they pressed the phone against their shoulder and ear, cookie in hand, pen in the other; they really felt just like they were there. They could have done a better job; they could have saved those people.

Let try and throw just a little light on this subject. First off

I am a retired firefighter/paramedic with over 30 years on the streets. I wasn’t in Aurora that night and have never worked a mass shooting (thank you God) like this.

What I have done is to be part of a brotherhood and sisterhood of heroes that willingly put their lives on the line for others on a daily basis. They don’t do it from the safety of an office cubicle, they do it on the streets.

They go home with the blood of others on their clothes, with the smell of sulfur and death in their noses and minds. They hear the screams of the innocent for years afterwards. It’s their feet that slip around on a blood covered floor, and it’s in their nightmares when they get home.

So judge your asses off Karen and Chuck, second guess the actions of people that if called will still gladly risk their lives to save your miserable souls. I understand the search for “News” under these conditions, hell you have resumes to build, national by-lines to gather, awards to consider. Yeah I know you secretly are searching for your Pulitzer, it just might be in this story somewhere.

So as you big through the garbage cans you like to visit searching for your award know this. You have succeeded in rubbing salt in the wounds of some very good people.

Do either of you know the SOP’s of any of these organizations? Do you understand that every single rescuer that was being held back that night is second guessing themselves? I assure that it was killing them to be held back, out of the action. Every fiber in them was screaming turn us loose there are people that we can help.

But we don’t have the luxury of freelancing, we have a structure a command structure that is designed to make things like this better not worse. If all the available resources were allowed to self dispatch on this emergency the scene would have quickly devolved into pure chaos.

A huge traffic jam was already in place, hundreds trying to flee, dozens trying to get in and help and all under completely unknown conditions. One of first rules is, don’t become part of the problem.

As a paramedic I am sure that the first arriving medics had it handled, we use a system of triage. Decisions have to be made quickly and without emotion as to who gets what treatment and in what order. Ambulances and transport vehicles are held at a distance until needed to reduce congestion and confusion, and with a huge scene like this you call for every resource you can get.

As the paramedics on scene triaged the wounded they would request transport as needed and those units waiting at a distance would flow in, gather their patients and then leave.

Also all area hospitals are not created equal. Some can’t take certain types of injuries. The triage medics have to keep this in mind and communicate with the individual emergency rooms real time to see what destinations are able to take what kinds of injures and in what quantity. If too many critical patients are sent to one hospital then the treatment of those patients will suffer or they will have to be moved again.

Did either of these courageous reporters stop to think about the tremendous responsibility of a job like that? Can you imagine having that many lives hanging in the balance, doing your very best to help all those people, and then days later be second guessed by the press?

How rude!

Karen and Chuck educate yourselves in our ways before you judge us on very little information. Your jobs maybe important, after all getting information out to a curious public is your job.

But guess what our jobs are critical, we save lives while you seek to damage those very lives. To quote Aaron Sorkin’s character Col. Nathan Jessep from A Few Good Men,
“I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.”

Top 10 Reasons to be a Firefighter.

There are many reasons to be a firefighter, some obvious and some maybe not so obvious. So here are my Top 10 Reasons to be a firefighter.

1) Everyone thinks you are a hero, even if you don’t believe that yourself. After the fires here in Colorado Springs, I am of the opinion that all of my former co-workers are freaking heroes and so does this entire city. The men and women of the Colorado Springs Fire Department (and all the other agencies that helped) proved themselves on that Tuesday night and the entire week of the fire to be heroic. So there I said it.

2) Chicks dig firemen it goes without saying I know, but it is true and as long as a fireman stays single he is free to explore that level of attraction from the fairer sex. Once he marries he becomes just another married guy and losses all his super powers.

3) We get paid to have more fun at work than any other profession outside of stand-up comedy. The fun had at work by firefighters is legendary even if not well publicized. I laughed more at work then in any other environment in the world. Truly some of the best day I ever had were in a firehouse. Oh but it is such a serious profession how can it be taken lightly? We don’t take the job for granted but we do have fun in between doing it and not doing it.

4)  We save lives, straight up save lives. There are people walking around today having dinner, playing with their kids, painting their houses, celebrating Christmas, anniversaries and birthdays because we showed up and did our job. Is there anything cooler than that in the world than doing that? None that I can think of and on those days when a formerly dead person stops by the fire station and says thanks, man those are great days.

5) When we get dressed for work nobody asks us what we do. We wear the coolest uniform. You may not know this but all that gear we wear at a fire costs around $1000 for a coat and $700 for pants, it also weighs in at over 100 pounds with air pack, helmet, tool belt and other add-ons. Why so much? Well it lets us walk around in fire and good stuff like Globe, Ranger, and Darley are well worth the bucks.

6) Kids dig us. There aren’t, in my opinion enough heroes for kids now days so firefighters, cops and military personal are a good source for kids. There is nothing like riding down the street on big red and spotting a kid in the car next to you waving their little arm off, it’s like being in a parade every day.

7) We have a front row seat at the biggest events you see on the news. We get to go to all that stuff you see on the evening news, all the stuff you wonder about, all the stuff you slow down to gawk at. We are there. I’m not saying what we see and do is anything you should envy, on the contrary leave that stuff to us, watch it on the news and please stop with the rubber-necking you slow traffic down to a crawl and for what? Do you really hope to see something horrifying? Just keep driving. I mean it.

8) Many nights we get paid to sleep, as a police officer friend of mine likes to say. “You firefighters have the second oldest job in the world and make your money the same way. Flat on your backs in bed.” To which we always say “Hey if you had scored a little higher on the entrance exam you could have been a firefighter too.” They are so jealous of us those cops.

9) We have job security because people are always doing stupid stuff. Even with all the public awareness about fires, they still happen. Even with really safe cars people crash, even with a gym on every corner people are still out of shape, fat, unhealthy and will need us. Oh yeah and don’t forget according to the news we get to retire at age 20 with 3 weeks of service and collect a million dollars a year in pensions, so we have that going for us.

10) We love our job. We have the coolest job on the planet and we know it, many would do it and do it for free. Never have I missed being a firefighter as bad as I did a few weeks ago as I stood on my front porch and watched my home town burn for hours. I would have given anything to have been up there on the mountain with my bros fighting fire one more time.

So there you have it my personal opinion on why being a firefighter is so cool.