FRI

I attended a very large Fire/Rescue/EMS conference recently. It reminded me of the commercialism in this business.

The ability to save lives is a commodity... it comes in different colors and sizes and prices. At the Zoll booth I performed compressions on a dummy for 2 minutes and won a Zoll t-shirt based on my efficiency. I saw the local fire dept's EMS chief wandering around, shopping for prams and monitors and ambulances and god-knows-what. A skinny lady with big boobs and a thick layer of makeup strutted around in a tight-fitting shirt and a fake pair of low-cut, form-fitting bunker pants... I have no idea what she was selling.

SCBAs, fire engines, mobile command posts, helmets, thermal imaging cameras, stair chairs, radios, spreaders, cutters, rams, forcible entry tools, turnout gear, burn buildings... the list of crap for sale is endless.

Fire, rescue, EMS... they're all industries and of course there's going to be entrepreneurs that capitalize on a need in any industry. But when is the purchasing just masturbatory? How many agencies spring for the really big pretty fire truck when the smaller version would be just fine? Why did my local police department just dump hundreds of thousands of dollars buying brand new cruisers with giant push bumpers and fancy paint jobs when the department has a "no-chase" policy (therefore no need for push bumpers at all) and the old cruisers were only a few years old and functioning just fine?