WHY ARE WE ALL GROUPED TOGETHER?...

There is  a term that is being used more and more today. This term is starting to really strike a nerve with me and others. The term I am speaking about is "First Responder".

This term is all to commonly used to lump firefighters, paramedics, police, and anyone else that showed up on scene into one big life saving melting pot. This just isn't true.

Now please do not misunderstand my frustration for ignorance. We all know that all of those professions are important to the population and the community they serve. Even though all of these different organizations (FD, PD, EMS) may be on scene at the same time, they perform vastly different functions. 

This article is not attempting to gain more or less recognition for one department over another. It is just time that the media and the public separate us and what we do, so that we all do not get trapped under the overused term of First Responder.

Some of you that may be reading this may believe this is just a matter of semantics and be thinking so what?

Well think again....

You see firefighters and firefighting is a specialty just as police work and ems care is, so why paint such a broad picture to describe what these people specifically do by using the term First Responder..

We all understand that it is not expected of a police officer to run into a burning structure and attempt to put it out. We understand that a fire engine will not be in "hot pursuit" of a bank robber.

So if we know all this, then why are we all still grouped together as First Responders? You would think that since we are all First Responders a police officer could place a band aid on a scratch of the person they have in custody instead of calling out an ambulance to do the exact same thing. We are all First Responders right? You would think that since we are all First Responders firefighters would be able to tell when a woman is just upset with her husband after having an argument instead of calling out the paramedics to talk with her. We are all First Responders right? Wrong..

You see we all have roles we do, and we all do our roles very well. But to group everyone together as First Responders is inaccurate and unfair. It takes credit away from what a department actually does. So why is the term used at all right?

The easy answer is people are lazy. Laziness of the people and media to find out what each department actually does and provides. This is whether they are on a emergency scene or not, the public needs to know what services each department provides to them on a daily basis. The media loves to strip down details of a story to it's most common cause and answer and then report as quickly as they can in the simplest way possible. Laziness..

Story specifics needs to be applied. Reporting who is doing or what they are doing is important. Giving credit to that department is a small reason to do this kind of reporting. By reporting what a department is doing the people and the public will know how their tax dollars are exactly being spent and what kind of service they are receiving for them.

When using the term First Responder the public has no idea who did what, but they do know the job got done. This softens the facts as to what really happened and blurs the events. Does anyone really care who is there and what they are doing? Or is just a sea of flashing lights enough for the public to see and know? In our opinion, the public deserves to know exactly who is doing what. Now this may not make some departments happy, because they may have to change they way do things. 

But it is time we re-think our terms and how we use them...

Firefighters and firefighting tells a straight forward story and allows the public to know who is doing what. It allows credit to be given where credit is due (by the public). We must also acknowledge what the other departments due - the police blocking traffic or making the scene safe for the firefighters and paramedics - to the medics for providing high quality patient care and transporting patients to the hospitals. But do not bunch all of these together as First Responders any longer - Call us by our titles..

Firefighters need to be recognized for our efforts as firefighters and not as First Responders.

When the news has something negative to report about firefighters or their departments, do they use the term First Responder then? NO, why you ask?

Because they know that the term firefighter is a catch phrase. It catches the attention of everyone young and old. Well this needs to work both ways. If we get direct criticism, we should get direct praise because the public deserves to know.

Making it sound like others took part in a incident or an emergency when they actually did nothing is misleading and very often inaccurate. Reporters and PIOs need to report the information correctly and give the individual recognition where it is warranted.

Is that too much to ask for from the people that influence the public opinion about each said department? I don't thinks so..

Each department is it's own house and does not need to be grouped as one..

Reject any term that turns you into a generic entity....