Should Fire-Rescue News be Jaded ?

[fungirlwriter]

Question: Your department/personnel are fighting fire/training,etc and are photographed. Someone notices you are not following safety proceedures for something in one of the photographs.

1) Should the department be protected and the photos not published,thereby hiding the mistake?


2) Should the photos be used as intended and be used as a teaching moment?

3)Should the mistake be pointed out to the department who committed it and what are your suggestions for doing this?

4)Should nothing be said,the photos used and let the chips fall where they may?

Honest feedback is appreciated.

[Fire 101]

I personally believe that every moment is a training moment.

If the photos are taken in a public forum, they are the property of the photographer and local law for publication applies.

Should the parties involved be publicly criticized and humiliated? I think not, but the incident should be pointed out to command staff at an appropriate time.

To answer the questions above:
1) No, the photos should not be suppressed to hide the mistake. This will have 1st amendment activists in an uproar, and place a negative light on the department as a whole when the subsequent article bashing the department for suppressing photos (without the photos) is published.
2) Yes, I think the photos can be used as intended, and allow the department to handle the safety violation as an internal matter. This is an opportunity to allow the press to show us they have a little respect for our line of work and prove they can be professional. Don't drag the department through the mud, allow the department room to handle what needs to be handled.
3) If the photographer has the professional courtesy and expertise to properly evaluate the problem, he/she could bring it to the chief officer, either by appointment or by mail, as a concern for the safety of the individual or crew with the appropriate references to code. Otherwise, the same notification can be made as a "Concerned Citizen" with any questions the person may have, without a threatening undertone.
4) This is certainly an option if the photographer wants to handle it this way. This strikes me as the option chosen by someone who does not want to be confrontational. This could also happen if the photographer doesn't really understand what they are taking pictures of. Unfortunately, this could blindside the department and still place them in a bad light, causing unintended 'bad blood' between the department and the media.

Finally, if the parties involved can be professional in their handling of the situation, everything can come out for the common good. The media gets their photos, the department gets their input and their training opportunity. This situation could go very good or very bad depending on how it is handled from the moment the photo is taken. Understanding on the part of the photographer is key to how the situation is handled. If brought to the department early, the media can still use their photo, describe training techniques and how the situation was appropriately handled by the department, turning a bad situation into what can be seen by the public as an effort to keep their firefighter safe in all situations.