inSCIghts

Gunfire and IEDs in Assault Against Smalltown USA Fire Department

September 29th, 2011 | Author: Dr. Ross Riggs

Toledo Fire Dept Under Assault

All of the First Responders who read this, I want you to remember something very clearly, the next time some brilliant citizen, councilman or even co-worker says to you… “It will never happen here in this small town” I implore you to take the necessary affirmative action to help him or her understand the folly...no, rather, the almost criminal negligence of that statement!

This week the Homeland Security Network reported in their Actionable Intelligence Report that not one, but three times in as many days three different fire stations in the City of Toledo Ohio were either fired upon by an unknown gunman or, in one case, an IED was left in front of the building and was made safe by the local bomb squad before anyone was killed or injured. Please allow that to sink in.

Unless you are from Ohio you probably have never heard of Toledo unless through some comedians disparaging remarks about Ohio overall, or Toledo specifically, or unless you are a fan of MASH, the hit TV series of the 1970′s. Corporal Klinger, the cross-dressing draft dodger, hailed from Toledo, loved his “Mudhens", and even got Col. Potter to wear a Toledo Mudhen baseball hat in certain episodes. One would think it doubtful that buried in the back hills of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden had a master plan for taking out Toledo Ohio. Toledo is not far from Detroit Michigan that had, at one time, the largest single population of Muslims in the U.S. - but does that make this terrorist attack one by Islāmic extremists?

Many years ago I led a serial arson investigation, one fire after another in a different small town in Ohio. Those were the work of wanna-be firefighters who didn’t have what it takes to be a real hero. Maybe that is what is going on in Toledo, we won’t know until the facts are all in. But, First Responders, you have to understand situational awareness. apparently these firefighters are either lucky or someone has their head on straight. When gunfire sounded and bullets ripped through the apparatus bay windows, no one was hurt. Someone knew enough when they saw this suspicious item in front of the station to not touch it and instead call the bomb squad to check it. So, was it luck or awareness? I don’t know. I know this… luck cannot be counted on. It is never there when you need it. If your department doesn’t talk about things like risk assessments, analysis, contingency planning, or training for tactical emergency medical care then, as an informed reader, you must get them to listen. That is my biggest obstacle in doing the work that I do. Fighting the ‘it won’t happen here’ mentality and finding ways to get people to listen.

On October 29th, a Saturday, SCI is hosting an 8am to 4pm seminar on Tactical Emergency Medical Response for all First Responders, police, fire, EMS (private and public) through the Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio, just off IS77. I hope the room is filled to overflowing. Be safe, be aware, stay alive…  As Colonel Potter said once in MASH, “Someback home loves you, don’t ask me why.”