The big news here in the East is this blizzard that will be dumping on the mid-Atlantic region this afternoon and all day tomorrow. Some of you Northerners and Canadians might snicker at a mere 20-inch snowfall, but here in Dixie it’s paralyzing event. When I was working, the standard routine, if you knew a storm was coming, was to drive in to work the night before and bunk in at the firehouse. (When you work a 24-hr shift, most people are commuters, sometimes from great distances.) And then you were pretty well set to relieve the other shift in a timely manner. If it was still wicked out there, the off-going shift would stick around and help out with the meals, etc.
But yesterday a notice came to my attention that I thought was really nice. In Fairfax County (Virginia) one of the Quality Inn hotels made an offer to the firefighters who would be stuck in the area because of snow conditions and can’t get home. They are offering a limited supply of FREE rooms from last night through Monday for firefighters who are scheduled to work over the weekend. Each room has two queen-size beds, refrigerator, microwave oven, and internet access (never far from Firegeezer!). With the shift changes, that would accommodate 4 people per room, which means that ten rooms could handle at least two stations worth of people.
I think that is a terrific gesture of civic assistance. It’s the first that I have heard of, but I’m sure it has been done elsewhere before. If any of you have had any similar experiences with local hotels, please take a moment and share with us how it was done.
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On another topic, I’d like to take a snippet from a comment that was left on a Facebook page (not the Firegeezer page, though) that is a good indicator of how this internet/social media thing is sorting out when it comes to fire and EMS practices. See how this strikes you when you first read it:
I learn a lot from reading the various blogs, articles, and other information out there. Then I practice new techniques as I learn them. It’s amazing to me how quickly I can apply some of the things I’ve learned from EMS social media.
Does this sound like something you have been doing or thinking about doing? Several of us at the FireEMSBlogs community have noticed a trend in this direction with more people looking to the dynamic websites for valuable information that will help them improve their skills used on emergency incidents. I’m talking about new techniques, not just a rehash of existing information like where to place a PPV fan, for example.
What do you think about this? Where would you like to see this facet of education develop? If you have a wish-list or a reaction that you’d like to share, please leave a Comment and let’s see where this goes.
But right now we “goes” to the apparatus and get the equipment checked out. I’ll get some more coffee started. We’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Morning Lineup – January 4 – January 4, 2011
