It was Wednesday, June 21 — Safety Stand Down Day. I stood before a group of emergency responders, preparing for the presentation I was to give. But all that was on my mind was the thought that in the previous 72 hours, five emergency responders had died in motor vehicle accidents. One, a firefighter in New Mexico, was killed in a crash when his department vehicle overturned on an interstate highway. Four others, German firefighters, were killed when their engine overturned after being struck by another vehicle.

The New Mexico firefighter was off duty. The German firefighters had been responding to an unannounced drill at a local school. Considering the strict safety standards imposed on emergency responders worldwide, I cannot believe that these emergency responders died the way they did: They were all ejected! What does that tell you? Duh, think quick … it means they were not wearing safety belts!

So far in 2006 we have killed nine firefighters or EMS personal in line-of-duty motor vehicle accidents, just in the United States. In 2005 we killed 26 fire and EMS personnel — and a number of civilians — in accidents involving fire apparatus and ambulances in the United States. (These figures include both public and private agencies.) More then half of these deaths probably could have been prevented if the personnel involved had been wearing safety belts. Almost all of these deaths were of firefighters ejected from their vehicles.

You’ll notice that I use the word we. That’s because firefighting and EMS has a lot in common with baseball or football. It isn’t something you can do alone. It takes a team. And that means we are killing our own personnel because we are letting our teammates drive recklessly, we aren’t wearing seat belts, and we are committing other unsafe acts. We are the people who are afraid to report such actions to our supervisors because we don’t want to offend our teammates or be known as company “snitches.” We can pound all of the driver education in the world into each other, but until we all pay attention and agree that this isn’t a joke or waste of time, we will continue to blame everyone but ourselves for mistakes that we make.

Until we all get together and open our eyes, and we all agree that this is a serious problem, we will continue to hear about incidents like these. We will continue to die until we all agree it has to stop. And that means everyone, fire and EMS, career and volunteer.

The next time the thought crosses your mind that you don’t want to stop for the traffic signal, or you don’t want to wear a seatbelt, or you are in too much of a hurry to stop at a railroad crossing, think about your loved ones. Carry pictures of them with you at all times. The next time before you try one of these little stunts, get those pictures out and take a good look at them.

If you’re in the pictures, put your thumb over your face so you can see how your loved ones will look without you after you’re gone. We will be glad to turn out for your wake and funeral. We as a team will support your loved ones when you’re gone.

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Dave Malinow is the safety inspector/safety officer for Superior Air Ground Ambulance Service Inc., Elmhurst, Ill., and safety chairman of the New Lenox Fire Protection District, New Lenox, Ill.