Fire chiefs are experiencing the same problem that plagues presidential candidates and Hollywood starlets — the relentless wave of instant digital images and information.

Shortly after the Charleston, S.C., tragedy, Jay Lowry created the Firefighter Hourly Web log. A former Charleston firefighter and fire marshal, Lowry's blog became a central repository for breaking news and background information on the Charleston Fire Department. His aggressive posting of information from traditional news organizations and original items from an insider's perspective made Firefighter Hourly a go-to for traditional national media.

Even departmental information is subject to immediate and unfiltered access. Two days after three FDNY officials were disciplined in response to the Aug. 18 firefighter fatalities at the Deutsche Bank, the New York Post published a two-year-old memo from a battalion chief outlining a tactical plan for the building that was allegedly ignored by fire department senior staff. It appears a common mainstream media practice to publish incoming 911 calls and the fire department radio traffic during significant incidents.

A blog is a Web site where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other sites and related media. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. As of September 2007, Technorati was tracking more than 106 million blogs.

Blogs received national attention in February 2005 when conservative bloggers helped force the resignation of top CNN news executive Eason Jordan over remarks he made at the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland. A 23-year veteran of CNN, Jordan drew ire after he allegedly said that U.S. forces in Iraq targeted journalists on several occasions. Jordan quickly modified his comments, but his remarks, made during an off-the-record discussion, were paraphrased on a Web site immediately after the forum. From there, two weeks of escalating criticism and demands on Jordan to explain exactly what he said ensued. Jordan resigned.

New York-based publisher Michael Cader made the following observation during a blogging versus journalism debate on the Poynter Institute's journalism forum: “Yes, lots of journalists do considerable digging and even put their lives on the line to develop stories. But let's be honest for a moment — lots of stories happen because they fell in someone's lap, and that someone was able to take them to an audience. Do you really think that one of the next Abu Ghraib's isn't going to show up on a blog first because it's easy and instantaneous? Or that Watergate-like documents won't show up on the equivalent of a Smoking Gun?”

The Economist published a special survey on new media in April 2006 where Poynter's Amy Gahran declared, “Amateurs can learn to produce high-quality news content.” The newspaper editors who run The Editors Weblog disagreed. They made the following points:

“And of course the principles of journalism that she (Gahran) lists have little to nothing to do with amateur citizen journalists (bloggers):

• Objectivity: Blogs are inherently biased.
• Accuracy: Bloggers don't really report so what's there to be accurate about?
• Corroboration: Blogging and commenting are one-man shows.…
• Avoid conflicts of interest: … One-man shows with a personal motive.
• Transparency: Bloggers are pretty good at this by linking to background material, but some still post and comment anonymously.
• Editorial oversight: Against the whole concept of a blog.”

Lowry's blog demonstrates many of these amateur citizen journalist features, with two significant exceptions. Lowry is an engineer and a fire service subject-matter expert. He has served on several NFPA technical committees and has published articles in fire service publications. Lowry worked with other fire service leaders and subject-matter experts to move the Charleston story forward, providing original reporting on aspects of the tragedy.

During a crisis, a fire department can't remain silent — communication is always necessary. Not showing up for the conversation does not count. According to Corello, the seven cardinal rules of effective risk communication are:

1. Involve the public as a legitimate partner.

2. Plan and evaluate your efforts.

3. Listen to specific concerns.

4. Be honest, frank and open.

5. Collaborate with other credible sources.

6. Meet needs of the media.

7. Speak clearly.

Interim Fire Chief David Rohr demonstrated this approach in response to a Fairfax County (Va.) townhouse fire where an occupant was on the phone to 911 up to the arrival of the first fire company. The occupant was found about 30 minutes into the event, during a secondary search.

When WUSA Channel 9 reporter David Statter met with Rohr, the incident timeline developed by the reporter was confirmed. Rohr's response was “We should have found her.” Rohr also said he does not know why firefighters could not find the woman in time to save her. Rohr is hoping a post-incident analysis of the events will provide some answers.

Statter is a former volunteer firefighter/cardiac-rescue technician and Prince George's County (Md.) dispatcher who established STATter911, a fire/rescue-based blog in 2007. He posts additional information, videos links and “the story behind the story.”

The Los Angeles Fire Department has embraced digital technology, using a Web site, Web feeds and blogs to provide internal and external fire department information. Some of the LAFD public-information officers regularly interact with local bloggers and buff sites.

Bttn. Chief Evan Williams started the LAFD Battalion 14 blog as an experiment. The blog provided excellent local resources and information. Since William's retirement, the blog site is not as regularly updated.

Many official fire department Web sites are static. They are updated annually, quarterly or monthly. It is a digital public window and links to other departmental or local government sites.

Since Hurricane Katrina, many emergency management Web sites are more dynamic with up-to-date weather reports and situation updates. Florida and California provide good examples.

A fire chief's challenge is the explosion of locally developed Web sites and blogs run by individual department members. Thousands of fire companies run Web sites. For example, 30 of the 37 volunteer fire companies in Prince George's County run a Web site, as does the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, Fire Commission, IAFF Local 1619 and the county fire department. Not surprisingly, some inter-department conflicts arise due to the pictures, videos and commentary posted on individual company sites.

Fire investigators have complained that the immediate posting of digital pictures and videos could interfere with ongoing investigations. Many investigators have asked Web site operators to remove digital images until an investigation is completed.

There also has been concern about the role of on-duty firefighters taking pictures and videos during the initial emergency scene operations. It might seem inappropriate or unacceptable for the initial fire attack crew members to slow their actions in order to obtain good images. The use of images from helmet or vehicle mounted cameras remain unclear.

Arlington County (Va.) Fire Chief James Schwartz developed a policy for the use of digital images taken by on-duty firefighters for use on unofficial fire company sites. They must use a digital camera provided by the department and a battalion chief needs to review and approve the images before they can be posted.

It is clear that blogs and unofficial Web sites are affecting the mainstream news media. They accelerate the news cycle and require fire chiefs to anticipate that a firefighter video posted on YouTube or an item found in a social networking site on a Sunday night might be the leading news item on Monday morning.

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Asst. Professor Michael J. Ward runs the online EMS management program at The George Washington University. Ward has three decades in fire/rescue service, including 25 years as a firefighter/paramedic with Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue, retiring as the acting EMS division administrator. Ward was the primary author of NFPA's Fire Officer: Principles and Practice and former fire science program head. He can be contacted through his faculty Web page, http://home.gwu.edu/~mikeward/.

For More Info

www.oes.ca.gov
California Office of Emergency Management

www.firefighterhourly.com
Firefighter Hourly blog

www.floridadisaster.org/index/asp
Florida Department of Emergency Management

http://lafd.org
Los Angeles Fire Department

www.battalion14.blogspot.com
LAFD Battalion 14 blog

www.poynter.org
Poynter Institute

www.wusa9.com/news/columnist/blogs/davestatter.aspx
STATter911

www.technorati.com
Technorati

www.editorsweblog.org
World Editors Forum