Eight Firefighters Injured In Highway Crash
Eight California firefighters were injured, six seriously, in a highway crash. Apparently a ladder in the roadway caused a car to swerve, and in an attempt to avoid it the fire vehicle, which appeared to be a personnel bus, hit the guardrail and overturned. Nothing can detract from the tragedy of the accident and the heroism of the firefighters.
But consider the 12-hour shift they were reported to have completed while fighting a wildfire. Sometimes they serve 24-hour shifts – not sitting around the firehouse, but doing the grueling work of fighting a wildfire.
Similarly, LAPD works three 12-hour shifts or four 10-hour shifts. They enjoy working shorter weeks, which enables them to work side jobs, which enable them to feed their families.
Having trained at the old San Francisco County Hospital back in the Jurassic Era, I can tell you something about lack of sleep. Sometimes I became irritable, and snapped at people I liked. And sometimes I acted drunk, telling bad jokes that were even worse than the jokes I usually tell, then laughing at them uproariously myself.
Would you want your life in the hands of a doctor who acted drunk? Or would you want your life in the hands of a police officer, firefighter, or paramedic who lacked sleep to the point of being barely rational? I would not.
I know something about machismo. I've had spells of it myself. But saying "I'm fine" when you are not fine, or even barely okay, is dangerous to yourself and others. And that should be unacceptable.
The firefighter driving that fire vehicle might not have been able to avoid a crash if he were the world Formula One champion. The police officer who fired his weapon in dubious circumstances might have done the same if he were Wyatt Earp. But maybe they could have done better if they had adequate sleep.
And the doctor who wrote a dangerous prescription, then barely caught his mistake and rewrote it, might have done better if he had a good night's sleep. I know. It was me.