Firefighters here see the tough calls

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From Recordonline.com

Firefighters here see the tough calls

By Doyle Murphy

Times Herald-Record

October 25, 2007

Hudson Valley — Firefighters prefer to play offense.

When the challenge comes, they seek the fire and attack, racing the flames to save lives and property before the blaze claims them. It's a race firefighters hate to lose.

That's what makes it so hard for firefighters to watch those flames on the other side of the country. The fires of Southern California have burned wildly, so uncontrollably that West Coast firefighters have admitted resolution will come only when the winds die or worse — the fuel is gone.

"We don't like to say we're beat," Circleville Chief Walter Szulwach said.

Firefighting is different here than on the West Coast where residents speak of "Wildfire Season" as though it were spring or fall, but every department's leader has had to make the decision at some time to switch to defense. In the Hudson Valley, that might mean saving the house next door or containing flames to a smaller area. It's a decision based on safety.

"What you have to do as a leader is make the decision that's best for your personnel, the people around you and the property around you," Szulwach said.

Firefighters in Southern California have had to leave thousands of homes to flames.

Fire officials agreed it's the smart decision but not easy.

"To stand by and just watch somebody's house burn, that's a tough call to make," Montgomery fire Chief Bob Reynolds Sr. said. "I don't think any fire chief around here would like to make that call."

But when the decision is there, good information makes it more manageable, said Richard Martinkovic, Sullivan County fire commissioner and commissioner of public safety.

In the end, it comes down to risk vs. safety. Offense vs. defense.