UPDATE – Must see video: Handling the citizen complaint on the grocery store run

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NEW: Chiefs defend firefighters berated by citizen

UPDATE

If the man in the video below was looking to have his point hear loud and clear by lot of people he succeeded. His confrontation about the shopping habits of the firefighters has at least 4 million views on Facebook and YouTube. While STATter911 may have been among the first websites to share it it has since been picked up on sites beyond the fire service, like TheBlaze.com.

Zach Noble, The Blaze:

You don’t see people chewing out firefighters very often, but one irate Northern California man wasn’t afraid to give them an earful.

The man’s issue: Butte County firefighters were shopping in downtown Oroville, California, at a Raley’s grocery store instead of at the closer — but more expensive — Wagon Wheel Market.

EARLIER

This video provides a great lesson in public relations. The firefighters from Station 64 in Butte County, California were finishing up a grocery run when they were confronted by an angry citizen complaining they were shopping at a store that wasn’t near their firehouse. Watch how this is handled by the firefighters. The video was taken by another citizen who thought the complainer was out of line.

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They showed this man nothing but respect and told him how to follow-up on his concerns. The firefighters weren’t the least bit defensive or nasty. The citizen was on the attack and the firefighters did their best to de-escalate the situation rather than to give the man what he probably wanted … an argument.

Now, imagine how bad this could have looked for the firefighters if they had the same attitude toward community relations as the detective from NYPD we showed you a few days ago in a confrontation with a Uber driver (Click here for that must see video).

These firefighters acted as if there was a camera rolling on them all of the time while they are on duty. And in this case there was one.