Falling firefighter provides entertainment for some citizens with cameras. Remember it isn't just the press ready to take video of your every misstep.

NOTE: The video has now been removed by the user. A shame. I wrote all of these words about something that no longer exists. Well, I guess you had to be there.

And in case you weren't in on the joke earlier, this is what the videographer was laughing about and yelled. "This is going on fail blog".

You don't know how many times I've heard from firefighters and cops, "All the news media wants to do is show us messing up". I have made the point for a while that the traditional press may be the least of your worries these days. It's everyone else with a camera who are more likely to take video of your mistakes and show them to the world.

Here's an example from a fire in some trash bins at a Huntsville, Ontario Dollar Giant store (Firegeezer, who never met a Dollar store fire he didn't like, apparently missed this one). This is not one that is likely to get a lot of news coverage, though a local radio station's website has it. But, as you will hear, the local citizenry was very eager to get it on YouTube.

In this case they are promoting a "Firefighter fail at 1:57". Yes, you will see and hear the great entertainment those watching the fire get from a firefighter falling backwards over a curb onto his SCBA as he stretches a line. My back aches just seeing it from my chair (I have back issues). There is great excitement by the photographer to get this on YouTube.

Unless this was a serious injury to a firefighter, I wouldn't have seen it as newsworthy and it would not have made my story on the fire when I was in TV (even if it was a major blaze). I think most of the people I worked with would feel the same way. But a bystander with a camera doesn't necessarily have the filters (however skewed they are) that the more traditional news operations have (not that the news media's standards aren't being pushed lower and lower).

To me it's all about context. While I don't like to laugh at firefighters falling (unless the firefighter is laughing at himself) I think this video is probably okay for training. Maybe for a review of situational awareness and the hazards around during the everyday tasks a firefighter is involved in.

And that is the double edged sword of our cameras everywhere environment. Because of the fire paparazzi, this generation of the fire service has an enormous amount of material to use for training. And this includes firefighters falling. From the Pennsylvania fire a few days ago where a firefighter fell partially through the flaming roof of a house (I don't think anyone was laughing at that fall) to a video that was briefly on YouTube a few months ago of a Maryland firefighter who failed to lock in on a ladder before opening the nozzle and ended up on the ground.

I know I could show the Ontario and Maryland falls to almost any group of firefighters and there would be lots of laughter. But I am guessing there are a lot of you who don't like the idea of the public doing the same (as I am finishing this up I have noticed Rhett Fleitz, who claims to be a firefighter in Roanoke, has found this video and has this exact reaction). 

It is a natural feeling that is perfectly understandable. I haven't been a firefighter for thirty years and I feel the very same way (but I always need to double check my position when I find I am agreeing with Rhett). I guess it comes down to the age old question of whether they are laughing at you or with you.