Previous discussions of wetdowns here, here, & here.
See other wetdowns from homer218 on YouTube
In the summer of 2009 STATter911.com readers had a very lively discussion over the issue of fire department wetdowns (see the links above). As you can imagine, some readers thought they are an important part of the fire department and the community. Others saw the ceremonies and celebrations as potential liabilities for departments.
The video above is from a wetdown at New Jersey's Sea Bright Fire Department on October 9 of last year. It was shot by homer218 on YouTube who attends a lot of wetdowns. Reporter Dustin Racioppi at redbrankgreen.com reports an incident that stemmed from this event (apparently not seen on the video) now has three firefighters scheduled to be in court today. Racioppi identifies them as Steven and Peter Lang IV, who are brothers, and Justin Hughes.
Both Langs were scheduled to move up in rank within the department, but those promotions (Steven to second lieutenant and Peter to assistant chief) have been held up because of the pending charges.
Here's more from redbankgreen.com:
According to court documents, the brothers assaulted firefighter Justin Hughes, who was injured in the attack and has yet to return to active duty.
According to police records, the Lang brothers committed an “act of simple assault upon Justin Hughes with the purpose to cause bodily injury” on the evening of the wet-down.
Peter Lang IV, 33, of Ocean Avenue, grabbed and choked Hughes to the ground, and kicked him in the abdomen, according to the police report. Steven Lang, 25, of Sandpiper Lane, pushed Hughes, of Ocean Avenue, twice and put him in a headlock, the complaint says.
Steven Lang, on the same day as the incident, was named as a complaining witness against Hughes, 28, who was issued a summons with harassment, disorderly conduct, badmouthing and offensive language, according to court records.
Also on STATter911 …
- Fight between firefighters following Sea Bright, New Jersey wetdown caught on video. Clip from firehouse bar shown at trial. – May 8, 2011
- Day in court for the Sea Bright, New Jersey wetdown assaults. Judge’s ruling allows two brothers to hold onto rank. – October 7, 2011
- UPDATE – Video added: Car explodes in Arlington County, Virginia. A bad couple of days for BMWs. – January 11, 2011
- Macon-Bibb County FD’s Stephanie Burke now demoted to lieutenant because of prank on rookies. New information on the former captain’s role. – September 30, 2011
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I have ties to that area of Coastal NJ and have been to several wetdowns up there. Before the penut gallery comments, let me say that you cannot compare the fire service of that area to Washington DC and it's suburbs, apples to oranges.
Yes, wet downs are a tradition and are alot of fun. In most cases, they are without issue. They usually are not fire department exclusive events and typically open to all in the community. Most of the communities up there are small and everyone knows everyone else.
Unlike the DC area, most of those departments run well under 200 calls per year or less and have no paid fire fire fighters. In my experience with Monmouth County, yes there is alot of alcohol at those events but there is usually good security provided by the local police departments and paid for by the departments hosting the wetdown. As far as operations are concerned, during those events there will typically be stand-by crews from other departments who are not partaking in the festivities and will usually be on stand-by for 24 hours. But when you run so few calls, it usually is not an issue.
Nothing to do with the wetdown but probably had everything to do with alcohol. Maybe we should bring back prohibition. Or maybe this is why it is illegal to assualt someone.
Beside the fact that these guys are firefighters I dont see the issue with the wetdown. They werent assaulted with the deck gun…
Nice rainbow…………….$HITTY STREAM! LOL!!!!!
Pointing a hand line at someones face . . . moronic.
wetdown – I don't get it.
Allegedly grown men with million dollar supersoakers. How embarrasing for the fire service.
I don't get it…this is fun? They make the fire service look ridiculous.
They should take up kick ball or somehting else. Using FD equipment to play around like this is foolish, also I'm guessing the drinks in the cups are alcohol? Which belongs no where near moving rigs…
Just my opinion.
Ok I'm glad this idiocy isn't wide spread in the fire service. So lets see you get a new rig and you baptize it by wetting it down with water, and in the process get drunk, fail to run calls, damage property and hurt people? How about this for new a tradition, DON'T DO STUPID SH*T THAT MAKES THE ENTIRE FIRE SERVICE LOOK LIKE INBRED BOOBS!!!! I mean whats next? "Hey chief how about we baptize our new rig by setting it on fire?" I know, we'll call it a burn up!
Us paid guys call a "wet down", washing the truck.
Vollies, and they wonder why no one takes them serious.
OK, the peanut gallery comments do not suprise me at all since most of us can't see past the noses on our own faces. In the area where Sea Bright is located, Coastal Monmouth County, those departments run fewer then 200 calls per year. The hosting department will have a neighboring departments standing-by for them just as you all do for your Christmas parties and Banquets so no call is missed. And if any of you think this is a paid volunteer issue, many of the volunteers in these communities are paid fire Fighters for departments in North Jersey or even FDNY.
To all you hollier then though paid or volunteer fire fighters out there who think the fire service begins and ends with there own departments need to get of those high horses. The video that you see above is maybe one tenth of the event, most of the ceremony is speechies by community leaders and members of the department. Yes there is alcohol and food at these events, but they are usually open to the community which they serve and the citizens and well atteneded by the community, and accepted as the norm. These are small coastal towns where everyone knows everyone else. No one in the community cares that these events occur, odds are they are probably there and participating anyway. The events are well managed, and they do have security.
I'd be willing to bet that the events that led to the arrest of the fire fighters were unrelated and coincidental to the wet down. Their behavior may be reprehensable but I'm sure not any more reflexive of Sea Bright Fire just as a DC fireman getting arrested for running a prostitution ring is of DCFD; or a MoCo FF getting fired for masterbating in a school parking lot is of DFRS; or a PG Paid Fire Fighter geting into a fight with a volunteer at the scene of an incident is of PG.
Before you all judge, although it's obvious some of you all still will regardless, you need to open up those small minds of yours and accept that not every community is like your own. All departments have their own traditions, just as we do here in the Washington, DC area. I guarentee to the fire fighters in that area, paid or otherwise, would look at us and shake their heads and wonder how we got to be so anal, uptight and hypocritical.
This isn't a volunteer vs. career issue and frankly I'm fed up with people saying well if you look at other departments you'll see they have problems too. No department volunteer or career is perfect. Lets accept this and move on. Lets spend our time and energey on fixing OUR department's problems instead of shunning other departments for their issues. Everyone one of us should strive to make our departments better, get rid of the ignorant "traditions" like wet downs, the prostitution rings, the pity fights between volunteer and career, etc.
This is why alcohol should be banned at all FD-Related events.
Lizard, you are correct in one point. This is not a paid vs. volunteer issue. This is a "How the public sees hundreds of thousands of their tax dollars being spent on you tube" issue. Drunken stupidity thats how. My favorite quote of yours is this one:
"Yes there is alot of alcohol at those events but there is usually good security provided by the local police departments and paid for by the departments hosting the wetdown .".".."
Usually? Paid for by who? The department hosting the event? Oh and where did they get the money? Taxes? Donations? Does your annual fund raiser mailing say something like, "Please donate to the East Bumbleweed Volunteers so we can spend your money on beer and police security at a drunken wet down?"
I have been a firefighter in New Jersey for 20 years both paid and volunteer and YOU, sir, are an embarassment and an idiot. Thank you.
VERY WELL SAID STEVE. The perception of the 'Fire Department' from events like this make us all look bad, no matter who you work for, how many calls you run a year or how good 'security' is. We should never see people using Fire Equipment like this, nor should we ever see alcohol around a rig.
I let everyone on shift today watch this and not one of the ff's on the engine nor the ladder thought this looked fun – everyone was embarrassed by it, and 80% of the ff on my shift at my station are volunteers when they aren't working the BCFS!
The "Wetdowns" that at held in NJ are simply Dangerous. I have attended numerous wetdowns and at every one firefighters are battling each other with streams of water. Sometimes the morons forget to put it on fog stream and wind up hitting each other with straight streams. Other times they are so fixiated on battling each other that they don't realize they are blasting the people attending the wetdown that want nothing to do with water. Not all "Wetdowns" are like this however. In NY a wetdown is the proper way to christen a fire truck. Fire trucks from surrounding town flow water onto the new apparatus as a sign of welcoming it into service. Most times if the temperature is right, the children in attendance will be running around the truck getting soaking wet and staying cool. There are no water fights. It's a shame that the firefighters of NJ have to give "Wetdowns" a bad name.
No bigger drunken blowout than the Ocean City MD State Firmens' Convention! Fights, drunken parties, assaults (of all kinds), drag racing apparatus from ALL OVER THE STATE, even wrecks! Not to mention property damage to the local businesses!
And when the IAFF gets together…well, the "paid guys" can whoop it up just as good! How many times have you seen news spots about FDNY guys or DCFD guys?
All the same, no matter where you go….
All the waste for a wetdown, lets see how much muncipal water down the drain, or how much fuel wasted for all these rigs to come from all over. Maybe they should re-focus and have a big training event instead of drunken parties. Further it was evident they were headed for problems when the old guy couldn't break the champagne
Joe FF & Steve in NJ nailed the two most important points. I'm sure its a load of fun, but wetdowns were originally a traditional ceremony used to welcome a new piece to the fleet, not an excuse for a bunch of grown men to have a drunken water fight. If you want to have a water fight do it some other time and try using garden hoses, super soakers, water baloons, etc. I'm sure there's a volunteer house out there who could create a fundraiser out of it, but leave the fire apparratus out of it. Keep wet downs traditional.
I don't know if most of your are from areas that do wetdowns. There are different areas that do different things. In Orange County,NY there are many wetdowns and very very few incidents that have stem from them. I must say from what i see what Fools wrote who said they have drunken water fights. For all the wetdowns that i have been too i must say i have never been drunk nor have i even had a sip of an alcoholic beverage nor have the crews i've been on to those wetdowns. You go down to Rockland County they don't do many water fights at there wetdowns, up here in OCNY we have waterfights along with the main purpose of wetting down the new piece of apparatus. There are a lot of policies, bylaws, sogs and sops and must say a lot of dept.'s follow them. We aren't allowed to be drinking or have a drink and get on apparatus so what makes you or others say that it's a drunken fest and the only people that are drinking at those wetdowns are the actual dept. that is holding the event and the buffs that attend them. My own dept. doesn't even tolerate drinking before or during a parade and really doesn't like anyone wearing dept. uniform to hold an alcoholic beverage. I must say 1 bad incident makes the rest of us dept.'s that hold these events look bad.