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KOVR-TV’s initial coverage of the story
Response by Captain Marcus to FireCritic.com
Despite the fact he created a racy rap video using California’s Willow Oak Fire Protection District firehouse and fire truck and dropped the f-bomb in the video while in full department issued gear, I am ready to suggest that Captain Marcus (last name not known) be immediately promoted to fire chief. Why, you may ask? Because, despite his pretty awful lapse in judgment, the captain figured out before his own chief and a county attorney that what he did was stupid and needed to be addressed publicly and immediately.
This story has been playing out on television on KOVR-TV since Monday and on the pages of FireCritic.com. The rap video, while it lasts, is below. The latest story, done on Tuesday (above), has reporter Ron Jones tracking down the Willow Oak fire chief and the Assistant Yolo County counsel asking some very legitimate questions about this misuse of the public’s money and abuse of the fire department’s image. Both men essentially told reporter Jones to take a hike. Again, remember, as you watch the story and read about it below, the issue has already been in the news for an entire day. Yet these two can’t figure out the right thing to say.
Assistant Yolo County counsel Dan Cederborg tells CBS13 he doesn’t think the music video that a Willow Oak fire captain performed in while on duty, using the district’s equipment and building without county approval is a big deal.
But Cederborg downplayed the captain’s actions, saying he only went down the street and didn’t spend that much time with the rapper.
Marcus’ boss, Fire Chief Kim Timothy wasn’t apologetic, but defensive, claiming the firefighters rights were violated by CBS13’s cameras.
“I don’t want to comment on it until we make a decision internally,” Timothy said.
The answer isn’t to make excuses for something so obviously wrong. The answer isn’t to blame the reporter. The answer isn’t to defend the indefensible. None of those will make this go away and are all as stupid as participating in the video in the first place. The right answer goes something like this:
What I saw on the video should not have happened and does not reflect the work ethic of the men and women of the Willow Oak Fire Protection District. I’m personally embarrassed and apologize to all of our citizens about this misuse of their money and violation of their trust. We are taking immediate corrective action to make sure this does not happen again.
Now, back to why I think Captain Marcus should be promoted. Unlike the chief and the attorney, the captain apparently didn’t have any time to get his act together. He was ambushed at the fire station by the reporter on Monday. His first instinct was to run. Bad move. But, unlike the other two men, Marcus was smart enough to know not to make his terrible lapse in judgment any worse. He stopped running and instead turned to the reporter and camera and said:
“To disgrace the fire community like I did, I’m disgusted. Sorry for my actions. I never meant to do anything to jeopardize the fire service and my job and the people of this district and I apologize.”
Not bad for having to think on your feet while a camera is trained on you and he followed it up with a similar message on FireCritic.com. It’s a shame the two other men weren’t paying attention.
Raw video & raw feelings: New video from the PA tanker fire that fueled many comments & the ire of the videographer.
44 commentsThis is apparently video shot a little earlier than the previous one we shared with you from Friday’s tanker crash and burn near Liberty Township, Pennsylvania (Tioga County). That video, posted here very early Sunday morning, and this video, were taken by Lonny Frost, who appears to shoot and report a fair amount of fire activity and other news in the region.
From remarks via Facebook on STATter911.com and with this video, Lonny Frost is not happy with some of the comments made by our KICs (keyboard incident commanders). Here’s what he wrote on Facebook:
For a while after this comment the video in question was made “private” on YouTube. As of this writing it’s back up.
With the posting of this latest video, Lonny Frost added these comments to the description on YouTube:
Lonny Frost is far from alone in criticizing the comments that are posted on STATter911.com or even criticizing me for providing this forum. There are a lot of people who feel this way. I understand why they feel the way they do. I even respect such opinions and don’t take any criticism of the comments on this site, the site itself or of me personally. I try to learn from it all. And, by the way, if you look at what Lonny Frost is saying, even if you think he is greatly misguided, it’s hard not to note that his heart is in the right place by standing up for firefighters (that’s more than some people believe about the publisher of this rag).
I have dealt with people who are offended by the comments section since almost day one of STATter911.com more than five-years-ago. Some of the complaints came from my closest and oldest friends in the fire service. I listened to what they all had to say and made the decision to keep the comments and censor as little as possible. I continue to stand by that decision and amazingly my friends still stand by me. Not that it doesn’t cause me great pain at times when I see personal bashing and comments that are more vindictive than constructive. To me, the forum works best when there is an adult discussion of issues and tactics with the egos left at the door (I know … I’m a dreamer).
In this particular incident in Tioga County, the comments came in rather fast and furious. The overall theme was one questioning what many believe are serious safety issues with this operation. While some said it more nicely than others, the comments almost all were about the same concerns.
As regular readers know I leave all of the commenting about firegound tactics and safety issues to others. But I do have some general observations about all of this.
First of all, I believe it would be nicer and more civilized if we could just tell people directly our concerns in a more private way. But the cameras everywhere, digital nature of life in the 2000s seems to have changed that dynamic forever. It isn’t just the fire service. In almost everything today we all have to deal with the instant analysis of our actions, whether it’s because of something we innocently wrote on Facebook or the video our neighbor took of us walking around our backyard in our underwear.
Taking that as a given, I’m left with this statement from Lonny Frost: “I thought there was a botherhood in firefighting.” Others (apparently firefighters) have said the same thing about some of the comments with the New Jersey ambulance fire video this weekend. This issue of “brotherhood” has long been brought up by those offended by the comments section.
The question I toss out to the crowd is this: Are you being more of a “brother” by not pointing out an important safety lapse in one of these videos so you won’t hurt that brother’s feelings or is brotherhood making your thoughts clear on an actions you see that could injure or kill your brother firefighters?