Choosing Professionals Over Volunteers: A Matter of Life and Death

Why Expertise and Experience Matter in Critical Situations

Your dad really doesn’t look like a firefighter.

I was confused. Of course he doesn’t He’s retired and in his seventies.

He’s not wearing big rubber boots.

He’s not wearing a hard red hat.

He’s not riding on a large, red truck.

He hates dalmations.

And I get it.

When people think of fire fighters, typically they think of some big, hulking powerful creature. My dad is a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet. He may be a bit on the smallish side for firefighters but I’ve never met a more courageous person in my life.

In the past, firefighters used to actually fight fires and run into burning buildings to rescue people. They had to be big to pull people out of burning buildings. These days my dad says ‘the morons in HR have ruined everything. They’re more concerned about safety than actually fighting fires and saving lives.¹

Back in the day though, my dad was always the first one in a burning building. He is an actual hero. He has risked his life to save others many times over. When it came to fi…