Being something of an unofficial fire service historian, I am familiar with how firefighters where pelted with rocks - and sometimes worse - during the late 1960s and early 1970s. And, frankly, I thought that was an ugly chapter that the fire service could put behind them . . . recent attacks on firefighters / EMTs in Webster, New York (2 Killed and 2 other injured in fire scene ambush) and Hoover, Alabama (Hoover, Alabama man opens fire on firefighters) are causing me to rethink that. Back then, when the "Burn, baby, burn" mindset was prevalent, I might have been able to understand pelting firefighters with rocks or bottles, but these two most recent attacks make absolutely no sense.
In both instances, emergency personnel were responding to calls from their attacker's for help. In the Webster incident, the shooter intentionally set his vehicle on fire knowing that police and firefighters would respond allowing him to "do what I do best" (quoted from a suicide note left by the shooter in Webster). My question in both cases is why? In both cases, as far as I have heard, it is what law enforcement officials refer to as a random incident -- meaning the assailant's had never met their victim(s) prior to the attacks. What could make a person so angry that they would just open fire on another person?
One thing I do know. It's time for us - the public they serve - to step up and say thank you!
