This completely took me off guard. Never thought of this happening on a fire rig. I am extremely thankful, the firefighter is ok. Makes you look at riding on the rig completely different.

I am in awe of Firefighters & EMTs mind-sets of thē absolute dedication to saving lives. These Brave, Loyal & Heroic men & women run towards Danger...Fire! If it weren’t for EMTs I wouldn’t be writing this. Thank you for your service🧡

Next level work from NFFF, Chief Tobia and Harrisonburg Fire. Thank you for this valuable instrument to help avoid a catastrophic event in the future.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, it is a rarity that a fire department is so frank and willing to speak openly about any perceived mistake/problem/accident. Way too often the specter of perceived liability rears its ugly head and prevents a Fire Chief from coming forward with badly needed lessons learned. Harrisburg should be, needs(!) to be, extremely proud of its Chief and its men in producing this video for the betterment of all in the Fire Service. I can only hope that more public officials will view this video as a example of what a progressive, open-minded, GOOD fire department should be!!

Great way to come forward Chief, what is amazing is how you looked at this with eyes wide open. As a firefighter from NY we must gear up before entering the rig. We are far from perfect but what a great learning experience from you and your team.

This video is, Wow! I have SO MANY EMOTIONS about it. First off, I am SO glad Josh was not seriously hurt. Second, it was nice to hear the Fire Commander take note if his part in this whole thing. High 5 to him! ✋🏻 Lastly, i am glad that this was reacted on immediately, and changes were made to prevent it from ever happening to another fire fighter. High 5 to ALL FIRE FIGHTERS! ✋🏻!

What a insightful, thoughtful internal review of something simple that could have ended in tragedy. Having a son in law fire fighter/paramedic he always says don’t run, that’s why you don’t see firefighters running around is due to accidents. Of course his pride was hurt, but he has nothing to be ashamed of, it could have ended in tragedy and no one would have laughed. Though after the fact after everything that was discussed to find what we did wrong and what we could do better. Rushing does set a person up for accidents, especially when they start at positions different then the norm. I am sure they did giggle and only because everything turned out ok. God bless you all and thank you for your service.

1987 James Madison graduate here...makes me feel good to see Harrisonburg in the hands of people like these. It's an amazing place to live.

Thank you, Chief Tobia and the HFD for sharing this. When I heard that RCFR assigned this video as an assignment for their new hires, I looked it up and am so glad you gave this to us.

No surprise that this video came from Harrisonburg, VA. Chief Tobia promotes safety for success better than anyone I know. Great job Brothers

Great reminder of how trading speed for safety can have terrible results. Also that we always remember that complacency results in heartache. Safety first so Everyone Comes Home.

Wow what an incredible video,thank goodness he was ok,gave me chills!

No hate on the firefighters, but as the driver that’s why it is so important to make sure the crew has their seat belts on!!

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve gotten tossed around in the back of “reserve” apparatus, whose safety features had either been intentionally modified or just worn completely out to the point of not working, and nearly been tossed out of the rig or had a door come open for no good reason. I’ve seen tools and gear come flying out of apparatus whose compartments would just randomly pop open when turning corners. I’m also guilty of unbuckling my seat belt to get my air pack on or my gear situated, gone around a corner, and then found myself on the floor in the rear of the cab. It’s stuck with me enough times now that I just don’t unbuckle the seatbelt anymore. I can unfuck my gear later.

This caught me totally off guard. I know guys fell off the backstep in that era, but to totally fall out of the tower WOW!

A category of "Stuff Happens" also exists. Sometimes a "memo" causes the wrong kind of perception. Sometimes a bit too much urgency leads to an oops situation. LIVE and learn, or you don't. Does something need to be done? Often, probably not, but you still need to give it regard.

Turnout times…all departments want you out the door in less than 60 seconds on an EMS call and 120 seconds on a fire. My issue with this, 99% of our calls are not life threats. In my 11 years as a firefighter/paramedic I can recall two runs where seconds counted. TWO!! If we don’t make it to the scene then we do no one any good. Yes, seconds count in our profession but sometimes those seconds need to be spent making sure we get to the emergency safely.

Sounds like someone listens to Jocko Willink.

*TRUCK 1

Wow. That's one hell of an analysis with the simplest of answers.

When I first saw this pop up and it said the story of Tower 1 I thought it was 9/11 related. Not something completely different. Am I the only one that kind of thought the same thing?

This video is about 17 minutes and 10 seconds too long.

Bad situation but does anyone else think they looked way to hard at something that was most likely an isolated incident?