Mr. Know-It-All

As a child I use to enjoy watching a cartoon called “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.” Rocky was a flying squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose was his sidekick. Each episode followed Rocky and Bullwinkle through some adventure or harrowing situation. Many episodes featured a “show within a show.” One “show within a show” was Mr. Know-It-All, featuring Bullwinkle as the educated scholar, teaching a “valuable” skill or lesson that usually was of no value at all. Mr. Know-It-All shows included How to Tame Lions, How to Cure Hiccups and How to Be a Magician. At the end of each tutoring session by Bullwinkle, Rocky the Squirrel would always say, “Thank you, Mr. Know-It-All.”

A recent event at a firehouse reminded me of that cartoon from my childhood. A firefighter proudly announced in reference to firefighting, “I know everything and there is nothing anybody can teach me.” Those in the room stood in shocked silence as everyone waited for the firefighter to let out a little chuckle or some hint that he was kidding. After his proclamation, he walked out of the room. Those left in the room just shook their heads in amazement but were not surprised because they all knew the arrogance and egotism of the firefighter.

This firefighter was not a hardened veteran of 30-plus years working in the most depressed sections of a large city. This firefighter was not an old hand who had seen major transitions in the fire service over the last 30 years from what once was to the current technology, bigger and larger water delivery systems, and a larger and more prominent role in EMS. No, this was a firefighter with less than five years’ experience in a relatively slow department that runs approximately 800 calls a year, of which most are car accidents and medical assists, and very few fires or specialized rescues.

The more I thought about it over the next several days, it occurred to me that I have seen this type of display and character flaw in the fire service before. You know Mr. Know-It-Alls – the ones who get on your nerves before you can even grab a cup of coffee in the morning.

Mr. Know-It-Alls are arrogant. They have a form of overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner or demeaning approach toward all that they feel are inferior to them. They do not have a kind word for anyone, but demand respect from all because of their twisted sense of loftiness above all they come in contact with.

If you have not seen Mr. Know-It-All, you certainly have heard him. He’s everywhere – the firehouse, emergency scenes and training sessions – always offering an opinion on a matter. He has an answer for every question and will debate with unsound reasoning anybody who does not agree with his opinions. He is critical of the decisions of fire chiefs and any chief officer who gives them a directive or order. Mr. Know-It-All has disdain and contempt for his chief officers because he thinks he should be sitting in their offices and holding their rank, since he knows more than them and may have many more credentials or certifications. Of course, Mr. Know-It-All does not find fault in their presence, but has plenty to say behind their backs.

WARNING! If they are fault-finding about everyone when they are not around, what is Mr. Know-It-All saying about you when you are not around?

These Mr. Know-It-Alls take every class they can possibly take and then consider themselves experts on the subject matter. Many times, they come back to their own departments or go elsewhere and regurgitate the material back out from what they learned, but have never experienced. Frequently, the subject matter they teach is wrong because of their inexperience. If confronted with a question, like a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill they fake their way through the answer, making their response up as they go while trying to sound confident that they know what they are talking about.

Some reading this would say that Mr. Know-It-Alls are extremely confident and have little doubt about their abilities. There is a difference! Firefighters who have extreme confidence in their abilities to perform usually have “walked the walk,” after many years of experience and training. This allows them to “talk the talk.” But even then, they realize they are not a Mr. Know-It-All, since there is plenty they can still learn or experience.

The Mr. Know-It-Alls have not “walked the walk.” Their knowledge base usually comes from watching fire training videos, reading magazine articles or attending training sessions. Their inexperience matches their ineptness.

Some joke and laugh when they watch the antics of Mr. Know-It-Alls. Some avoid any contact, since Mr. Know-It-Alls make them feel inadequate and talk down to them, while others – in usual firehouse tradition – to prod and provoke Mr. Know-It-Alls to occupy down time.

What is also serious is that Mr. Know-It-Alls sometimes kill themselves or other firefighters because of their arrogance and I-know-everything attitude on a fireground. There are plenty of anecdotes of Mr. Know-It-Alls’ arrogance and the bad decisions they make on a fireground that have killed firefighters.

Have you ever seen an incident commander send firefighters into a building, even when sector commanders are warning that the building’s structural integrity looks precarious? Or a company officer who refuses to upgrade an alarm when extra companies are needed because he thinks “his company” can handle it. Is arrogance a deciding factor in these decisions?

Author and wildland firefighter Peter M. Leschak has used the fireground both as workplace and a source of inspiration for the past 19 years. Leschak has authored eight books, including his newest release, Ghosts of the Fireground. In it he writes, “You can do everything perfectly and still die because there are so many variables over which you have no control. But quite often arrogance is a factor in some firefighter deaths.”

In a recent case in New York State, an assistant fire chief was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the death of a 19-year-old firefighter during a controlled-burn training drill in a vacant house. Two other firefighters were severely burned during the exercise. The drill consisted of using two firefighters as victims and placing them on the second floor of the home. Unfortunately, the fire – which was lit in a first-floor sofa-bed – spread rapidly, trapping the two “victims” on the second floor. Amberly Roberts, a stepsister to the dead firefighter, told the assistant chief during the sentencing phase that her stepbrother was dead because of his “arrogance and bad decisions.”

Just like Bullwinkle the Moose, Mr. Know-It-Alls are characters who can be laughed at – sometimes. But at other times, they are frightening because of the damage they can do.

Thankfully, during my time and my travels, I can count only three people out of the thousands I have met or worked with in the fire service who fit the description of a Mr. Know-It-All.

Unfortunately, that is three too many.