Thirty years ago I was a fireman. On one occasion we had a garage fire we contained. The garage was behind the house, at the end of a drive that connected to a narrow alley. There was no firemain or fireplug to connect hoses to. So we used water from our pumper, and connected to a semi-tanker parked in the alley.
After the fire a reporter wanted to know why we didnt do it ass-backwards, that is, park the 9000 gallon semi on the driveway and park the pumper truck in the alley. We explained how that arrangement puts the cart before the horse AND it was virtually impossible to get the tanker from the alley onto the driveway because of its size and the size of the alley.
In the paper appeared COUNTY FIREMEN INCOMPETENT.
Papers always put the worst spin on stories, and ignore the facts to do it.
