Issue 17

Firefighters rescue unconscious person—then pose for a photo at the scene.

Practical PIO analyzes real social media posts to help you improve your communications. All identifying details are blurred or removed because our goal is growth, not criticism.

Firefighters rescued an unconscious person from a house fire—a life-threatening situation handled quickly and professionally. The release is short, clear, and resolves the patient outcome appropriately. But one of the photos in this serious post shows firefighters posed in front of the fire engine at the scene. They’re not smiling or being goofy—they’re somber and professional—but the choice to include a crew photo in a post about rescuing an unconscious victim undermines the seriousness of the incident.

Full text

Here’s the full text so you can follow along (or in case the image doesn’t load):

✅ What works well

✅ Short and focused. The release stays on topic without unnecessary detail. It covers what happened, what crews did, and what the outcome was—all in five sentences.

✅ Resolves the patient condition appropriately. The post mentions the person was unconscious and that care was transferred to [EMS agency]. This stays in the fire department’s lane while giving readers enough information to understand the seriousness without overstepping into medical diagnosis.

✅ Conveys urgency and professionalism. The description of the response—quick line deployment, primary search, patient removal—shows the rapid, coordinated action that saved someone’s life.

🛠️ What could be improved

Big picture

🛠️ Don’t post crew photos at scenes of serious, life-threatening incidents. One of the photos in this post shows firefighters posed in front of the fire engine at the scene. To their credit, they’re not smiling or being goofy—they’re somber and professional. But the choice to include this photo in a post about rescuing an unconscious person from a fire undermines the gravity of the call. These crew photos are controversial in the fire service for good reason: they can look like company pride is more important than the human suffering just addressed. If crew photos are taken (and many departments discourage or prohibit them), don’t share them publicly—especially not in posts about serious injuries or life-threatening situations.

🛠️ Skip hashtags in serious posts—especially playful ones. The #[Region]Thingz hashtag (presumably company pride) lands poorly in a post about rescuing someone who was unconscious. Hashtags are already declining in usefulness on most platforms, but using one with a playful spelling in a life-threatening situation shows poor judgment about tone and context.

🛠️ Replace the call type with a headline. “HOUSE FIRE w/ ENTRAPMENT” is dispatch terminology, not public communication. Use a headline that tells the story: “Firefighters rescue unconscious person from house fire.” This frames the post for readers, not dispatchers.

🛠️ Don’t lead with the time. “At approximately 08:00 PM last night” opens the release. Lead with the action: “Firefighters rescued an unconscious person from a house fire last night at the corner of [Street 1] and [Street 2].” Put what happened before when it happened.

Nitty gritty

🛠️ Use AP Style for time. “08:00 PM” should be “8 p.m.”—no leading zero, lowercase with periods.

🛠️ Translate fire service jargon. “Placed a line in service,” “primary search,” and “Side Alpha” are fire service terms that mean little to general readers. Say “deployed a hose line,” “searched the building,” and “the front of the building” or just “outside.”

🛠️ Avoid unnecessary fire service colloquialisms. “Arrived on the scene” and “returning to service” are phrases that feel like they’re from a report. Say “arrived” and “cleared the scene” or “returned to the station.”

🛠️ Use active voice to tighten writing. “Units were alerted,” “care was transferred,” “An unconscious occupant was located”—passive voice makes sentences wordier. Say “Dispatchers alerted units,” “Firefighters transferred care to [EMS agency],” and “Firefighters found an unconscious person.”

🛠️ Complete descriptions. “One-story single-family” is missing a word—single-family what? House? Home? Residence? Say “one-story house” or “single-family home.”

🛠️ The first paragraph could be one sentence. “Firefighters responded to a house fire at [Street 1] and [Street 2] around 8 p.m. last night after dispatchers advised that someone was trapped inside.” This covers the same information more concisely.

Practical PIO version

Here’s a version that stays focused on the rescue without undermining it:

Teaching note: Notice how this version leads with the rescue, uses plain language for operations, and stays focused on what happened to the person who needed help. And critically, if this were the actual post, it would be paired with photos of the fire scene, apparatus positioning, or firefighting operations—not a posed crew photo at a scene where someone’s life was in danger.

Have you struggled with decisions about what photos to share publicly after serious calls? How does your department handle crew photos or company pride content? Hit reply and tell me—I read every email.

Tool update

The Practical PIO beta remains open for testing. If you signed up for beta access but haven’t tried it yet, I’d love your feedback—even if it’s just plugging in a past incident to see how it works.