Blame bad parenting for LI fire chief’s viral outburst at a young girl

The instant lynch mobs got it wrong again in calling for the head of a Long Island firefighter caught in a viral video yelling at a 10-year-old child while loading her in the back of an ambulance went viral.

Yes, the footage seems damning: It shows North Babylon Fire Chief Peter Alt shouting, “Shut the f–k up! It’s like this with you every f–king week!” at the girl, who’s crying, “I don’t want to go! I want to go home!”

Internet outrage already has Alt stripped of his duties, pending an investigation.

But even minimal digging into the bigger picture tells a very different tale: Someone should have laid down the law with this girl and her parents long before now.

The story begins with the girl throwing a monstrous tantrum after her mom . . . took her phone away.

Facing that emotional distress, the mother chose to call the first responders to help calm her down.

Using an emergency service to parent your out-of-control kid for you is bad enough; even worse: This wasn’t the first time.

It seems the volunteer firefighters have been summoned multiple times just this summer to deal with the girl’s mammoth fits.

No wonder Alt finally had enough.

The girl’s relatives and neighbors are shockingly blasé about the whole thing, admitting that yes, emergency personnel have had to show up and play babysitter before, but they’re usually just so understanding!

That’s clearly part of the problem, as is the failure of any local authority to put a stop to the farce.

First, this is plainly a massive waste of city time and resources.

EMTs have better things to do than wrangle naughty children.

Second, if the girl’s caregivers want to offload their little tyrant onto someone else, how dare they get upset when the first responders set the boundaries they’re unwilling to?

While Alt’s approach was hardly “gentle parenting,” this 10-year-old clearly needed someone in her life to show her tough love; the adults in her life are clearly failing her miserably.

If she’s not set straight soon, she’s all too likely in a few years to be getting hauled into the back of a cop car instead of an ambulance.

Alt could have left out the profanities, but his harsh response is a lot more kind than letting her run wild.

The rocketing crime rates among kids show exactly where that leads.

He should be reinstated to his post — and probably get an apology for the abuse of his team’s time and energy.

If we have any notes for the fire chief, it’s this: If this happens again, give the parents an earful instead.