Featured Blog Posts – January 2009 Archive (26)

The mistakes of yesterday are the answers to tomorrow

"Trial by error." What do these words mean to you? In the fire service is there room for error? What is gained by making mistakes and what is lost?

Trial by error is something that we all experience. We all learn from our own mistakes and through the mistakes of people throughout history. The fire service is marked by a large quantity of mistakes and the corrective measures are what helps us create a standard to learn and train from.

Lets look at 9-11. Without getting into… Continue

Added by Engineco913 on January 5, 2009 at 6:00am — 10 Comments

Conveying Tragedy

FROM: www.tigerschmittendorf.com

I consider myself a student of effective public and media relations. One of the most difficult messages a fire chief or public information officer must convey is that of a tragedy where, despite our best efforts, the results are fatal.

I often coach fire officers and public officials at incident scenes as how to best deliver difficult news. While I encourage them to focus on the role of the… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 3, 2009 at 6:00pm — 3 Comments

Marketing Your Fire Department: Opportunities and Tactics

I already posted this as a discussion, but felt it merited a blog post as well.....so here goes...

Unused Resources, Lost Opportunities

I’ve been struggling with something for a bit, and decided rather than trying to be politically correct, or trying to avoid sounding like I’m giving a good friend a shameless plug…..I’m going to give a good friend a shameless plug for all the right reasons, and if you don’t like it…..too bad; Freedom of Speech and all that.

Have… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on January 2, 2009 at 10:01pm — 5 Comments

New Year's Resolutions vs. the Same Old Stuff

A lot of us make New Year's Resolutions to break bad habits, make positive changes in our lives, or to set a goal that we want to meet during the new year. We often see firefighters who make New Year's Resolutions to improve safety for their departments. These changes can be as simple as reminding ourselves to pay attention to details, to base our actions on size-up and not on thoughtless reactions, or something similar. They can also be as complicated as implementing a new safety program… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on January 2, 2009 at 4:54pm — 1 Comment

For the Old Timers: Colonoscopy Awaits You

A while back, Chief Billy Goldfeder wrote a little story in The Secret List urging everyone over 50 to schedule a colonoscopy. He didn’t need to convince me; after my father died of cancer in 2005, I went to the doctor and scheduled a complete physical examination. Doc suggested that I have a colonoscopy, so I resigned myself to the medical profession for the procedure.

I don’t recall that Chief Billy went into details about his experience, so I thought I would share mine for all of… Continue

Added by Joe Stoltz on January 1, 2009 at 9:15pm — 19 Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...January 1, 2009

Our company is preparing for our Officer's Dinner this weekend. It's fascinating being involved with the process. People on the outside don't understand that there are committees for everything and just like families you have the people that work hard and the people that just show up at the "party" and lend a hand then.

The other day I went to Costco with one of my friends at the… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on January 1, 2009 at 8:59pm — 3 Comments