From my blog at FireGroundWorks.

In a National Fire Academy Alumni blog, John Bierling asks, “Is command failure an acceptable incident outcome?” He continues with this:

Nearly every NIOSH Firefighter LOOD…

Whenever I have an opportunity to visit another area, whether on vacation or traveling for other reasons, I always enjoy meeting other firefighters.  I’ve learned so many things from visiting fire stations in other parts of the state and country, and I’ve also met a lot of great people.  Often, as a part of the first few minutes of conversation, the inevitable question comes up: “Are you a career firefighter, or a volunteer?” 

Being the passionate volunteer that I am, I…

Through the years, I’ve participated in numerous interviews with candidates that have applied for membership in our department.  Recently, I started thinking about the challenges of our proud volunteer fire service, and how special of a person it takes to become a professional volunteer firefighter.  In a world where there are many different kinds of people, and many different personalities and priorities, these people give their time and energy to make their communities…

**WARNING**

This blog is in no way a replacement of or supercedes any and/or all Fire Department S.O.P./S.O.G.'s, or replace training in regards to fire ground operations.  This topic is to give a general understanding to firefighters in hopes to promote firefighter safety and improve fire ground…

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NBC announced its fall TV schedule and one show in particular that I have been tracking is called Chicago Fire http://www.nbc.com/chicago-fire/. Chicago Fire is being produced by legendary producer Dick Wolf http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0937725/of the Law and Order franchise.

I have meet Mr. Wolf on the lot a couple of times…

Wilmington's Squad Concept Violates Contract's Minimum Staffing

by: Lou Angeli

Wilmington, DE (May, 7, 2012) -- A court appointed arbitrator has ruled that the City of Wilmington violated its contract with the city's firefighters when the Fire Department introduced the Squad Concept on January 1, 2011. At that time, the Fire Department…

Check out the new interactive tour we are creating at the Fire Museum of Maryland. Children learn about how the paid Baltimore City Fire Department was created and why.

Then the students fight the Clay Street Fire of 1873 on a 77 inch, Smartboard as they role-play as actual firemen from that time period, see the flyer attachment.…

Watch the video of this heavily involved 2-story balloon frame house. Note the wind and the exposures. Give us your RECEO breakdown, initial actions and initial rig placement. Have fun!

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!!!

As the title says, if your life is in the balance, you want to be sure that you are as prepared as possible right?

Then why is it that on fires in cities and towns big and small, you can find videos or pictures of firefighters getting off the rig without tools? Or worse... carrying a tool then not using it?

I work with some great firemen who you know will grab the same tool everytime they get off the rig because they are masters at using the tool efficiently and expertly. I…

According to some, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  It would appear that this applies to Charleston, South Carolina based on a report based on a fire that occurred in 2010.

The Post and Courier published an article…

The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District recently completed a Serious Accident Review. On May 31, members of Metro Fire were operating on a residential structure fire. A truck company was on the roof performing vertical ventilation when a roof collapse dumped one firefighter into the burning garage. The firefighter was successfully rescue by adjacent crews. Follow this link to the report

Ellsworth SAR…

For you baseball fans out there, you may recognize this phrase. Usually it is used in discussion about a player that has been struggling and the team has been working with him to slow the game down, so they are better prepared and better able to react. As with many ideas and practices from Major League sports, there are applications in the fire service. This is another case of us being smart enough to learn from others.

At Backstep Firefighter and The Front Seat, we often use…

Analytical Study Reveals Patterns in U.S Firefighter Fatalities

Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

Executive Producer;…