Out there today there is triple the number of people who want the job than there are “on the job.” Over time many give up, they settle for a separate career, or they become consumed with resentment towards others who got the job. The Fire Service whether you volunteer, or career is the greatest job in the world, no matter if you either are paid or not it is a profession. That being said, there is a large population of citizens and volunteers out there who want this job. With the competition…

I just completed reading the book Relentless Optimism: How a Commitment to Positive Thinking Changes Everything by: Darrin Donnelly. The book is a motivational book that provides a million and one ways that positive thinking can better not only your life, but those around you as well. It uses the story of a major league baseball player that is bumped back down to the minors and his struggle to make it back to the big leagues. The book had two very memorable quotes…

You Are A Hero, Act Like One

Christmas season has come and gone and the New Year has begun; A new year full of hopes, dreams, and beliefs for a better life. During the Christmas season I, like many others, had the distinct pleasure of walking the aisles at many different stores in search of the perfect gifts for nieces, my children, even the family dog. I found something very interesting in my journey for toys to brighten the faces of those I love. To…

What does it take to become the go to guy in the firehouse?  What does it take to step beyond the go to guy and become an "elite" firefighter?  Well, elite firefighters have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort mastering his or her skill set through thousands of hours of training and life experiences. Looking at experience alone, the elite firefighter has often been provided opportunities to succeed from many people who have invested time in said development.  The author Malcomb…

Not sure it ever worked in the first place

We are in a fascinating period of time for the fire service.  Never before have the resources (financial, physical and mental) been greater.  We are finally looking at fires, how they burn, how conditions change.  We are looking a fuel packages, flow paths.  We are discussing heat release rates and polar…

The Model City Firefighter is headed to the Motor City to provide mutual aid!

A couple months back, the Detroit Mutual Aid Project was launched to raise much needed funds to purchase equipment for our brothers and sisters in Detroit, MI. As a Board Member of the National Firefighters Endowment, I have been involved with the project since…

ModelCityFirefighter.com’s newest article of Blowin’ Smoke features Kevin Shea, a retired firefighter from FDNY. We are very excited about this Blowin’ Smoke article and grateful for the opportunity to interview Shea on the site. I had the pleasure of meeting him earlier this year in Chicago at Fire Rescue International. He is about as humble as they come and is a wealth of knowledge. We hope you enjoy the interview.

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Never before have we had the information we do now

FACE 2011-31 On December 23, 2011, a 42-year-old male career fire fighter died during fire-fighting operations on the 2nd floor of a three-story apartment building. The victim was assigned to Engine 5 (E5) with a lieutenant and driver/pump operator. E5 was the first-due engine company at this fire. The Incident Commander ordered E5 to take a 1¾"…

As I sat in the recliner last night watching the NBC Nightly News special coverage about Hurricane Sandy last night, I have to admit…tears came to my eyes. Seeing the fires at Breezy Point, the mass destruction on the coast line, and hearing the tales of heroism by the first hand accounts of all those who were there. Little did I know that when this happened one year ago, this destruction would also change my life forever even being 10 hours away.

In mid-October of last year, a…

To date, my department has lost FOUR of our own in the Line of Duty/ On-Duty. All of these were killed/died prior to me joining the department. I did have the opportunity to meet the four families of our fallen during our Fallen Firefighter Memorial Service that was held at the end of August. I wrote a short piece on the article…

Professionalism means acting appropriately and in a manner that is acceptable and careful. Applied to the fire service, a professional is not whether or not you are paid or volunteer. That is a topic that often brings out the most heated of discussions, but there is a division nationwide between volunteers and career firefighters.

I recently had a conversation with a…

"Quid est veritas?"

In this classic scene from ‘A Few Good Men’, Danny Kaffee is questioning Lt. Col Nathan Jessop about the use of a ‘Code Red’ that resulted in the death of a Marine. Colonel Jessop’s…

Video bites, Facebook morsels continually shape our education

As we look at the evolution of training in the fire service, we must realize that we are at a time like never before experienced. Today there is the availability of information at a moment’s notice. Fires occur and are on YouTube before the companies finish making up. There are…

Protecting people’s lives will involve risk for us as firefighters

“A female occupant, in her 40’s, was unable to escape due to the intense heat and thick smoke and was quickly located by firefighters. She was removed out of the bedroom window and treated by paramedics on the scene.”…

It was a cold winter day in Wisconsin, and the coming winter weather was enough to make even the saltiest veterans of our area’s fire service consider the special calls and challenges that winter brings.  Slippery roads bring car accidents on the Interstate, cold weather creates more risk for structure fires, chimney fires, firefighter rehab and cold weather safety concerns and the holidays create dynamic EMS calls, with more emotional families, and a variety of other challenges for our…

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…

After reading the NIOSH Investigation report for the Line of Duty Death of Firefighter John Davies that occurred in Worcester, Massachusetts in December of 2011, a certain amount of confusion remains.

Based on the finding by the committee performing the Investigation, the Worcester should have used VSP (Victim Survivability Profiling)…

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…

I once found a baby in the trash. On a beautiful summer morning we were engaged in our normal coffee and BS session when an alarm came in for the engine company. The horn went off. I didn’t pay much attention as I was riding on the ladder truck that day.

The pumper bros rushed out of the kitchen while I continued to eat my breakfast of eggs and green chili. In double company stations there are generally two kinds of trucks, a pumper truck, that’s the one that carries the water and…

VSP is one of the hottest topics of conversation in the fire service today.  Captain Marsar’s research has taken the fire service by storm and has created an interesting “new” flavor of the month for those who feed on “firefighter safety through spectatorship”.  Maybe it was because of my animosity for the “let it burn” folks within our profession that I was initially against the concept of deciding if a building is searchable from the front yard and was unfairly biased.  However, the more I…