There is a debate that rages, on a daily basis; aggressive versus safe – interior versus exterior – searching versus waiting.  Depending on where you work and what your experience is, you no doubt have an opinion about these topics.  Some hold a very strong opinion, that the safety sallies (you know, those that advocate safety above everything) are ruining the fire service and that there is no room for their thinking.  There are others that…

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.”…

FDNY

“As first responders to fires, public safety and medical emergencies, disasters and terrorist acts, FDNY protects the lives and property of New York City residents and visitors. “

Los Angeles Fire Department…

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)…

All vacants are empty….

Fire through the roof means no entry….

We have 20 minutes interior before collapse happens…..

Victims can’t survive in burning buildings……

It is concerning that the fire service…

On Thursday September 29, 2011 a Vallejo, California firefighter was burned in the rescue of a paraplegic.  The firefighter made entry into the man’s mobile home which was heavily involved in fire and dragged the man toward safety.  During his attempt he was forced to bail out after suffering burns and a second crew knocked down the fire and completed the rescue.

On March 30, 2010 the Homewood, Illinois Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in a chair in a house.  They were…

Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the first arriving officer completing a 360 check of the building upon arrival. In his article “Situational Awareness and the Three Sixty”, Christopher Naum makes the following statement, “The effective assessment of the incident scene is much…

Interactive Dynamic Risk Assessment Download

Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

Commandsafety.com and Buildingsonfire.com

An interactive training program has been provided courtesy of Buildingsonfire.com and Commandsafety.com to support skill set development in the areas of dynamic risk assessment, size-up analysis and situational awareness. This is a basic program that will support any…

First-Due Arriving Companies; Are You Prepared?

Christopher Naum,SFPE

Thecompanyofficer.com

As the First-Due Fire Company; Officer and crew, Are you prepared to address the fireground variables and occupancy risks upon your arrival and during the initial stages of your deployment and operations? Are you combat ready or passively engaged?…

The First-Due Fire Officer

Christopher Naum

TheCompanyOfficer.com

On the most recent edition of Taking it to the Streets^TM we had a vibrant and insightful program in which we discussion some of…

"The fire service is fascinated with acronyms. Some have been around for a while. PSI, GPM, and RIT are examples. Some others are new VSP and CRM for example. We are also fascinated with new ideas and techniques. We are focused on these new ideas to fix old problems. Maybe the problem is that we keep looking for solutions when we should just fix the problem.…

By Christopher J. Naum, SPFE

TheCompanyOfficer.com and CommandSafety.com

Today’s incident demands on the fireground are unlike those of the recent past, requiring incident commanders and commanding officers to have increased technical knowledge of building construction with a heightened sensitivity to fire behavior, a focus on…

Dynamic Risk Assessments (DRA's) are a vital component of any operation if we are to really embrace the "Everyone Goes Home" philosphy.

Do we undertake a dangerous task? Yes!

Are there risks in everything we do? Yes!…

Eleven Minutes to Mayday; What You Need to Know

By Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

CommandSafety.com

The Colerain Township (OH) Fire and EMS Department under the leadership of Director and Chief G. Bruce Smith recently released its final report…