All Blog Posts (7,007)

What Would You Do? -Suspicious Item

You are the company officer on a jump company engine with a crew of three. The dispatcher calls you on the phone and tells you she’s received a report from a passer-by of a “suspicious-looking bottle” lying in the ditch in a rural portion of your response district. You tell her that you and your crew will head out and check on it.

After you arrive in the area, you begin your search of the ditch line, looking for a plastic bottle with a bright blue liquid in it. After a few moments,… Continue

Added by FireDaily.com on January 5, 2010 at 1:57pm — 6 Comments

Tales from a tailboard fireman ~ Regulars

Thanks for your comments on past posts.

We all have repeat calls to people. Some of mine stand out over the years and have stayed with me for various reasons.

Roy L. was a drunk. We got called out to lots of drunks at all times of the day or night. Classic conversation, "How long have you been drinking," slurred answer, "All my life." Roy would call us at 2 or 3 in the morning. Difficulty breathing. The first time I responded I put the O2 mask on with no result and… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 5, 2010 at 12:10am — 1 Comment

Do You Know an Exceptional Fire Service Leader?

Update: CFSI also opened nominations for the Paul S. Sarbanes Fire Service Safety Leadership Award. Criteria include: recognition of the Life Safety Initiatives; being an advocate for firefighter health and safety; leadership in promoting and supporting firefighter health and safety initiatives at the local, state or national level; reaching out to other organizations and developing partnerships to further the cause of firefighter health and safety; and engaging government leaders… Continue

Added by Shannon Pieper, FireRescue Magazine on January 4, 2010 at 4:00pm — 3 Comments

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

This living room looks like any other you might run across in any neighborhood. Other than the fact that it is taped off, probably to keep our dirty feet off the clean, lightly colored carpet. After all, we need to keep our customers happy. We are no doubt protecting the living room from damage after, oh, maybe a kitchen fire, an electrical fire somewhere else in the house. In fact, we might want to check the basement for the… Continue

Added by Jason Hoevelmann on January 4, 2010 at 1:06pm — 7 Comments

Ice Rescue: Technician Required?

It is the time of year when the weather gets especially cold and ice is forming on the lakes and ponds. It is also when many departments start actually getting out on and in the ice to train for ice related emergencies. One of the departments that I am a part of and others around us do train on this topic. The question has been raised by many, some legitimately concerned and others just trying to stay out of the ice, if a person should be trained to technician level before he/she enters the… Continue

Added by Jason Hoevelmann on January 4, 2010 at 12:17pm — 4 Comments

Ouch! It hurts, but muscle soreness is key to muscle strength

Survival of the Fittest

Story & Photos by Jeff & Martha Ellis

The agony of adaptation is ever-apparent when starting a new workout program. In the new year, many of you will hit the gym for the first time in a long time. With that will come the inevitable pain and suffering of delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

Whether you’re starting a new program or intensifying an old one, some very interesting things occur… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on January 4, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

On the other side...

So it's only been a month and one day since I had my surgeries and I've already injured myself. Today was the first day I've really got to ride my bike, so I decided to go mountain biking up in the mountains by Pine Flat Lake. Everything was okay until I took a turn too fast on a dirt path and found myself tumbling down a 30 foot cliff down into a ravine. Barely had cell phone reception to call an ambulance and half way through the call my phone died. Luckily they got enough information on my… Continue

Added by Christian Cossey on January 4, 2010 at 3:20am — 1 Comment

Tales from a tailboard fireman ~ Promotions

Promotions on the San Jose Fire Department are based on a written test and an oral board consisting of chief officers from other departments. The orals have several stations covering tactics, personnel issues, and whatever else is dreamed up as relevant by whatever branch of the city is in charge of the process at that time. In my 25 years, the tests varied greatly.

In the beginning, the written tests were formulated by senior staff of the fire department. Questions came from our… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 3, 2010 at 12:15pm — 2 Comments

Incident Command: When 'Quantity' Communications Overcomes 'Quality'. When in charge, do you over do it?

I understand the need for scene size up, ect... but what about the micro-chief???

Who is it you say, we all have one or seen one in action. They assume command and fill up every comm channel with chatter failing to use others around to gather the important info.

Everyone has a job on the fire scene but what about giving a sit rep every 30 seconds. Too much too little? Should it be on single company, large or all scenes?

Yes all comms today are crappy, most… Continue

Added by Richard Williams on January 2, 2010 at 11:30pm — 13 Comments

Cold weather

Just want to tell everyone as we come into winter and the winter firefighting drive safe and keep warm

Be safe!!

Added by Bruce Clouthier Jr. on January 2, 2010 at 10:21pm — No Comments

Weather

All be careful on the roads out there!!!!

Added by Jon Rettig on January 2, 2010 at 10:15pm — 1 Comment

The Journey Begins

EAST COUNTY — Under new management.

That’s the theme for fire services in three East County cities that began sharing a single chief and other administrators yesterday.

Under the new partnership approved by each city last year, La Mesa, El Cajon and Lemon Grove will share a management team that will oversee fire and emergency medical services in the three jurisdictions.

The move represents a significant step toward forming a single regional fire… Continue

Added by Jay Nicholson on January 2, 2010 at 2:49pm — 2 Comments

Show Up

I love the sound of fire tones when I am bouncing off the walls of my monster-in-laws stick built joint. It’s like the lunch bell ringing or a get out of jail free card that doesn’t come often enough. For the record, I love my family, but until my in-laws house is on fire I get a little extra pep in my step towards the front door when those tones drop.

In volunteer or combination fire departments, it is critically important for officers and firefighters to show up for calls,… Continue

Added by Paul Hasenmeier on January 1, 2010 at 10:01pm — No Comments

New Years Resolution

Download "Fix it. Now." from www.tigerschmittendorf.com

Fix it. Now. A New Years…

Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 1, 2010 at 7:05pm — 6 Comments

Starting off 2010 with a good mindset!

**Hello all on FFN, please bear in mind this is originally posted on my blog. Therefore, the formatting will likely be different here than on the blog. To view the optimized version of this post, and other posts, as well as accessing lots of great information from some great resources, check out my blog page:

http://firepsg.blogspot.com.

Furthermore, I understand I am posting this here to many of you who are professionals in the… Continue

Added by Daniel J Rocha on January 1, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Sorry

Hello to all hope that yall are all doing well. Sorry been really busy here of late but I am back on a system. So I am trying for the fire department again this year. Happy Holidays to all.

Added by kari (kat) kotara on January 1, 2010 at 3:45pm — 1 Comment

Tales from a tailboard fireman, Eddie's gloves

New Year's Eve in San Francisco. The year 2010 came really fast. Got up the nerve to call my friend who rode the tailboard with me on Engine 7 many years ago. He is dying of cancer now: a slow death and he is in pain and knows the end is near. He was always a man of courage who took things on head first. He is dealing with this the same way. What do you talk about with someone who is so near to death? He is not the first of my fire department buddies to die of cancer.

There is a long… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 1, 2010 at 1:19pm — No Comments

Tales from a tailboard fireman. Firehouse rules and regs

Fire departments are para-military organizations. As with most things in life this leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Some departments are run with strict military disipline, while others are lax at the firehouse. But as we know, there is no room for discussion on the fire ground.

In San Jose, we lived by the OAG (Official Action Guide). This very thick 3-ring binder had rules covering everything from when you got up in the morning to how long your hair or mustache could be (a… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 1, 2010 at 1:16pm — No Comments

Hello everyone, New to Firefighter Nation.

Hello everyone,

My name is Daniel J Rocha, I guess you could call me a rookie to firefighter nation. =)

I am glad to have found this site, and will now do what I can to engage myself with this site. Even though I am currently not part of the Fire Department/EMS, it is my aspiration to join and be part of a team of heroes. It's been a dream of mine, as I'm sure with all of you, to pursue a career in this field.

I am currently a student at Seneca College (Toronto,… Continue

Added by Daniel J Rocha on December 31, 2009 at 1:33pm — 7 Comments

The New Tool on the Block

Stanley Tools’ FUBAR Forcible Entry Tool is like a Halligan—but different

By Peter F. Kertize

Editor's Note: The following article appeared in the December 2009 issue of FireRescue magazine.

I first saw the Stanley FUBAR Forcible Entry Tool while doing some hands-on training at a fire service conference. I couldn’t help but notice all the people traipsing by, holding a shiny, new, odd-looking tool. My first gut impressions: 1) This looked like a… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on December 31, 2009 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment