All Blog Posts (7,003)

SAFER = Southern Area Fire Equipment Research monthly southern California meetings

SAFER is a California non-profit corp founded in 1976 for the purpose of improving firefighter safety. If you are in the Los Angeles/ SO Cal area, you are welcome to attend our monthly meetings (third Friday of the month)to see what we are all about. For more info, see: www.safer.org Our next meeting is Sept 18th in Torrance.

Added by Steve SAFER on September 16, 2009 at 5:38pm — No Comments

SoCal Fire Photos

The wildland fire season is heating up in Southern California, and as usual many of these fires are directly affecting urban areas. We've gathered a few photos coming to us from the front lines.

Tip: Click the "i" in the slideshow player for photo information and the photographer's name.

Find more photos like this on Firefighter… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 16, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Atlanta Crews Respond to Parking Deck Collapse

Atlanta Crews Respond to Parking Deck Collapse

Incident becomes longest rescue in department history

Story & Photos by Greg Simpson

On Monday, June 29 at approximately 1230 HRS, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department responded to a reported parking deck collapse at 5th St. and Spring St. NE.

Firefighters arrived to find an eight-story parking deck with four floors collapsed to the ground in the center section. The Georgia Mutual Aid Group (GMAG)… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 16, 2009 at 8:00am — 1 Comment

Respect the Rank

Respect the Rank

Refusing to do what’s right because you don’t respect the company officer hurts you & the whole crew

By Scott Cook

Photo Chris Mickal

I know I tend to put the responsibility on the company officer and upper echelon for crew and department performance. But that doesn’t excuse some of the stuff those of us who ride backward do that can negatively affect team performance.

For whatever reason, some of us don’t want to… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 16, 2009 at 8:00am — 7 Comments

Attacking Wind-Driven High-Rise Fires

Blowin’ In the Wind, Part 4

Considerations for attacking a wind-driven high-rise fire

By Fred LaFemina

Editor's Note: This article is part of a series on high-rise fires. Read the other posts:

Part 1: Understanding conditions behind wind-driven fires…

Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 16, 2009 at 8:00am — No Comments

New Guy, Learn Your Area

The new guy was just putting away the last dish when someone yelled “First due box!” He’s the last one on board and the engine pulls out just as he closes his door. Bouncing back and forth in the cab, he buttons up, and tries to slip his arms into his SCBA straps. Forgetting his radio, he slips out of the SCBA and slips the radio on. As he leans against the rig while taking a corner, he notices his hood on the floor of the cab. Instinctively he leans down to pick it up and is jerked to a halt… Continue

Added by Bill Carey on September 14, 2009 at 11:31pm — 1 Comment

Back in the Game

It just doesn't seem to stop. Too many news articles, stories, video links, etc of LODD notices and accidents/injuries involving public safety personnel.

Personally, I have not been on my own soapbox of late. Excuses are a dime a dozen, but life happens. Business obligations, personal responsibilities, and the fact that the day only has 24 hours in it limits what can be accomplished.

I don't know if it has been a single incident, or a culmination of numerous incidents of… Continue

Added by Coach on September 13, 2009 at 8:53pm — 1 Comment

One More Time

One More Time

An Old Firefighter’s Request

One more time

One more time into the dragon’s lair

One more time through to the bowels of hell

One more time

Just one more time

One more time

One more time to feel the dragon’s breath

One more time to fight the Devil on his terms

One more time

Just one more time

One more time

One more time to go where mortal men fear

One more time to feel the rush

One more… Continue

Added by Fred Eppinger on September 13, 2009 at 4:55pm — 1 Comment

Beware the Dragon's Lair

Beware, the Dragon's Lair

by Fred Eppinger

October 1997

Beware, all ye who would enter the Dragon's Lair, for 'tis no place for the faint of heart and only a true Dragon Slayer will survive the test.

Those who will enter and return, shall be known as Dragon Slayers, and shall live high in the minds of the faint of heart.

Those who will enter and return unscathed, shall be known as having walked with the best.

Those that have entered and not… Continue

Added by Fred Eppinger on September 13, 2009 at 4:51pm — 2 Comments

I Am A Firefighter

I Am A Firefighter

By Fred Eppinger

August 1997

I am a Firefighter; I am a DragonSlayer.

I have entered the lair of the beast and engaged it in mortal combat.

I am a Firefighter; I am a Dancer.

I have entered the gates of hell and danced with the Devil,

until his desire to dance was destroyed.

I am a Firefighter; I am a Human Being.

I make mistakes and I learn from them.

I have fears and I confront and overcome… Continue

Added by Fred Eppinger on September 13, 2009 at 4:43pm — 4 Comments

Gone but not forgotten

To all my brother & sister firefighters

Im a firefighter and we honored or brother

Firefighters that day september 11 2001.

Today we honored them again today by

having a bike ralley honoring the fallen

hero's. Grove,Oklahoma was the place

You should have been here.We had police

Officers/Firefighters/Ems personal there

We even had one of the fire trucks that was

at Ground Zero that horable day on Display

for all to see. Oaks fire dept bought… Continue

Added by FRANCIS FAULKNER on September 11, 2009 at 9:58pm — 1 Comment

This makes me sick to my stomach !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Council may decide fire chief's future Tuesday

Citizen Online has learned that the Windom city council may discuss the possibility of removing Fire Chief Dan Fossing from the Windom Fire Department at Tuesday night's regular meeting.

According to members of the Windom Fire Department, the city personnel committee has recommended Fossing's removal because of a disagreement about how a fire truck was used.

According to sources within the fire department, the issue… Continue

Added by Galen McCarthy "CURBY" on September 11, 2009 at 8:16pm — 3 Comments

"Wow! What a great photo... wait, is that my son?!?!"

A week ago, I was sitting in the newspaper office doing what we editors do, when the emergency scanner squawked to life. We have a small county and all emergency calls go through the same dispatch and get broadcast to everyone else.

I'm usually only concerned with the calls from the five emergency departments in my readership/circulation area, but it's still interesting to hear what the various departments around the county are dealing with. Of course, as the team captain for our county's… Continue

Added by Sally on September 11, 2009 at 12:57pm — 10 Comments

9-11-01 (8 years latter)

2,976 dead…

Of them 236 were foreigners not from America…

2,740 of them were AMERICAINS…

2,740….

343 of 2,976. Were fire fighters who gave their lives to answer their last call here on earth…

and 23 were NYPD officers..

What does this mean to you…?

Will you ever forget where you were when the world came to a halt? Were ever TV news station showed this tragic event unfold?

To me there were 2,976 Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Sisters,… Continue

Added by E. Jock on September 11, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Need I, or we, say anymore.....

2,966 victims [2,998 as of Spring 2009]

All but 13 people died on that day. The remaining 13 later died of their wounds. One person has died since the attacks, of lung cancer. It is suspected to have been caused by all the debris from the Twin Towers.

There were 266 people on the four planes:

• American Airlines Flight 11 (crashed into the WTC): 92 (including five terrorists)

• United Airlines Flight 175 (crashed into the WTC): 65 (including five… Continue

Added by Coach on September 11, 2009 at 8:03am — No Comments

Patriot Day

Today is Patriot day, September 11th, 2009. Eight years since the 9/11 tragedy. Eight years since thousands of people lost their lives in a matter of less then two hours. Sons, daughters, fathers, mothers. All lost in what seems like the blink of an eye. All lost for reasons we may never understand. My heart breaks for the families and friends who all lost someone that day. They watched the news in terror; just waiting, hoping, praying for someone to walk through the door just one more time.… Continue

Added by Dustin J. Millis on September 11, 2009 at 12:12am — 2 Comments

Good times, great friends, great life...

Hello to all of those here in the Nation... It's great to get a chance again to post something in here. Life goes so fast these days that it seems like there is never any time for myself, until now... For those of you who don't know me, I am a 33 yr divorced father with two wonderful kids, ages 6 and 5. I am a probationary firefighter with the Moab Valley Fire Department here in beautiful Moab, Utah. I have the most wonderful girlfriend a guy could ask for, and she came along right when I… Continue

Added by jared m snyder on September 10, 2009 at 10:21pm — No Comments

Always remember, Never forget!!!

Tomorrow is another passing of September 11th. I look back in solemn remebrance of that fateful day when we lost 343 of our bravest. I was working that morning, getting ready to go off shift when we turned on the news and were shocked to see the unfolding drama. We sat in silenced awe as we watched the news show the second tower being hit. Since we are on the west coast it was taking time for this to sink into our minds as the events continued to unfold. Questions ran though the crews watching… Continue

Added by Glenn C. Rex on September 10, 2009 at 8:33pm — 1 Comment

Capt. Mike Hayes is FireRescue's Company Officer of the Year

Best of the Best

FDNY’s Mike Hayes is FireRescue’s Company Officer of the Year

Captain Michael C. Hayes of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Ladder Company 28 is the recipient of the 2009 FireRescue magazine Company Officer of the Year Award, which was presented to him on Aug. 28 at Fire-Rescue International in Dallas (watch the… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 10, 2009 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

Make It Personal

I recently attended a seminar on preparation for line-of-duty deaths and firefighter funerals. If you’ve ever read one of my blogs on FirefighterNation.com, you know that I have very strong feelings about firefighter deaths.

But, for the first time, the subject really hit home with me. While it’s important to plan that stuff, if we really think about it, doesn’t… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 10, 2009 at 6:00pm — 1 Comment