All Blog Posts (7,003)

St Andrew's Reading Contest.

Please check out the article in the WestOf newspaper.
Feel free to steal this program and use it in your area. The more we get out in the community, and the more literate children there are, the better country we have.

http://www.westof.net/main.test.php?category=schools&id=69

Added by Sarah Turner on September 5, 2009 at 3:35pm — No Comments

Near Miss: The 400-lb. Patient in the Room

NEAR-MISS REPORT

The 400-lb. Patient in the Room: We must ensure safe operations during unique calls, like transporting the immobile, obese patient

By Deputy Chief John B. Tippett Jr.

The role of the fire service has expanded well beyond the original concept and ideals promulgated by early colonists Peter Stuyvesant and Benjamin Franklin. What hasn’t changed in the last 300 years: the tradition of rising to the occasion when called upon to assist a… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 5, 2009 at 10:30am — 2 Comments

Lock ON..Lock OUT

How often have we in the course of duty focused on something to the point that everything else around us blurred out? Well, I realised this at a Senior Management Worskhop that I attended over the last two days.

The theory of "Lock ON Lock OUT (Pacific Institute), exposes a fundamental flaw in our thinking(not just firefighters, but everyone!).

For example, as Fire Chief; when motivating to my Council for budget, I put in all my energy into what I believe the Department 'is… Continue

Added by Previn on September 5, 2009 at 5:46am — No Comments

Heads Up! Part 2: How to perform a tree rescue

RESCUE TRAINING

By Andy Speier

Consider this scenario: A parachutist is blown off course and gets caught hanging by their chute in a tree 150 feet off the ground. The branch nearest the ground is 50 feet away, and there’s no vehicle access to the site. Is your department or rescue team prepared and trained to initiate a rescue in this situation? How long until the parachutist becomes unconscious and unable to assist with the rescue?

In my… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 4, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Time to Slosh: To add some variety to your workout, try a slosh pipe

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

By Jeff & Martha Ellis

For those of you looking to add a different piece of equipment to your fire station gym, or if you just need a little project and want to work muscles you haven’t worked before, it’s time to build a slosh pipe. A slosh pipe is nothing more than a 9′ piece of 4″ PVC pipe that’s filled two-thirds of the way with water, which should equal 38–42 lbs., and capped at both ends. Think… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 4, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Safe Shuttling: Best Practices for water-hauling operations

RURAL FIRE COMMAND

By Mike Kucsma

I’d like to think that the fire service is starting to make some strides when it comes to reducing apparatus accidents and, therefore, the number of injuries and fatalities associated with such incidents. And although I could make driving safety the topic of this article—and even address some personal near misses—I’m going to leave that to my colleagues who deliver the driving safety and seatbelt message louder and more… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 4, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk 2009

So this year I decided to finally do the Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk. Every year I glance at it on TV but I don't tend to watch any 9/11 stuff for very long because it still bothers me. Still I always thought it would be healthy to do something positive to get my mind of of the bad stuff.

http://www.active.com/donate/tunneltotowersrun09/jlevitsk

If you click the link above you can sponsor me and give money to good causes. I signed up as a walking Firefighter so the 3.1 miles… Continue

Added by Joshua Levitsky on September 4, 2009 at 11:55am — No Comments

Share your memories of Jim Page

Today (Friday, Sept. 4) marks the 5th anniversary of the sudden death of Chief Jim Page.

Since joining FireRescue magazine, one of my biggest regrets is that I never met Jim, our founder and the vision behind FireRescue and JEMS. Many of my colleagues worked with him for years. The inspiration he gave them, and the respect they had for him, is evident in our offices nearly every day. When considering a new project or publication, we often question… Continue

Added by Shannon Pieper, FireRescue Magazine on September 4, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Guess who made it on to National TV today.....

Potomac Valley VFD & Bakerton Fire Department along with others responded to an incident at Maryland Heights today to rescue a woman that fell from the cliff.

For more information click on the following news links:

http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=78431

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/national/090309_hiker_rescued_from_harpers_ferry

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546203,00.html

More links and info will be coming soon… Continue

Added by Tammy on September 3, 2009 at 11:22pm — No Comments

Time for another talk with the daughter

This from my almost 21 y/o college daughter.

School day 2: got the soccer class canceled by passing out so instead of taking a text in my next 2 classes I was surrounded by very attractive emts :) Best day yet!

I'm assuming she's OK since this was sent after her 'episode'.

Added by Jay Nicholson on September 2, 2009 at 8:38pm — No Comments

Dig In.

Dig in.

“Early on in my fire service career, we responded to a report of a tractor-trailer rolled over on a nearby state highway. We arrived on scene and found a truck lying on its passenger side. The wheels were facing the roadway and the top of the cab was on the shoulder of the road. The truck driver was being treated as walking wounded. It seemed like a relatively benign accident.

As we approached the curb side we realized that this was no ordinary call. It turned out… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 2, 2009 at 6:00pm — 9 Comments

1 Giant Step for Truckies: Managing Parapets

One Giant Step for Truckies: How to safely manage parapets

By Peter F. Kertzie

The amount of energy we exert scurrying up an aerial ladder to a roof can range from minimal to extreme, depending on the angle of the ladder, the load we’re carrying and the weather, smoke and fire conditions. One thing we can count on during our ascent: There will be sturdy, evenly spaced rungs under our feet the entire time. And if we’re using a platform or Snorkel and simply… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 2, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Thank you Jim Page

Jim,

I know you are in a good place. Thank you from one of the "Old Paramedics."

Tim Floyd
retired Littleton Fire Rescue
Faculty Fire Science, Red Rocks Community College

Added by tim floyd on September 2, 2009 at 12:14pm — No Comments

Nims 300 & 400

How can i get my Nims 300 & 400? For some reason its a big secret at my department! Please e-mail me @ fyrfytr1730@hotmail.com.

Added by Scott Ervin on September 2, 2009 at 11:07am — 1 Comment

Tenth Anniversary Benefit Ride for 9/11 workers...

So I was messing around on Facebook when I get this list of suggested friends. Normally they are people from school or friends from work, etc... but this time ther is a girl I don't know who looks familiar. So I clicked on her link and see not one common friend... not one. What I do see is everyone on her sampling of friends list is a brother.

Normally I won't just send a friends request unless it's a brother firefighter, or someone I know is a friend from the past, but this time I… Continue

Added by Allen Wahlstrom on September 1, 2009 at 10:10pm — No Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...September 1, 2009

I can't tell you how sad I am now packing up my daughter's room. I have gone through the countless papers and stories she has written. They are all about drugs and how wonderful they are. I thought I was going to vomit. Right next to the drug stories were her Barbies and Betty Spaghettis. She is 18 and what is called MICA. That stands for mentally ill chemically addicted. She has recently started heroin.

We are doing all… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on September 1, 2009 at 9:50pm — 1 Comment

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...September 1, 2009

I can't believe a week has gone by since this happened.

I was eating pizza at an outside table at Arminio's in Chatham, NJ where I work and a truck made a tight turn around the corner very close to my table. A cylinder (probably propane) popped off the truck and started hissing with flames shooting out. I went inside and told the owner to call 911 and then went back outside to make sure people didn't walk near the… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on September 1, 2009 at 9:46pm — No Comments

Photos of LA fires

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bigpicturefire,0,5985825.htmlstory

I am speechless.

Added by Jane Laura Doyle on September 1, 2009 at 9:35am — No Comments

Pause for a Moment

I went to Catholic school my entire life (which to some, explains a lot), and I'd say I received a good education. I was taught to believe that people are generally good, that we're all more alike than we are different, and that life is a gift.

Life is a tricky gift, though, isn't it? You curse it on your worst days, you hope it never ends on your best, and as you get older, it seems to go by faster and faster, just when you need it to slow down, or pause, for a bit.

When… Continue

Added by Cindy Devone-Pacheco, FireRescue on August 31, 2009 at 5:00pm — 3 Comments

Remembering Jim Page: FireRescue board members share their thoughts

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Jim Page, FireRescue magazine's founder and the father of EMS in the fire service. Below, several FireRescue board members share their memories of Jim.

“I only knew Jim Page a few years. But because of reading his many columns and editorials, I felt like I know him my whole life. I first met Jim back in 2002 at FDIC. I had just started working for Fire Rescue Magazine as it's Apparatus Technical… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on August 31, 2009 at 8:00am — No Comments