All Blog Posts (7,003)

Springtime = Time to Lose Those Extra Lbs.

Free the Fat: Now’s the time to lose the weight that dogs you

Story & Photos by Fire Captains Jeff & Martha Ellis

Springtime is here! All the New Year’s resolutions for weight loss are long forgotten, and… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on March 10, 2009 at 2:00pm — 3 Comments

What is happening to the moral character of the fire service?

Is it just me or does it seem like the people around us, that work at our station or at the neighboring mutual aid station, have lost a little bit of moral character? Does it seem odd to you that many people are caught up in the flashy side of the fire service and not focused on what we are here to do?

In my time in the fire service I have noticed that alot of people are getting caught up in the fact that they are paid full time firefighters and that they are better than the… Continue

Added by Jacob Fouts on March 10, 2009 at 1:31am — 9 Comments

Cement Trucks for Water Transport?

Firefighter Nation users now have access to special Web-only articles and extras through FireRescue magazine's blog. Check back periodically for more great tips and tactics!

Haulin’ Water: Cement trucks are another option for transporting water

Story & Photos by Jeff Riechmann

Many fire departments use a variety of unique vehicles to haul water to support tanker shuttle operations. For volunteer fire departments, these vehicles often… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on March 9, 2009 at 2:00pm — 11 Comments

Temporarily out of service

Leave it up to me to be the klutz....Since it was so nice on Saturday we decided to do some clean-up from the December ice storm. I unfortunately should not have tried to carry a big branch down a muddy slope! To make a long story short, a trip to the ED, some xrays and meds later I am now out of service with a severe sprain to my right ankle...So, I guess that I get to sit around, eat bon bons and watch Emergency! re-runs...yeah right, but I won't be responding for a while since the airsplint… Continue

Added by Beverly on March 9, 2009 at 12:35pm — 4 Comments

Red and Gold Ball

All Arkansas Firefighters are invited to attend the Red and Gold Ball, Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. The Ball will benefit the Arkansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial. Tickets are $200.00, dinner is included. Dress is Business Dress. There will be a cash bar. Reception at 6:00pm, dinner at 7:00 pm. Dance all night to the sounds of the Mid Life Crisis Band with firefighter Jimmy Woods. You must order your tickets not later than April 1st. To order contact Susan… Continue

Added by Susan Heikkila on March 9, 2009 at 7:21am — No Comments

A HOPEFUL HEART !!

I have been a member of FFN for awhile now and I can think of no better way to get the word out on behalf of

Breana Mae Bladel and ask that everyone visit her website , pray for her and if you would like to, send her an encouraging email . Her story is on her website, she is a true inspiration to all that know and love her . She has endured some much in her 13 years of life and she doesn't complain or every ask why me . She is so brave and has so much courage I wonder somtimes if I were to… Continue

Added by Dawn Melody Bladel on March 9, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

I am doing it again!!!

Ok folks,

Here is the official word.

I am doing it again!!!!

I was approached with the idea of heading up the Thornhill Ride again. After careful consideration and a few sleepless nights, I have decided that I would be honored to coordinate the Thornhill Ride. There are some changes this year that everyone needs to be made aware of. This year's event will take place at the Union City American Legion (409 Pearl Street Union City, Indiana). All proceeds go 100% to… Continue

Added by Crystal on March 8, 2009 at 10:30pm — No Comments

After the storm.

We lucked out. Only a few minutes after the 'Calm before the storm.' blog post, we were toned out for weather spotter activation. I went with the Lieutenant of Station 6 and parked at the El Rancho Truck Stop based just outside of Eldon. It was already raining, and nothing much was happening. Once we arrived at the Truck Stop and parked, looking at the clouds it suddenly picked up in wind, and pea sized hail began to drop. During the middle of this portion of hail, we were then toned out by… Continue

Added by Terry R. Handel on March 8, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Calm before the storm.

It's currently 8:13 am here in Eldon Missouri and I'm sitting at Station 1 of the Moreau Fire Protection District. We're waiting on severe storms to run through here in a matter of hours. Currently the weather is forcasting tornadoes, hail the size of quarters, and wind gusts of over 60 miles per hour. Here's our current weather report:

Today: Showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Steady temperature around 62. Breezy, with a west wind between 16 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29… Continue

Added by Terry R. Handel on March 8, 2009 at 9:18am — No Comments

so our fire dept started out with a brush fire in mason today then half of our dept and new haven dept had to go to middleport and the other half had to go to rutlamd ohio to help with two more brush…

so our fire dept started out with a brush fire in mason today then half of our dept and new haven dept had to go to middleport and the other half had to go to rutlamd ohio to help with two more brush fires then we headed out to bfe salem ohio, this all started around 3 pm today and finished up around midnight i am covered head to toe black but it was all worth it Continue

Added by Zerkle 523 on March 8, 2009 at 1:30am — 2 Comments

Up-Date on Paid-Firefighter Position...

Hey Guys,

Sorry it's been a while since I was on and have forgotten to up-date you guys on the whole City of Schenectady paid position. Unfortunately, I had to turn the position down for the following reasons; I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket so to speak and so I applied to another job around the same time the City of Schenectady was conducting interviews.

The other j0b was as a Logistics Coordinator with Compassion International. I'm sure you've all heard of… Continue

Added by Scott Runkel on March 7, 2009 at 9:28pm — No Comments

Routley at EGH Summit: Complacency is the greatest risk we face

Note: I’m currently at the Everyone Goes Home Safety Summit held at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md.

“When we train, we have all sorts of policies and procedures to follow. But when we go to a fire, it’s just chaos—and I love it!” This is just one example of the attitude Chief Gordon Routley encountered during the after-action review of the Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire that killed nine firefighters. As Routley put it in his presentation today, it… Continue

Added by Shannon Pieper, FireRescue Magazine on March 7, 2009 at 7:30pm — 2 Comments

Life Changes In A Split Second

From Firehouse Zen:

The other day I think we all were thinking about the death of the child struck by a Kansas City engine as reported by Firehouse.com. As you have probably heard thousands of times before, it doesn’t take too many incidents like this one to remind you that we have a huge responsibility while driving our apparatus, and even when all… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on March 7, 2009 at 6:30pm — 7 Comments

OLD TRUCK VERSES NEW TRUCKS

I am from a small fire dept and well our equipment is old we keep it up .. We have the biggest engine in the county,but it's one of the oldest in the county... I sit during parades and think of all these depts driving thru with all these new trucks and of course they always tell what they have paid for these trucks..As we know alot of money... I sit in the stands and I will watch our truck go thru and people look and they think old truck... What I don't understand and they don't understand the… Continue

Added by anne potter on March 7, 2009 at 2:36am — 13 Comments

It's friday, that means another You Make the Call

Here is this week's You Make the Call from my home blog the Happy MedicFeel free to comment here, or there, or both. The results of what happened will be posted, as always, Monday morning.

I started this segment of my blog as a way to get ideas flowing and see how folks around the country and the world handle the same event. There is no "right" answer, only what you would do, compared later with what I did. Sometimes the best way to… Continue

Added by the Happy Medic on March 7, 2009 at 2:09am — 4 Comments

Esperanza Fire "GUILTY!"

http://www.pe.com/reports/wildfires/esperanza/

Added by Debra Pflieger on March 6, 2009 at 11:46pm — 2 Comments

can I ge a EMT-P refresher close to MS

I have a guy in my dept that has been deployed to Iraq. He needs to get his EMT-P refresher blocks finished as soon as he can. If anyone has any information on this please let me know.

Thanks, Lee Williams

Added by Lee Williams on March 6, 2009 at 9:39am — 1 Comment

Give & Take - Now more than ever, we must work together toward the acceptance of an automatic aid system

As a young, aspiring firefighter, I admittedly avoided the political aspects of the fire service. Call me naïve, but I assumed politics had nothing to do with the more beloved aspects of the job—deploying hose lines, throwing ladders and ventilating roofs—so therefore it wasn’t important.

Today, as a more “seasoned” student of the profession, I understand that nothing could be further from the truth. Our tactics, our safety and the resources we employ in every aspect of our jobs are… Continue

Added by Timothy Sendelbach on March 6, 2009 at 5:00am — 7 Comments

The Continuing Chronicles of the FNG(irl): OSHA.....does NOT have to be boring....No....Seriously!!!

It's that time of year.....

We had our multi-company OSHA eight-hour refresher training on Saturday. I can think of roughly ten millionnnnnnnn things I would rather be doing ( and cleaning out my sock drawer ranks right up there) instead of sitting through another eight hour session of “gotta do it, so shut up and suck it up” OSHA info. This has only been my second OSHA refresher, so I can't speak to how boring they normally are, but if last year's day-long exercise in water-board… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on March 5, 2009 at 11:57pm — 9 Comments

Got the ball rolling

Just a quick update, I found a new home with the Brookfield FD... Just got the formalities yet (app. aproval and physical) I must say it's been a while but I still miss being active with a company!

Added by Leroy on March 5, 2009 at 9:39pm — 3 Comments