All Blog Posts (7,003)

Safety Officer-training

I have been appointed the safety officer for my department. I need to give a "safety talk" every month at our meeting. I'm looking for some ideas on what to talk about and a way to approach the subject so the department will listen and take heed.

Some of my ideas I would like to discuss are: Seat belts, Winter/Summer rehab, the accountability system, PPE maintanence, Wildland fire attack, Safety equipment on vehicle collisions and physical conditioning.

I would appreciate… Continue

Added by Susie on December 18, 2008 at 2:29pm — 9 Comments

I WISH YOU COULD SEE.....

I wish you could see the sadness of a business man as his livelihood goes up in flames, or that family returning home, only to find their house and belongings damaged or lost for good.

I wish you could know what it is like to search a burning bedroom for trapped children, flames rolling above your head, your palms and knees burning as you crawl, the floor sagging under your weight as the kitchen below you burns.

I wish you could comprehend a wife's horror at 3… Continue

Added by Robert Venable on December 18, 2008 at 2:04pm — 3 Comments

Ice Storm December 08

Well after 110 hours without power we finally have light and heat. As the snowman says in the beginning of Rudolph..." It was the year of the big storm..." This started on Thursday the 11th, no snow just ice, and freezing rain...lots of ice and freezing rain. Once I was able to get the kids to my Mom's (no power outage there) it was off to the Fire House to help man the station and help out with the "guests" we had living in our meeting room. Oh yeah, also running home every once in a while to… Continue

Added by Beverly on December 17, 2008 at 9:04pm — 3 Comments

NEW Training

I am looking for some training programs that work for other departments. I was thinking that departments could have every training nite agenda wrote up in advance for atleast six months. Maybe people that know what is going to be going on will come to the training session or maybe have a sign up sheet. I dont know this is just an idea that I havent perfected yet. Maybe some departments do this already if you do would you help me out and give me some ideas on how to get started.

Added by Darrin Simpson on December 17, 2008 at 8:10pm — 5 Comments

Man with keg in vehicle admits to drinking, driving

You have to give this guy one thing, if your going to drink and drive do it right. Taken from Dayton Ohio Daily News.

Man with keg in vehicle admits to drinking, driving

Staff Report

Monday, December 08, 2008

A roundup of unusual and noteworthy items from area police departments:

CLAYTON — Nov. 30: An officer responded to the intersection of Southway Road and Crestway Drive on a welfare check call and observed a running vehicle in the… Continue

Added by Bruce C Ziebarth on December 17, 2008 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Generation Gap

I feel torn between generations

The older guys still remembering how things were done back in the day want no change and would rather stay in 1970 and keep doing things the same way. Although they are believers in the chain of command they have been in charge for so long that they fail to realize that there are others out there besides themselves to answer to and for. They also typically have the mindset that if it wasn't their idea it's no good. They are also quick to criticize for… Continue

Added by Chief 29 on December 17, 2008 at 3:35pm — 2 Comments

on the road to take the test

Well I don't know how many people have been threw Arkansas when its snowing and cold, but we usually get just ice. I had to drive threw this crap for about 50 miles it took me 3 and half hours to go 50 miles. To take a written test for blythville fire department and i passed so yay! I was 20 minuets late getting there though but they let that slide considering there was an inch of ice on the highways. So I wonder which job I will take if Blytheville offers me one as well? Blytheville pays more… Continue

Added by Jonathan on December 17, 2008 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

This post has been deleted

Added by Denise Imperiale on December 17, 2008 at 2:00pm — 1 Comment

Robber Downloads Instructions from Internet

This is just too funny. Taken from KCMQ.com.

A trio of women in Bedford Heights, Ohio, wanted to rob the local Dollar Tree store. They weren’t sure how to go about it, so they went online and downloaded instructions on “How to commit armed robbery in Six Easy Steps.” Then 11 hours later, they went to the Dollar Tree wearing masks and brandishing a BB gun. They told the manager to open the safe, the manager said she could not open it, and the women… Continue

Added by Bruce C Ziebarth on December 17, 2008 at 9:21am — No Comments

Week of 12/14

So I am starting a blog out of sheer boredom (which I will explain later.)

On the fire side of things, It was pretty quiet except for monday.

We were toned out for a possible structure fire at a car dealership. When I heard the dispatcher sign on and blow out all those numbers ("Dispatching Engine 402, 404, 405, Rescue 406, Truck 422") I knew it was going to be something "good" but when he said it was a car dealership I thought to myself "oh...s***." Frankly I am not a fan… Continue

Added by Adam Box on December 17, 2008 at 7:47am — 3 Comments

Losing a Best Friend

The last week has been one of the most trying time in my life. My best friend in the whole world ( besides my wife ) passed away after he went into cardiac arrest while working out in a gym. We've been friends for over 15 yrs, I started as a snot nosied punk to a Lieutenant at a progressive dept, with his guidance and knowledge.

In 1992 when I met Louis, I knew that he was different but as we worked together and played together I found that we had more incommon that I thought. The… Continue

Added by Stephen Russell on December 17, 2008 at 12:22am — 3 Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

I passed my Practical!!!!!

Added by Denise Imperiale on December 16, 2008 at 8:20pm — 6 Comments

The Story of the Candy Cane

One Christmas in a small candy shop a candy maker decided he would share the story of Jesus with a special candy. This candy would symbolize the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ. To represent the Virgin birth, and the sinless nature of Jesus he used a solid white candy. This candy was a solid candy to represent the solid rock of God. The shape of this candy was easy to decide, he shaped this candy into the letter "J". This of course, represented Jesus. Jesus is often referred to as the… Continue

Added by Asst. Chief Bigshow on December 16, 2008 at 5:46pm — 1 Comment

It's been a while....

Sorry, it's been a while since I've been on the FFN site!!! I had my gallbladder removed a week ago (12-9-2008) and I've been revovering!! The bad thing is that I know I'm not a "patient" patient. I want to feel better yesterday!! And, what was supposed to be an outpatient procedure turned into a 2 night stay at the hospital due to the fact that the blasted thing exploded as she was removing it!!! Was doing good until the whole get up and move part of the day....and the front of my gown was… Continue

Added by Sheri Caelwaerts on December 16, 2008 at 3:32pm — No Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...December 16, 2008

I had my practical last night and I am waiting to hear if I passed. Everyone was so encouraging beforehand, telling me not to overthink like I have the habit of doing. I want to make a few observations and if you're a parent you will like these.

One is my son who is 11 has been extremely afraid of heights. I have a balcony in front of a window and the last time I asked him to clean the window and floor (quite a way up) he… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on December 16, 2008 at 2:22pm — 1 Comment

MyHotComments iT ISNT MERRY XMAS, AND ITS NOT HAPPY HOLIDAYS,,,,,IT IS A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

MyHotComments iT ISNT MERRY XMAS, AND ITS NOT HAPPY HOLIDAYS,,,,,IT IS A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
Continue

Added by Will2745 on December 16, 2008 at 1:12pm — 6 Comments

Life as a small town volunteer #2

So I just posted a discussion about the one call that got you hooked on fighting fire. I will go into a little more detail on what call got me hooked.

It was in October of 2005 that the rural department that i was on got paged out for a mutual aid for a grass fire. It was a clear warm day but the wind was steadily up around 20 -25 mph with some gusts of up to 40 mph. It was perfect weather for a grass fire to get out of hand in a hurry. We took two brush trucks and one engine for… Continue

Added by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on December 16, 2008 at 12:30am — No Comments

I have been busy

Sorry I haven't been on in a few days I have been busy around the house and trying to stay busy with the Department (Which has been slow, but is good and bad, good cause noone is having problems , bad cause I don't make any pay) It has been a rough couple of days trying to get everything in order for the holidays. I will try and get on when I have some time.
Until then everyone have a safe and Happy Holiday.
Merry Christmas an God Bless all.

Added by John on December 15, 2008 at 8:02am — 2 Comments

FYI

FYII wanted to let everyone know that I recently added the audio from the Annapolis, MD 5 alarm fire to my videos portion of my page. Take a listen. Here is a prime example of when everything goes wrong. Be safe. Patrick

Added by Patrick Mullen on December 15, 2008 at 6:17am — No Comments

Life as a small town volunteer #1

So I am new to FFN and still "wet behind the ears" relatively in the fire service. I live and go to school in a small town of about 6000. I guess you could say that I had always thought of being a firefighter but I had never pursued the idea until moving here for college. I am what some would call an adrenaline junky ( snow skiing, water skiing, riding ATVs,would like to skydive and bungee jump). I go to a college with a rodeo team and I had always wanted to try to ride a bull. Mom would never… Continue

Added by Gordon "Gopher" Runer on December 15, 2008 at 3:04am — 3 Comments