OPINION

Wilmington, DE (April 6, 2012) -- It's been a busy week for volunteer firefighters in New Castle County, Delaware, and fire departments across the nation have learned the details thanks to software known as a news aggregator. In this case, the automatic system discovered the terms firefighters, structure fire, injured firefighter on DelawareOnline, the web version of Delaware's News-Journal.

These aggregators make life easy for news editors (TV, radio,…

Firefighters have to be cautious about how they show weakness in the fire house. I don’t mean physical weakness, although that will become self evident after awhile, I mean weakness of mind, body, or spirit.

Any weakness will be exploited by your co-workers as a tool for torment, entertainment, and sabotage. Firefighters will pry, dig, and investigate your defenses over and over until they find that “thing” that one little defect in your character…

Louis DiGiacomo (brother of FF Joseph DiGiacomo of the Freeport Fire Dept.) has been entered in to a contest in order to win a brand new wheelchair van. (www.mobilityawarenessmonth.com)

I need everyone to go on the website and search for "DiGiacomo" under local heroes and click on his picture to vote for him. Be sure to enter his promo code (854) in order to receive and extra 10 votes. It takes about 2 minutes to complete and your…

“This is weird Tommy; the wound looks like it’s still fresh.”

Tommy joined me on the floor and gave it a look.

“You know what I think? I think the dog’s been licking this thing the whole time, you know trying to take care of his master.”

Made sense, I could just see the dog staying by his friend’s side and taking care of him.

“Makes sense to me Tommy. Look around the house and see if we can figure out what…

The guy must have been down for days, the report from dispatch asked us to check the welfare and that the reporting party hadn’t been able to get a hold of the patient for the past four days, and it looked like it had been a few days for sure.

There was a line of blood down every wall at almost the exact same height, around 2 to 2 ½ feet. I figured this was the height of the patient’s head when he was on his hands and…

http://firefighterhealthwellness.blogspot.com/

This morning I was taking some pictures at the local school bus garage in preparation for FDIC and a straight truck tanker rolled in.  So, of course I had to ask the driver (Russ, a firefighter from a neighboring jurisdiction) a few questions.…

http://firefighterhealthwellness.blogspot.com/

I have created a blog to spark some conversation on firefighter health and wellness initiatives.  In particular team oriented initiatives.  Take a look and please share your ideas.

Had to take this hydrant the other night! Curious what kind of difficult hydrants people have in their first due?

The video below shows parts of Blue Bird Corporations manufacturing process.  It will help you get an idea of where the strongest parts of the bus are located.  Of course different manufacturers have varying methods.

It is important to know the construction of…

I invite all to visit my blog titled http://www.nocheafirerescue.tumblr.com. 

It is a concept blog with innovative ideas that are necessary for the fire service.

Jose A. Nochea

We lined up like a SWAT team at the door; I was first in line and held a CO2 extinguisher like a gun. I thought if nothing else I could discharge the extinguisher and make a smoke screen effect to blind her.

Behind me was Tommy, and like me he had put on all his firefighting gear. We had on our big coats, gloves and helmets just in case she actually got a swing of the knife in, we might be protected a little. At the back of the stack was Pizza, and…

We knew Florence well. She was what we like to call a frequent flier. Florence had numerous problems and some of them were real. She had some sort of mental disorder bipolar or schizophrenia something that made her mind go off the rails from time to time.

She was never the one who called 911, that was generally the function of friends or neighbors. Flo would go off her meds or have an episode of whatever it was that she did and we would get the call…

All the pieces came together for this auger extrication prop.  I originally saw the idea on Brotherhood Instructors page, check it out here.

Firefighter Josh Goetz (Carroll Township FD) was…

I looked at Stormy.

“Go get the pump can and a carryall.” Stormy hurried away as I turned my attention back to the man.

“Hey mister… I’m sorry I never got your name. What is your name?”

“Ronald, Ronald Jackson.”

“Well Mr. Jackson, can I ask you a question?” The screams now were combined with rough coughing and gagging as the fire began to grow. I edged closer.

“You stay put son.”

“Okay Mr. Jackson…

As firefighters we protect life and property by any means necessary. And by “any” we mean the “safest and the best.” This means we do not marry ourselves to any one response modality or school of thought. We don’t always go interior on a fire attack...or always use a Halligan to force open a door (sometimes it’s already unlocked) right? We take into account certain factors along with the environment, resources, etc. and make the best tactical decisions we can.…

http://womenfirefighterhealthandfitness.blogspot.com/

http://firefightershealthandfitness.blogspot.com/

I’ve been a little heavy as of late so today I’m gonna tell a funny story about alcohol.

Drunks find inspiration while under the influence sometimes helpful and sometimes not so much. One chilly winter night a few weeks before Christmas we were hanging out late in the evening at station number 8.

We had decided it would be fun to decorate the BRT with Christmas lights and other festive elements. Our officer Captain Tubby…

by: Lou Angeli

Lewes, DE (March 27, 2012) -- I don't know where to start, but first allow me to make this personal statement. The New York Post, one of America's largest newspapers, is also its worst. It serves up yellow journalism on a daily basis and "...is best used to line the bottom of bird cages."

Yesterday, Monday March 26, 2012, The Post ran a story about a former FDNY firefighter who the paper claims faked a medical condition in order to…

A commenter on my post, Window Cut Down – Company Drill added a good point to the discussion about ensuring the power is cut before running a saw down the wall.  Read on.  

Pass it on!