All Blog Posts (7,007)

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

bylaws for technical rescue teams

I have become the deputy coordinator for the newly formed county rescue team and the first item to we need to establish is a set of bylaws. We sure could use some input from any brothers or sisters involved in this specialized team work on how their bylaws read. we are still in the beginning phase and could use all the help we can get. Thanks

Added by Michael E. Odell on March 5, 2009 at 9:14pm — 3 Comments

Interpretation - Of Standards and Symphonies

From my blog at The Kitchen Table

http://thekitchentable.firerescue1.com/

A symphony orchestra spends a lot of practice time on their musical pieces before they perform in concert.

There is a lesson in that for fire-rescue departments. The time that we - the “orchestra” - spends with our “instruments” and in practicing with each other, the better the "concert" will sound to our audience. Most of us realize how important training on both individual and team skills,… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on March 5, 2009 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...March 5, 2009

Today I took the train to NYC to meet a recruiter about an advertising job. I was on the Midtown Direct from Morris Plains, and while I was waiting in the station room I looked at all the unhappy 7:00 a.m. faces. I thought to myself if I get a job (besides working for RE/MAX of course), I swear I am going to be happy waiting for that train. I am thankful for the interviews I have coming up, and I thought that I will finally find the job… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on March 5, 2009 at 8:22pm — 1 Comment

Brittle Towers

Last April the Institute of Medicine released Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. This report points out that there are not enough specialists in geriatric medicine.

There is insufficient training, the specialists that do exist are underpaid and Medicare fails to reimburse for the team care that many elderly patients need. This will affect the 78 million… Continue

Added by Mike Ward on March 5, 2009 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Wild land fire fighting training in Andover, NJ

It was nice trainnig....instructors are very respectful...no policing ...very friendly...I think they really wants to recruit more ....whole class of 40 peole with young kids except four of us...above 40...Let us see if I go for refresher this Sunday and on march 28, 29 pass pack test ...45 pound backpack on me and three miles in 45 minutes....

Let us keep fingers crossed... you never know I may pass....once I was known as "Phantom" when I was in my twenties....

My goal is to… Continue

Added by Paresh Trivedi on March 5, 2009 at 2:20pm — No Comments

NYC & Portland Make Public Safety Education Work

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!

FIRE PREVENTION

The Go-To Place: With a little ingenuity, public safety educational centers can work well

By Jim Crawford

The idea of having a central location for learning isn’t new. We call them schools. But what about a school that teaches… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on March 5, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Medic Evaluation

Had my annual Medic eval done last night while on medic shift and I must say I am very happy with it. had a few satisfactory marks, alot of outstanding, an superb remarks down on my eval. Made me feel really great. Then our Captain asked if there was any comments or concerns about him that I might have and since I have been at the station he is at I have none, he is an excellent Captain and very knowledgable, since he has been on our Dept. I have learned alot from him.

Added by John on March 5, 2009 at 9:36am — 1 Comment

Responding to a call that involves someone you know.

well two weeks ago I responded to a vehicle vs. ped. the ped was was transported to the hospital but was pronounced deceased.myself and another firefighte rode in the ambulance performing cpr. i did not realize the the person killed in the accident was someone I knew until two days later. well i went to her funeral today. the ceaced was a cousin of some very good friends of mine that I concider family. well my friends thanked me for just trying to save their cousin. I'm dealing with it ok, but… Continue

Added by YOU GO, WE GO on March 5, 2009 at 4:39am — 7 Comments

Open to LT.

Any Lt. that want to share stories,and training .

Added by N.Y fire fighter Lt. #503 on March 5, 2009 at 12:32am — 2 Comments

The Continuing Chronicles of the FNG (irl): Search and Resc…Get OFF Me!!!

Finally, a new drill in a sea of same-old, same-old. When our training officer isn’t feeling “inspired”, our drills tend to run to…take the trucks out, tap a couple of hydrants, do the inspections, run the equipment, wash the rigs and call it a night.

There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, it’s just that when you’ve done that three or four drills in a row, you’d almost rather have a cleaning drill (and I always end up doing the bathrooms on those… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on March 4, 2009 at 11:09pm — 16 Comments

Hanging up certificates

Tonight I was sitting in my office and remembered I needed to hang up my fire certificates that have been sititng in my desk drawer for a month or two. I excitedly ran to the tool box to find a hammer and nails. Of course I missed the stud in the wall the first 2 shots but who cares that will be under the frame when I am finished and 3rd time was my luck .. bamm the 2 nails were in time to HANG!! However quickly I realized that I had a problem.... you see I had two certificates one for… Continue

Added by Kimberly McDonald on March 4, 2009 at 10:18pm — 3 Comments

Loss of a Fire Fighter!!

It sadens my heart to say we have lost another Brother,Dennis (Denny ) Faw Jr. won his Battle with cancer he went on to be in Heaven pain free and no more worries of where it would show up next.I hope that we could fill his page up with comments he is listed at Deny Faw on here
http://www.firefighternation.com/profile/DennyFaw I hope God will use him as and angle to watch over us. Rest in Peace my Brother!!!!!

Added by Robert Nichols on March 4, 2009 at 8:36pm — 2 Comments

Hazardous Materials Technician

Wow, for the past 2 weeks I attended an 80 hour Texas State Certification course for Hazardous Materials Technician, and then took the state exam. It is known to be the 2nd hardest and most technical of all of the state tests. Good news, the entire class passed the state exam, so I am not only a HazMat Tech out of California through CSTI, I just landed my state of Texas Hazardous Materials Technician certification. Sweeeeet. Now I am able to get the IFSAC seal for HMT since Cali doesn't have… Continue

Added by FF Schoen on March 4, 2009 at 6:56pm — 3 Comments

I need me a tiller truck

OK everyone, you read right, Happy needs a tiller. Somewhere out there is my perfect rig, let me describe it to you:

circa 1976-1980 open cab or white top american lafrance 100' tiller drawn aerial ladder truck.

It needs to be in good running order and in decent body shape.

Here's the great part, the ladder DOES NOT need to be operable, tested, heck if it's missing, I'm still game.

If I have to drive it across this great land, or have it shipped, I will do… Continue

Added by the Happy Medic on March 4, 2009 at 6:48pm — No Comments

City Archive collapsed

Cologne (Germany):

The Biggest City Archive of central Europe north side the Alps collapsed yesterday.

At 02:00pm a big rumble and crying workers in front of the City Archive in the centre of Cologne alert the working people inside the building, so that theycan flee. After leaving, the four levels building collapsed completely.

After arriving of the first fire units the complete building lying on the street in front of the former Archive. Two adjoin houses of the City Archive… Continue

Added by Thomas Engel on March 4, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Whatever/ Whoever Nation

As FFN continues to rise in popularity, more and more people are coming to join the ranks. I get e-mails on almost a weekly basis saying things like FFN tops 30,000. FFN tops 35,000. FFN tops 40,000 and still growing strong. I read these and I think to myself "Hey thats awesome, the more FF's we have on the site, the more we can learn from each other, the more discussions we can have, the more brothers and sisters that we can meet and become friends with.

As I read more and more of… Continue

Added by Dustin J. Millis on March 4, 2009 at 3:01am — 13 Comments