January 2010 Blog Posts (127)

The Journey Begins

EAST COUNTY — Under new management.

That’s the theme for fire services in three East County cities that began sharing a single chief and other administrators yesterday.

Under the new partnership approved by each city last year, La Mesa, El Cajon and Lemon Grove will share a management team that will oversee fire and emergency medical services in the three jurisdictions.

The move represents a significant step toward forming a single regional fire… Continue

Added by Jay Nicholson on January 2, 2010 at 2:49pm — 2 Comments

Show Up

I love the sound of fire tones when I am bouncing off the walls of my monster-in-laws stick built joint. It’s like the lunch bell ringing or a get out of jail free card that doesn’t come often enough. For the record, I love my family, but until my in-laws house is on fire I get a little extra pep in my step towards the front door when those tones drop.

In volunteer or combination fire departments, it is critically important for officers and firefighters to show up for calls,… Continue

Added by Paul Hasenmeier on January 1, 2010 at 10:01pm — No Comments

New Years Resolution

Download "Fix it. Now." from www.tigerschmittendorf.com

Fix it. Now. A New Years…

Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 1, 2010 at 7:05pm — 6 Comments

Starting off 2010 with a good mindset!

**Hello all on FFN, please bear in mind this is originally posted on my blog. Therefore, the formatting will likely be different here than on the blog. To view the optimized version of this post, and other posts, as well as accessing lots of great information from some great resources, check out my blog page:

http://firepsg.blogspot.com.

Furthermore, I understand I am posting this here to many of you who are professionals in the… Continue

Added by Daniel J Rocha on January 1, 2010 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Sorry

Hello to all hope that yall are all doing well. Sorry been really busy here of late but I am back on a system. So I am trying for the fire department again this year. Happy Holidays to all.

Added by kari (kat) kotara on January 1, 2010 at 3:45pm — 1 Comment

Tales from a tailboard fireman, Eddie's gloves

New Year's Eve in San Francisco. The year 2010 came really fast. Got up the nerve to call my friend who rode the tailboard with me on Engine 7 many years ago. He is dying of cancer now: a slow death and he is in pain and knows the end is near. He was always a man of courage who took things on head first. He is dealing with this the same way. What do you talk about with someone who is so near to death? He is not the first of my fire department buddies to die of cancer.

There is a long… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 1, 2010 at 1:19pm — No Comments

Tales from a tailboard fireman. Firehouse rules and regs

Fire departments are para-military organizations. As with most things in life this leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Some departments are run with strict military disipline, while others are lax at the firehouse. But as we know, there is no room for discussion on the fire ground.

In San Jose, we lived by the OAG (Official Action Guide). This very thick 3-ring binder had rules covering everything from when you got up in the morning to how long your hair or mustache could be (a… Continue

Added by mike simms on January 1, 2010 at 1:16pm — No Comments