Ben Waller's Blog – February 2009 Archive (3)

It CAN Happen Here: The Crash of Continental Flight 3407

Thursday night, Continental Communter Flight 3407 crashed into a house less than two blocks from the firehouse in Clarence Center, New York. This incident killed 50 people and injured several others. It also destroyed a Dash 8 aircraft and the home into which it crashed.

How many of us have heard the phrase "It can't happen here"? This can be heard when firefighters and medics don't want to take NIMS training or to consider EOC or logistics roles because "That's… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on February 14, 2009 at 10:34am — 1 Comment

Training is important, but is perfect practice really necessary?

From my Kitchen Table blog at: http://thekitchentable.firerescue1.com/

Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach once famously said "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."

Old Vince had a good thought but face it, perfect practice on a regular basis is unattainable for most people. More importantly, is perfect practice really important to the fire service?

An unknown author's reply to this was "Practice makes… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on February 11, 2009 at 10:26pm — 13 Comments

The Three Cuts Approach to Managing During the Economic Downturn

Cut Back

You may have to cut back on your use of metered services, fuel for non-essential apparatus movement, and out-of-town training. This includes keeping the thermostat at 68 degrees F, turning off the lights when everyone leaves the room, using energy-efficient light bulbs, bringing the meals to work instead of going shopping in the engine, and training locally as much as possible.

Caution - Look at the economic downturn as a chance to do more… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on February 7, 2009 at 6:30pm — 6 Comments