March 2009 Blog Posts (167)

Calm before the storm.

It's currently 8:13 am here in Eldon Missouri and I'm sitting at Station 1 of the Moreau Fire Protection District. We're waiting on severe storms to run through here in a matter of hours. Currently the weather is forcasting tornadoes, hail the size of quarters, and wind gusts of over 60 miles per hour. Here's our current weather report:

Today: Showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Steady temperature around 62. Breezy, with a west wind between 16 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29… Continue

Added by Terry R. Handel on March 8, 2009 at 9:18am — No Comments

so our fire dept started out with a brush fire in mason today then half of our dept and new haven dept had to go to middleport and the other half had to go to rutlamd ohio to help with two more brush…

so our fire dept started out with a brush fire in mason today then half of our dept and new haven dept had to go to middleport and the other half had to go to rutlamd ohio to help with two more brush fires then we headed out to bfe salem ohio, this all started around 3 pm today and finished up around midnight i am covered head to toe black but it was all worth it Continue

Added by Zerkle 523 on March 8, 2009 at 1:30am — 2 Comments

Up-Date on Paid-Firefighter Position...

Hey Guys,

Sorry it's been a while since I was on and have forgotten to up-date you guys on the whole City of Schenectady paid position. Unfortunately, I had to turn the position down for the following reasons; I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket so to speak and so I applied to another job around the same time the City of Schenectady was conducting interviews.

The other j0b was as a Logistics Coordinator with Compassion International. I'm sure you've all heard of… Continue

Added by Scott Runkel on March 7, 2009 at 9:28pm — No Comments

Routley at EGH Summit: Complacency is the greatest risk we face

Note: I’m currently at the Everyone Goes Home Safety Summit held at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md.

“When we train, we have all sorts of policies and procedures to follow. But when we go to a fire, it’s just chaos—and I love it!” This is just one example of the attitude Chief Gordon Routley encountered during the after-action review of the Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire that killed nine firefighters. As Routley put it in his presentation today, it… Continue

Added by Shannon Pieper, FireRescue Magazine on March 7, 2009 at 7:30pm — 2 Comments

Life Changes In A Split Second

From Firehouse Zen:

The other day I think we all were thinking about the death of the child struck by a Kansas City engine as reported by Firehouse.com. As you have probably heard thousands of times before, it doesn’t take too many incidents like this one to remind you that we have a huge responsibility while driving our apparatus, and even when all… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on March 7, 2009 at 6:30pm — 7 Comments

OLD TRUCK VERSES NEW TRUCKS

I am from a small fire dept and well our equipment is old we keep it up .. We have the biggest engine in the county,but it's one of the oldest in the county... I sit during parades and think of all these depts driving thru with all these new trucks and of course they always tell what they have paid for these trucks..As we know alot of money... I sit in the stands and I will watch our truck go thru and people look and they think old truck... What I don't understand and they don't understand the… Continue

Added by anne potter on March 7, 2009 at 2:36am — 13 Comments

It's friday, that means another You Make the Call

Here is this week's You Make the Call from my home blog the Happy MedicFeel free to comment here, or there, or both. The results of what happened will be posted, as always, Monday morning.

I started this segment of my blog as a way to get ideas flowing and see how folks around the country and the world handle the same event. There is no "right" answer, only what you would do, compared later with what I did. Sometimes the best way to… Continue

Added by the Happy Medic on March 7, 2009 at 2:09am — 4 Comments

Esperanza Fire "GUILTY!"

http://www.pe.com/reports/wildfires/esperanza/

Added by Debra Pflieger on March 6, 2009 at 11:46pm — 2 Comments

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