What do you need for survival?  I’m not talking about your phone, technology or a certain person; I mean what does your body need to survive?  If you said food you would be correct… the single most important thing you need to focus on at that point is what to eat.…

Now compared to my father, my grandfather, and a good portion of the people on here I haven't been in the fire service very long. Five years officially this fall.SoI have been around just long enough to start forming opinions, and  whether they be right or not depends on who I agree or disagree with. When I joined I was 21 kept my mouth shut and trained and learned everything I could. All while taking over the family business which just made it even funner. Over the last five years I have…

"Quid est veritas?"

In this classic scene from ‘A Few Good Men’, Danny Kaffee is questioning Lt. Col Nathan Jessop about the use of a ‘Code Red’ that resulted in the death of a Marine. Colonel Jessop’s…

Video bites, Facebook morsels continually shape our education

As we look at the evolution of training in the fire service, we must realize that we are at a time like never before experienced. Today there is the availability of information at a moment’s notice. Fires occur and are on YouTube before the companies finish making up. There are…

I don't know how many of you have a family member on the dept with you but my significant other, I got crap for calling her a spouse at this point but she is to me, and I are on the same dept. I have been for 13 yrs, she has been since November. It is so incredibly awesome to be able to do this together, to see her excitement, to watch her learn and go outside her comfort…

So yesterday I stopped by a coffee shop owned by another retired Firefighter my buddy Eric. Eric I don’t think started off wanting to own a coffee shop, he just hated fire house coffee.

Firefighters for the most part are really cheap when it comes to pitching in on shared expenses at the station. So the cost of stuff like coffee, creamer, anything we deem a “staple” is split evenly across all firefighters.

Eric hated cheap coffee and cheap cigars so he began…

If you could go back 5, 10, or 20 years in your fire service career, what's the one important thing you would tell yourself?

I believe the one thing that really counts is, "knowing that everyone is watching." Throughout our careers, beginning on day one, everyone is watching what…