Sample from current post at pipenozzle.com reprinted with permission: 

"I’d say it’s fair to conclude, based on my two decades of teaching experience and thirty years as a writer, that most Americans can not tell if they have been victims of propaganda or not until some obnoxious retired educator/writer like me starts asking for fact. I did so with Kaitlyn and easily established that she had no basis in fact for supporting Ackley and for voting to slash the PBFD budget.…

Excerpt posted here with permission of pipenozzle dot com.  For the full post, visit the site. 

For alcoholics to seek a cure, they have to hit bottom first.

Before serious leadership emerges to cure the fire protection mess in the Town of Groton, Connecticut, Alan Ackley will take the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District, which provides fire protection for half of the town, to the bottom first.…

I have a question. Why is it that most firefighter shifts start around 7:00 am? Why are firefighters forced to deal with rush hour traffic and add to the rush hour mess? After all we work a 24 hour shift, why couldn’t we begin our day at say 10:00am or 11:00am?…

Earlier this year I wrote about the Turning Tide in Police and Firefighter Hiring. As we reach the midyear point, police and firefighter hiring trend appears to be accelerating along with a couple of interesting twists. Click the link below o read the full article:…

Except reprinted with permission of pipenozzle dot com. Visit site for complete entry.

At the end of a hot, muggy southern Michigan May day, I pulled my truck into the Coca Cola warehouse lot and glanced up at sky blue everywhere but over downtown Kalamazoo where a black thunderhead passed over as they tended to do on hot, muggy spring afternoons.  The only thought I had concerned turning in my paperwork at the front office, and then getting in…

PHMSA asks fire chiefs to promote 811 in their response areas “August 11 [811] as “National 811 Day.””

PHMSA | Fire Chief

Learn more about the 811 call process

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is members of the International Associations of Fire Chiefs for their assistance in promoting the national “811— Call Before…

More and more of my firemen friends are retiring, this is the result of hiring large recruit academies in the early 80’s. I have gone to a few retirement parties to wish my friends well in retirement land and to see other retirees.…

In every AAR (after action review) that I have ever been to, problems with communication ranks in the top three of “what went wrong”.  Often the source of frustration is blamed on equipment or new technology or both.  Despite all contributing factors, the question remains: Is the message ‘sent’ the message ‘received’ as intended?

Training gives us the…