September 2009 Blog Posts (87)

This makes me sick to my stomach !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Council may decide fire chief's future Tuesday

Citizen Online has learned that the Windom city council may discuss the possibility of removing Fire Chief Dan Fossing from the Windom Fire Department at Tuesday night's regular meeting.

According to members of the Windom Fire Department, the city personnel committee has recommended Fossing's removal because of a disagreement about how a fire truck was used.

According to sources within the fire department, the issue… Continue

Added by Galen McCarthy "CURBY" on September 11, 2009 at 8:16pm — 3 Comments

"Wow! What a great photo... wait, is that my son?!?!"

A week ago, I was sitting in the newspaper office doing what we editors do, when the emergency scanner squawked to life. We have a small county and all emergency calls go through the same dispatch and get broadcast to everyone else.

I'm usually only concerned with the calls from the five emergency departments in my readership/circulation area, but it's still interesting to hear what the various departments around the county are dealing with. Of course, as the team captain for our county's… Continue

Added by Sally on September 11, 2009 at 12:57pm — 10 Comments

9-11-01 (8 years latter)

2,976 dead…

Of them 236 were foreigners not from America…

2,740 of them were AMERICAINS…

2,740….

343 of 2,976. Were fire fighters who gave their lives to answer their last call here on earth…

and 23 were NYPD officers..

What does this mean to you…?

Will you ever forget where you were when the world came to a halt? Were ever TV news station showed this tragic event unfold?

To me there were 2,976 Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Sisters,… Continue

Added by E. Jock on September 11, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Need I, or we, say anymore.....

2,966 victims [2,998 as of Spring 2009]

All but 13 people died on that day. The remaining 13 later died of their wounds. One person has died since the attacks, of lung cancer. It is suspected to have been caused by all the debris from the Twin Towers.

There were 266 people on the four planes:

• American Airlines Flight 11 (crashed into the WTC): 92 (including five terrorists)

• United Airlines Flight 175 (crashed into the WTC): 65 (including five… Continue

Added by Coach on September 11, 2009 at 8:03am — No Comments

Patriot Day

Today is Patriot day, September 11th, 2009. Eight years since the 9/11 tragedy. Eight years since thousands of people lost their lives in a matter of less then two hours. Sons, daughters, fathers, mothers. All lost in what seems like the blink of an eye. All lost for reasons we may never understand. My heart breaks for the families and friends who all lost someone that day. They watched the news in terror; just waiting, hoping, praying for someone to walk through the door just one more time.… Continue

Added by Dustin J. Millis on September 11, 2009 at 12:12am — 2 Comments

Good times, great friends, great life...

Hello to all of those here in the Nation... It's great to get a chance again to post something in here. Life goes so fast these days that it seems like there is never any time for myself, until now... For those of you who don't know me, I am a 33 yr divorced father with two wonderful kids, ages 6 and 5. I am a probationary firefighter with the Moab Valley Fire Department here in beautiful Moab, Utah. I have the most wonderful girlfriend a guy could ask for, and she came along right when I… Continue

Added by jared m snyder on September 10, 2009 at 10:21pm — No Comments

Always remember, Never forget!!!

Tomorrow is another passing of September 11th. I look back in solemn remebrance of that fateful day when we lost 343 of our bravest. I was working that morning, getting ready to go off shift when we turned on the news and were shocked to see the unfolding drama. We sat in silenced awe as we watched the news show the second tower being hit. Since we are on the west coast it was taking time for this to sink into our minds as the events continued to unfold. Questions ran though the crews watching… Continue

Added by Glenn C. Rex on September 10, 2009 at 8:33pm — 1 Comment

Capt. Mike Hayes is FireRescue's Company Officer of the Year

Best of the Best

FDNY’s Mike Hayes is FireRescue’s Company Officer of the Year

Captain Michael C. Hayes of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Ladder Company 28 is the recipient of the 2009 FireRescue magazine Company Officer of the Year Award, which was presented to him on Aug. 28 at Fire-Rescue International in Dallas (watch the… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 10, 2009 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

Make It Personal

I recently attended a seminar on preparation for line-of-duty deaths and firefighter funerals. If you’ve ever read one of my blogs on FirefighterNation.com, you know that I have very strong feelings about firefighter deaths.

But, for the first time, the subject really hit home with me. While it’s important to plan that stuff, if we really think about it, doesn’t… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 10, 2009 at 6:00pm — 1 Comment

A Quick Review of Type 3 Construction & Associated Fire Danger

QUICK DRILLS

If They Build It … A quick review of Type 3 construction & associated fire danger

Story & Photos by Homer Robertson

In last month’s column (FireRescue, August 2009, “Warning Signs,” p. 116), I discussed two fundamental subjects that every fire department should cover in its training programs: fire behavior and building construction. Last month, I focused on flashover, which is just one small segment of fire behavior. This… Continue

Added by Fire Rescue Magazine on September 10, 2009 at 8:30am — 1 Comment

fire dept patches!

hi to one and all in the service my name is Darren Somers, I im in the fire service in Ireland. Some people have already contacted me through FFN but i'm always happy to chat with paople to hear their stories, I'm trying to start my own patch and badge collection so anyone that can spare any they would be greatly received. My home address is 44 Rathsillan Carlow Road, Tullow Co.Carlow, Ireland. Also between myself and our station officer we are hoping to arrange some visits to fire houses… Continue

Added by Darren Somers on September 10, 2009 at 5:00am — 1 Comment

Training Ideas.

My fire department had an awesome training yesterday and I was wondering what are some training ideas that maybe any of your departments have tried? Myself and my fire department would love to hear your ideas and what some of y'all have done.

Added by Cory P. Taylor on September 9, 2009 at 8:37pm — 3 Comments

Firefighters that are weather junkies

Beside enjoying Fire & Rescue I enjoy Weather, the wilder the better. Occasionaly I come accross web sites dealing with weather, [ Pictures, Videos, Facts, etc; ]. So I am more than happy to share these with everyone, and get some feed back from others. So to start if you would like to see some great pictures of the Station Fire go to
http:// www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/wildfires in southern californ.html , let me know what you think

Added by Mike Elack on September 8, 2009 at 9:40pm — 1 Comment

Once in Lifetime...

Hey y'all, tomorrow is a date in time that few will ever see...09/09/09...it only happens every thousand years! It also happens to be my 47th birthday, and I'm humbled by the fact that this date will be seen by only those who are here now! Peace to all and may you all stay safe on this date and in the future!
Chris

Added by Christopher Smith on September 8, 2009 at 9:32pm — 1 Comment

9/11 anniversary

i sat with my wife last night and watched a documentary called "102 minutes that changed america". it used real life footage captured by ordinary people on the day the twin towers was struck. I can still remember to this day what I was doing and like so many dont think will ever forget because that day is etched into our memories so stay forever.I felt a great sadness then before i joined the service but its now more poignant since ive joined because of the brotherood that surrounds us every… Continue

Added by Darren Somers on September 8, 2009 at 5:34am — 3 Comments

Glad to be a part of FirefighterNation!

We are glad to be associated with the folks here at FirefighterNation and respectfully request you also learn more about us, Ted Corporandy and Paul Schuller at www.firenuggets.com We too, are all about firefighter safety and networking....

Stay safe,
Paul and Ted

Added by Paul A. Schuller on September 7, 2009 at 11:25pm — 1 Comment

Summer Acceleration Theory

Calcium Anthropologists Warn of Effects of Summer Acceleration

Unconfirmed fiction by: Tige R. Schmittendorf

Editor's Note: I know it's Labor Day. I should have warned you sooner...

One day while taking a requisite course towards my doctorate in calcium anthropology — the study of milkmen and their connection to mad cow disease — I had cause to stop, doze, and ponder the season ahead.

In the midst of my heavy R.E.M. sleep, I… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 7, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

From the X-Box to the Box Alarm

As I travel around the country talking with other firefighters, a commonly recurring theme of our chat is the future of the volunteer fire service.

The conversation always comes around to the topic of today’s firefighters and the next generation of firefighters. Some “more experienced” firefighters (notice I didn’t use the term older) share that they don’t understand the “kids” coming into the fire service today.

The veterans don’t think today’s recruits share the same… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 6, 2009 at 11:00pm — 9 Comments

Fortune Tellers

In my last blog titled “Dig In.” I talked about the importance of story telling in the fire service and how it serves as a means of sharing experiences, traditions and values from generation to generation. In this article I try to tell a story, and in that story, I hope you can find a lesson to share for generations to come.

Almost every firefighter I meet speaks of how they always knew, from the time… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 6, 2009 at 10:22pm — 6 Comments

Local Rotary to Donate Truck To Mexico

Our local rotary club has raised money a refurbished a firetruck to donate to small town in Mexico. They want to take some of the kids that helped raise money to the donation ceremony. We are wondering if the kids would be covered by their local US Medical insurance or if they'd need to purchase International health insurance? Anyone that can answer this questions would be greatly appreciated.

Added by Lincoln Builds on September 6, 2009 at 10:15pm — 1 Comment