sorry for the hiatus folks.Had alot going on. As most of you know I lost my job at Gadsden Etowah EMS for reporting safety violations and got hired at AMED. Well seems that even though I told the person who hired me exactly what happened at Gadsden after he left I was railroaded out from AMED. I have been unable to get a job in EMS since August 2009. I love volunteering as a firefighter and really love being a member of a crew on an ambulance. Helping people is all I have ever been good at…

November 14-18, 2011

Fresno Convention Center

Registration is open atwww.calchiefs.org.

I am teaching an 8 hour class on Firefighter Accident/Near Miss Investigation on Wednesday.

A conversation heard at a Midwestern fire department between Bobby, the Training Officer and his Chief:

Fire Chief:  Go away, Bobby, I’m eating.

T.O. Bobby:  Hey, Your Eminence, I have some good news and I have some good news.

Fire Chief:  You know me, Bobby.  Give me the bad news first.

T.O. Bobby:  There is no bad news, Chief.

Fire Chief:  There’s never no bad news, Bobby.  This is 2010,…

Brockport Firefighters welcomed representatives of Liberty Mutual to their monthly meeting on Tuesday. You might think when an insurance salesman wants to come to your meeting, they probably want to sell you something. On this day, nothing could be further from the truth. Matthew Reiter, sales representative from their Ridge Road office and Richard Fisher, Sr. Branch Manager came to the meeting bearing gifts and greetings for Brockport Fire Department Past Captain William Connors and…

The new Firefighter Skills Competency Workbook is now available. This Skills Competency Workbook follows NFPA 1001 (2008 edition), and can be used not only to document initial training but continual skills competency training as well. This workbook should assist departments with developing an organized training program as well. Learn more about this workbook at

www.createspace.com/3690367

Well , I met with my Cardiologist , no bad news regarding my Heart ! The ejection fraction of the  left ventrical has improved , I've lost over 20 pounds and 2 inches :) ,diabetes control is great !

 Now the down side , I will Not be returning to work just yet :( I will continue to be on a Beta blocker at an increased dosage , continue to walk daily , trying to get in three 30 minute walks per day ,continue to do great with my Diabetes control. I will follow up  with the Cardiologist…

Delmar Cengage learning Firefighter training products include:

Firefighter Course on DVD ( 250+ hours of instruction and training )

A comprehensive, blended digital solution for Firefighter I & II and Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations education.

http://cengagesites.com/academic/?site=5324&SecID=5286

Firefighter Skills DVD series:

IFSTA  E-Learning courses are now available. I have completed many of them. I highly recommend the courses. The courses are very detailed and adhere to NFPA standards. The courses are great for initial or refresher training. Upon completing a course you will receive a certificate of completion.

 …

I’ve been on somewhat of a rant about getting back to the basics with some extrication techniques lately.  Mainly because we sometimes get overzealous in our efforts to use the most fancy electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic tools.  Tunnel vision, maybe.  Remember, you may need two or three options to perform a rescue.  Keep it simple, fast, and safe.

A recent training opportunity allowed the same scenario to be set up 6 times.  The firefighters were told to perform the rescue the first…

SUPPORT for medical treatment abroad. Firefighters from Valjevo Aleksandar Mitrovic is suffering from a serious illness and in Serbia had been treated for two years, but without success. He started treatment in Germany, the first cycle of therapy gave good results for a 50% improvement. It is necessary for the second cycle of 20,000 euro. Please good people, and especially his colleagues firefighters to be paid as the bank account:

Aleksandar Mitrovic 205-1001549236383-05 Commercial Bank…

We recently received several new fire engines. These beautiful Pierce Quantums are everything you could want in a fire engine. However, it seems there is at least one thing that some people don't want. The seats in the engines have sensors that can tell if someone is sitting there and whether or not the seat belt is buckled.

Last week, as I was gathering my gear from the engine, the Captain who relieved me asked the engineer if the engine had one of those seat belt…

Great training with Avon (OH) firefighters of all experience levels.  Thanks for the invite.  Pictures are worth more than words as usual, so the summary will be short.

• What tools are on your rig?  Different haligans, axes, sledgehammers?
• Gap, Set, Force the door!  Repetition is hard to come by, so take advantage of acquired structures and props.
• Know your saw; starting, stopping, changing the blade.  I encourage a little friendly competition.  Who on the crew…

Good day to all;

We would like to appeal for help from our fortunate brothers & sisters in firefighting & rescue world, regarding donation of old used, 2nd hand fire helmets, turnout gears,hoods, gloves and fire boots, for us to use it here in fire respond in Metro Manila, Philippines. Most of us respond to fire scene without proper PPE. We hope for your kind & generous understanding.

 …

Good day to all;

We would like to appeal for help from our fortunate brothers & sisters in firefighting & rescue world, regarding donation of old used, 2nd hand fire helmets, turnout gears,hoods, gloves and fire boots, for us to use it here in fire respond in Metro Manila, Philippines. Most of us respond to fire scene without proper PPE. We hope for your kind & generous understanding.

 …

Once again, the country is honoring the First Responders who fell on 9/11. Big ceremonies are happening all over the land with politicians using the date to get photo ops with firefighters and police. Then on 9/12, they will go back and continue the fight to take away benefits negotiated by us, which we worked 25 to 30 years of daily danger for. When we left our families to go to work, our wives and children did not know if they would see us come home. Many of my friends have died…

It was an honor to carry FF Van Hine's name up 110 floors during the Sacramento 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Even with the training I did it was an incredibly hard climb.

From the sky... a flash of silver,

Than a rumble, then a roar.

And there,where once the towers stood,

T'was empty evermore.

When the dust had settled,

And the devastation bared,

The nation stood in anguish,

As they prayed some might be spared.

And all the quiet heros

Rose now, as if one.

They gathered across the country,

To do what needed to be done,

The voices that once echoed

Down the hall and on…

My Heart is heavy, thinking back to that fateful day. When you embraced your calling and put yourselves in harm's way. My life goes on and I will live to see another day. But my heart will forever be burdened, remembering you as the ashes fell away. I call upon all my brothers now, to stand up, to salute you, on this 9/11 memorial day !

Mike Smith