As I sat in the recliner last night watching the NBC Nightly News special coverage about Hurricane Sandy last night, I have to admit…tears came to my eyes. Seeing the fires at Breezy Point, the mass destruction on the coast line, and hearing the tales of heroism by the first hand accounts of all those who were there. Little did I know that when this happened one year ago, this destruction would also change my life forever even being 10 hours away.

In mid-October of last year, a…

An accelerating increase in the number of new police and fire department training centers being planned and constructed provide another strong indicator that the constrained budget environment in public safety of the past few years (starting around late 2008) may be easing. Other indicators that the tide may be turning are the increased jobs, hiring trends and uptick in new police and fire recruit academies. Past reports about hiring were outlined in…

Officers: YOU are what you make your company to be, good AND bad

One thing about the fire service, the implications of us not being prepared are much more significant than the average worker.  Nothing against landscapers, or painters, but if they are not 100 percent on a given day; well usually only their work suffers.

Firefighters are different however.  Almost everything we do has implications for the…

This is an excerpt from the current post at pipenozzle.com, reprinted here with permission:

Alan Ackley is angry. He’s not getting his way, and he’s going to kick and scream and hold his breath until he turns blue. He and the Ackleyites asked the voters for $3.5 million to run the Poquonnock Bridge Dire District into the ground by the end of 2013, but it turns out the mill rate the district board set was actually for $4.1 million. There’s more. The district has another…

To date, my department has lost FOUR of our own in the Line of Duty/ On-Duty. All of these were killed/died prior to me joining the department. I did have the opportunity to meet the four families of our fallen during our Fallen Firefighter Memorial Service that was held at the end of August. I wrote a short piece on the article…