I saw something this morning that scared the hell out of me. It was enough to make me want to pull over and take my organization's magnet decal off of the side of my car because I was afraid that someone might think I was affiliated with the IDIOT in the "Shall Remain Unnamed" Fire Department guilty of the following traffic transgression:

The Scene: A busy four lane artery outside of the metro area of Albany.

The issue: Some form of fire "emergency" (turns…

As if the public's perception of volunteer firefighters as rabble-rousing, beer-swilling Howdy-Doody's fascinated by lights and sirens wasn't bad enough, I received this today in my in-box from "The Secret List"....

Hey....

In today's "ain't we proud" segment, a New York Firefighter was shot and wounded by another Firefighter who was drunk, in their upstate New York firehouse. FF Tyler Drake, 21, of Alexandria Bay, was accidentally shot in the right arm around…

The FASNY EMS Committee has released the dates for their 3rd Annual One-Day EMS Seminar at Stony Brook University on Long Island (Saturday, February 2, 2008) and for the 26th Annual EMS Weekend Conference at Montour Falls (Saturday and Sunday, March 1 & 2, 2008) !!! These two educational programs have sold out the past two years, so keep your eyes peeled for the registration form posting on the FASNY website (…

The statistics are grim. The number of men and women signing up to volunteer for Emergency Services is declining at an alarming rate. Not only are the new recruit numbers dwindling, those that already belong are not staying.

Is it a social issue? Are the younger members of society simply not stimulated to respond to civic responsibility? Is today's fire service not exciting enough or is there too much competition for their time....

Remember when you were a kid, and one of the…