I am so easy to amuse. And, I am sad that I will be missing Halloween at home because I'll be in a class. Oh well!

A while ago, I posted a short story about an old fire lieutenant and his death in a flashover. Just yesterday, I entered that story in a contest on Helium.com in the short story section. Wish me luck.

I've had some real ups and downs over the last week or so, the least of which is my own frustration with not being able to resolve a problem that vexes me greatly. On…

We just ran a fire-out call a few shifts ago. When we got on scene, we found a burned out night stand smoldering on the front lawn. The father, a retired Navy vet , and donned a respirator and drug the burning mess outside. Props to the Navy, the world's largest fire department.

Anyway, we hung out on scene and waited for the fire investigator to arrive on scene and do his thing. My initial thought was that the kid had thrown a lit cigarette into the drawer to hid it because…

I started my five shift mentorship last night. Its part of the process for me to clear as a riding out of class lieutenant. Even though I've spent the last year going to class and learning all the things that I have, I still wasn't ready for the moment when I had to put my gear in the front right seat of the truck.

As I stood outside, the truck grew about ten feet taller. I guess I felt the same way when I first started riding out of class as an engineer. It was that moment when it…