All Blog Posts (7,007)

Are We Missing the Target

For those of you that follow the news and happenings of the fire service, you may have noticed an increase in the number of bailouts reported. Now certainly some of this is a result of the media figuring out that a firefighter bailing out isn’t a normal occurrence, so as one outlet begins reporting it, others follow suit. But it begs the question, why? Why are so many of our brothers bailing out? Have that many incidents occurred where things have gone that wrong?

This year’s Safety… Continue

Added by Dave LeBlanc on July 18, 2011 at 9:04pm — No Comments

Murphy's Law of Firefighting

Excerpt of full blog on 4 July 2011 fatal Weston, Missouri fire and public and media response:

"The Weston fire chief is not God and cannot prevent fireground problems from occurring in the future anymore than she can prevent fires from occurring in the future because of Murphy’s Law of Firefighting. If anything can go wrong on a…

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Added by Barry Greer on July 15, 2011 at 11:02pm — No Comments

Thank You from Jim Kadnar

I spoke this morning to Jim Kadnar and he asked me to relay the following message. He wants to thank each and everyone for their kind support, thoughts and prayers. He is deeply greatful for the massive outpouring he has received.

Thank You and God Bless You

Added by Beverly Simpson on July 12, 2011 at 1:02pm — No Comments

Texas 2010 LODD State Investigation. Lessons Never Learned

Bill Carey draws your attention to the Araguz LODD report and the biggest finding not mentioned.

The first article regarding the line of duty death of a Texas Captain was a synopsis of the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office investigation, minus the building construction details. This article will look at the seven findings and their various…

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Added by Bill Carey on July 12, 2011 at 8:09am — No Comments

Scopes of Situational Awareness

Brian Brush with two items you probably didn't know that limit your fireground awareness.

There is no shortage of discussion on the topic of situational awareness and rightfully so. If we can find ways to train firefighters to evaluate and process more information about what is happening around their task or operation the safer they will be. Unfortunately, there are a couple factors which seriously limit the scope of situational awareness… Continue

Added by Bill Carey on July 12, 2011 at 7:56am — No Comments

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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Added by Barry Greer on July 11, 2011 at 7:47pm — No Comments

Front Bumper Hose Loads

At work, one of my senior firefighters decided to perfect the front bumper hose loads on one of our engines. One compartment holds 15' of 5" with a rubber mallet, universal hydrant wrench, and two LDH spanners. The second compartment contains 100' of 1 3/4" line that's pre-connected with a TFT adjustable nozzle. There's been a hundred different ways of packing it but my senior firefighter found a user friendly hose load for both hoses.…

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Added by Timothy J. Gaffney, Jr. on July 8, 2011 at 8:00am — 4 Comments

firefighters workers compensation claim denied over line of duty grey area

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Added by Michael J. Richards on July 7, 2011 at 4:31am — No Comments

SPREAD THE LOVE: COREY SHAW PUBLIC SAFETY MEMORIAL

Join Matrix, Shear Attitude and friends as we pay tribute to the area’s fallen heros and raise money for a public safety memorial in memory of Corey Shaw.

Fun events will be held throughout the day as well as a Cut-A-Thon Fundraiser at the Fire Station!…

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Added by Shari Simpson on July 6, 2011 at 11:15am — No Comments

I was at international competitions in Fire and Rescue Sport

I was at the II World Championship among juniors and the I International Tournament among students in St.-Petersburg, 27-29 of June.…

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Added by Alim Ahmetov on July 6, 2011 at 6:30am — No Comments

Firefighter Suicide

This is the lead to a commentary I posted at pipenozzle.com on the blog there. It received a strong response, so I thought I'd post the lead here. To read the full entry, go to pipenozzle.com.

"It’s tempting to mention the irony of Philadelphia firefighter John Slivinski, Jr. killing himself just after I wrote about PTSD, but it would be foolish to do so, because we don’t have the complete story on his death yet, and I hope we do get the… Continue

Added by Barry Greer on July 4, 2011 at 10:39pm — 2 Comments

Tales from a tailboard fireman-good fires/good firefights

I read an article about our troops in war zones. It quoted a special forces major as saying, "It has been quiet around here; been a while since a good firefight." To someone not in the business of high adrenalin that sounds strange. How can you have a good firefight?

Among firefighters we look forward to a "good fire." A good fire to me is no causalities, either civilians or firefighters: a house or apartment fire that is put out by the first alarm company and for sure not a wildfire… Continue

Added by mike simms on July 3, 2011 at 7:04pm — No Comments

National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System; Untapped Resource

National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System; Untapped Resource

Christopher J. Naum,…

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Added by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on July 1, 2011 at 7:23am — No Comments

Saving Our Own - Columbus Fire Lt. Polaski Rescue

A bread-and- fire on 6, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio ended in the amazing rescue of one of our own. Columbus Fire Lt. Mike Polaski collapsed and went into cardiac arrest while operating in…

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Added by Paul Hasenmeier on June 30, 2011 at 6:43pm — No Comments

Lesson In Awareness: D.C. Rear Tenement

You never know what to expect downtown on Side Charlie.

Near the intersection of South Dakota Avenue and Buchanan Street Northeast, between Engines 17 and 14, lies a duplex. What makes it different from the duplex next door is the addition on Side Charlie. Local news station WJLA recently reported that the owner of 4605 South… Continue

Added by Bill Carey on June 30, 2011 at 7:53am — No Comments

NFFF Day at Dover Speedway scheduled for October 2, 2011

$100,000 raised during last September's race weekend.

For the past three years, Dover International Speedway has played host to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation for a…

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Added by Lou Angeli on June 29, 2011 at 12:33pm — No Comments

Open House for The Grand Opening of the New Davie Volunteer Fire Department's Headquarters Station

You are all invited to the Open House for The Grand Opening of the New Davie Volunteer Fire Department's Headquarters Station on Sunday July 31st, 2011, from 1pm - 5 pm.

Location:
3155 Highway 158 West
Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870

252-537-4186

Stll planning activities.......refreshments will be provided......come one come all Hope to see you there

Added by Michael Kidd on June 28, 2011 at 8:44pm — No Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...June 27, 2011

Taking the Stairs

I work in NYC now and the building construction and equipment is really interesting - some old and some new. What better way to learn about standpipes?

At my last job, I took the stairwell all the time. I walked 5+ flights many times a day-got my energy out. It's so incredibly boring so each time I got to the next flight I would glance at the extinguisher and valves. After all…

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Added by Denise Imperiale on June 27, 2011 at 10:41pm — No Comments

Training.... Or a Lack Thereof

Every department trains. Some departments train weekly, monthly, daily, etc. My question for you is:

HOW do you train?

I already talked about practicing like you play and training hard, so lets talk about training CORRECTLY.

I, sadly, know of more than a few fire departments that are stuck in

their old ways. They train using the same methods that the old salts

learned when they were in the academy. This is not completely a bad

thing, as using… Continue

Added by backsteprescue on June 27, 2011 at 12:32pm — No Comments

Just a Reminder

I just want to remind everyone to remember that when someone on the department does something stupid, that the negative consequences have an effect on the entire department and not just the individual person. Firefighters are looked upon as heros and professionals. Please remember that even if you are off duty, that your actions will be reflected back to the department. Think before you act. It is a terrible day when the fire chief has a prepared statement to give to the press because an… Continue

Added by FFtrainer on June 26, 2011 at 7:26pm — No Comments