Mick Mayers's Blog (60)

Open Your Eyes in 2009

From my blog at Firehouse Zen:

What have we learned in 2008? Are we better off here on the threshold of 2009 having experienced so much in the last year? Or are we destined to repeat our mistakes? Are we advocating better cardiac fitness for our troops? Are we beating the seatbelt issue into their heads on a daily basis? Are we telling them that it’s silly to fight fire without using proper PPE and… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on December 30, 2008 at 4:23pm — 10 Comments

Blogging As A Tool

I’ve said it from the beginning- this blogging project is a work in progress for me, but I'm enjoying it and it's apparently pretty contagious. As far as my writing skills, however, I’m quickly learning about how to catch your interest in sound bites rather than in paragraph form, which is a big transition from technical writing. Of course, I know that to put “Buy Cialis” as a title to a firehouse blog will get people to look, even though it has… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on December 5, 2008 at 12:30pm — 4 Comments

Firehouse Zen

Note: For some reason, I posted this a few minutes ago and the post disappeared into the blogosphere. If for some reason it pops up in duplicate, someone please point it out (if I haven't seen it) and I'll delete it. Nothing like identical blog entries to ruin your credibility. That should be a warning to some of you out there.

Inspired by the personal blogs of some of you (and seeing that even Webchief has his own personal blog), I have created my own blog,… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on November 26, 2008 at 11:36am — 8 Comments

Bad Case of the Writer's Block Blues

Well, it was bound to happen at some point. Just when I least expected it, I've kinda hit the wall. It's actually not that I have nothing to write about or nothing I care to discuss, but each time I have leapt forward with an idea in the past week, it has turned into a ten-paragraph monster that I don't care to hit the "save" button for or more likely, one you all probably wouldn't care to read either.

I mean I could just get all over the economy and how it is impacting the fire… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on November 17, 2008 at 10:26pm — 10 Comments

Rebel or Revolutionary - You Make the Choice

With all of the change going on in the atmosphere, I was contemplating the difference between being a rebel and a revolutionary. It seems to me that there are plenty of firefighters who are a little mixed up and don't understand the difference. The problem is that while revolutionaries effect change in a situation, rebels simply refuse to obey.

Why should that matter? When we… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on November 5, 2008 at 11:11pm — 2 Comments

Consistency and Standardization - Terminology Blog In Extremis

Well, I'm glad that there's been a lot of discussion about the terminology issue, but my point wasn't just about terminology and communications standardization being a problem for the fire service. Without digressing, despite some of the very considerate and well expressed views pointed out by readers in the Terminology blog I wrote, it is a problem- go back and look at the reports of any disaster… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on October 7, 2008 at 5:30pm — 13 Comments

Terminology - The Language We Speak

Surprisingly enough, I'm sitting here at my computer wrangling over the definition of a "working fire" although after 28 years on the job, I know exactly what I mean when I say I have arrived and have a working fire, but putting it into words for our procedure manual doesn't seem to be going well.

This whole revelation occurs at the confluence of two events: 1) I'm working on our SOG manual's definitions section and 2) the other night I arrived on scene of a well-involved structure… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 28, 2008 at 1:00pm — 22 Comments

Customer Service - The Short Version

Customer relations are essential for any department operating in this day and age, as our customers (read: taxpayers) are more educated and have higher expectations of the emergency services. These expectations come from watching television shows that portray us in a certain light as well as more information going out in the form of public education efforts.

There are considerable efforts being made by leaders in our industry to increase our professionalism. We need to consciously… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 21, 2008 at 11:10pm — 2 Comments

With Gustav and Hanna Elsewhere, One and a Half More on Deck

When I went to look at my blogs and realized it has been nearly a month since I posted something, I was a little shocked. The last few weeks since I returned from the NFA have been a blur; trying to get caught back up at home and at work evolved into a lot of planning and gathering information and talking with other US&R professionals around the nation as we had to deal first with Gustav and then with Hanna. And it's not over yet with Ike and Tina- no, sorry, Josephine - on… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 6, 2008 at 9:01am — 4 Comments

At The NFA, Part Deux

So anyway, I'm still here and continuing to learn some pretty amazing things about myself, since that's the jist of the fourth class in this program, Executive Leadership. One of the discussions, however, evolved around some of what I discussed in the first installment of this trip, that the NFA is underattended by the fire service. This is the same American Fire Service that complains when funding is being cut, and the same American Fire Service that complains that they don't get the respect… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on August 7, 2008 at 5:13pm — 3 Comments

At The NFA

Just a very short post to promote an under-used and vitally important asset that is available to all of you- the National Fire Academy. I'm here for year four of my Executive Fire Officer journey and getting to network with people from all over the world- there's even a mate from Australia in my class. I get to learn from world-class instructors and I get to sleep in a government-regulation bed (maybe that's not so great) and I get to hang at at the… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on August 6, 2008 at 8:01am — 3 Comments

Still Out There, But Slightly Swamped

My family (or as you could guess, my wife) seems to give me the best gifts. While not much can top a little SCUBA diving with the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium (my birthday present this year, but I actually did the dive this past weekend), for Father’s Day this year my family (read: wife) gave me the super-cool T-Mobile Wing that I have been able to track my life with while on the road, which is a lot of the time. Just ask my boss what “a lot of time” is defined as.

The… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on July 20, 2008 at 7:00am — 4 Comments

SC-TF1 at South Carolina Vigilant Guard Exercise

From NATIONAL GUARD MEDIA RELEASE: FOR IMMEDATE RELEASE

Release Date: April 30, 2008

Release Number: VG-042908

Local, regional, state and military emergency crews conducted a full-scale disaster response simulation in Beaufort County. This five-day-long exercise involved nearly 2,345 military and civilian personnel responding to a mock earthquake scenario with partially collapsed… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on May 6, 2008 at 11:00am — No Comments

Motivation- It's What Moves Us

So if you think I haven't been motivated lately, and thus no recent blogs, you are wrong; just busy, is all. Motivation is all around us; like beauty, it is in the eye of the beholder. if you aren't feeling motivated by something, you probably aren't looking.

Motivation is what differentiates us sentient beings from ameobas, but even then, some painful stimuli from time to time will get even the lowest form of life to do something relatively modest and therefore, if we are just… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on May 5, 2008 at 10:58pm — 10 Comments

South Carolina Urban Search and Rescue Teams at Vigilant Guard 2008

Personnel from Burton Fire District (SC) were joined by South Carolina Regional US&R Response Team 4 (Hilton Head Island Fire/Rescue and Bluffton Township Fire Departments) and South Carolina Urban Search and Rescue Task Force One to work a simulated collapse during the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercises held in Beaufort County, SC.

These emergency responders provided an excellent response to the incident, demonstrating exactly how the best case scenario should work: well-trained… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on April 24, 2008 at 1:32pm — No Comments

Inspiration From Others

My daughter Caroline turns four tomorrow. She’s our middle child and some of you know she has Down syndrome which makes her life a little more interesting than yours and mine. When she was born, we really had no idea what to expect. I knew some friends whose children had DS, but really, other than that, I had no inkling of the potential issues that could possibly be made manifest as a result of this diagnosis.

The short form… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on April 14, 2008 at 8:30pm — 5 Comments

Reaching Your Audience

I was thinking the other day after I wrestled with posting my blog that there are probably a dozen guys at work I could call to answer my question as to what was up with my computer. In my frustration, I was thinking, I am pretty competent with a computer for a 44-year old guy who still types with two or three fingers, yet it seems like some of the people I work with run circles around me when it comes to troubleshooting this stuff.

The first computer I was assigned at work was an… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on April 8, 2008 at 9:00pm — 5 Comments

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa

Editor's Note: If you only knew what WebChief and I have been through for the past day trying to post this. Talk about issues- for some reason the computer I was using wasn't allowing my post to save (which resulted in my first version disappearing) and luckily I learned from my mistakes. As Staind sings: "Falling is easy, its the getting back up that's hard". Well, special thanks to Dave for saving my sanity. And with that...

I have often heard it said, “Love means never… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on April 2, 2008 at 9:00pm — 6 Comments

Trying To Get Caught Back Up

I apologize for the lapse in blog posts, but back in the week before St. Patrick's Day, my entire family came down with one of the worst GI bugs I have ever experienced. If you have ever been in a home where both parents and all three small children are simultaneously going through a nasty GI virus, you can appreciate what I mean. In fact, over a WEEK later, I still was getting around to eating bananas, rice, applesauce or toast.

This year Savannah celebrated St. Patrick's Day on the… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on March 21, 2008 at 10:47pm — 3 Comments

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

If you weren't aware of it, that spells "respect", just like Aretha Franklin said so many years ago. So what is it? Why is it so elusive in emergency services? When you read the blogs and posts here on the Nation, so much of what is bandied about is the need for respect or the apparent lack of respect. Some of it is directed at respecting your elders (the crusty officer in your crew), respect for the youngsters (those probies you endure), respect for the opposite gender, and the public's… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on February 29, 2008 at 9:36pm — 7 Comments