All Blog Posts (7,003)

ARE YOU DOING MAYDAY TRAINING?

Today, I was privelaged to take my first real training for a mayday situation. Is your dept training for this, do you know what to do, and how to do it properly? I am sure a lot of depts out there have not had training If yours hasnt, i strongly reccomend that you have a training class as soon as possible..

Added by Will2745 on February 16, 2008 at 8:15pm — 1 Comment

2/16/08

First entry, I hope to keep everyone posted about what is happening with me. Several big events in the near (next 10 m0nths) future. My son graduates from High School in May, then enters college in July or August. I will be training for a 650 mile/9 day bicycle ride (this is tough for someone old and overweight).I have 3 weddings of family members to attend, classes towards my Masters, home remodel/repair, and 30,000 other things (like every other fireman I know). We can all whine through this… Continue

Added by JR Duncan on February 16, 2008 at 2:36pm — No Comments

Why do we as "profesionals" still fight car fires without SCBAs on???

Ive seen too many picture and videos on this and other sites of us fighting car fires, and NOT WEARING OUR SCBAs?????????? Do we not understand how many toxins, and poisions are going up in smoke? I wouldn't dream of NOT wearing my pack, my department is REQUIRED to wear it even in the "overhaul" process!

Added by Scott Ervin on February 16, 2008 at 10:36am — 2 Comments

The Realization of a Dream

Hey what do you know. I made it. On February 15, 2008 I was promoted to District/Battalioin Chief. I report tommorrow to my new assignment. My district has 130 apartment complexes, 18 nursing homes, approximately 20 high-rises, the city's most exclusive housing edition and the heaviest traffic in town. I'm so friggin excited I can hardly keep my seat.

I've been around long enough to know that when you attempt achieve something that the risk of failure is possible and I've had my… Continue

Added by Mike Walker on February 16, 2008 at 7:59am — 2 Comments

Hello everyone

Hello everyone. This is a little info on me. My name is Donna Handshoe, I am 39 years old and I have been an E.M.T. since May of 1992 and a member of Shelby Creek Vol. Rescue Squad since Aug. of 1991. I am the medical officer. I have downloaded a few pictures and I will download more tomorrow.

Added by Donna Handshoe on February 16, 2008 at 12:59am — No Comments

TNT: The Accidental Runner; The Satanic Shoes

When you're training for an endurance event such as a marathon, or in my case, a half-marathon, the running coaches go on, and on, and on about the importance of having the right shoes, not only for training, but for the actual race.

You would think that your training shoes and your race day shoes will be the same, but according to the experts in the field, running shoes are good up to about 300-400 miles. After that, according to "them" , if you insist on continuing to wear them,… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on February 15, 2008 at 10:30pm — 9 Comments

kSolo Online Karaoke

Hey check me out at

http://www.ksolo.com/firefly114

Leave comments (inclunding CONSTRUCTIVE critcism) and requests!

Stay safe,
Sara

Added by Sara on February 15, 2008 at 9:17pm — 4 Comments

Hal Brunno retires as Chariman of NFFF

EMMITSBURG, MD -- Hal Bruno retired Thursday as the chairman of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's board of directors.

Dennis Compton was unanimously selected to replace Bruno, a charter member of the board.

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Read STATer911 for Dave Statter's thoughts

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Although he is… Continue

Added by Coach on February 15, 2008 at 6:39pm — No Comments

Hello fellow fire fighters My name is Cliff Thurlow I'm a retired fire fighter from Flint Mich.Many years ago a man wrote a wonderful poem called THE FIREMAN'S PRAYER, about 25 years ago we were ask…

Hello fellow fire fighters

My name is Cliff Thurlow I'm a retired fire fighter from Flint Mich.Many years ago a man wrote a wonderful poem called THE FIREMAN'S PRAYER, about 25 years ago we were ask if we could put this poem to music.WE did just that ,and it has been my honor to sing it at more fire fighters funerals than I wish to count .After 9 /11, I was honored to walk from Detroit to New York City a walk of 750 miles with 12 other fire fighters from Farmington Hills Fire Dept… Continue

Added by cliff thurlow on February 15, 2008 at 5:03pm — No Comments

To My Daughter (I wrote this awhile back)

To my amazing daughter

Since the day you were born, I have been in love with you.

I have never felt so much love until now. You make my heart beat and my eyes tear up every time you smile.

Every night when we pray, I always pray for you to have a wonderful life and that god always watches over you.

Everyday you are growing and it amazes me how much you already have.

I wonder what is to come in your life.

I wonder what you are going to do and which road you… Continue

Added by Sarah on February 15, 2008 at 1:59pm — 2 Comments

My Fiancé

My fiancé went into the hospital with heart palpitations found out later that night that it wasn't her heart that she has diabetes her bgl was over 500 so they admitted her that night and she just broke down into tears because she also has bipolar so it just added another thing that she has to deal with so i have been at the hospital for 2 days, now i am at work wishing i was there with her they are saying that they might admit her for a third night and it is hard to sleep at the hospital for… Continue

Added by Aaron Siller on February 15, 2008 at 1:18pm — 1 Comment

i survived :).... update on teh knee

got outta surgery at about 1130hrs.... other than a dull ache, and what feels like ive been stabbed in the knee (guess scalpels count lol) i feel pretty good.... doc says surgery went awesome.... put the cadaver ACL in me and smoothed up some rough cartilage they found

Added by Marie on February 15, 2008 at 1:18pm — 8 Comments

On the Edge of Realizing a Dream

The last blog I posted a couple of days ago I let everyone know that I was about to participate in a Chief's assessment center. The good news is that I did well in the assessment. The better news is that in a couple of hours I will sit for a final interview with my Chief and the remainder of the Command Staff.

Ofcourse I'm optomistic and excited and nervous all at the same time. I hope I get my bugles.

Thanks to my Nation friends who wished me well and for all of the words… Continue

Added by Mike Walker on February 15, 2008 at 9:24am — No Comments

Boyd VFD Memories, Part 1

I haven't told u guys much about my Fire/EMS career or the dept's I was on.

So.......... The Boyd, Tx VFD that I belonged to (in my humble opinion) is one of the best small FD's in Texas. At the time I was there about half the membership were paid FF's, police officers or medics elsewhere. The majority were certified at least EMT-B, I don't remember the exact number but, several were SFFMA (State Firemen's & Fire Marshalls Assoc) certified Vol FF.

The Dept consisted of a roster of… Continue

Added by Mike Simmons on February 14, 2008 at 11:59pm — No Comments

TWLIGHT ZONE IT IS!!!

OKAY,U CAN PICK YOUR FRIENDS BUT NOT YOUR FAMILY,NEVER LIVED NEAR THEM AND WHAT A MISTAKE I DON'T BLAME OURSELFS FOR TRYIN IT OUT BUT WENT BACK TO THE GOOD SIDE!! MY WIFE HAD FELL INTO THE PIT OF GUILT OF NOT LIVIN CLOSE TO HER ONE AND ONLY SIS (LEARNED A HARD LESSON)AND THOUGHT KENTUCKY WOULD BE GREAT,BUT INCOME IS HARD TO GET AND FAMILY TOOK IT ALL!!SO WE SOLD THE FARM TO GET BAC WITH JUST THE CLOTHES ON OUR BACK WHAT A SHAME!!KENTUCKY IS BEAUTIFUL MEET SUM AWSUME FRIENDS VERY DEAR TO US,BUT… Continue

Added by RODD FERNANDES on February 14, 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

There Is No "I" In Team

It seems to me that there are those of us bonding as a team here to improve the fire service, which is pretty cool when you think about the fact that we're spread all over the country and some of us have never met. It made me think about teamwork and what composes a team, and about the inner workings of teams that make them special.

Teams like the Patriots and the Giants (for some of you, these are football teams) and their trip from the beginning of the season that culminated in a… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on February 14, 2008 at 10:53pm — 13 Comments

Dad's Honor Board

Dear brothers and sisters the guy in the picture on my profile is my hero, teacher, and best friend in the world, and happens to be my father. He served the Tarboro Fire Dept. for 20 years as a volunteer, which I have been serving for 17 myself. The past couple of years have not been good for my dad with him losing his sight, and finding out he has cancer in which he is coming to radition treatment for. My dad means the world to me and I'm trying to construct a patch board at our station in his… Continue

Added by Frankie Winslow on February 14, 2008 at 10:47pm — 11 Comments

People not Appreciating us.

Its pretty sad when you hear someone say i dont care about the volunteer firemen or any firemen. And when you explain it could be them were pulling from a burning building they still dont appreciate it. I dislike people like this, anyone have any idea's to help them better explain? let me know!

Added by Jeremy Favaro on February 14, 2008 at 9:04pm — 4 Comments

FFN Bloggers: Get Your Blog Wider Distribution

For those of you who are blogging regularly, be sure your blog gets picked up by all the web-based blog 'ping' services ... sites that aggregate blogs and searches of blogs.

To enable this for your blogs, go to 'My Settings' in the Welcome Box on the right side of the page when logged in, and then select 'Privacy' on the left side of that page.

Along with some of your other privacy settings, you'll want to check the box next to 'Yes' under the following:

Do… Continue

Added by Firefighter Nation WebChief on February 14, 2008 at 4:45pm — 1 Comment

Chief.

I have just recently been voted Chief of our explorer post. I have been at our station the longest and I am the most experienced because of that. Most of our explorers were happy for me and wanted me to be chief but there were a few who got a little mad just because they were older than me. I figured I would just shrug it off and that worked. Now they all support me and don't try to argue what I say. But I do know that the fact of me being a girl created a few tensions too. Luckily the guys… Continue

Added by Erikka on February 14, 2008 at 4:27pm — 3 Comments