Featured Blog Posts (1,722)

Chaplains in small towns

Being a Chaplain in a small town is very difficult.I say town, really I cover the whole county, 12 districts in all. Can anyone share some experiences of being the first Chaplain ever in a department? After 3 years I feel that most of the departments are warming up to the idea of having a Chaplain. But its my own call whether or not I respond. I have told various districts that if you don't hear me call in route and you feel I am needed on the scene, call me or have the dispatcher to call me. I… Continue

Added by Ted Gentle on January 23, 2009 at 7:53pm — 1 Comment

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...January 23, 2009
Today I received an invitation to my own graduation. I still have to take the written state test again. Maybe a good sign that I received the invitation (February 5th)? Still studying here in Morris Township.

Added by Denise Imperiale on January 23, 2009 at 9:21pm — 3 Comments

The Continuing Chronicles of the FNG(irl): Close But No Cigar

So close, yet so far….we had a BUSY day at the department today.

First, I missed a fire call. No, not an auto alarm at the high school….nope…not a basement pumpout….it was an Honest To God, Mutual Aid, Smoke Showing, Signal “Real Deal” call. And I missed it. Not a bonafide structure fire, Not a ‘cooker” , but the closest I’ve come to one. Damn that paying job anyway…..

We were offered a recap of the call (chimney fire) during drill. Our chief ran down the “who-did-what's"… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on January 22, 2009 at 11:26pm — 15 Comments

The way we work in my station

My station is the 1st Fire Station of Athens (1ος Πυροσβεστικός Σταθμός Αθηνών). It can easily be found by searching for Mourouzi 4, Athens, Greece.

We are working on four (4) shifts. Three shifts are working daily and one is having day off. Our working week has eight (8) days. We start work having two night shifts (22:00 till next… Continue

Added by Georgios Savvidis on January 21, 2009 at 5:49am — 10 Comments

Changing Times

Compared to many of you I am still just a Rookie. I come from a small Department in upstate New York. I will be starting my 28th year this April. So I guess that means I have damn close to 27 years. Realizing of course that not only have times changed but we have as Firefighters, EMT's have changed as well. But my question to ponder is this. Has everybody changed? Or were we just different to begin with……

When I started it was not uncommon a couple times a week to go out and practice. We… Continue

Added by Chief4free390 on January 21, 2009 at 8:52am — 1 Comment

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...January 20, 2009

Today I woke up like many Americans with the bright hope for a great new future for our country. Not like all of our problems can be solved overnight, but the amount of hope that is shining out there is catching.

I had the same hope today when I went to talk about my daughter's placement and recent situation. Because of privacy, I cannot post what we did today, but suffice to say that I have been strong throughout my… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on January 20, 2009 at 9:16pm — 2 Comments

Everyone Has Their Parking Lot Somewhere

Like I was discussing in my blog at Firehouse Zen, experience is useless without learning from it. As an officer with a few incidents under my belt, I too have my parking lot somewhere as a stark reminder of my failures and inadequacies (this isn't it, by the way). When I need a little humbling, I take a little spin by the ol' place to remind myself of what I was like as a young officer.

Unless you… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on January 18, 2009 at 10:00pm — 5 Comments

A debt is owed to all who volunteer to fight fires

This is my response to a stinging series of features recently published in the Wilmington, DE News-Journal regarding the failure of the volunteer system in the state. The News Journal writers printed a great many inaccuracies, manipulated response times and, in general, skewed their stories to place the volunteer fire service in as bad a light as possible.

Here is letter to the editor -- published as the series was being presented.

"America’s volunteer firefighters and… Continue

Added by Lou Angeli on January 13, 2009 at 8:46pm — 6 Comments

Health Care for Volunteer Firefighters

01/14/09 06:54 AM

Health care for volunteers is approved

By Nancy Gish

SOUTHTOWNS CORRESPONDENT

The Town of Wales may become the first town in Erie County to meet the state mandate on health care for volunteer firefighters, emergency medical service and ambulance workers.

The Town Board approved an agreement Tuesday with BlueCross BlueShield to provide coverage through the town for the volunteers, who will pay the premiums themselves. The… Continue

Added by Dave, NB 9 on January 14, 2009 at 7:51am — 2 Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...January 6, 2009

To all of my friends at Firefighternation.com, thanks for letting me blog this.

I am sitting home writing this article while my daughter is at the Morris County Youth Shelter, waiting to go to residential treatment for drug use. It took her almost two years to get there. I would like to share this story, in the hope that other parents can look at the resources I used to help us get the treatment she needs.

We… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on January 6, 2009 at 10:22pm — 3 Comments

That's Why.

FRIENDSHIP NY FIREFIGHTER TOM TORPEY FLANKED BY HIS MOTHER SISSY AND HIS WIFE JESSICA.

From: www.tigerschmittendorf.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I recently responded to a post on FirefighterNation.com from my friend… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 15, 2009 at 8:51am — 19 Comments

A New Year and A New Attitude

Just a quick note that this being a new year and since I had started in class in the fall I had fallen off of my exercising, and as it would be I gained weight that I didn't want to. that being said my new attitude is that I will start up again with working out and losing weight, not only so I can do my job better, but so I don't have any health problems at a fire scene, I wanna be able to do all the work I am assigned without having to catch my breath. All in all its for the better to get into… Continue

Added by John on January 5, 2009 at 9:15am — 2 Comments

It has nothing to do with Mrs. Smith …

. . . and everything to do with local political power

A guaranteed groaner when teaching a fire officer course is to talk about “Mrs. Smith” or The Phoenix Way. Firefighters are quick to point out that they are not in a retail trade. Users of 9-1-1 are called victims or patients,… Continue

Added by Mike Ward on January 5, 2009 at 8:00pm — 7 Comments

New Year's Resolutions vs. the Same Old Stuff

A lot of us make New Year's Resolutions to break bad habits, make positive changes in our lives, or to set a goal that we want to meet during the new year. We often see firefighters who make New Year's Resolutions to improve safety for their departments. These changes can be as simple as reminding ourselves to pay attention to details, to base our actions on size-up and not on thoughtless reactions, or something similar. They can also be as complicated as implementing a new safety program… Continue

Added by Ben Waller on January 2, 2009 at 4:54pm — 1 Comment

Marketing Your Fire Department: Opportunities and Tactics

I already posted this as a discussion, but felt it merited a blog post as well.....so here goes...

Unused Resources, Lost Opportunities

I’ve been struggling with something for a bit, and decided rather than trying to be politically correct, or trying to avoid sounding like I’m giving a good friend a shameless plug…..I’m going to give a good friend a shameless plug for all the right reasons, and if you don’t like it…..too bad; Freedom of Speech and all that.

Have… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on January 2, 2009 at 10:01pm — 5 Comments

Conveying Tragedy

FROM: www.tigerschmittendorf.com

I consider myself a student of effective public and media relations. One of the most difficult messages a fire chief or public information officer must convey is that of a tragedy where, despite our best efforts, the results are fatal.

I often coach fire officers and public officials at incident scenes as how to best deliver difficult news. While I encourage them to focus on the role of the… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 3, 2009 at 6:00pm — 3 Comments

The mistakes of yesterday are the answers to tomorrow

"Trial by error." What do these words mean to you? In the fire service is there room for error? What is gained by making mistakes and what is lost?

Trial by error is something that we all experience. We all learn from our own mistakes and through the mistakes of people throughout history. The fire service is marked by a large quantity of mistakes and the corrective measures are what helps us create a standard to learn and train from.

Lets look at 9-11. Without getting into… Continue

Added by Engineco913 on January 5, 2009 at 6:00am — 10 Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...January 1, 2009

Our company is preparing for our Officer's Dinner this weekend. It's fascinating being involved with the process. People on the outside don't understand that there are committees for everything and just like families you have the people that work hard and the people that just show up at the "party" and lend a hand then.

The other day I went to Costco with one of my friends at the… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on January 1, 2009 at 8:59pm — 3 Comments

New Years Resolution

Download "Fix it. Now." from www.tigerschmittendorf.com

Fix it. Now. A New Years…

Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on January 1, 2010 at 7:05pm — 6 Comments

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter

Notes from a Rookie Firefighter...December 30, 2008

I failed by 4 questions. Heard that 1/2 my class failed. I took a long drive through Skyline Drive up to Greenwood Lake when I found out. I guess I'll be studying through New Year's. I thought of what I was doing the day I took the test, 12/17, and it was a day dealing with drama from my daughter, soon to be going away for residential treatment. Hopefully next time my focus can be better, and I can stop myself from re-thinking… Continue

Added by Denise Imperiale on December 30, 2008 at 5:56pm — 4 Comments