A healthy dose of fear is good. Too much is debilitating

If you read the magazines, social media or take a class, you can’t help…

Does your size-up typically look beyond the moment you arrive? With a good working fire, this may be an obvious part of a response. But what about for those responses where we arrive and believe there to be no fire? If nothing is burning, is there really anything to size-up?

While a good size-up should give us a clear picture of what we have and what we need to do to mitigate the situation, we must also consider the events that we may or may not actually see happening, as well as…

We have the distinct honor and pleasure to offer our Firefighter Bailout class at FDIC 2015 this year as one of the HOT classes.  We feel, like most, that we should train and drill constantly on the basics like engine company operations, search, ventilation, fire behavior, ladder work, forcible and the list goes on, to prevent the need for a firefighter to…

NEW March Fire Engineering magazine cartoon: Movie Magic Mentality
http://community.fireengineering.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1219672%3ABlogPost%3A614624

A fire in ventilation ductwork last week resulted in the evacuation of an automotive manufacturing plant in Michigan. Crews spent nearly two hours isolating the fire within some very large ducts used in the manufacturing process.

Ventilation ducts are used in many facilities, whether for dust extraction, material handling, or air quality management. In every case, fires within ductwork present several concerns for firefighters.

Here are just a few…

• Ductwork…

I talk a great deal about the role of the company officers and how they influence the members of your department.  When teaching officer development we hit hard on setting and establishing expectations and ensuring that there is follow-through with those expectations.  I was recently asked about expectations for my company officers.  They aren't too different from what I expected from my crew members when I was a company officer.

NEW Fire Engineering blog cartoon: No Irish Luck!

http://community.fireengineering.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1219672%3ABlogPost%3A614108

http://community.fireengineering.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1219672:BlogPost:614083

Check out the new podcast.

Challenge what you read.    Dave LeBlanc

Editor’s Note: The Facebook page below has corrected their post and attribute the error to incorrect second-hand information. The fire department PIO reported that there was no bailout and no firefighter injuries.

Every day there is discussion about the “new” tactics and how…

A fire at an Iowa feed plant Tuesday demonstrates why firefighters must be cautious and consider the effects of every action when dealing with fires in compartmented areas of manufacturing equipment. Reports stated that a fire occurred within a cooling tower, and upon firefighters opening the tower, the fire flared up.

Fires within pelleting operations are common, especially if a malfunction or power failure causes a disruption in the flow of air or product within the system. Fresh…

Don't miss this online, live video-based, 5 Week Officer Development Program.  Click the link below for information and to register.

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Register…

If you missed tonight Blog Talk Radio you can listen to the archive here. We had a great conversation with Clinical Psychologist Rocky Liesman discussing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how to identify the need for intervention.…

http://www.enginehousetraining.com

Choosing the Right Bailout System for Your Department

February 11, 2015 by Frank Lipski …

In our district, we cover a lot of highway. I-94, U.S. Hwy 12, U.S. Hwy 20 and S.R. 149, several miles of two and three lane highway is ours to protect. With a majority of our service area being industrial, with steel production as well as finishing mills, we have an extreme amount of truck traffic. We have been lucky not to have had any members injured or any accidents while working calls. With that being said, I think we have out tactics and training to thank for no unfortunate incidents.…

How do you run your 2 1/2" lines?

What types of nozzles?

Pre-connect or static?

Length?

What is your preference and why?

This is a valuable weapon when deployed correctly. However, some are of the opinion that it's just to big and heavy to use for an initial attack or with just one person. What are your experiences with handling the big line?…