Featured Blog Posts (1,722)

New definition of EMT: Emergency Medical Taxi

We all train hard for what we do, class after class just to stay up to date on new procedure. Red lights rolling on many Emergency's. Then there are the not so emergency that we run on, "I don't feel good, the "chest pain" calls with their bags packed at the door, the "my doctor told me to come in today" calls. It's enough to drive you crazy! Then you get the one's who call for an ambulance because they couldn't handle the wait in the E.R. So my question to you is, When did we become a high… Continue

Added by Jeremy Phillips on April 19, 2008 at 7:16am — 8 Comments

My reason for commitment to safety

This Photo is one of My family taken right before Christmas in 2007. The reason I am posting the photo of my family is simple. They are the reason for my dedication to safety. If I operate safely than my chances of going home to my family are dramatically increased. Throughout a commitment to safety, my fellow firefighters can experience the same… Continue

Added by Engineco913 on April 20, 2008 at 11:00am — 7 Comments

How Safe is your Door Entry?

Door Entry Procedure ....

1 There was no obvious fire in the building as firefighters arrived on-scene but there was a strong smell of burning and some smoke was seen issuing from a chimney in the six-story building. As Firefighters opened the door leading onto the stairway, heavy smoke suddenly turned to flame. The intense fire that followed killed several firefighters caught above in the stair-shaft

2 Firefighter X, along with three other… Continue

Added by EuroFirefighter on April 17, 2008 at 5:57pm — No Comments

BROTHERHOOD IN ACTION: A Guy Named Denny Allen

Some people have character, and others are a character.

My friend Denny Allen… he’s both.

There are certain people in your life who are always in need of something – while others are always there when you need them.

My friend Dennis Allen is always there when you need him.

Certain people work behind the scenes but manage to find their way into the spotlight. Others do their work on the scene but manage… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on April 19, 2008 at 1:00am — 1 Comment

Firefighter Appreciation Day

As many of you know, we here in the Cincinnati area experienced the loss of two of our own. Channel 9 here has initiated a Appreciation Day for firefighters on April 17th. Let's not let this be an isolated event. I believe this could be a time to, not only express appreciation to those who serve, to to expand awareness of firefighter safety. Get your community involved! If you do something for April 17th, please post it here to let everyone know of ways to become active in their community. Here… Continue

Added by Michael Finney on April 15, 2008 at 1:12pm — 1 Comment

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

Passed the Paramedic National Registry Written Test!!!

I passed the the National Registry! I still lack the skills part but, hopefully, I will get that knocked out sometime during these next upcoming weeks. Thanks to everyone that wished me luck!

For all those in the Texas region getting ready to take the registry or needing a refresher course, Jon Puryear has an EXCELLENT course. You can sign up for a 2-day classroom course or order the course online. He sends a CD/DVD that has audio lectures and also sends a packet of paper notes and… Continue

Added by CJ on April 14, 2008 at 2:39pm — 6 Comments

TNT: The Accidental Runner; The Longest Run is.....

The longest run is the one you have to do, by yourself, in the rain, and your iPod craps out just far enough from the parking lot to not allow you to go back and get a new battery.

Part of the training process for running a distance event like a half marathon is the dreaded "long run". This is a recommended once a week event, and our team of runners normally gather at 7:00 a.m. at the Niskayuna Bike Path to get it done with some camaraderie, planned water stops, and the… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on April 14, 2008 at 8:08am — 25 Comments

F@#$ You Fireman; No, 14ga you Mean Gene

OK we're finally leaving after one of our guys just turned in his papers to get out and I mean this guy has been a fixture at the station for well, hell I think that they built the station AROUND him originally. Anyway we're outside and the local motorcycle Hecks Angels are revving up the Harley's and we can't even think it's so loud and we yell over across the street to tone it down and they issue a profanity laced tirade as they drive off across the street onto the sidewalk nearly crash into… Continue

Added by Peter Lupkowski on April 10, 2008 at 5:14pm — 7 Comments

The Continuing Chronicles of the FNG(irl): The Mailbox Massacre & The Knob

All I can say is.....thank god it wasn't me (this time).

Our usual drill night arrived, although I wasn't sure I was going to go...I'd been sick most of the day, but we got toned out about an hour before drill for an overturned bicyclist in a ravine...., and I figured if I could respond to that, I could drag my butt to drill.

The first half hour of drill was a repeat of what I like to call "The Chinese Fire Drill"---essentially, our chief sends everyone out on all three… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on April 10, 2008 at 10:00am — 24 Comments

Recruitment & Retention Toolkit: What's a Clearinghouse?

This article is one in a series of toolkits focusing on recruitment, retention and fire service marketing and appears in the April edition of FASNY's The Volunteer Firefighter magazine.

Part 1 – What’s a clearinghouse?

In previous articles, I’ve attempted to present the fire service with real tools to use in improving their membership process and documentation… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on April 20, 2008 at 3:42pm — 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

How did I Get Here? Thank Roy and Johnny.

This month I will become 46 years old. I'm not really sure how I got here so fast. Here being my involvment in the fire service. But, I certainly remember how it started over 30 years ago almost by accident.

I always wondered why from the time I was ten years old people would always ask, what do you want to be when you grow up? Hell, I’m forty six as I begin to write this blog and I’m still not sure what I want to be when I grow up.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s a… Continue

Added by Phil Ferris on April 8, 2008 at 3:30pm — 3 Comments

TNT: The Accidental Runner

So I'm sitting here at Oh-Dark-Thirty on a Sunday morning, getting ready to head out and do an eight mile training run for my half marathon coming up in June (on Father's Day--sorry Dad) in Lake Placid. If you haven't read any of my previous blogs on the topic, I'm running 13.1 miles to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through their "Team in Training" program, and I need to raise at minimum $1500.00

Thus far I've raised $730.00 on my fundraising page, plus a couple… Continue

Added by Mary Ellen Shea on April 10, 2008 at 10:43am — 52 Comments

my first structure fire "Make or Break You"

This Blog Post is a paper i wrote for my college english class so i thought i would put it on the FFN you guys let me know what you think. the prompt was a first time experience so naturally i wrote a paper on my first structure fire. also just for some inside information i have been at my Volunteer department for 3 years now and it took me this long to get a fire. so enjoy. this fire occurred on December 18th 2007 this is the link to the channel nine news website who was on scene taking… Continue

Added by A.J. on April 4, 2008 at 2:30am — 2 Comments

Firefighting or family?

Greetings to everyone here on FFN. This is my first posting. I havent had as much time as I would like to spend here on this great site. My posting here has to do with some of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my life in quite some time.

I am going though a divorce and had left the state of Utah to move home back with my parents. Well, I am back in Utah, closer to my kids and have just recently been able to be with them again. I was all set to return to my position as a… Continue

Added by jared m snyder on April 4, 2008 at 12:07am — 1 Comment

Something to ponder

I wrote this a couple of years ago to thank our community for thier support after a fund raiser we had. It seems that since then our training has gotten even more important and more involved. There are things out there that people are doing or what stuff is made out of that put our lives in more danger than ever before. I want to remind everyone how important it is to :

Train like your life depends on it! BECAUSE IT DOES!

Treat every incident as the one that might kill you.

Train… Continue

Added by Troy on April 2, 2008 at 5:35pm — 1 Comment

Open Fire Academy Upcoming Online Seminar

We are now beginning to take enrollment for Daniel Sharon's Seminar on Bomb Threat Planning and Management (8 hour class). I wanted to give you advanced notice to notify your departments and people you believe would benefit from the class. The course description is as follows:

About the Class...

Bombings, attempted bombings and bomb threats can cause extreme disruption, fear, and even panic in organizations whose personnel are not trained to handle such situations.… Continue

Added by Michael Finney on April 1, 2008 at 2:43pm — No 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

THE TWELVE POINTS

THE TWELVE POINTS

By Al Mozingo

www.firemanager.com

Many leadership authorities in numerous books and articles point out the necessary character traits to be an effective leader. These character traits are identified by the Boy Scouts as The Scout Law:

The Scout Law

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Below are the summarized statements for each of the Twelve… Continue

Added by Al Mozingo on April 2, 2008 at 11:46am — No Comments