While most firefighters know that October is the "designated" month for fire prevention programs, now is a great time, as well.

We can educate our communities about the need for keep live trees moist and green, inspecting lighting strings carefully, not overloading electrical sockets, times, or extension cords and much more.

This is not a task just for those in your Fire Prevention Office, every firefighter can and should play a role in this effort, starting with your own…

If so how do you know? We already know the overall economic impact of work-related injuries and illness are high in the fire service and is ranked as one of the most hazardous occupation. Unfortunately many programs have not been around long enough to provide any evidence. Worse yet, some…

It may be an unsolvable mystery.

NEW November Fire Rescue magazine editorial: Take Us To Your Leadership.

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My very first encounter with Chief Alan Brunacini was not what I would have hoped for. I was attending my first FDIC and was sitting through a presentation on how to submit articles to become a Fire Engineering author. Being the introvert that I am, I naturally sat in the back row while taking notes. Chief Lasky had…

I'm back after a long absence, just had no real time as I was helping others and I even had an absence from the other group I blog on. Just retired from being a NY State Fire Instuctor. Have been doing some traveling and now going to start doing some Military hops. But hey you need to keep busy when you retire otherwise you will go crazy just sitting around. Hope all of you have been safe and doing some training and driving to and from safe.

I preach driving safe a lot. We just had a…

NEW Fire/Rescue Magazine October editorial cartoon: Scary…

The topic of health and wellness in the fire service has been growing over the years. This can be attributed to a number of factors: workers compensation, absenteeism,, injury reduction, and or improved fitness to decrease adverse health risks/events to help our firefighters.. All of these things are positives in…

The great dichotomy within today’s fire service is all about perceived culture. The improvement of our culture as a whole within the emergency services is relative to our specific paradigms. Much can be done as has been implemented already…

Coming up in the next few weeks on our podcast, "5-Alarm Task Force: News & Issues for Today's First Responders:"

1. We talk with Jeff Dill from the Firefighters Behavioral Health Alliance to discuss the difficulties some of our brothers and sisters go through on the job; some facing such troubling issues that they take their own lives.

2. We'll be at the Great Florida Fire School it Ft. Myers FL to catch mini-interviews and sound bytes from some of the top fire instructors in…

There are plenty leaders standing alone on the proverbial organizational island. It has been said time and time again “the higher up the food chain we ascend, the lonelier we may become.” Why is this so? Perhaps we may have lost sight of how vital our values and principles transcend any leadership style. Let’s identify a few of…

Most of us in the fire and emergency services would agree that leadership matters and is vital to the successful outcomes of any organization. We could also agree that many so called leadership gurus and fire service personalities are out on the circuit pontificating their tricks of the trade. There is certainly no shortage of people instructing or…

In our last article we discussed sleep within the fire service and hopefully provided some insight into how the job itself will affect their overall quality of sleep, which will lead to a number of health issues (type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hormonal imbalances, etc…), In this article our goal is to discuss how the poor sleep will affect the brain as well as hormones, and provide some simple strategies that may help improve your well being.

What are hormones? Simply stated, they…

Last week we discussed two very important character traits; those traits were maintaining a strong work ethic and taking the proper initiative.  This week we are going to cover two more equally important…

There are two character traits that will help you stand out from the rest throughout the probationary period; those traits are maintaining a…

In my fire service career, I have worked various different shift schedules.  When I first started as a volunteer, I signed up for 24-hour shifts on a Kelly Schedule as a paid…

How is your sleep? This is a common question that often comes when discussing a firefighters health and wellness. Over the years it has become clear to me that the real enemy is not heart disease, fire, or the traumatic exposures but rather the poor sleep quality. It is not uncommon to hear from a firefighter “Coach I have changed my eating habits and started to exercise but I can’t lose weight” and in reality if they do have poor sleep they are climbing an uphill battle. So…

Yesterday, I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Chief (ret) Bobby Halton. If you're a member of My Firefighter Nation, a reader of Fire Engineering, Fire-Rescue Magazine and others; dammit, if you're a firefighter today you have to know who Bobby Halton is. One of the best, well-respected, and well-learned teacher and mentor to the fire-rescue services.

Normally, our podcasts are about an hour long. Luckily and thankfully, my talk with Chief…

When I first started my career in the fire service, I started as a volunteer and this original experience taught me the importance of volunteerism.  One of my most rewarding volunteer experiences is when I…