All Blog Posts Tagged 'tiger' (28)

Chump Change --- for Safety's Sake!

If you are a Fire/Rescue Chief, Commissioner, President, Fire Officer or in a leadership role of a Fire Department or Fire Company, you have the responsibility of ensuring firefighter safety.

With the holidays right around the corner, here’s a cool opportunity for your organization to provide something to your members, and support the work of the Safety, Health and Survival Section of the IAFC. By policy, the IAFC does not fund the section, the section must raise all of their own… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on December 9, 2009 at 2:12am — 1 Comment

Run to the Curb!

What kid doesn't want to be a firefighter? Every time they hear a siren or see a fire engine race by, they run to the curb to see what's going on. I call them "Run to the Curb" type kids.

I was one of those kids and I bet you were one too. It's something you never grow out of --- and many of us chose to grow into it.

"RuntotheCurb.com" is a work-in-progress blog and… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 29, 2009 at 12:00pm — 3 Comments

RECRUITMENT TOOLKIT: The Value of the Prospective Member Guide

What kind of documentation did you receive when you joined your fire department? Was it thorough, clear, and concise? Did it answer all of your questions about what would be expected of you or did it leave you wondering with information unclear?

Was the information well organized and presented or was it scribbled on a bar napkin over a couple of “pops” at the firehouse.

Other than the application, was there any documentation at… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 28, 2009 at 12:30pm — No Comments

TAKE THE POLL: What's Your biggest recruitment and retention challenge?

Recruiting New Members?
Retaining Existing Members?
Getting our Leaders to Realize that We Need to Do Something about our Recruitment and Retention Challenges?

Take this poll at www.firerecruiter.com:
http://firerecruiter.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/whats-your-biggest-challenge

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 27, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Is this our best approach?

From: www.tigerschmittendorf.com

I’ve read and watched this news clip from the NY Daily Dispatch about how training requirements in New York State are hurting the volunteer fire service: http://www.weny.com/News-Local.asp?ARTICLE3864=9148872

Unfortunately, I think it follows a growing pattern of articles and news pieces that focus on the problems – and not… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 21, 2009 at 3:18pm — 16 Comments

A Veteran of Many Things

It’s Veterans Day and I have a day off from my county job. (I thank Veterans for both of those freedoms: to work in a job I love and to have time off to spend with my family). The kids are still sleeping and I have some free time to sit at the computer.

I’ve been thinking of my Dad a lot lately. Maybe because a friend recently lost hers; maybe because I spent the last week with a few thousand National Guardsmen; or maybe because recent events in our lives have reinforced the… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on November 11, 2009 at 6:57pm — 2 Comments

From the X-Box to the Box Alarm

As I travel around the country talking with other firefighters, a commonly recurring theme of our chat is the future of the volunteer fire service.

The conversation always comes around to the topic of today’s firefighters and the next generation of firefighters. Some “more experienced” firefighters (notice I didn’t use the term older) share that they don’t understand the “kids” coming into the fire service today.

The veterans don’t think today’s recruits share the same… Continue

Added by Tiger Schmittendorf on September 6, 2009 at 11:00pm — 9 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