'To many firefighters, ‘air management’ still means waiting for the low-air vibration alert or alarm to sound, signaling it’s time to leave the building. This occurs when three-fourths of the air supply has been consumed. Many consider that such a procedure is acceptable during a routine room-and-contents fire in a small building. However, take a look at how many firefighters have ‘run out of air’ in residential fires and lost their lives! In larger structures, or where there are large numbers… Continue

"It seemed like a routine house fire in the early evening .... the fire began in the first floor living room and burned slowly at first but with enough intensity to burn through the ceiling into the second floor. When we arrived on scene there was heavy dark smoke issuing from the chimney and all windows in the front were heavily darkened from smoke. There were just five of us on one engine.



We managed to get in quick and pull an unconscious woman out from the first floor before… Continue

I was in Johannesburg lecturing at a conference when a firefighter came up to me. “Paul, all the text books on fire-fighting tactics seem to take it for granted that there is going to be adequate resources and staffing on-scene at every structure fire. Furthermore, just about all of the standard operating procedures I have seen are written for staffing of five and above. In our little town we will get three firefighters responding to a structure fire on a single engine and they will be there… Continue