Is the Airtanker Industry Dying?

By Mike Padilla



The airtanker business in the United States is in a state of crisis and everyone, except perhaps the federal government, knows it. We’re down to our last 18–19 large airtankers (LATs), which are expected to have only a few operational years left.



For years, wildland firefighting strategists across the country have relied on airtankers as…

The DIY Training Tower: How to build one with limited funds & staff

By Bob Kolva



How do remote rural and small-town fire departments keep their personnel up to date on structural search and rescue, ventilation and firefighter rescue techniques when the nearest urban training facility is hours away? That was the question we asked ourselves when, once again,…

Tactical Lessons Learned from Charleston

By Tim Sendelbach, FireRescue magazine Editor-in Chief



The Sofa Super Store Fire is an incident that I can only hope every member of the fire service never forgets. The nine men who lost their lives that tragic night are well deserving of our fullest respect; the lessons they left behind are invaluable to us.

As a member of the fire’s Post-Incident…

If These Walls Could Talk

How would your department measure up to the Charleston investigation?

By Timothy E. Sendelbach

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of FireRescue magazine.

For the last 10 months, I’ve had the…

3 Years Out: What’s Changed in Charleston?

By Cindy Devone-Pacheco



Three years ago today, nine firefighters lost their lives inside the Sofa Super Store in Charleston, S.C. It was an incident that many in the Charleston Fire Department (CFD) thought could never happen to them. It was an incident that, in the most savage way possible, exposed the fallacy of that mindset. Ultimately, it led to a litany of accusations, investigations,…

Canines to the Rescue, Part 3: Can that dog hunt?

By Brett Martinez



Author Note: This the third article in FireRescue magazine’s rescue canine Web series. Part 1 discussed the type of K-9 teams currently deployed in the field, while…

What Happens Online…Goes Everywhere

Be conscious of what you post online as it may affect your career

By Scott Cook

I’ve written about this before, but it’s becoming a bigger issue. In fact, you’ll recall that around Feb. 11, Firefighter Jason Brown from Colleton County (S.C.) Fire-Rescue was fired for something he posted on his personal Facebook page. According to Brown’s termination letter, he was fired for…

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