I've been in the fire service for 10 years...Up till now I have only heard stories of stuff like this.

Two days ago I recieved a call of a pile of trash on fire and left unattened. I rode over and spoke with the homeowner. He was a great guy who had a hose out and didn't have a problem with me coming over to check up on his pile. He was there with it. His truck was parked on the side of the house, whoever called it in probly couldn't see his truck. At that point all seemed to be over, he… Continue

Okay, a year ago I applied for a position as a paid Firefighter/EMT. I went for the written test and interview...I guess I did okay on them but I didn't here back for some time...I stoped going to the gym because $ is tight...I got a call last Friday that I would have my phyical agility test on Tuesday. I trained all weekend and passed on Tuesday night. I'm still sore but have a smile from ear to ear!! Not sure what is next but I'll be ready for it!! I'll say this..I was more nervos for that… Continue

Okay, last nite at 2045hrs my engine was heading to the local highschool to do a fire watch for the fireworks... We had a full engine of members and our girlfriends/wives/kids. We also had sevral personal cars just incase we had a call. Well, just before the school we get a medical call for a young girl who fell from 12 feet in the air. We just run our own cars as first responders. So we pull the engine over and myself and my capt jump out and swap from the engine to his truck (driven by his… Continue

In some of my past posts you will see my department went from vol. to a Public Safety department with the cops. We are also a combo department now M-F 7am-5pm we have part time guys in house. Our City manager (who is also Public Safety director and chief of police) has stated that the Firefighter on duty will now be doing city worker types of work like turning off peoples water, assisting in changing out sewer pipes, cleaning up yard debris, mowing public parks...ect. This is the dumbest thing… Continue

In a CPR class its easy. Just remember 30 and 2 and your done. (okay....not that simple) However, fast forward to your first patiant by yourself. You walk in a room and forget everything. As a first responder(or new EMT) this will happen on your first few runs. It happend to me this past weekend. I was told to pratice and pratice. This all paid off on Sunday. I walked into the room and found my patiant laid out on the floor. In a blink I checked for a pulse and breath -none. Next thing I knew I… Continue

I moved to my small town of Guyton a few years ago and just as I was comeing in they were sending a younger boy (16 yo) away from the jr program. They kicked him off the dept for failure to follow direct orders. 2 years later he joins as a rookie at 18. A few weeks later he is kicked off the dept for the same thing. I was just a pee-on at the time and was glad to see him go. 1 year later he goes to a near by dept and joins, he again talks back to his officers. Later they find out he has no… Continue

Does anyone out there know of any signs warnig responders of truss roofs/floors? When I lived in NJ we had them and I just saw that FL is passing a law in honor of 2 fallen firefighters from 1989 who died when the trusses failed in a gift shop fire. I haven't seen any of the signs in GA where I live now. I have however seen a lot of truss roofs on the newer homes in my area. Just food for thought! stay safe -Matt

Some of you may have read my old post on being changed from a fire dept to a Public Safety dept. Sofar it is looking like we are loseing the training dept to PD and our budget was striped clean. not even 10 extra dollars for all of next year. HOWEVER... The cops got everything they asked for and than some. (we were picked clean!!!)

I resently applied to be a fulltime paid firefighter/emt...I fear that with the way things are going if I get the fulltime job I will give up my vol. dept.… Continue

At the end of last year I had sevral firefighters on my combo dept ready to quit because we never did any training. The dept was a good ol' boy dept and I desided to make a change. At the end of last year I put my name in for the training officers spot. I got it! Now I'm a Lt. and T.O. I have spent nights on end to setup the training and cover everything from the basics to RIT training. Lastnight we did a a drill on pumping water from 1 engine to another engine in a 2 engine responce sernario.… Continue

Okay, First I want to say I like cops. I need them at every Haz Mat I go on! (LOL) Anyway, my town has decided to go from a Fire/Rescue Department to a "Public Safety" department. This means the small town cops will be trained as firefighters and respond to firecalls when they are on shift. We will also have the Police Cheif over the Fire side of things. I have worked with some of the cops that are/were firefighters in the past, they are okay. BUT!!!! What if he forgets to put his gun away… Continue