It is imperative that you bring your mind to the fight.

For those that follow this blog and Backstep Firefighter, you are aware of our catch phrase. “Expect Fire”. This phrase, inspired by the words of Andy Fredericks, was developed by…

Getting good at getting by can get you killed

The rookie sits in the jumpseat straightening out his SCBA straps, lost in thought. He thinks to himself, that the fire was nothing like what they taught at academy. He wonders if they are all like this. Nothing seemed to happen the way it was supposed to. He forgot to put on his hood, the Lieutenant…

After reading the NIOSH Investigation report for the Line of Duty Death of Firefighter John Davies that occurred in Worcester, Massachusetts in December of 2011, a certain amount of confusion remains.

Based on the finding by the committee performing the Investigation, the Worcester should have used VSP (Victim Survivability Profiling)…

All vacants are empty….

Fire through the roof means no entry….

We have 20 minutes interior before collapse happens…..

Victims can’t survive in burning buildings……

It is concerning that the fire service…

I think I finally put it all together….I understand it now.  Call it an epiphany or a moment of clarity, but suddenly it all made sense.  During a recent class the instructor made several references to the standard EGH ethos, “We come first” and “Risk a lot to save a lot”.  As I listened though, I understood that while he spoke of these things, his perspective was different. …

Many of you have taken Firefighter Survival Training.  While it varies from place to place, depending on the instructors, the core information and intent is the same, to prepare firefighters to save themselves when things go wrong.  From bailouts to low profile maneuvers to breathing control, all these things are taught to teach firefighters what to do when things gone wrong and they get…

According to some, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  It would appear that this applies to Charleston, South Carolina based on a report based on a fire that occurred in 2010.

The Post and Courier published an article…

Are you certain this is the job for you?

Depending on who you are speaking with, there seems to a gap when it comes to how to accomplish our goals and not get killed or injured in the process. Words like “cowboy”, “aggressive” and “sally” are all used when someone takes issue with how someone else is getting the job…

On Thursday September 29, 2011 a Vallejo, California firefighter was burned in the rescue of a paraplegic.  The firefighter made entry into the man’s mobile home which was heavily involved in fire and dragged the man toward safety.  During his attempt he was forced to bail out after suffering burns and a second crew knocked down the fire and completed the rescue.

On March 30, 2010 the Homewood, Illinois Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in a chair in a house.  They were…

For you baseball fans out there, you may recognize this phrase. Usually it is used in discussion about a player that has been struggling and the team has been working with him to slow the game down, so they are better prepared and better able to react. As with many ideas and practices from Major League sports, there are applications in the fire service. This is another case of us being smart enough to learn from others.

At Backstep Firefighter and The Front Seat, we often use…