Whats up with everyone complaining about TSA? Continue

Something is better than nothing right? Hmm, I keep telling myself that. I bought some bunker gear from E-Bay and will donate it to a brigade in the Philippines. I am hoping that it is reliable. I don't buy from E-Bay often and I have never bought firefighting items from E-Bay. I guess I will find out. Since I have not really been getting donations and I have been spending my own money to get gear. I decided maybe E-Bay is the best option. I am just hoping I am sent something that I could… Continue

After over 3 years of asking for donations, I have stopped asking. I just save money and buy equipment. When I lef the Philippines I donated what little I had to people who had less. Now, I do not have anything. Literally, I have absolutely nothing. I went to a local fire supply store today to buy a pair of boots so I can start to get more gear for when I go back to the Philippines and the store said they would donate some items. They gave me a massive discount on boots and then they donated 2… Continue

Firefighting in the Philippines is tough and dangerous, these are the heros of the Philippines. Notice the lack of PPE. Some have just a locally made jacket, some have no boots, no-one has gloves, some don't have anything to protect them from heat. SCBA's are not present. This is the life of a volunteer firefighter in the Philippines. Its hard work that gets not enough credit and all of these guys are volunteers. No one is paid, not one of them has undergone…

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Firefighters:



Guys, there are firefighters that were affected by the tropical storm and Typhoon that hit the Philippines a week ago. The last typhoon that hit us decided to stop and come back. It is now a tropical storm almost stationary and it is causing more and more rains in an already flooded area.

Disasters:



Disasters are bad and here in the Philippines we are getting pounded with rain everyday making the… Continue

I do not write blog posts often anymore since my schedule is so hectic but I decided to finally put my thoughts online..



Typhoon Parma:

The other day we were hit very hard by a tropical storm, this was a direct hit and many of our firefighters have damage to their houses in some way, shape, or form. Over 700,000 families were displaced from the storm and are in evacuation centers, that is just from the initial assessment… Continue

Ok, I am missing FFN so much because I hardly have time to check it. Beig in the province is draining me physically and mentally. I need to start fire fighting more often again, I wish we had a fire department here but sadly we do not. The Barangay told me they are planning on getting an apparatus within 6 months and I cannot wait that long.. I miss Pasig!!!!



Its Tuesday morning and most of the employees have gone home. Kate is still here working on paperwork such as attendance and… Continue

THE FINAL



INSPECTION



The Marine stood and faced God,



Which must always come to pass.



He hoped his shoes were shining,



Just as brightly as his brass.



'Step forward now, Marine,



How shall I deal with you?



Have you always turned the other cheek?



To My Church have you been true?'



The soldier squared his shoulders and said,



'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.



Because those of… Continue

So I am halfway with teaching the very first EVOC course in the Philippines. All that is left is the practical part of the course and my 12 students did well with the classroom.

So its a bit interesting to introduce NFPA standards to a 3rd world country but they vowed they will follow the standard as much as they can since not all things can be adopted for practical reasons. I am happy the course went well.

Its 6PM on 20 May 2009 and I just got off the phone with a friend. I need to be at the bus station at 3AM heading to Pansol. From Pansol I will go to Batangas (I am guessing near Lipa city) and then visits a resort and after that we are heading back to Pansol to rock out in a private resort private hot springs, and head back to Metro Manila. Who says being a Freelance Medic is no fun?



Well, It looks like another night I will not sleep as I have such an early morning. I will take some… Continue

As I am sitting here writing this blog I am thinking about how many times I have had a sleepless night and I find myself realizing that I have quite a bit of sleepless nights. I know the remedy and yet I still do not follow it. I need to not take a nap in the afternoon. Maybe too much stuff is on my mind and thats why I cannot sleep. Hmm, I know what I will do. I will play Command ond Conquer 3 and beat that game. Muahh, the kid inside of me wins yet another round.

Great success for me as I passed my kidney stones!

Wow I am in a ton of pain as I had two large stones but still, I am happy the worst is over. Ladies, I know your awesome for having child birth and I know the pain your in. You have my sympathy.

Men, I do not wish Kidney stones upon you. Brothers, I am free!!!! No more stones.

Time to celebrate as soon as the burning stops.

Have a good one and stay safe.

I am in a 3rd world country and there is no standard here but a ton of firefighters tell me they want a standard and they want to follow NFPA standards but some of those firefighter do not practice that standard after they are informed of the NFPA standard and that leads me to think they never wanted to follow a standard but instead they just wanted the knowledge and will ignore standards as much as possible. Right now both of my fire brigades can respond within 15 minutes to a call within… Continue

Last month I started having pain when I urinated and I did not think anything of it since I am clumsy and sometimes rack myself by mistake and feel it the next day. I slipped while on my roof the other day (sheet metal roof and a nail broke through the wood sending the metal panel and me to slide down the roof) and I ended up with the antenna pole falling on top of me. I am ok after that but just needed a few minutes to get back up.



I though my pain was because of the antenna falling… Continue

Where to begin.. lets see what my life has been full of lately:



After visiting the Chief of our Volunteer department I figured we need to change policies and organizational structure and also implement new rules and SOP. The Chief and OIC agreed and I went over how a "normal" structure of a department should be and we all agreed that we should conform to a specific structure and Mike and another volunteer is working hard on an SOP and it should be in place this week.



We… Continue