Mick Mayers's Blog – September 2008 Archive (3)

Terminology - The Language We Speak

Surprisingly enough, I'm sitting here at my computer wrangling over the definition of a "working fire" although after 28 years on the job, I know exactly what I mean when I say I have arrived and have a working fire, but putting it into words for our procedure manual doesn't seem to be going well.

This whole revelation occurs at the confluence of two events: 1) I'm working on our SOG manual's definitions section and 2) the other night I arrived on scene of a well-involved structure… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 28, 2008 at 1:00pm — 22 Comments

Customer Service - The Short Version

Customer relations are essential for any department operating in this day and age, as our customers (read: taxpayers) are more educated and have higher expectations of the emergency services. These expectations come from watching television shows that portray us in a certain light as well as more information going out in the form of public education efforts.

There are considerable efforts being made by leaders in our industry to increase our professionalism. We need to consciously… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 21, 2008 at 11:10pm — 2 Comments

With Gustav and Hanna Elsewhere, One and a Half More on Deck

When I went to look at my blogs and realized it has been nearly a month since I posted something, I was a little shocked. The last few weeks since I returned from the NFA have been a blur; trying to get caught back up at home and at work evolved into a lot of planning and gathering information and talking with other US&R professionals around the nation as we had to deal first with Gustav and then with Hanna. And it's not over yet with Ike and Tina- no, sorry, Josephine - on… Continue

Added by Mick Mayers on September 6, 2008 at 9:01am — 4 Comments