As the discussions continue , I am curious if one really taught you anything . I learned that the color black in turnouts is not as bad as I thought . I thought it would be dangerous and hot but allot of you said the opposite . I am now not concerned with what color I wear . What about you , what have you learned ? I also learned no matter what the topic , we are all in this together at the end . God Bless and Be safe .
The chance to learn from guys with alot of experience. On connect.jems.com (EMS sister site), I do about 50/50 talk/listen. Here, I do about 30 talk/70 listen. I just don't have the experience in firefighting yet, and being volunteer, it takes alot of years to get that. Being here (FFN) is like hanging out with off-duty professional ff's...it really gives me knowledge and perspective that I'm simply not going to get in real life. The blogs on conduct and professionalism, the threads on any technical skills, search, pumping, rehab, rescue, training, etc. etc. etc....I train as much as I can with my dept., but his is definitely a nice boost or adjunct, if you will, to that training.
Also, this site has spawned me off to other sites. Through here, I've discovered firerescue1.com, which has provided me with another vast vault of knowledge.
I believe this site is a great rescource to people of all fire/rescue/ems backgrounds. Yes, there will be the whackers (per your other thread) that clutter the space, but this is, to be fair, their site too. I simply blow by the "any ideas to build a zip line from my bedroom window to the fire hall" and "let's see pictures of your POV converted to a light rescue" threads and pick the ones that I think have entertaining substance or educational merit. This site will always be the way it is, but that's OK, it's a good site for me and I'll keep coming around for the parts I want.
I learn alot of new ideas on training as well as fire ground issues in the "Ten minutes on the street" posts. There are many different ways to do the job and we may learn something from someone else that might work well with our dept.
I suppose i already knew this but i learned that most departments have the same problems no matter what state,county or township.We are more alike than most relize
I suppose that for me it is that I have learned that I too am not alone in my opinions. This site seems to have more brotherhood than others I have visited, and even disagreements seem to be for the most part civil.