Where firefighters come to talk training
Mike Walker's Groups
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Pandora's Box
54 members
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1403 Compliant Training
89 members
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Common Sense Firefighting
168 members
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Becoming a Better Inst...
128 members
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Props and Training Aids
123 members
Mike Walker's Discussions
Mike Walker: Oklahoma City Fire Department/Battalion Chief
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Latest Activity
So many cities have High-Rise structures and the tactics used by various departments varies as much as the cities themselves. The group is designed to allow Metro-City and Big-City firefighters discuss this challenging aspect of our jobs.
A group that discusses, questions, challenges common practices within the fire service such as staffing, tactics, unions, attitudes, government, etc.
A group that discusses, questions, challenges common practices within the fire service such as staffing, tactics, unions, attitudes, government, etc.
You are tha bomb Adam. Thanks!!
Profile Information
- Residence.
- Oklahoma
- Department:
- Oklahoma City Fire Department
- Title/rank:
- Battalion Chief
- Years of public service:
- 19
- Agency structure:
- Paid fire department
- Top issues in your department:
- My biggest issue for our department is to increase the minimum staffing on Ladder Companies to 4 personnel.
- Professional Qualifications:
- EMT-I, Structural Collapse Tech-2, Haz-Mat Tech, Swiftwater Tech.-1, Confined Space Tech-2, bla bla bla
- Topics you provide training for:
- Structural Collapse, Confined Space, High-Angle, RIT, Saving your Own, High-Rise Tactics, Vehicle Extrication, Trench Collapse
- Bio:
- I've been on the job for 19 years. I'm a Task-Force Leader for OKTF-1. I've been teaching for 13 years. I teach because I love the job so much and teaching about fire gives me something to do until I can get back to the station.
Mike Walker's Photos
Mike Walker's Videos
Mike Walker's Blog
Somewhere In the Middle or Just On the Fence
Over the last couple of weeks a tremendous amount of blogs have been posted and comments given about a recent speech given at the 2009 FDIC conference. Lt. Ray McCormack from FDNY stood in front of thousands and spoke to the culture war that is raging in our midst. He spoke about a culture of fear vs. a culture of extinguishment. What I gained from his dialogue was the fire service must remember our reason for existence, the people we serve. If the organization whose purpose it is to perform res… Continue
Posted on May 3, 2009 at 7:19pm — 22 Comments
The Best Example of Why We Must Be Prepared...
I sent this out to all of the people in my Battalion today and thought I'd share with you all. Hope you enjoy it.
Below are three links that will let you see the recent interview on "60-Minutes" with the crew of U.S Airway Flight 1429. I want you to watch all three portions. Make sure when you watch them, you can give them your full attention. Though these videos are obviously about the flight and subsequent successful rescue of all 155 passengers, a subtle comparison can be made to our job.… Continue
Below are three links that will let you see the recent interview on "60-Minutes" with the crew of U.S Airway Flight 1429. I want you to watch all three portions. Make sure when you watch them, you can give them your full attention. Though these videos are obviously about the flight and subsequent successful rescue of all 155 passengers, a subtle comparison can be made to our job.… Continue
Posted on February 11, 2009 at 5:56pm — 7 Comments
Comment Wall (42 comments)
- At 8:47am on October 26, 2009,
Brent Sanger said… - Mike. Mr. Bahatma whatever his name has been banned from the site. So don't worry about him making any further posts. If you had not deleted the post I would have gotten it when I banned him anyways. Good catch tho. Thanks.
- At 8:59pm on September 18, 2009,
David DeStefano said… - Mike, Pandora's box is a great idea. Just like walking in on the 10 different conversations in the firehouse kitchen, you get to pick one you like and join in!
I'll check it out often.
Stay Safe,
Dave
- At 5:04pm on July 8, 2009,
Dave Dodson said… - Hi Mike:
Go for it! I appreciate your efforts to pass on the info. Reading smoke should be as common as a motor vehicle size-up: Evalute traffic, number of cars involved, damage/stability, hazardous energy involvement, visible victim status, etc.
-Dave
- At 4:01pm on July 7, 2009,
Eric DePoto said… - Hey bro, well you f'ing know.
- At 7:25pm on June 21, 2009,
Brent Sanger said…
- Anytime brother. It took me a while to figure it out myself when it started happening. Now it's just an annoyance, rather than a real problem. Glad we got it working. Now for your original problem. You able to get into your group ok?
- At 9:15pm on June 20, 2009,
Brent Sanger said…
- That is very strange. If you get this, comment back, and we'll start working through the problems. Which version of IE are you using, 7 or 8? Occasionally I get an error massage that says Internet Explorer can't display the page and goes to a blank page. All I do in those situations is hit the back button and it seems to work fine. If you can do that, try it and see how that works.
- At 9:55am on May 8, 2009,
Pierre-Louis LAMBALLAIS said… - Well thanks. And I'll try to make an effort in English!
What we've notice in many cases is that there are two things which can be great for progress but also great for "doing nothing", depending on the way you use it. These two things are the concept of "brother" and the documentation.
A brother is a man to who you can say "You're wrong" and who can say you the same. If you do "wrong", and you are not my "brother", I'll not tell you you're wrong, because it doesnt matter to me. When I tell my student that they must work a lot, because they are not "good", that's because I love them.
The bad use of "brother" is to say "you can't make criticism to a brother". because in that case, the brother can do bad things for years. And one day, you will be in front of his grave. The grave of a brother? No. Because when my brother do bad things, I'll tell him immediatly. I don't wait him to get an accident.
Documentation can also be used in a positive or negative way. You can use doc as a start point, to increase knowledge. This is a right way. But when the guys don't want things to change, they use the docs, to say "You can't do that, it's not in the doc!". This is the bad way.
Same tools. Two results. Not easy to use. :-)
Very best regards
Pierre-Louis
- At 2:49pm on May 6, 2009,
Dave McGrail said… - Hi Big Mike,
Thank you, you're the best...
Dave Mc.
- At 8:03pm on May 3, 2009,
Eric Morgenthaler said… - Sup? New position, part of our cost cutting measures!
- At 11:10pm on April 27, 2009,
Don Huneke said…
- Hey Brother thank you for the offer of the SOP's. I can use all the help I can get. I have been working on my assigned SOP's alot and the person reviewing them has NEVER been in a fire or on a truck for a serious call. I want as much back up when I turn them in. OCFD's would be so very welcome. My email is dhpdfd@comcast.net. If I can ever return the favor please let me know. Don Huneke
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