December 2017 Blog Posts (28)

Chit-chat; shoot the breeze; gab; flap; chew the fat; gossip; blab. You think you know how to talk. Besides, you do it all day. On the radio, to colleagues, to the media, to your kids, and your spouse/partners. Sure, you talk. But, are you really saying anything?

Martin Heidegger coined the conversing that you and I engage in regularly as “idle talk”. That is, speech which brings about little change or benefit. Talking idly is what we do best. We make small talk about the weather…

The number 2 issue on the poll was:

2.CHANGE a Technique or Task:That’s NOT how I learned it and we DONT do that way here (your New way ... the modern way Your showing us)…!

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Most Dangerous Phrase: We’ve Always Done It That Way.

The real issue here is a person is being required to change instead of wanting to change.

Our job is to be competent in our skills.

When change comes about, guess what?

We don’t see…

The Modified Minuteman Load

The minute man load is a popular hose load used on many apparatus across America, and it happens to be my favorite load of all the options I’ve seen. I feel as if the minute man load, in whichever configuration you have it loaded, is more versatile than other popular loads. This is of…

Being a firefighter isn’t like other jobs. Where mistakes in other professions might mean a person gets their meal cold, their paperclips late or the wrong shoes, when mistakes happen in firefighting the problems can be a lot more serious. There are, after all, lives on the line. For that reason, it’s important that you make sure that you learn quickly and learn…

The number 1 poll response was:

Negativity- Holding a bad attitude and spreading it to younger members of the department.

What to do?

Misery loves company. This is an unfortunate truth. 

First things first though. Why does this person have a bad attitude?

The bad attitude came from a frustration.

A frustation in how somethings was done or is currently being done.

The person feels helpless and feels as though they have no control over the…

Dealing with criticism and rumors, has this ever happened to you? I can tell you right now, it's happened to me. Odds are if you put yourself out there for anything, try to make an impact with anything, you've experienced this. So if this is gonna happen when we put ourselves out there, how can we best deal with it? Well, that's what I'm gonna talk to you guys about today.

At times, we're a firehouse full of typically alpha males, there's some alpha females, and sometimes these…

Sticks and Stones/Axes and Halligans. Firefighters have the means to put a serious hurt on somebody, but we use our tools instead for good. Our words, on the other hand, are wielded, at least by some, with much less regard for the human damage they can inflict. The internet has proven itself fertile ground for zingers and put-downs, allowing a well-timed and -phrased comment to create a virtual worldwide chain-reaction of effects, which can be amusing and/or hurtful, depending upon the…

This piece of equipment is one of the most important pieces of equipment in your tools for standpipe operations. It is second only to your hose and nozzles.  It's selection and use it just as important as hose and nozzle selection. Unfortunately, it is one of the most overlooked and least understood pieces as well.

By placing this inline gauge on the standpipe outlet you are in essence moving the engine's pump panel to the floor below the fire.   As a nozzle man, can you…