I'm going to end 2018/start 2019 with a positive assessment of the past year's progress spreading the new fire dynamics knowledge and integrating it into our tactics. To be sure, this may be an overly optimistic view, as sometimes there seems to be more than enough distance between the two sides to take an entire fire service career before they meet somewhere near the center. Still, I have been seeing and hearing more and more evidence of the spread of our evolving understanding of…
ContinueAdded by Mark J. Cotter on January 14, 2019 at 8:13am — No Comments
So far in this series exploring the practical limitations inherent in any attempt to motivate firefighters to think less about their own safety and more about the lives and property we are sworn to protect; to display more boldness and less caution, I have suggested that the concept of heroism is so vague as to render it virtually useless as a tool for either change or measurement, and have proposed that the route to maximizing effort is to educate, demonstrate, and support the desired…
ContinueAdded by Mark J. Cotter on January 29, 2018 at 8:41am — No Comments
Every time your company hits the street whether it's for a fire call, ems run, or training opportunities almost always present themselves to identify potential hazards in your area. This is especially true for hoarding conditions. As discussed in the previous post many size-up indicators of hoarding conditions can be easily found especially with contents that seem to "flow" from the structure. However no two scenes are ever the same, especially in differing urban and suburban environments,…
ContinueAdded by Will Heiney on August 7, 2016 at 12:26pm — No Comments
With all of the debate about exterior versus interior, I wanted to share a video that I use in many of the tactical classes that I teach and offer a few observations. First, this is a video that is used for learning, not to critique the methods or tactics that were or were not deployed during this fire. Second, we were not there and do not know all of the circumstances surrounding why they made their decisions.
Overall, I think they did a pretty good job in the end.
When I…
ContinueAdded by Jason Hoevelmann on September 9, 2015 at 11:43am — 1 Comment
From just reading the title, I know what you’re thinking, “Why don’t I get to decide which line I pull at a fire, that’s crazy talk!” Let me clarify that, we don’t get to decide which line size is appropriate to pull at a fire, the fire dictates that, not us.
Over almost the last three decades in the fire service I have heard many of the same comments about using a 2…
ContinueAdded by Chris Langlois on March 30, 2015 at 12:30pm — 1 Comment
How do you run your 2 1/2" lines?
What types of nozzles?
Pre-connect or static?
Length?
What is your preference and why?
This is a valuable weapon when deployed correctly. However, some are of the opinion that it's just to big and heavy to use for an initial attack or with just one person. What are your experiences with handling the big line?…
ContinueAdded by Jason Hoevelmann on February 2, 2015 at 9:35pm — No Comments
Since the end of 2014, I have been reading and listening to year end thoughts and data related to the fire service. There has been discussion on types of calls, near misses and, of course, line of duty deaths. Numbers are broken down and categorized for each type of injury or death that is fire service related and then scrutinized. In many cases these are supposed to be used as lessons and to determine the effectiveness of different messages from different mediums about the prevention of…
ContinueAdded by Jason Hoevelmann on January 19, 2015 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment
In part 1, I discussed the ability of a single four person engine company to aggressively attack an external apartment building fire, by deploying a deck gun blitz attack on the outside seat of the fire that was extending up the exterior of the building and threatening, or already in the attic space, while at the same time, getting a 2 ½ inch line up to the top floor and flowing water into the attic. Part 1 can be found here:…
ContinueAdded by Chris Langlois on January 2, 2015 at 10:43am — 2 Comments
In any department, volunteer or career, large fires in large buildings eventually bring lots of resources. However, in every one of those fires a single crew, usually an engine company arrived first. Often times the ability of this first arriving crew to make an attack with forward progress on the fire is downplayed, because it is alone against a much larger enemy. What can it realistically do?…
ContinueAdded by Chris Langlois on November 19, 2014 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment
It’s an age old question that is still debated by firefighters to this day, and often quite vigorously. When responding to an occupied residential structure fire, do you immediately go for the rescue to remove the victims or do you attack the fire? Many firefighters would say that you should do both at the same time, and if you have the available resources showing up quick enough to do so, that is probably the most correct answer. However, many times our reality is that we are…
ContinueAdded by Chris Langlois on September 18, 2014 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment
Story sent to me from a “friend”
"Chris, me and the crew were out on a 2nd due fire the other day. The first due pulled off the lines and begin to go to work. While en route we went to the Commander in charge asking for an assignment so we knew what tools we would need once we got there (we like to get off the truck with tools in hand). Never got a reply when we got there our officer went to take in our assignment from the IC and he couldn't get a job for…
ContinueAdded by Chris Willis on July 22, 2014 at 9:00pm — No Comments
Handlines. The essential tool in our arsenal, literally the object we use to fight fire. Big lines, little lines, booster lines, trash lines we all have them, but do we TRULY utilize them to their full potential? When I was just a rookie, going through my initial pump…
ContinueAdded by Ian Schulte on May 13, 2014 at 5:00pm — No Comments
This video is a great training tool for size-up, radio comms & Command presence. This FD sounds very professional despite difficult fire conditions. This week we've got heavy fire & smoke on an upper floor w/ standpipe ops in progress and a Mayday called while transitioning to Defensive Ops. Compare this FD's ops to your FD and give us your RECEO VS considerations. Enjoy!…
ContinueAdded by Matt McDowell on April 13, 2012 at 9:32am — No Comments
THE SCENARIO: HEAVY FIRE from the attic w/ extension to TWO other houses! If this one doesn't test the strength and discipline of your crews and alarm assignments, congratulations! Give us the report and your RECEO VS considerations. Enjoy!
Added by Matt McDowell on March 2, 2012 at 10:11am — No Comments
What would your FD do for this attached garage fire? What would you do to address the extension issues? Give us the report and your RECEO VS considerations. Enjoy!
Be Safe
Added by Matt McDowell on February 24, 2012 at 8:43am — No Comments
Check out this video. Heavy fire from the top floor. Pre-arrival and post arrival footage. What would you do? What do you of their tactics? Give us the report and your RECEO VS considerations. Surf's up!
Thanks and Be Safe!
Added by Matt McDowell on February 9, 2012 at 9:30am — No Comments
What would do you do for this heavily involved attached garage fire? Does the split-level layout change your strategies/tactics? Give us the report and your RECEO VS considerations. Have fun!
Added by Matt McDowell on February 3, 2012 at 9:00am — No Comments
This week we've got a rippin' 2-story single family dwelling. Share your strategies, tactics and experience!
Added by Matt McDowell on January 27, 2012 at 10:30am — No Comments
Watch the video of this heavily involved 2-story balloon frame house. Note the wind and the exposures. Give us your RECEO breakdown, initial actions and initial rig placement. Have fun!
Added by Matt McDowell on January 6, 2012 at 11:58am — No Comments
Get a front row seat next to the Battalion Chief for this working Multiple Dwelling fire in Brooklyn. Listen to the BC give great radio reports, great size-up information and even take time to talk to the neighbors. Nice video with links to the popular conversation on Facebook.
Other things you'll see:
Added by Matt McDowell on January 4, 2012 at 10:00am — No Comments
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