All Blog Posts Tagged 'firefighter' (202)

Developing a Firefighter Workout

By: Jordan Ponder

Firefighter fitness is vital to our performance and longevity.  It is the cornerstone to increasing our safety and a critical element to protecting firefighters.  It’s a fact that can’t be overstated. The tragic trend of firefighter obesity, diabetes, hypertension and stroke can be positively impacted by implementing…

Firefighter Line-of-Duty Deaths: Are we Missing the Big Picture?

By: Dan Kerrigan & John Spera

“The Shortest Route to Fewer Firefighter Deaths is through the Heart.”

-National Fallen Firefighters Foundation

When an operational fire service line-of-duty (LODD) death occurs, we give it…

It was an honor to have recently participated in the latest round of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Heart to Heart: Strategizing an Evidence-Based Approach to Reduce Cardiac Disease and Death in the Fire Service initiative.  The meeting brought together fire service research scientists, fire service professionals, and marketing experts from…

I wrote this story in 2003 and first released it on September 25^th of that year; two years after the tragic death of then 19 year-old Firefighter Bradley Golden, who died in a live burn training exercise in Lairdsville, New York. I have posted it every year since then to keep a promise; to honor and to remember Brad. I do not do it to keep the emotional wounds fresh. I do it because there are so many important lessons to be gained by…

As we pulled out of the firehouse at 0300 hours, the dispatcher informed responding units that they were receiving numerous calls for a serious motor vehicle crash with multiple patients trapped. I relayed the information to the backseat to notify them that we would be going to work. From that point, each member begins to dig into…

Would You Want You Rescuing You?

 …

Be Selfish with your Personal Fitness

The Olympics are here, and most of us have been watching our American athletes as they perform to the best of their ability. We sit mesmerized watching these athletes compete against the best from other countries. These athletes are the elite of the elite, and they are amazing to watch. We cheer at successes and cringe at defeat right…

When it comes to extrication tools, everyone has their personal preferences. Having the opportunity to travel the country teaching, I have had the opportunity to use most the tools out there at one time or another. This weeks “Quick Tip” will cover my personal opinion on the controversial topic of tool sizes/weights. You will get various…

“We can’t be operationally effective without our health.”

~Rommie Duckworth

I am paraphrasing Chief Bobby Halton when I say that we will never be able to mitigate all of the risks we face as firefighters (and we should know and accept these risks before we take the oath).  As a firefighter, putting yourself in harm’s way to save another is not only something you…

Happy summer everyone. I had breakfast with two close fire service friends yesterday morning (Jim Murtagh-NY, Jack Murphy-NJ) and on the way home I was giving thought to my next blog. Lucky for me, I opened my email this morning and my good buddy Rob Beattie from New Jersey who had visited with us in the past wrote something that I thought was spot on. He loves the job as I do and lots of you. Rob makes a point of telling us how and why and even offers a few tips on how to get others to…

We all understand that the extrication of trapped patients from serious vehicle accidents can take time. Commonly, there is confusion about the best rescue method for a particular patient. We…

The age old question...CUT OR SPREAD HINGES? Although we have…

Do you want to know how fit fire rescue athletes make nutritious meal choices?  Here are some shortcuts, go-to recipes, cooking suggestions and go-to snacks for making the life of a fire rescue athlete a little healthier.

Eating healthy with a demanding job can be difficult.  Add in the fact that the firehouse is usually full of non-nutritious choices like cakes and baked goods and its no wonder that obesity, diabetes and heart disease are huge concerns in the fire industry.  Yet, as…

Prevent Fitness Plateaus for Continued Growth

Why do people stop their fitness program?  There are many different reasons, but one of the most common is because they stopped seeing progress.  Nothing is more motivating that starting a new program, staying with it, and then seeing your body and performance grow.  Nothing is more disappointing than training and not seeing any changes.  …

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves ~Lao Tzu

Recently, a close friend and fire service brother posted an old picture of me on social media.  I was a young assistant chief acting as the operations officer on a residential structure fire.  When I saw the picture, I thought, “Where in the world did he come up with that…

Often, we run into smaller/secondary entrapments that can be just as challenging as entrapments by the doors, dash,…

Many rescuers have heard, seen, or used what is commonly known as a 3rd door conversion. The 3rd door conversion gains much needed access to rear occupants of a 2 door vehicle. This method can be completed quickly. The yellow lines show notches or cuts via the cutter or sawzall. If the cuts are done well, little to no…

Its the dead of winter, football season is over and spring seems so far away.  This is also the excuse season, the time of the year where most people fall off the fitness wagon and start to make excuses.  Its especially easy to make excuses and miss workouts if your not seeing results.  So, today I wanted to give you a little guidance and motivation (check out the FRF Fit for Duty…

Muscle Imbalances and Injury Potential

As firefighters there are so many things we need to be thinking about during an emergency scene.  Rig placement, radio communication, building construction, fire location, and smoke color, volume, and pressure are only a fraction of the things that run…