Chad Menard's Blog – March 2015 Archive (2)

       When you get promoted from Firefighter to Driver/Engineer there can be a host of emotions that come over you. When you first hear the news there is a great deal of excitement. There is a rush of happiness because the results of your hard work, training, education, and hours on end of studying friction loss equations, sprinkler systems, map books, fire department…

       The scene size-up is the most important thing the first due officer can do. In my class I have a large section based solely on the scene size-up and the things that go into establishing one correctly. It needs to be accurate. It needs to be complete. It sets the tone for the rest of the incident and should be based off of Life Safety, Incident Stabilization, and Property Conservation. If we do not get this done then the strategic and tactical goals of the incident may not be what they…