Andy Marsh's Page

In case you missed some of the news stories, this week of October 7^th is National Fire Prevention Week. There’s a lot of history behind this week. I encourage you to read how and when it all started. Many fire stations nationwide hold open houses, provide station tours, respond to requests of visiting this school or that school and for some, at the end of the week, those events are tucked away until next year. I’ve stated as well as many others have, that Fire Prevention…

Back in the early 1990s, the Pittsburgh Pirates had Barry Bonds, Bobby Boniilla and Jay Bell and we affectionately here in Pittsburgh, admired them as our “Killer Bs”. And later in the 1990’s, the Houston Astros also were known to have the “Killer Bs”, with Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell at the center of attention then. I am at the tail end of the baby boomer generation and I’ve always said that my generation yielded some of the best sports players of all time. I joined the fire service as…

Way back in 2009, during a church service, my Pastor got me to thinking. He was preaching about baptism. He was explaining to us his belief that some faiths baptize at too early of an age. Now before you spout off how wrong he is, or whatever opinion you may have about baptism, or other faiths, hear me out first. I will try to relate and tie in what he had to say in terms of being a firefighter. I mean this not to be a lesson in religion as the pastor did, simply an analogy, nothing…

( I wrote this 7 years ago, much of it still applies. I updated it a bit as well.)

So much has been discussed about firefighter safety lately. We tend to think about firefighter safety as it relates to the fire ground, accountability systems, offensive vs. defensive fire strategies, rapid intervention teams, and the list goes on. What often times is left off of that list is fire prevention. Fire prevention…

If you go back in time, especially with Fire Engineering, you’ll most likely find hundreds of articles on leadership. And you’ll find hundreds more on firefighter safety, both on the training ground and on the fireground. Many great fire service leaders who have gone before us and the ones who are among us still today, have most likely told the many of us to “lead by example”. It’s a simple message that carries with it so many lessons that young and inexperienced firefighters can place in…