Brian Houska's Groups

Fitness, Wellness, Injur…

50 members
Fire Service Leadership

330 members

Policies and Procedures

54 members
Good Books

1 member

Who Wants to Be an FE Bo…

44 members

View All

Brian Houska's Discussions

Get Rid of an Obsolete Rank
13 Replies

Looking to save jobs and dollars, improve safety, combat complacency, and improve flexibility? Flatten your organizational chart and get rid of the Engineer rank. Instead, train all to drive and…Continue

Tags: strategy, HR, management, structure, Organizational

Started this discussion. Last reply by zachary wolf Nov 19, 2014.

Fire Econ 101

What are five ideas that the fire service needs to hear to progress and reduce casualties? Check out the attached Fire Econ 101.

Started Jun 10, 2010

Fire Econ 103

Think that charging for inspections is a good way to help the city budget? Think that charging for emergency services is wrong? Not so fast. Check out the attached Fire Econ 103.

Started Jun 10, 2010

Fire Econ 102

Think that saving lives and property is the primary way firefighters serve the public good? Think again. Check out the attached Fire Econ 102.

Started Jun 10, 2010

View All

Brian Houska's Page

Profile Information

Lives in:: 402 W Wilson St, Monticello, IL

Department:: 400 S Vine St, Urbana, IL

Title/rank:: Lieutenant

Years of public service:: 16

Agency structure:: Paid fire department

Top issues in your department:: Tech Rescue, Safety

Professional Qualifications:: Fire Officer I/EMT, Haz-Mat Tech B, SAR Tech II,
Vertical/Trench/Confined Space/Structural Collapse Tech,
M.Human Resource Mgmt, Univ of Illinois.
Pending Certs: CFPS, FO II, Inspector 1

Topics you provide training for:: Fitness/Safety; Officer Development

Areas of expertise:: Strategic management; HR economics

Bio:: BA Rhetoric, Univ of Illinois, 1987. US Army, Infantry, 1988-1992. Entered the fire service in 1995 with the University of Illinois FD. Survived that department's elimination and landed with Urbana Fire-Rescue in 1998.
Master in Human Resource Mgmt, Univ Illinois, 2002. Honors, 1st in class. Conducted economic analysis of US Fire Service.

Brian Houska's Blog

Intro to Better, Stronger, Safer

In the past I've refrained from trying to tempt or provoke readers by offering the startling conclusions of my work in an introduction. I've done so under the assumption that these conclusions are so contrary to popular opinion that they're more likely to drive readers away rather than engage them. I'm going to mix it up, and list a few of these so that the reader can decide if this group and blog might be worth joining or following, if only to prove me wrong. Here goes.

From… Continue

Posted on June 8, 2010 at 5:30pm — 3 Comments

Comment Wall

You need to be a member of Fire Engineering Training Community to add comments!

Join Fire Engineering Training Community

No comments yet!

Welcome to
Fire Engineering Training Community

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

Policy Page

PLEASE NOTE

The login above DOES NOT provide access to Fire Engineering magazine archives. Please go here for our archives.

CONTRIBUTORS NOTE

Our contributors' posts are not vetted by the Fire Engineering technical board, and reflect the views and opinions of the individual authors. Anyone is welcome to participate.

For vetted content, please go to www.fireengineering.com/issues.

We are excited to have you participate in our discussions and interactive forums. Before you begin posting, please take a moment to read our community policy page.

Be Alert for Spam
We actively monitor the community for spam, however some does slip through. Please use common sense and caution when clicking links. If you suspect you've been hit by spam, e-mail peter.prochilo@clarionevents.com.