P.J. Norwood East Haven, CT

With Fire Prevention month right around the corner you should be looking to finalize your plans. I would like to challenge you to take time this year to change what you have done in the past. I challenge you to put a focus on the close the door message. I also challenge you to make it visual and enjoyable for all those you get the privilege to speak to.

By now every firefighter understands the importance of door control until we have water on the fire. We need to take that message…

Wednesday, January 4, 2017 Sean Gray and I had the privilege to be guests on Capt. Mike Gagliano’s and Capt. Mike Dugan’s Fire Engineering Blog Talk Radio Show. Sean and I are grateful and humbled by this opportunity and want to encourage you to listen to the archived show.

To help encourage you we wanted to give you an idea the topics we discussed.

• We started the discussion on what does and where did Stop Believing Start Knowing begin. Some feel the name is offensive and…

When we enter the fire service we attend a lesson on fire behavior. This lesson may be taught many different ways, but the concepts are generally the same. Traditionally, this lesson is scheduled as a mere four block of the Firefighter I curriculum.

The lesson invariably covers the fire tetrahedron and basic fire behavior terminology (flashover, backdraft, rollover etc.), along with some…

When I first became married senior firefighters were quick to inform me of the dangers of wearing my wedding band while working. I defied the warnings and continued to wear my ring. I have seen photos over the years of “degloved” fingers and other injuries related to wearing jewelry on the fireground.

This week a mentor of mine who…

The members of your department skill set starts when they enter the service. Through their recruit or initial training they begin to build a foundation that will carry them through their career. This training and education is the foundation they will build upon.

Just like a home, the foundation is only the beginning. Through training, education, experience of others passed down and being lead not managed they begin to become well-rounded functioning firefighters.

The…