All Blog Posts (3,145)

Are We Skipping a Step? 

I love tactics, just as much as the next firefighter, but as we debate tactics are we missing a critical step, strategy. The strategic step is one that cannot be passed over. When we talk tactics we need to also talk strategy. 

 The reason we need to keep strategy in the conversation is you can throw all the tactics you have in your play book, but they will not fix any issues without a…

As a young firefighter at my first career job, I had a captain that made us take a can on just about every type of alarm. Fire alarm--take the can. Odor of smoke--take the can. The list goes on and it became a habit for us to grab the can. During my time there (it's not a real busy place) I never had the opportunity to see what it can do.



It wasn't until I moved on that I became more interested in the water can (extinguisher) that I became a full convert and believer in the…

So, what's your motivation?



STAY FIRED UP!



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In earlier posts I've discussed a lot of information regarding the fire service portable radio. It's important. It's the most used piece of equipment assigned to you. It goes with you on rip-roaring blazes and on the 80 percent-plus EMS runs you take in. And if it's not properly maintained, it will fail you.

To better illustrate how a dirty fire service portable radio will fail you, below you will see two pictures. Both illustrate signal…

The engine rounded the corner on a quiet ride back after a late Sunday run and as the new firefighter looked at the rows and rows of "old" buildings he asked the acting Lieutenant what was on the corner vacant lot now filled in with gravel and weeds, "I have no idea kid, let's worry about dinner" was his quick response back. The rest of the day went by quietly and the young firefighter forgot about his inquiry, a week later the crew was fast asleep in their recliners and the young…

DEVELOPING INSTINCTS

Firefighting is an action business; it is not passive or complacent and it requires decisive, action oriented people, with developed instincts.

I remember being taught to place the lower leg of a rescued child under my armpit before exiting the fire building. By…

Winding up my treatise on ventilation in the modern era, this fifth and final (for now) blog on the topic will focus on the practical changes we need to make for controlling the air flow to a fire, as inspired by our new knowledge of its effects.  Links to sources for additional information on specific techniques will be provided at the conclusion of this installment.  Previous postings have discussed how fire dynamics research findings have required us to re-visit our use of this tactic,…

In a modern day fire service where the norm of preaching and…

It's the beginning of your shift on the engine, and you have just finished a thorough check off of your SCBA; after all, that's the most important piece of equipment you will use today. Your gear is set up for flawless donning because you "have that feeling that you're going to make one." A quick glance at the crosslays has the appearance that everything is in order, but you…

Yes, I am going to go down this road after not writing in quite some time. I am utterly disgusted with articles and bantering I have read on social media these past few weeks. I have also been made aware of childish acts to gain attention that certain "so-called" leaders in the fire service (as they call themselves) viscously react in a manner against the very own words they wrote about themselves in their published books. 

Precision is being on point based on facts, and what brought…

To stretch or not to stretch....

A call for a structure fire comes in, whether it be the odor of smoke sight unknown or a bedroom fire, what action does the first engine in take upon arrival?  With the latter scenario its easy to answer, stretch in and put the fire out, but what about the other possible scene? This is where the question comes in, do we or don't we stretch?  Always follow whatever your department’s SOP/SOG’s state, but what happens when a department leaves it…

Fighting fires in garden apartments present some unique challenges to fire fighters. The main challenges fire fighters face are the construction of the building, the building’s location from the street, the layout of the apartment unit, adequate resources needed, basic strategies and tactics, and a solid incident command system. If one of the above components is missing, the results could be tragic.

Garden apartments can host varying methods and types of…

During the 2012 election cycle, my blog took on a heavy political tone.

After-all, our nation had just suffered through four years of Obamacare, stifling EPA regulations, IRS shenanigans, Fast and Furious gun program, an ambiguous Afghan War strategy, Benghazi and on and on.

So, in an effort to express my concerns and my opinions based upon my many years of study of the political arena…

I was taught to perform an inadequate primary search. I know there are thousands of other firefighters out there that share the same story.  Over the last decade, UL & NIST have studied the science behind ventilation and fire attack.  These continuing studies are giving us a better…

Firefighters are a spirited bunch, but social media has proven that we can be divisive, polarizing, and bombastic, too. It's human to have differing opinions, and that's what makes us a great culture and spurs change, but nothing gets accomplished by short-sighted opinions, contentious comments, and name-calling - we are better than this, my brothers and…

Not many years…

This is the fourth installment in a series exploring the impact of our new understanding of the effects of ventilation on compartment fires, and suggesting modifications to that tactic that incorporate that knowledge.  Rather than fill this space with links, any reader wishing to catch up by binge-reading my prior posts on this topic should start at…

...as if wildfire season wasn't tough enough?!

STAY FIRED UP!

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STANDING IN THE WAY

For me, as a youngster, the trip to visit relatives on their farm in the Virginia foothills was always exciting. I always thought that my four cousins were so lucky to live in such a special place, where there was never a shortage of exciting things to do. They raised cows and watered them from a claw foot bathtub. Every year they brought…

Dear Supervisors,

I have started to grow increasingly confused and frustrated. This frustration ripples throughout our fire service. It is something I hear from firefighters who work in all parts of the country. It seems lately that…