All Blog Posts (3,146)

Firefighters: they’re the iconic men and women that make a difference in our community through simple things such as educating children and community leaders on fire safety to rescuing someone from a burning building. Despite all the heroism, they’re people just like you and me. They shop in the same grocery stores and walk the same streets. They have families to take care of and kids they have to spend lots of money on. . . Between saving lives and keeping up with a family, firefighters…

Question – My department is disciplining me for a charge that an alleged comment on the training ground offended a probationary firefighter. The charge was that I was “too tough” on the candidate requiring him to repeat certain basic firefighter skills that he had a hard time completing. The alleged comment was related to his performance and not directed as him as a firefighter. The penalty assessed by the department was 15 days off without pay, a letter of reprimand and I…

Several years ago, I was having conversation with a friend of mine who is a seasoned Company Officer from an agency I use to work with.  I was inquiring on how he always seemed to be calm, cool, and collective on incident scenes.  I was always impressed by his demeanor and command presence on any incident, but especially on those significant ones.  His was reply was simply I’m a “Duck on Water.”  I looked at him with a blank stare and said what does that mean?  He said I make myself stay…

Having an understanding of building construction is one of the best tools a firefighter can have to help them perform safely and efficiently at a fire. It may not be possible to know the specific details of a building’s layout before a fire, but by studying how buildings are constructed, we can predict how a fire will behave, travel, and react in different types of buildings.…

Training Tip:  Build a House in 30 Minutes

Lt. Brad French

Almost every jurisdiction in the United States has some form of active building construction going on at any given time.  Whether it be a new housing development on the edge of town, some urban in-fill housing spattered throughout an older residential district, or just simply a random house going up on a…

Many of us run on short-staffed units.  We arrive on scene and begin the stretch with just an officer and a firefighter on the line.  Throw in a corner or two this can be a difficult stretch for just two people.  But what if you come across a victim?  Do you have a plan?  Have you talked about it with your crew?  Stats tell us that over 1/3 of the time civilians are found while trying to escape or control the fire.  With odds that great we should plan and practice for…

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. Being that my interests have been very specific, I loved to read fire books.

So it only makes sense that the National Fire Academy’s Learning Resource Center is the “holy grail” of fire literature. Contained within its historic walls are over 208,000 books, video, research papers and publications.

THIS is my happy place.

If you have not personally been to the National Fire Academy, the campus and its top notch…

How the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge Changed My Life

We all have that defining moment, the event that changed us. The moment that changed our lives, changed our paths, changed the way we view the world.  Some people have more than one.  And for some of us, we find something that continues to change and shape our lives.  For me, that discovery was the Scott Firefighter Combat Challenge.

I…

*This will be a multipart topic covered over several posts, all focusing on the use and maintenance of the fire service portable radio*

Arguably, the fire service portable (aka the handie-talkie or portable) is the most used piece of equipment at our disposal as a firefighter. I would also argue that it is the most under maintained piece of equipment. This series of blog posts will focus on the use and maintenance of the fire service portable radio, and will cover checkout…

United States Army Manual defines the leader as “anyone who by virtue of assumed role or assigned responsibility inspires and influences people to accomplish organizational goals.”

The Air Force Doctrine Document 1-1, Leadership and Force Development describes leadership as “Leadership is the art and science of influencing and directing people to accomplish the assigned…

In case any of you have missed my preaching on the benefits to the fire service of Modern Fire Attack (MFA) knowledge and methods over the past few weeks, my excuse is that my writing efforts have instead lately been directed toward fire safety in my own community.  

http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/opinion/2015/11/09/editorial-sprinkler-mandate/75463156/

The State of…

There are times when you arrive on the scene of a working fire and what you are faced with may hinder you from taking command. You as the first due unit officer are able to pass command over the radio 1 time. Ensure you are not giving it to the RIC or any special service. The most important things that have to happen on the fire ground is fire fighter safety and ensuring the first line gets to the fire.

Most of you know that I assist with the RIT Combat Drills H.O.T. class at FDIC, and that I am passionate about RIT training and tactics. Why? Because who else will be coming to save us when things go wrong? Take it serious, brothers and sisters, because we are the ONLY ones who can save us!



For more information about RIT training topics, here's a link to…

Cooking in the firehouse is pretty difficult.  One of the biggest fears of every firehouse chef is not preparing enough food for the crew.  This fear usually leads to an excess of available food and larger portions around the table.  So, today I wanted to give you a quick and easy “trick” you can use to get your crew to take smaller servings.

Answer this question:  Which is the larger black circle – the left or the right?…

G********,



I'm a fourteen year veteran volunteer firefighter from Brookline NH, and I'm working on a series of mystery novels based in firefighting, including actual scenes I've worked and training I've taken against the backdrop of fictional mysteries. There are presently four books in the series and all are available at ebooks from Amazon.com (…

Sending out a heartfelt thank you to all my brothers and sisters who not only answer the fire bell, but have also answered the call to serve our country. I am forever grateful for your service, and cherish the freedom that my family and I enjoy because of your dedication, duty to…

Unchaining Your Leadership

I often look for ways to explain to young fire service leaders the paths to follow that will take them to success and to eliminate some of the pitfalls and struggles they will face if they don’t start out correctly and constantly work to get better.

Moving into the first step of leadership is the most important and also the most difficult step to…

It is a quiet Sunday morning and as you the day's shift commander are reading the paper and thinking about brunch and the day's football games when suddenly the tones drop for a reported building fire in your downtown district, as you hear the address you think about the building run through your size up thoughts. Upon arrival you find heavy smoke coming from what appears to be all three floors of an Ordinary construction Type III building in the center of your town's once vibrant business…