All Blog Posts (3,146)

Missing Flight 370 started us on a discussion of mitigation speech on the fire ground.  It’s a concept first written about by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers.  Mitigation speech is a passive form of communication when we “downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what’s actually being said”.

While talking with my wife the other day she spoke very highly of an acquaintance.  “That girl that is a “straight shooter” and she will give it to you like it is, no fluff.  You know…

I get a lot of requests to come up with workouts that can be performed on duty with equipment found at the firehouse. The other day, my crew and I performed this intensive 30 minute interval workout.  This workout will get your heart racing, challenge your core and work your muscles.

The workout consists of three, 10 minute intervals each with a different focus.  The first 10 minutes focuses on anaerobic recovery, the second ten minutes on full body strength and the last ten…

I get a lot of requests to come up with workouts that can be performed on duty with equipment found at the firehouse. The other day, my crew and I performed this intensive 30 minute interval workout.  This workout will get your heart racing, challenge your core and work your muscles.

The workout consists of three, 10 minute intervals each with a different focus.  The first 10 minutes focuses on anaerobic recovery, the second ten minutes on full body strength and the last ten…

The fire service today is under more scrutiny than it has ever been in memorable past, firefighters arrested for stealing and selling scheduled drugs or other illicit substances, firefighters being terminated for engaging in sexual acts while on the clock, and even members in high ranking positions stealing money from the fire department coffers…

Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little on the last six thousand years.…

The Sunday Preach:

"Never forget where you came from"

This is a multi-faceted profound statement that is often heard around the firehouse. Here are 3 quick extrapolations we came up with....

Haven't been writing lately I have been busy learning the ins and outs of being a Lieutenant with my new promotion.  I have been keeping busy reading books and training material.  I'm sure the trials and tribulations of being a new officer will be great stuff for future blogs to come.  Stay tuned and stay safe

How many times have you seen it (or participated in it)? A tragedy happens where a firefighter gets injured or killed and the comments begin to fly about what went wrong - and how they would have done it differently, of course. Let’s take an incident that hit close to home for me. The Toledo Fire Department lost two brothers during an apartment fire this past January.…

By now it’s no secret that the fire service has accumulated a considerable “body of knowledge” as a result of the fire dynamic research from NIST and UL.  And now we’re into the “what are we going to do about it,” phase of evolution.  We are starting to see examples of departments implementing tactical changes based on the research, including my own department, developing its SLICERS concept.  And while we’re making good progress in bringing the research lessons to the fire ground,…

Me No Hable

Ours is a beautiful country with a beautiful language that is made even more beautiful and rich by our different accents and dialects. Even within each state, our speech and language is flavored with our varied regional influences. I like it when people try to guess where I am from, based upon my speech.…

Fear. That feeling of uncertainty, doubt and despair that people get when situations are out of control; there is danger in their lives either physically, emotionally or economically. Part of our job (as we all know) involves putting our lives in inherently dangerous situations for the well-being of those who are at most in need. I have come up in this service within the…

I must apologize.  Over the weekend, it dawned on me that I again, have put the apple cart before the horse.  All too often, I get an idea and get all pumped up only to realize that there is a key component or part I allowed to be missed. 

I did start out with simpler scenarios – yes that’s a fact.  I gave progressively more difficult scenarios - again, yes that’s a fact.  But this weekend I realized I should have started out from a more basic point. 

So, lets back…

As another promotional process creeps up on the horizon I am reminded of something. On the last day of a recruit class I recently taught I had a recruit ask me: How can I prepare to become an officer in this dept.? My first thought was, how about finish probation first!! I didn’t say that to him, but it really made me think about something.

Every couple years we have a promotional process in our department. You are all aware of them. That time of year when productivity seems…

I can’t remember what I am supposed to do at a fire anymore. The acronyms keep coming and I don’t want to screw anything up so I’m going to suggest we use OMAHA just like Peyton Manning. If you get to a point where all the acronyms run together and you are about to panic just take a deep breath and call,…

        First of all, a quick correction to Training to Fail, Part 1; it appears I was wrong about Peyton Manning studying his enemy in preparation for the Super Bowl. I apologize, from now on I will do my due diligence...just kidding Bronco fans.

        This short little blog is not meant to cure the fire service of the problems of training to…

The Sunday Preach:

"Record, Record, Record..."

Ever wonder how long it takes and what you look like getting your PPE on correctly? How about the team making a search? Stretching a line from the apparatus? What you sound like on the radio?

Can we "see" where we can streamline our personal and company operations? I guarantee at least 75% of your members has a device in their pocket that can help the team.

From page 249 of "25 to Survive: Reducing Residential Injury…

I was on the Internet this morning and saw this picture posted on Facebook. It was bad enough that someone posted it, but the number of likes was even more disturbing. I will preface the rest of this blog with that I AM A REFORMED FIREFIGHTER. I was not always Combat Ready and I used many excuses to justify to myself my BAD habits and complacency.

None of…

In a recent discussion with a friend regarding SOG's and SOP’s, an ugly mannerism reared its face, “we are just a Volunteer Department. Keep that in mind.”

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF STATEMENT IS THAT?!

This brings to mind another statement I have heard in passing more than once.

Too many rules are a bad thing to have.

Can we have too many rules?

Can rules hinder an operation?

Can a guideline be truly…

As I see all the news reports about the missing Malaysia Airline Flight 370 I wonder how they got off track. Did anyone in the cockpit notice they were off course?  Maybe and maybe not.  If they did recognize the problem, did they speak up to the Captain?  When they spoke up were the comments clear and direct or were they passive hints and suggestions that the pilot never picked up on?

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book “Outliers”, introduces us to what is known as “Mitigation…