All Blog Posts (3,146)

We have to distrust each other. It is our defense against betrayal. – Tennessee Williams

Much has been written about the motivations of firefighters.

Though there may be different reasons for why some choose to be full-time, while others are paid-on-call or volunteer; all firefighters CHOOSE to serve the public. The frequency of the…

SEARCHING FOR THE WIZARD

Sometimes in life we spend an inordinate amount of our time searching for the wizard; that something or someone in our life or our work that we hope will provide us with that something or that everything that we feel we need to go on, to be successful, to become a part of the team, to score, to win, to get home.

I think I can, I wish I had, I do…

We’re coming for you.

“The Mayday – Firefighter Down training for tomorrow is cancelled by the Captain, no reason given.”

Such was the similar message of April 14, 1912 when Captain Edward Smith of RMS Titanic cancelled the life boat drill. At 1140 PM that same day, Titanic struck an…

I was eating supper at work yesterday, reading a book at the same time, and as it does so often a random thought popped into my mind. In order to provide some context for what follows, this thought was inspired by several sources. First was the book "About Face" by Col. David Hackworth. If you haven't read it, do it soon. It is inspiring and thought provoking. My mindset is still reeling from that book. Number two was a blog from leatherhead109.com titled "Know What Your Doing: It's…

The Fire occurs at 0630 Hours on a Sunday morning.  The building is wood platform construction with a truss roof assembly.  The exterior load bearing walls are wood frame. The floors are constructed of a joist system with 2x10 joists supporting the floors.  The exterior has a brick veneer. All interior wall assemblies are drywall (sheetrock) on wood studs. There is no built-in fire protection system. Individual units have battery operated smoke detectors.  

This is a one section…

By Mark vonAppen

This will be the year that the rogues come home.

Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the mouth. Our professional…

Here is something that a Senior Firefighter sent to a group of up and coming new hires.  Enjoy.

Being the new guy has its place and if you are truly green and have never touched a piece of hose before, it's time to keep your head down, eyes up and ears perked for any and every bit of information that comes your way.  Be a sponge.  There will be plenty of information and it could be quite a rollercoaster ride for a while.  That being said you also need to take note of what…

You have to make a few resolutions when the new year comes around. You can't go wrong with directing efforts towards mastering the basics of stretching hose…

In most departments this would be considered a suspicious package. The lack of trust between the headquarters staff and line members is one thing that will prevent progress and bog down the grandest of plans. The reception of these packages are not usually in the form of gifts however, any delivery from the chain of command will be accepted or rejected based on the previous…

I believe firefighters can be placed into 3 categories in terms of engagement and leadership.  Generally speaking: 

• 25% believe in (or pretend to believe in) current leadership staff…

Yes, yes, I know... this is just wrong. But I couldn't help my twisted self:)

Have a safe and blessed Christmas, everybody.

A tale of 'two-stories'



O' to the door, pesky thing... creaking, slamming, perhaps pinching a finger or two at times. It's just a hunk of wood over an opening, or is it? 



Now more than ever, we need to pay attention to the presence, absence and have control of the doors we come across. …

I receive a lot of emails over the course of a week. Among the onslaught of solicitations and wealthy foreigners who want to share their wealth if I'll just give them my bank account info are legitimate questions about art. The question I receive most often is "how do you come up with those crazy characters?".…

If only there was a way to "sell" it

Each and every single firefighter death is a loss not only to those directly connected with the victim but also in this vanilla brotherhood fire service across the nation. Each one should, as rightly expected, be properly mourned and remembered and when applicable have lessons from the tragedy distributed to the rest of us so…

Why the Quint Works for us; The Driver

By Lou Comenale and Justin Ientilluci

A couple of posts ago we wrote how the Quint works for our department.  That really was a quick overview of our operations and training using the Quint.  If we were to dive deeper into our operations using the Quint we have to look at each position.  Many people could make an argument for the officer sitting shotgun being the most important personnel on…

Over the course of many years in the volunteer fire service, I noticed election for volunteer fire officers take place in either November or December of every year. Depending on your organization it may be every two years to elect fire officers. Some departments have no election and the fire officers are appointed by the local municipality or the fire chief may be elected and he or she appoints his or her fire…