All Blog Posts (3,147)

Getting The Job Done

On more than one occasion, I have heard firefighters complain about SOP’s, specifically how they can’t be written for every situation and or you are putting us in a box.  This could not be further from the truth.  What we are doing, is establishing a game plan for specific incidents and the operational concerns that they pose. In recent years, dedication to getting the…

If you spend any time at a fire house, you will undoubtedly hear older firefighters say "It's the little things that matter." They talk about the past and tell stories about tedious tasks (which many new school guys would call “busy work”) with reverence. They talk about detailing brass, scrubbing with toothbrushes, and washing the trucks after every run. They know that…

 Embezzlement is described as - theft or misappropriation of funds placed in one's trust or belonging to one's employer. A recent uptick in the theft of funds, equipment or property from the fire department is creating an embarrassment to the fire service as a…

           Written 2,500 years ago by Sun Tzu, a general and strategist in ancient China (770-476 BCE), The Art of War consists of organizational and strategic planning to help an army achieve victory in battle. It continues to be relevant and is used in modern military study and increasingly being applied to business and leadership…

Being in “Shape” is Relative; Being Fit for Duty is not

In this time of fitness fads and trends, I submit to you that in the business of firefighting, there is no room for confusing what is and what is not fit for duty.

Under your turn outs, no one cares if you have six pack abs or biceps like boulders. What the community you swore to serve and what your crew cares about is that you arrive…

At this point in the "Quick Tip" series we have covered many different methods and extrication tactics. If you haven't been following, take a look back and review many of the dash displacement methods in this series. While teaching Tactical Extrication Courses, students typically get the dash lift down pretty quickly. However, when the vehicle is on…

          Busy people get things done. I used to say those words all the time - usually in a sentence like this one, “If you want to build a successful team, look for busy people because busy people get things done.” There is a coma of complacency in society today. we are battling a communicable disease I call entitlement mentality. Everyone wants the rewards of labor, but far too many don’t want to work for those rewards. Many who do the work are busy, and busy…

We often hear during training “we don't have fires anymore” we have all gotten so use to saying this that we do so without really knowing the truth of the statistics. Just prior to his untimely death Glenn Gaines, Deputy US Fire Administrator made a comment during a conference call of fire service leadership that I thought was a warning to us all. Chief Gaines basically said that a lot of people don't realize that residential structure fires are, and have been increasing every year for the…

Do you workout on shift?  Should you workout on shift and what is the best workout to perform?  How do you schedule your workouts around your shifts or calls?

This is a major concern for the fire rescue athlete.  On one hand we know we should be working out to stay and get fit for duty. Yet , if we burn out in the gym we won't be able to perform when it…

Just like any other visit to your Main Street buildings signs of heavy tar built up may not exactly hit you in the face but some leftover materials left up on the roof should be taken into account as you look at your buildings prior to the fire, do you see empty tar buckets? Old tar mops? Roofing paper rolls? Even a fire extinguisher? Yes a fire extinguisher, these may be needed as a safety measure as roofing contractors utilize heat to adhere the roofing paper (I am…

As first responders we are tasked with arriving on the scene of some sort of emergency or problem and being responsible to come up with a solution.  Whether it’s a fire, EMS call, entrapment or water emergency our success is largely determined by how fast we can decide what needs to be done, get the resources and execute the plan.   Colonel John Boyd refers this process as the OODA Loop.  The OODA Loop is made up of 4 parts: Observe, Orient, Decide and Act.  The faster we do this the more…

The bottom, bottom, bottom line!

Click link below to see more of Paul's work or to buy prints:
http://www.artstudioseven.com/page-LE_Prints.htm

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When you train individually or as a team - is it a check the box type of day or this could really happen type of day? It’s very easy to check the box in our daily lives and make everything a routine. Wake up, shower, coffee, drive to work, check the box for minimum expectations, go home, etc…. If you fall into this mentality it can be personally and professionally devastating at the extremes. However, even if nothing “bad” ever happens I challenge you to contemplate how much you are missing…

Are you a self-proclaimed leader? This doesn’t work (sorry to all the self proclaimed leaders out there). Sure, you can think your leader material, but if you’re the only one who thinks this way then you’re in for a big surprise.

So you’ve taken a few leadership classes, you attended conferences and heard experienced fire service members speak on the various topics surrounding leadership, and maybe even read some books written by experts. Are you now a leader? You may want to…

On Monday, January 19, 2015, a fire occurred at a residential dwelling located at 936 Childs Point Road, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland 21401.  The two-story occupied single family dwelling was approximately 16,386 square feet in size and sustained a complete loss to the structure and contents. The damage was estimated to be approximately $16 million to $18…

I borrowed the title of this blog from the late Tom Brennan, FDNY Captain, Waterbury (CT) Fire Chief, Fire Engineering Editor, and firefighting sage extraordinaire, but I take full responsibility for the example.  Tommy’s “Random Thoughts” column in the March 1996 issue of Fire Engineering railed against the use of phrases such as "Be Advised", because of uselessness; and “Heavy Fire Condition”, because of imprecision.  He related his frustration with persons who would describe a a building…

While riding the Squad yesterday, I worked an extrication involving a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser that was struck from behind on I95. The trooper was investigating a MVC that we responded to and cleared about an hour prior. After thinking about the circumstances, I thought there's no better time to cover an important part of roadway…

We all understand the fireground can be a very dynamic working environment. If you've been around long enough to know, new fire service veterans will often say "that no two fires are the same" or there is no such thing as the "routine fire" today. This can be especially true if you are charged to work for a fire department that has an "all hazards" mission statement.…

Here's the direct link to Jones & Bartlett's "Evidence-Based Practices for Strategic and Tactical Firefighting" that I referenced in my latest blog, MFA #5 - Keeping Up to Date - Where to look when the textbooks are wrong: 

http://samples.jbpub.com/9781284084108/9781284084108_Secured.pdf

That publisher today allowed me to post this link to a free download of this supplement, a testimony to their…