All Blog Posts (3,198)

Public safety is unique in so many ways, as we all know.

Our audience calls on us in time of crisis. We interact at the worst time for many, a perspective that lasts and is usually tinged by tragedy and loss. It is also why we have a difficult time interacting with the same audience when the situation is normal.

Our audience relies on us to keep them safe and be there when called. They also see us when we're not engaged, and make assumptions when there is no information. A…

“What are you going to do at 3:00 in the morning when you get that call with people hanging out of windows with an active fire?”

We’ve all heard or said that in regards to our training and preparation at some point in our career. It’s safe to say that it can be considered cliché because it is mentioned so often. But, without a doubt and with no debate, it is true!

On July 20, 2016 my department responded to a report of smoke in…

Below is the first speech I ever gave. I was asked by Chief Rodney Twyman to be the guest speaker at the Ridgley Volunteer Fire Dept. in WVA:

Good evening. My name is David Polikoff and I am extremely honored to be here. I am Battalion Chief in Montgomery County Maryland, life member at Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in PG County Maryland, and volunteer at Sykesville Fire Department in Carroll County Maryland. I am also an instructor with Capitol Fire Training. I…

     Call it good manners or the Golden Rule, it is simply polite to return a favor or help someone in turn who has helped you.  This rule applies to the fire service as a community as much as any one individual.  Throughout our careers we all  experience the many benefits that make the fire service the unique brother/sisterhood that creates lifelong bonds, trains and develops us from recruit to retirement, and preserves the ideals that guide us through good fortune and adversity.   As the…

“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign

Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind

      Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?”

FIve Man Electrical Band c.1971

The above is a part of the chorus from a song from the early seventies, if you want to Google or fact check feel free and even better, play it while you are reading this blog which is a quick reminder of a hazard many…

Credit or Credibility?

Each of us will have the opportunity to look back on our career and determine whether we earned credibility or if we fell short of that by wasting time seeking personal credit.

I overheard the following conversation a few years ago, as I walked toward a house fire.…

Continuing my theme of rebutting the new reasons traditionalists are coming up with to avoid changing their approach to firefighting, given that many of its original justifications have been effectively disproven, this post will focus on the air flow component of the "How to Control Combustion" equation, commonly referred to as tactical ventilation.  I addressed the resistance to the use of exterior hose streams in MFA #32: Changing the Rules - New excuses for old habits (at…

Podcast Link HERE

In the last few weeks I posted about being aggressive. In that post I mentioned that we, our department, will search without a hose line. This seemed to raise some eyebrows and concern about what…

In Command and Out of Control

By David Rhodes 

Published Friday, July 1, 2016 | From…

PokemonGo is a cultural phenomenon. In a matter of a week, it has made headlines, both good and bad globally. It has also gotten people of all ages walking around their communities, looking for game goals.

Last weekend, I was out with my 15 year-old daughter and asked her if our firehouse had any part in the game. She was unaware at the time, so we drove by. It is a Pokemon Gym, where players can come and work on skills. Foot traffic in our borough has visibly increased recently with…

When training on search, victim removal often gets very little attention.  Victims are most often found in one of two places:  a path of egress or in a bedroom. Logically, if the victim were 5-10 feet inside the front door, we would simply drag him/her out quickly.  But if the victim is found in a bedroom behind a closed door we must be careful not to do additional harm to this victim.  We say it often on our classes, “If you crawl through a smoky, hot hallway and open up a bedroom door and…

Can’t We All Just Get Along? Conflict Resolution in the Fire House

Joseph Kitchen, Bath Twp. Fire Department (Lima, Ohio)

            Some call it drama. Many…

There's no real power to having knowledge that you refuse to share with others. Regardless of your reasons, you are not smarter or empowered by what you know when it's kept in your self-centered locked mind of superior denial. Knowledge only works when you use what you know to lift others, so they can in turn lift others, and so on...

If you know it,…

In the wake of the Dallas tragedy, public safety is once again in the spotlight, as it was after 9/11. After 9/11, if you identified as a member of the public safety community, strangers on the street would give thanks, baked goods were donated to stations, and there was a renewed interest in our safety and well being. Once that atmosphere faded, I heard many in public safety ask "Where's the love? Everyone's forgotten us again."

The thanks and baked goods are back. What can we do in…

The Sunday Preach:

Chapter 8: 'Get out there'

While everyone loves what is 'inside' the firehouse: the kitchen, rigs, tools, gym etc... we must get out into our first due and ensure that we continue to provide the level of protection that our citizens require and deserve. 

Happy summer everyone. I had breakfast with two close fire service friends yesterday morning (Jim Murtagh-NY, Jack Murphy-NJ) and on the way home I was giving thought to my next blog. Lucky for me, I opened my email this morning and my good buddy Rob Beattie from New Jersey who had visited with us in the past wrote something that I thought was spot on. He loves the job as I do and lots of you. Rob makes a point of telling us how and why and even offers a few tips on how to get others to…

There’s a movie that I love called “A Bronx Tale” and in the movie there’s a question.. “is it better to be loved or feared?”

There’s an old study that there are only three types of Leadership; Democratic, Dictative and Autocratic. In my experience there are many more than just those three. I have been blessed to work with some of the best and worst leaders one…

Morning Coffee

“Mama wanted me to be a preacher. I told her coachin’ and preachin’ were a lot alike. Paul “Bear” Bryant. (I would add leadin’ too.)

Every morning as I step outside and enjoy my first cup of fire house coffee at 5 AM, I give thanks for another day and for the good grace that has allowed us all to go home safely to our families. I have done my one and only job…

Heat related illnesses can lead to countless issues including fatigue, nausea, disorientation, injury, and in extreme situations sudden cardiac events. It's hot out there, brothers and sisters - so remember to hydrate and get that gear off as soon as possible.



STAY FIRED UP!

Click here to see more of my work or to order prints:…

There has been a steady increase in the fire service’s acknowledgment of the validity of the information provided by recent fire dynamics research, with references to the new understanding now appearing in articles, training materials, and after-case reports (not to mention the occasional blog).  Flow paths, smoke as fuel, wind effects, the inability to push fire with straight streams, and the rapid increase in combustion that results from ventilation are all concepts that have been…