All Blog Posts (3,146)

Keep your enthusiasm alive, regardless of what the ol' status quo group says.

Another year has come and gone, and we firefighters have paused to remember the brave 343 who gave their lives on that spectacularly horrific morning in Manhattan.  We re-live the nightmare by peering at images from that crisp morning, reading gut-wrenching stories from survivor families, and admiring the ceremonies, plaques, and walls of remembrance.

It is right that we do this.

And, even without the t-shirts, helmet stickers and seemingly parroted rote…

We will always remember the service and sacrifice of our FDNY brothers 12 years ago today.

We will always remember the service and sacrifice of our FDNY brothers 12 years ago today.

I have been in quite a few fire houses where the troops are just sitting around watching sportscenter or shooting the breeze with conversation. At some point one of them will say "what are we going to train on today?" or "what’s going on next drill night?" At that point someone will say either don’t know or that there wont be a training officer around so we will just talk about football, hockey (Go blackhawks), or our latest…

There has been a lot of talk recently, the last few years especially, about the culture of the fire service. There have been all kinds of cultures thrown around: a culture of safety, a culture of extinguishment, a culture of tradition, a culture of nexters, etc. I think you get the point.

I'm going to keep this short.

First, cultures are created over long periods of time by attitudes, beliefs and habits. Cultures of anything are not easy to change or fix, if that is the…

Firefighter/Technician Steve Brookbank, (Air Unit No. 1, Wash. DC) sent these two photographs in. This standpipe configuration is located on the upper floors of a high rise building. 



The photograph on the left is of a 2 1/2" riser connection in the middle of a hallway corridor. You may notice that…

In the fire service there are a number of companies and individual firefighters/officers that are always "going for the gold", trying to find better ways to accomplish our job and strive to assure the "basics" are always fresh in the minds of others.



This certainly plays true for Captain Daniel…

When I teach, I usually bring up the point that “there is always more than one right way to fight a fire and conversely, more than one wrong way to fight a fire”.  What works (or worked) in Toledo may not work in New York and vice versa.  

In my third book, “Searching Smarter” (published by Fire Engineering/Pennwell, 2011), in Chapter 2,  I discuss the four types of search I am aware of; those being “Standard Search”, “Team Search”, “Vent Enter Search (VES)” and the “Oriented…

When your department is short staffed and your Training Division is short staffed it makes it difficult to conduct quality training in the basics. That is why it is imperative that at the company officer level training in the basics continues. Although plentiful overtime is good in the short term in the long term it can lead to fatigue and lack of consistent training sessions. One of the things that the Training Division must balance is the amount of work hours firefighters are putting in…

By Mark vonAppen



This letter came to me from a firefighter in a major metroplolitan department here in the USA.  If this rookie had a voice, this is what he would say.

A DEPARTMENT IN NEED

As a firefighter for the City of Charleston, SC for almost eight years (2005-2013), I saw many things both good and bad.  But for the most part the Charleston Fire Department has been continuously plagued by numerous problems.  It is these problems that are the root cause for the departure of dozens of firefighters new and old, who have left to pursue careers with other departments as well as non fire…

For the next few weeks I am going to post blogs that ask questions concerning searching.  Of everything we do on the fireground, I believe Search is the poorest evolution we conduct.  I have my ideas why but that’s another  blog for another time.

I will embed video in the blog that shows a fire problem.  In each of these, assume you are operating in your jurisdiction with your resources.  If your staffing is 5 plus an officer or two, whatever - it’s what you have to work with.  Bring…

Uniformed corrections officer douses brownstone interior with gasoline

A corrections officer is charged with second-degree arson in a Brooklyn two-alarm fire that injured 12 people, five critically. Engine 233 transmitted the 10-75 for Box 861 at 375 Chauncey Street. Battalion 37 gave the All-Hands and ’doubtful will hold’ with a report of fire on two floors and…

Interesting fire a few days back in a manufactured home. Moderate case of "Colliers Mansion" throughout made the stretch tough. Heavy smoke conditions enveloped the structure upon arrival with no visible fire showing. Definitely in a "ventilation-limited" state. As I got a quick C side view prior to making entry for back up fire attack, I…

We had a great auto extrication drill the other night and we did it all by ourselves. Nobody asked permission, we simply called a tow company and had a few cars delivered. As we passed the hat around the table to help defer some of the $200 out-of-pocket cost to the firefighter who set up the drill I…

Hey Folks, today’s blog is a result of my frustration with the continued inept (and down right dangerous) management of basement fires. Generally speaking, basement fires are often (unnecessarily) chaotic events. In the spirit of transparency, I am inspired to address this issue by my growing frustration and disappointment in my own working environment.  As a disclaimer, I will keep the specific Department anonymous, however in order to be fair, I am not speaking of either the Washington DC…

Homeless people find their spot next door to a church on fire

Portland firefighters responded to a structure fire on North Maryland Avenue on 25 August. The structure was once a YWCA building and women’s shelter and had reportedly been abandoned for five years.

According to KOIN a homeless couple and their friend were…