All Blog Posts (3,147)

       I know I don’t need to tell you this, but your department doesn’t have all the answers; neither does your Chief, your Training Officer or you. For that matter, no fireground or emergency scene has ever, or will ever, go flawlessly. We’re human. We’re imperfect. And that’s okay, although this doesn’t mean that we should be satisfied with the status quo, but instead we should strive for excellence. If you’re reading this,…

Wellness is to Training as Health is to the Fire Ground

A direct correlation that may save your life

Health and wellness are two terms we often hear in today’s fire service. Yet most have not embraced their true meaning. In a profession such as ours, the ever-changing demands require us to be flexible in both body and mind.  We can…

Leading a crew of diverse personalities can be challenging. As a fire officer it is your job to make sure everyone on your team is being as productive as possible, even if you have to adjust how you treat each individual to do so. The more effective you are at individualizing your leadership style, the more effectively your subordinates will carry out their assigned…

This past week, a firefighter was killed and 20 people were injured after an ammonia leak at a meat processing plant in Israel. The leak occurred at the Hod Hefer processing plant at Emek Hefer industrial zone north of Netanya. The incident forced the evacuation of over a hundred people from the surrounding area. Some reports state that the leak occurred after one of the factory’s employees hit a pipe from a 60 ton storage…

The Sunday Preach

"Recovery"

"Show me a firefighter who has performed flawlessly and to the letter of the SOP at every fire and I will show you a bold faced liar...The mettle of the character of the firefighter is forged in how he or she adapts, recovers and learns from a mistake. Don't languish over what is done. Accept the situation, address it, and move on, obviously in the shortest amount of time available." (Pg. 287 "Reducing Residential Injury and LODD")

Change…

In the first two blogs we discussed the different factors that are important if you want to begin a chaplain program. Many of them relate directly to your drive and determination in seeing the plan through regardless of the obstacles you face in beginning this important program.

This time I would like to focus on how to be effective once this program has gotten off the ground. How do you make sure that you are influencing people and making a difference in your department?…

It's time to play inside, at least in my neck of the woods in Northern Ohio. The cold/snowy weather is upon us and unless you want to sit in the fire house all day it can be a challenge to keep your members fresh and well prepared. So why not a "game night or day".

The following game described below I call…

I want to take a moment to introduce you to our recently redeveloped site, located at www.NotJustAnotherFire.net. We are excited to be working with FireEMSBlogs and all of the PennWell…

There is an ongoing devaluing of the fire problem from within our industry which leads to a lack of education among firefighters.  As individuals and as a culture, we seek the easy fix, the next distraction, or the short answer because we don't have the attention span to sit and read (I'll keep this short, I promise), watch a video, or get out and train. We are losing the ability to walk and…

The recent spate of assaults against firefighters leads me to believe there ought to be a law against such behavior and the individual assaulting a firefighter should be tossed in jail and the key tossed away.

Assault is defined as intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm or intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.  No intent to cause physical injury needs to…

One of the ways I mentally prepare and train as an incident commander is to review major working fires around the country, this past Sunday while reviewing the day’s prior events I read about a terrible tragedy that occurred in Portland, Maine where five victims perished in a fire in a large two story duplex apartment house. I researched the photos and listened to the fire department audio from the scene and based on these I am assuming…

Here is a quick drill for figuring out hose stretches for larger complexes or properties with long set backs. The key is to get out and figure this out long before the call comes in. Share and add your own information to it.

Company Drill for EHT Hose Stretch…

Meet Michael Jacob (Jake) O’Melia

 Grandview is a town of twenty-seven thousand, Northeastern coast inhabitants. There are several bustling businesses on both sides of Main Street in the downtown business district.

Of particular interest is Hermie’s General Store. When you walk through the front doors at Hermie’s, you step back in time. The floors are hardwood and…

Today’s quick tip is covering a challenging problem that may arise in extrications with very heavy…

While perusing several of the social media sites, I’ve noticed that there seems to be some nerd-bashing going on in the fire service these days. What do I mean by nerd bashing? Maybe not complete nerd bashing but definitely some separatist bully-like behavior between the jocks and the geeks. While recently attending my wife’s 20 year high school reunion and meeting many people that my wife had given me the scoop on, prior to introducing me to them. I started to notice that many of the geeks…

   The biggest investment any fire department makes isn’t stations, apparatus or equipment, its people. When we spec out a new apparatus, we don’t just buy an engine because it has hose, a pump and a tank of water. We spend months, even a year or more, making sure it’s going to be just the right fit for our department. Compare that to how most departments hire or…

Drawn By Fire: A Decade Of Fired Up 'Toons.

2015 FDIC Classroom Session



It is an honor to be selected to present my class at FDIC and you are all cordially invited to hear me ramble on about my cartoons and their (hopeful) impact. It's going to be fun, we're going to have some laughs, and you may just leave the classroom inspired to do something great! There will be a violin case at the back of the classroom for tips…

I wanted to share with everyone, an article my Father, Henry Munroe wrote for the old Fire Command Magazine around 1985. Most, if not all of it, still holds true today.

Memorandum

To: Maximus Fabus, Magistrate, Pompeii Assembly

From: Florus, Chief of the Pompeii Fire Department

Date: Janus IV, A.D. LXXIX

Subject: XXVI Annual Fire Prevention Week Theme

Your Excellency:

Despite your repeated…

Below is a link to a video made on utilizing two lines quickly and getting a hit in the rear if needed then grabbing a second line laid by engineer see my blog 'Are you ready to get set after the re-set"

http://youtu.be/HRN0Ra1ryeE

It’s the week of Halloween, and Zombies are everywhere.There’s even one in my neighbor’s front yard. And yes, they’re in our fire departments too. You’ve seen them, those firefighters walking around unaware of their surroundings. They’re unable to think for themselves; they’re ambulant but require outside direction. How do they get that way? What infects them and transforms them from thinking, engaged firefighters into brain-dead,…