All Blog Posts (3,147)

Every fire department I’ve ever seen has a uniform.  With that uniform come rules and standards regarding its appearance and the manner in which it is worn.  Nobody hands out a uniform and says, “Here, wear this however you want.”  There is something to be said for uniformity of appearance and presenting a professional image to the public.  I care what I look like to the public.  YOU should care what you look like.  But more important than how we look, we should all care how we…

To Save Lives and Property

Usually nothing is better than the original and that holds true with mission statements. Departments all over have severely missed the mark by a compelling desire to outdo each other with prolific works that are turned into posters and plaques.…

HOW TO WIN A BUDGET ARGUMENT

The Post-Fire Evaluation  --  A Case for Quantifying the Concomitant Save…

What moves you?

Sometimes our most memorable moments are of occurrences from years now past. Our memory holds on to those special moments because the moment moved us in some special way. Many of the lessons that would serve me well in the fire service were learned long before my career began.…

Many years ago I got into a habit of using a stopwatch to time fire and extrication evolutions. At first many thought it was to show how "fast" we were compared to trucks or to test my crew. But after doing it for a while firefighters realized that it wasn't a test at all, but a method we could use to evaluate and speed up if…

I took some time to visit a friend who is recuperating from surgery. This friend is a longtime friend, someone who is twenty + years my senior and someone whom I met as a result of joining a volunteer fire department, a very long time ago. I consider this friend a mentor and someone who helped me grow as a person and as a firefighter. And I told him today that he was an important part of my growing up. We sat and talked for about an hour and a half, along with a family member, who was…

"Our customers are #2" Are you kidding me!!!!!!

I had a long conversation with a friend of mine yesterday who is currently working on his fire science degree. He told me one of his professors made the statement that the fire service…

Photo of Colorado Springs Firefighters at the Denver 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb

For the past 5 years the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb campaign has brought thousands of firefighters and civilians together to honor the people and events of September 11^th 2001. At the FDIC 9/11 Memorial Stair…

Are you a senior firefighter, company officer, battalion chief or fire director? Before I even know the answer I want you to know that it really doesn’t matter what your title is as long as you understand that your primary job is to lead a team. Your team may be a team of three or several hundred. A strong leader knows his or her job is to take a group of people, align them with a common goal, get them to work as a team, and march them toward that goal. The bottom line is that you have to…

On April 14^th 1912, a screeching sound awakened many on an “unsinkable” ship. This couldn’t be happening! They’d said it was impossible; that the ship was unsinkable. When I think of training, I consistently relate it in many ways to the events leading up to the Titanic’s tragic night.  The source…

In 2009, I wrote an article for the “Everyone Goes Home” Newsletter. In it I wrote about the generational differences that we have to overcome, in order to get good fire prevention education out there. Fire Prevention supports our mission of saving lives and protecting property, but we still need to understand how best to get out those “safety messages” with one general concept in mind ( Life Safety), yet in the language that each generation can embrace and remember. There’s still a…

It's obvious where I stand on interior attack regarding known hoarder homes. What are your thoughts?

When you get sued for workplace harassment, discrimination, motor vehicle accident or for any other reason, one of the first things the plaintiff’s lawyer (and your defense counsel) will seek is your departments Personnel Policy Manual, SOG, SOP and Best Practices.

 If you are like most departments, there is a thick layer of dust on the covers or the Word version you used to…

You’ve heard them all. Maybe you’ve even said some of these things. I’m talking about fire service staples like, “Don’t worry kid, this is just a routine fire,” – “All you have to do it put the wet stuff on the red stuff,” – “Stay in until you can’t stay in anymore,” – “Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” – “Keep your mouth shut probie,” – “Books don’t put fires out. Why are you wasting your time reading that?”…

More commonly only considered a tool for standpipe operations I want to demonstrate the benefits of adding inline pressure gauges to your department for simple, anytime, any place hose work training.

The 2 ½” inline pressure gauge was brought to all our engine companies in 2007 when the department changed our standpipe operations. The inline pressure gauge is…

Each day across America, firefighters key up radios and transmit numerous emergency and non emergency messages across the airways above us.  Without this form of communications, the fire service and many of us would be lost.  With the new technologies that have been introduced into the communications realm, firefighters have been challenged and protected better all at the same time. 

The one thing I want to bring everyone's attention to is how are your radios aliased?  I know, I know,…

Its your very first day on the job. You walk into the firehouse with a stupid grin while balancing a box of doughnuts in one hand and your PPE in the other. Some old dude with a giant gray mustache barks "What are you doing here, ya jack wagon?" Take a minute; for realz. What called you to the fire service? Maybe the excitement, the lights, the sirens, the danger, just…