Paul Strong's Blog – February 2014 Archive (3)

One constant in the fire service is there is never a shortage of people who have a better way to build a mousetrap.  Without this naturally occurring firefighter forward-thinking mentality, we would certainly see a fire service that is less capable, less safe, and just plain less than it is.  Because emergencies can be approached and executed from many different angles, our training and preparation can also be approached in many ways.  We see this all the time. You can talk tactics with the…

Leadership is about your character. Character is one of the ingredients that make up your personality.  Your actions, your attitude, and your behavior define your character. These are simple but powerful words (actions, attitude, behavior).  If you need to simplify this even more, focus on your attitude.  You may not be able to help it if you’re having a bad day or if you don’t like doing a particular thing, but changing your attitude changes everything.

Personality vs.…

Better yet, how do you train and prepare for RIT?  It's a good idea to take a close look at your RIT training and see how closely related it is to your Search & Rescue training (for civilians).  If your RIT training isn't too much different, then it’s time to get real.  Here's an example; On Monday your crew does a search & rescue drill. One of the firefighters finds a spot in the station to lay down and waits to be found. The crew goes in on a right or left wall search with their…