March 2015 Blog Posts (58)

Whole lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking going on around Twitter and Facebook today - typical after an accident or tragedy. Nothing wrong with learning from videos posted online, but keep your social media expert advice to yourself. Move away from the keyboard and show some…

Below is a story I posted to "The 1st Battalion" Facebook page a few days ago. We write to a mixed audience, including many folks from the community, so please excuse the layperson language. I wanted to share it here because these little passive CO monitors work! My department chose the Protege CM- we have them wire-tied to every aide/BLS/jump bag in the department. Ours alarmed less than a minute after initial patient contact, at which point we very quickly removed the two residents and all…

I often hear this question mentioned numerous times, how young is to young to be in this service? Where do we drawl a line and say their not old enough?

Having come from a rural department in Kentucky I understand the need for working hands, but is their an age that stands out as "they are too young"?

in the state of Kentucky 18 is the minimum age to join up as an active duty firefighter but many municipalities set their hiring age at 21, is there a reason; and…

     From just reading the title, I know what you’re thinking, “Why don’t I get to decide which line I pull at a fire, that’s crazy talk!” Let me clarify that, we don’t get to decide which line size is appropriate to pull at a fire, the fire dictates that, not us.

     Over almost the last three decades in the fire service I have heard many of the same comments about using a 2…

DRAWN BY FIRE Flashback - Because who doesn't love the constant blowing of hot air through a big h*** that never closes!

Can I get an amen?!

Order prints and books here:…

Never Forget Your First Day

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

     I love the fire service. I truly believe that being a career firefighter is the best job on the planet. Thrilling, exciting, fulfilling, and demanding are all…

 It is estimated that, within the last ten years; 1,500,000,000 articles and books have been written on Leadership. That is not a typo.

And if someone tells you, "I have read every book there is on Leadership", you might want to do a fact check. I mean; the time commitment alone to accomplish that should raise a red flag.

 …

A guide to help your self-study in size up and command

By: Joe Pronesti

With today’s social media everyone knows that fire video is a click away sometimes we can get video while crews are on scene still. It’s great that we can…

THE SUNDAY PREACH

"FEEL"

On this last installation of the look, listen, and feel approach to our search technique, we discuss how,…

Does your size-up typically look beyond the moment you arrive? With a good working fire, this may be an obvious part of a response. But what about for those responses where we arrive and believe there to be no fire? If nothing is burning, is there really anything to size-up?

While a good size-up should give us a clear picture of what we have and what we need to do to mitigate the situation, we must also consider the events that we may or may not actually see happening, as well as…

When I entered the fire service as a young man at the age of 15, I had no idea what the profession stood for...nor did I know where I would ever end up. As times have progressed, I have found myself needing to change with the times in order to adapt for the needs of training, education, and being a coach/mentor. We look at ourselves as professionals, and speak about being part of the best profession there is...which it most certainly is!

In 1995, being part of the fire service meant…

A recent Jimmy Kimmel episode poking fun at EMS response times in New York City where Uber response time averages beat out EMS may not be so funny.  In an era where consumers can locate the nearest taxi, private car or rideshare from their mobile phone, it would seem that 9-1-1 is a bit behind.  Nationally, very few of us can see the locations of our apparatus and virtually nowhere can 9-1-1 callers learn the ETA of their assigned…

Note: This article is written from a suburban perspective for suburban firefighting.

Suppression culture. The most interesting and dynamic part of the fire service in recent years, that is becoming the most debated topic within the fire service. From the concept of "hit it hard from the…

A short while back, I posted a blog called The Undeniable Truth that challenged fire departments to be courageous in…

Have We Tipped The Scales? Risk Management vs Risk Avoidance

Edited version of a fb post by my friend Chris Wessels:

Firefighter safety and how to prioritize it continues to be debated…

We have the distinct honor and pleasure to offer our Firefighter Bailout class at FDIC 2015 this year as one of the HOT classes.  We feel, like most, that we should train and drill constantly on the basics like engine company operations, search, ventilation, fire behavior, ladder work, forcible and the list goes on, to prevent the need for a firefighter to have to exit an…

During extrication courses, I commonly see students struggle with posts/pillars that are slightly larger than what can be severed with a single cut. This can be due to post thickness, width, or various trim pieces in the way. One often-overlooked method that works very well is a style of compression cut. As shown below, the post in the picture is just outside…

Does your department require you to live within the boundaries of your city, municipality or community in order for you to keep your job or to be eligible to be hired?

These rules are called RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS affecting public safety officers and certain critical staff to live in or close to the community where they work.

Generally, residency requirements have…