June 2014 Blog Posts (51)

Although you’re not born a leader, everyone is born with, at least, one essential quality that’s necessary to becoming a leader.  That quality is Vision. Kids are visionaries; they don’t ask “why?” they ask “why not?” Kids push the limits and try new things because they’re not bound by life experiences telling them “it won’t work, you can’t do that or it’s not possible.” As adults, many people lose this essential quality because they’ve experienced things such as consequences, rejection,…

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I was sent this picture by a colleague of mine the other day, and after nearly ten years in the Fire Service, it still amazes me to hear the phrase "that's how we've always done it."  At the same time, I hear people talk about how tradition needs to go away.  When did "tradition" become such a loaded word?  Why can we not have tradition, but we must continue…

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Repeat after me…”This is my tool, there are many like it, but this one is mine.” If anyone ever asks for my tool at a fire, this is the response they will get. If you have been to at least one fire, you know how important a tool can be. If you have ever taken a real self-survival class, you know how important a tool is. The question is: Do you always carry one? Without a tool, you are just a well-dressed and well-informed civilian.

When I began Recruit School in my former…

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This week is another retro-SOS from my original first few months. These were pictures only so now that we are broadcasting out to the FE community and in full blog mode I will add some commentary. Again, if you already saw this one I hope you get another laugh or affirmation that you are not alone in your…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 42nd Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & F.A.D.O. Robert Fogel III has made the ultimate sacrifice in love for their fellow man. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family, friends and our Brothers & Sisters with the Baltimore County Fire Department and the Pleasant Valley Community Fire Company.…

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3) Making an all-out effort to win or succeed.

 

 

 

According to Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aggressive this is the third meaning of the word aggressive.

 

 

 

Often times we hear the term used in a sense of operations. An aggressive fire department goes in all the time, an aggressive engine company never uses transitional attacks, an aggressive…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 41st Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & Battalion Chief John McDonald has made the ultimate sacrifice in love for their fellow man. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family, friends and our Brothers & Sisters with the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) Naval District Washington (NDW) Fire and Emergency Services Central Battalion.…



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Many times while performing dash displacement/lifts firefighters encounter resistance. Often this stems from tie downs "strapping" that are located under the dashboard in the area of the center console below the radio housing. Typically there is one on each side (hidden behind plastic) and if possible need to be cut to get full range out of your dash lift.…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 40th Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & Deputy Fire Chief David Fiori has made the ultimate sacrifice in love for their fellow man. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family, friends and our Brothers & Sisters with the New Britain Fire Department.

David…

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Normally when Mrs. Smith dials 911 for her emergency or witnesses an emergency, she will receive some sort of emergency apparatus at the place of the emergency incident location. Most times the emergency apparatus will come from a local fire and emergency services department in the community, other times it will not.

In my local area, 90 percent of the time, when the Fire Box is struck, departments from farther away are dispatched rather than the closer one. This boggles my…

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Often times, the fire service talks about complacency in firefighters while operating during training evolutions and mitigating emergency incidents.  Fighting the complacency factor is critical in our business, while we must focus on safe operations reducing the critical factors of on the job injuries and deaths.  We continue to train at executing the basics and achieving proficiency, reaching for mastery in our craft.

We get so wrapped up in day to day activities, wanting to be the…

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