Featured Blog Posts – September 2014 Archive (8)

Most of you who know me know that I write about either a training concept or things that inspire me. This month I’m inspired. It comes right in time for Fire Prevention month. Sorry to scare off some of you with the FP words but keep reading anyway. 

On January 19, 2000, an arson fire took the lives of three college freshman and injured 58 others at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. I was a Chief in New Jersey at the time and colleagues of mine had been to the fire. It was…

Don’t Lose Site of the Purpose of Checklist

I had a few conversations with some folks that really push the use of the “checklist”. This is not a bad thing but I see it getting misapplied in many departments. I once saw a safety officer circling the building with a clipboard busy filling…

            It’s an age old question that is still debated by firefighters to this day, and often quite vigorously. When responding to an occupied residential structure fire, do you immediately go for the rescue to remove the victims or do you attack the fire? Many firefighters would say that you should do both at the same time, and if you have the available resources showing up quick enough to do so, that is probably the most correct answer. However, many times our reality is that we are…

"Never Forget" also means never forgetting all those we've lost since 9/11/01. It's 343 and counting...

Never Forget....

Who could have ever imagined what that beautiful September morning would turn into... the thousands upon thousands of lives impacted. Many, never ever to be the same.

The inscription found below the photos of the members of the firehouse where I was assigned as a fireman that died September 11th, 2001 reads: "There was a time when the…

Two tragic apparatus crashes; one provides a sorrowful reminder to us all

The following information is a breakdown of the details of those members in the fire service who died while operating "on-duty" as defined by the United States Fire Administration. For more information on this definition and that of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s definition of “line of duty death” read…

I could say many things about these cartoons and my personal experiences, but I am going to give this space up for a friend who is following the noble calling of helping firefighters save ourselves, so we may continue…

Will you fit? Better find out before the box

Companies in the 39^th Battalion responded to Box 1873 for the reported fire on the fourth floor of 1308 Loring Avenue on 29 July 2014. Reports of children trapped led to the initial assignment being made…