November 2014 Blog Posts (51)

The recent spate of assaults against firefighters leads me to believe there ought to be a law against such behavior and the individual assaulting a firefighter should be tossed in jail and the key tossed away.

Assault is defined as intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm or intentionally putting another person in reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.  No intent to cause physical injury needs to…

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One of the ways I mentally prepare and train as an incident commander is to review major working fires around the country, this past Sunday while reviewing the day’s prior events I read about a terrible tragedy that occurred in Portland, Maine where five victims perished in a fire in a large two story duplex apartment house. I researched the photos and listened to the fire department audio from the scene and based on these I am assuming…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 73rd Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & Major Malcom Jenkins 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 Fern Creek Fire Department.…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 72nd Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & Paramedic Kellen andrew Fleming 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 Westview-Fairforest Fire Department. …

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 71st Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter Donald "Pete" Martin 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 Sanborn Fire Company.

Donald "Pete"…

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It is in great sadness, that we as a Brotherhood, post the 70th Line Of Duty Death for 2014 from the United States Fire Administration. Fellow Brother Firefighter & Captain Troy Magee 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 Orleans Fire Department.

Troy…

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Here is a quick drill for figuring out hose stretches for larger complexes or properties with long set backs. The key is to get out and figure this out long before the call comes in. Share and add your own information to it.

Company Drill for EHT Hose Stretch…

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Meet Michael Jacob (Jake) O’Melia

 Grandview is a town of twenty-seven thousand, Northeastern coast inhabitants. There are several bustling businesses on both sides of Main Street in the downtown business district.

 

Of particular interest is Hermie’s General Store. When you walk through the front doors at Hermie’s, you step back in time. The floors are hardwood and…

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Today’s quick tip is covering a challenging problem that may arise in extrications with very heavy…

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While perusing several of the social media sites, I’ve noticed that there seems to be some nerd-bashing going on in the fire service these days. What do I mean by nerd bashing? Maybe not complete nerd bashing but definitely some separatist bully-like behavior between the jocks and the geeks. While recently attending my wife’s 20 year high school reunion and meeting many people that my wife had given me the scoop on, prior to introducing me to them. I started to notice that many of the geeks…

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By now we are all familiar with the terminology "flow path". We have read the blogs, picked apart the studies, watched videos, begun seeing and recognizing the dangers of not controlling the flow path. We have had discussions and have considered our tactical options to mange the flow path. Many departments have begun to change their policies, procedures, SOP’s etc. However, there is still a piece of controlling the door…

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