All Blog Posts (3,147)

On the morning of December 13^th 2011, I stood on the roof of a hotel 23 stories above Ground Zero in New York City. I was with a small group from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Committee. We had just finished climbing 110 flights of stairs to honor those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center which once stood on the ground we over looked. The night before Ron Sarnicki, Executive Director of the NFFF presented the FDNY Counseling…

Balance, coordination, power, strength, cardiovascular recovery....all essential fitness traits of the "fit for duty" Fire Rescue Athlete.   If you are a Fire Rescue Athlete (or not) you need to plan your workouts to address each of these traits.  One of the most overlooked is balance and coordination.  As a trainer I get asked how and when is the best time to train for balance?  As a firefighter I get asked why do I need to train for balance?  The last thing you want to happen…

A cold, hard February epiphany about firefighter/EMT layoffs and cut-backs.

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A cold hard February epiphany about firefighter/EMT layoffs and cut-backs.

A little Fire Line humor to start your week. Hey, if ya gotta clean the john, you might as well do it the firefighter way!

Click link below to see more of Paul's work or to order prints:…

How can a fire company get a copy of a FDNY PSA? Like close the door.

Please email jsnykus@aol.com

       As I now sit in the Back Corner of the Training Room , and watch , I'm coming to realize that there are 2 things missing from our Beloved Volunteer Fire Service , Training and Communication , As a Past Chief , I now relaize that once you leave Office you become a Nobody.I found it a harsh reality the next day , and becoming one of the "guys " is even tougher , you really do not fit in and when you offer advice it's frowned upon .

        Training is the number 1 key in our…

Can anyone help me out with some new and exciting training ideas for my volunteer FD. 

The Mile High City is not one of the first to come to mind among those in the fire service. Denver is not one of the “Great” cities; New York, Chicago, San Francisco. Not among those currently seeing high fire duty like Detroit or New Orleans. It sits humble in the shadows of the Rockies, between the two coasts with few if any appearances on the covers of National professional journals.

Don’t be fooled by the lack of exposure, there is a…

-The following is the script of a two minute radio broadcast that happened twenty five years ago by the great Paul Harvey, on his hugely successful radio program, "News and Comments by Paul Harvey". My Harvey was a great broadcaster who had a tremendously kind spirit. He was know for taking the obscure and introducing it to the rest of us in a beautifully eloquent way. The challenge was made more difficult because, for you youngsters, Mr. Harvey was a radio broadcaster; no…

Every year around this time I am asked for the "best" fitness tips to make the new year a healthy one.  Over the years this list has changed and evolved but for the most part if you are a Fire Rescue Athlete you need to be doing these 10 things. 

By Brian Brush:

A few months ago I began to sketch out some ideas for a forcible entry prop. We had some scrap steel at the station, a few left over 6′x6′ posts from a recent structural collapse training and being the Rescue Company, all the tools necessary to take ingredients and idea into reality.

My initial idea was to build a prop that we could mount…

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller...?  Oh, we've all sat through this class, haven't we?! A class where the instructor reads each word from the never-ending source of dull PowerPoint slides with all the excitement of Ben Stein's character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I feel inspired just thinking about it!



I have often said there are two types of instructors -…

Fire Service in Nigeria was established by the Fire Service Act (law) of 1963 and since then has not been reviewed. Fire Service today in Nigeria is still the only statutory organization established by law to undertake or render services as regard to fire and its related cases. These services include fire fighting, fire prevention, search and rescue services, humanitarian services etc.

In line with meeting up with these demands, both the Federal, all thirty-six (36) states of the…

Carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride, acrolein, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, benzene, toluene, cadmium - these are some of the known carcinogens that are produced during vehicle fires. So why in the world would we attack a vehicle fire without an SCBA?!!



Pack-up, people!

Click link below to see more of Paul's…

I’m not going to sit here and reflect on a year that was filled with so many disappointments.

I like to think that I am an eternal optimist, but did anyone else notice the negative tone of wherever you looked? It was everywhere.

ONE positive that I noticed is that, firefighter fatalities were down in 2012. Since 2009, firefighter deaths have been well below the “100 per year” threshold. Also noteworthy is that deaths attributed to cardiac issues were also…

Smoke detector programs are a great way to help protect your community, assist folks that may not be able to afford them, build trust, and give an overall feeling of goodwill between you and the people under your watch. School programs are another great way to insure that most households have at least one smoke detector hopefully being installed and…

Happy 2013!  This is the time of the year where we all scramble to make up for lost workouts and pledge to get in shape.  Personally, I think the best way to get into shape is to not fall out of it in the first place.  One of the best things to do this time of the year is not only set goals but to assess where you are currently.  Today I've created some "challenge" workouts that you can use to assess your fitness progress and to get a good efficient workout.  There are…

“[A] FIREFIGHTER  who is uncertain whether he can SAVE someone, or [a] FIREFIGHTER who for religious or moral reasons knows he will not ENTER A BURNING…