All Blog Posts (3,147)

Every time your company hits the street whether it's for a fire call, ems run, or training opportunities almost always present themselves to identify potential hazards in your area. This is especially true for hoarding conditions. As discussed in the previous post many size-up indicators of hoarding conditions can be easily found especially with contents that seem to "flow" from the structure. However no two scenes are ever the same, especially in differing urban and suburban environments,…

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I am a firm believer that Fire Service performance directly correlates with Fire Service leadership.

Show me a high performance fire company, a highly regarded firehouse, a stand out fire district or an entire fire department that consistently out performs others…

“We can’t be operationally effective without our health.”

~Rommie Duckworth

I am paraphrasing Chief Bobby Halton when I say that we will never be able to mitigate all of the risks we face as firefighters (and we should know and accept these risks before we take the oath).  As a firefighter, putting yourself in harm’s way to save another is not only something you…

Voids and Large Spans Need To Be Recognized

38 years ago today August 2, 1978 on a warm summer morning in Brooklyn, New York a collapse occurred which claimed the lives of six FDNY members. Over thirty more were injured according to news reports and while the years have passed just like any other major event in our profession the members’ legacies and the lessons learned should never be forgotten but sadly most members many of whom weren’t…

This past Wednesday I was a guest on Fire Engineering's TenCate Humpday Hangout, hosted by mentor and friend Frank Ricci. In our discussion, Rex Strickland from Fairfax County mentioned that his department conducts regular mayday radio discipline training- including their telecommunicators in the training. THIS IS GENIUS!

The first line in public safety is used to operating in the background and on the periphery- and we rely upon them to send us to calls for service and  "send the…

We all know that one person, don’t we? The one who was promoted to a leadership role when they have no leadership qualities whatsoever. They have said all the right things to the right people, done the bare minimum to get ahead, and now find themselves in a position of management over firefighters that know all to well who this person really is. My grandfather used…

     Hopefully the decidedly ambiguous title has piqued your interest to read on.  It takes two parties to accomplish many things in life and in the fire service.  We operate in teams of at least two for almost all fireground functions.  It takes two to have an argument, and it takes at least two parties to form a cooperative effort to achieve a goal.  Cooperation towards a goal is the purpose of this discussion.  Specifically, the most important of all the goals in the fire service;…

Fire suppression involves physically demanding work in hot, dangerous environments with

heavy encapsulating protective gear while being exposed to toxic chemicals and

particulate matter in fire smoke. Thus, it is not surprising that firefighters have high rates

of injuries and illness. Approximately 85–100 firefighters die each year on duty with

approximately 35–45 being caused by sudden cardiac events. But these on-duty sudden

cardiac…

Hoarding Conditions are more prevalent than you may be aware of. Taking a second during your 360 to take in some of these clues can pay off. Although nothing is ever truly set in stone on the fireground, more times than not the following can be a strong indicator of hoarding conditions.

Photo 1: Residential single family Dwelling in a "well to do" neighborhood.

Note the front entrance is blocked with overgrown bushes, out…

     The title of this blog post is borrowed from Chief Van Dorpe’s 2012 FDIC keynote speech.  Within that address, he made one of the most profound statements regarding our duty as fire instructors:

“Those of us who call ourselves instructors, those of us who are teachers, must be agents of change – we must be the early adopters.  We must be the people, the advocates of the new and the different: new techniques, strategies, new tactics.  But at the same time, we must never…

There's been much said about the level of discourse on social media, both in and outside the fire service. Having been involved in a social media incident with my fire company, I know that the rhetoric can devolve to a point that can make seasoned veterans, men who have volunteered their entire adult lives, saved people, and carried on a family tradition, brought to the point of considering leaving the fire service because of the words of others in the fire service based on a…

Ever smell a smell or hear a song and it brings you back to an old memory?  The smell of linseed oil always brings me back to my grandfather’s cottage shed.  My grandfather was a carpenter by trade and a volunteer firefighter.  His relied on his tools to put food on his family’s table for decades.  Long after retirement the tools all hanging in that shed he built, still looked like they came off the shelf at the hardware store.  He took pride in his work and it…

Don't laugh, I bet you a Bulbasaur and a Squirtle that somebody has thought about doing this! Pop culture and the way we humans fawn over it has always fascinated me, if not at times dazed and confused me. But, as any good cartoonist would, I'm having my own brand of fun with it.

STAY FIRED UP!

Click here to see more of my work or to order…

Normalization of deviance. If you haven't heard the term, it basically starts with taking shortcuts under pressure. Of course, we're frequently under pressure on this job and, by human nature, we don't always do exactly as we're supposed to. 

We don't buckle our waist strap. We don't throw ladders. We don't have solid incident command.

These things don't frequently make-or-break an incident because we're able to "make it work." Talk about a false sense of security. …

Public safety is unique in so many ways, as we all know.

Our audience calls on us in time of crisis. We interact at the worst time for many, a perspective that lasts and is usually tinged by tragedy and loss. It is also why we have a difficult time interacting with the same audience when the situation is normal.

Our audience relies on us to keep them safe and be there when called. They also see us when we're not engaged, and make assumptions when there is no information. A…

“What are you going to do at 3:00 in the morning when you get that call with people hanging out of windows with an active fire?”

We’ve all heard or said that in regards to our training and preparation at some point in our career. It’s safe to say that it can be considered cliché because it is mentioned so often. But, without a doubt and with no debate, it is true!

On July 20, 2016 my department responded to a report of smoke in…

Below is the first speech I ever gave. I was asked by Chief Rodney Twyman to be the guest speaker at the Ridgley Volunteer Fire Dept. in WVA:

Good evening. My name is David Polikoff and I am extremely honored to be here. I am Battalion Chief in Montgomery County Maryland, life member at Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in PG County Maryland, and volunteer at Sykesville Fire Department in Carroll County Maryland. I am also an instructor with Capitol Fire Training. I…