All Blog Posts (3,147)

As a part of the Florian Program Advisory Board, I have the privilege of attending an annual meeting that allows me to hear from some of the best and brightest minds in the area of firefighter behavioral health. The Florian Program is a recent addition to the Rosecrance Institute in Rockford, Illinois, and it focuses on firefighters who are struggling with substance abuse and any other type of co-occurring issue. This program has a group of professionals who understand the firefighter…

The Sunday Preach

"Click it"

Look in the mirror, in the end... you are responsible for the choices you make. 

Lessons from the Fireground

Houston FD LODD May 31, 2013

The Houston (TX) Southwest Inn LODD Report has been issued by NIOSH F2013-16

Executive Summary

On May 31, 2013, a 35 year-old career…

Waldbaum’s Supermarket Fire and Collapse: FDNY 1978

Honor, Remembrance, Learning’s

The Waldbaum Super market fire, Brooklyn, New York occurred on August 2, 1978. Six firefighters died in the line of duty when the roof…

          “Let’s go boys. Eat your breakfast. We have to leave or we are going to be late for practice.” I yell from the garage.

          Our two boys, four and six, were having their usual morning chat about Super Mario Brothers as they enjoyed their raisin toast, oatmeal with dinosaur eggs, and strawberry explosion smoothies through a multi-colored flex straw. My wife and I gathered their baseball uniforms and…

When it comes to the bigger picture of your position in the fire service the important question is, how engaged are you?  Your answer matters and has a significant impact either positive or negatively on the greater good.

Officer development is far more than just attending classes.

To truly develop you must  combine a servant leadership attitude with training, education and professional experiences accompanied by sound leadership and mentoring to get a quality…

Every morning since I have been working at my Internship I have become a creature of habit. In the fire service habits can be a bad thing, right? However, not in this case as my life depends on it. When I get down to the bay floor I always check my SCBA first thing. Yeah, so what everyone says, but do you check it like it's your lifeline. I thoroughly check my SCBA every morning such as the mask for cracks , does my regulator flow, and the RIT bag for  every morning…

The Overhaul    

     Cultural Change for a Safer Fire Service…it starts with ATTITUDE and TRAINING!  The first step is looking at what is already in place in your department.  If someone has developed something and it is seems to be working, then maybe all it needs is a little tweak. But remember there is always room for improvement. If…

The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity. - Dwight Eisenhower

Question is are you a leader who leads by example, with strong ethics and morals?'.

                        Photo courtesy of The First Twenty

If you think a personal change in your level of health and fitness does not have an impact, I’d like you to meet…

We can trace core values back to several places. We get them from our upbringings with parents or other family members, from our church, and several others. They are the guiding principles on how and why we make decisions in our lives and in our work. The core values we have in our personal life may not always mirror the same ones we have in our organizations. Often times they are still good values and even carried into our personal lives may still have application and meaning.

Most…

Scenario: I am a firefighter candidate. During the oral interview, one of the panel members asked me for my user name and password for my social media sites. Can the employer as for that information and for what purpose?

Discussion: With the liberal use of social media sites by millions of users, are social media sites fair game for your employer to search your social media sites for insight into your activities to determine…

Stop Being Mean to Mommy

“So that’s what it sounds like when your heart breaks”

She measures barely 40 inches tall, and I have yet to take the training wheels off her bike, but today she made me feel like the child.  My oldest daughter, three years of wisdom to her beautiful name, directed some tough words at me this…

WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?

I encourage young people to read and study the writings and speeches of Captain Tom Brennan, FDNY, including Brunacini/Brennan Unplugged FDIC 2003 and everything else that you can find.  I did not know Tom Brennan, I wish I had, but I surely liked his style.

Captain Tom Brennan was one who always left the audience with some important take away from his…

T-Shirt Management (A Hump Day SOS Classic from the Files)

I am always amazed at how many critically important issues there are to manage in the fire department. With any high risk occupation the day is filled with decisions that have long lasting effects. Yet it seems that we never have time to do things right but we always…

New information regarding both fire behavior and making fire behave (AKA firefighting) is coming out faster than it can be delivered to the end user: firefighters.  This is due to both the tremendous volume of data and interpretations thereof, as well as the limitations on the ability to effectively process, catalog, and communicate - that is, teach - the new concepts and approaches resulting from the research.  Sorting through the reams of findings already published on the subject of fire…

“Brotherhood is dead.”

I’ve witnessed that same sentence uttered or typed several times in the last few weeks.  It’s out and out poppycock.  Balderdash.  Claptrap.  Malarkey. 

If service and selflessness are the foundation of this profession, then brotherhood is the mortar that holds all the other pieces of our house together.  Without brotherhood, we fall apart.  There are those in the fire service that truly do not appreciate that fact, nor do they care about…

It’s 4AM and your company is dispatched to an MVC with entrapment. You arrive and find one vehicle against a large tree with the passenger heavily trapped by the dash. Due to the damage, the vehicle cannot be moved from the tree and passenger side access is limited. In turn, we need a full side-to-side dash…