All Blog Posts (3,173)

A firefighter who doesn’t establish and maintain a Target Flow with an attack line is like a cop not knowing the number or caliber of rounds in his weapon.  It’s reckless, unprofessional, and utterly inexcusable. If you’re going  into a fire fight. . .you’d better be ready to…

A fire on January 19, 2015 for the Harrisburg, PA. Bureau of Fire demonstrated some excellent teaching points for Drivers or Chauffeurs of Tower Ladders. The fire in the 300 Blk. of N. Front Street involved the top floor of a four story mixed occupancy structure. The first due truck was Tower 1 from the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire, the Driver positioned the rig with a perfect spot.…

I was recently asked to speak at the East Brandywine Volunteer Fire Company (Chester County, PA) 2015 Officer Installment ceremony. As Fire Chief John Edwards explained when he first contacted me, what began several years ago as an informal gathering to recognize newly appointed fire officers has evolved into an…

What happens when firefighters don’t have information? They make it up!  I don’t have to tell you this; you already know. Sometimes it’s no big deal, but other times it can be detrimental to your department in many ways.

As members of the fire service we put our heart and sole into our work and our passion.  It’s only normal to feel that you want your efforts reciprocated in some form of respect. The type respect that gets us motivated to continue doing what we do is when the people…

Since the end of 2014, I have been reading and listening to year end thoughts and data related to the fire service. There has been discussion on types of calls, near misses and, of course, line of duty deaths. Numbers are broken down and categorized for each type of injury or death that is fire service related and then scrutinized. In many cases these are supposed to be used as lessons and to determine the effectiveness of different messages from different mediums about the prevention of…

(Yellow symbolizes the backside of the A post, Red is showing the sever from the additional (deep) cut)

One of the most common complaints I hear about completing dash displacements is the lack of actual "lift" or the feeling of resistance during the lift. This can be caused by a…

STORMS A COMIN

I came from a family of bricklayers and the only ancestor I can track with any Fire Department background was a distant relative who was the Fire Chief of Swansboro, a working class area of south Richmond. Cersley Street is in Swansboro and I made sure that every Rookie knew where it was.…

So you think your actions don't effect us all in the public's eye? Think again!

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

http://www.artstudioseven.com/page-LE_Prints.htm…

At times I get frustrated with things in my organization, as I am sure all of you do. Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud to be a part of the department I work for, but there are times I question the motives of others. What are they doing in the Fire Service? Are they here to be sticker collectors, do they just like holding the title of firefighter? You know the ones; they reek of mediocrity, do nothing to improve their performance, and are satisfied with the status quo. Plenty of days I go…

In today’s economy, firms are tightening their belts to save money in all areas of business. Number crunchers are getting more creative with cost cutting and often challenging employees to come up with new, cheaper, more efficient ways of doing business in order to realize higher profits. Fire departments are not exempt. Fire chiefs do not have to report earnings to share holders or work to increase profits but they are tasked with being fiscally responsible.

Human resources are a…

As I was going through a journal book that I just filled up and was looking through I ran across something that I wrote about being an officer and leader. I will expand more on this later, but I wanted to share it.

L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P

Listen and Learn

Expectations-set them

Accountability--be it

Desire--have it

Evaluate--fix it

Relationships--build…

A rare but challenging fire you may face in your career will be a burning church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. These buildings may be the treasure of the community and the artifacts inside may be irreplaceable, pre-fire study and planning plus proper initial size up may be what separates a community tragedy or a proud save of the building and all that’s inside.

One of the most important fire ground operations in these buildings takes place prior to the fire even occurring, it is…

I am fortunate to be assigned to the busiest engine company in an urban department where I can get a great deal of experience every day. My engine averages around 4000 calls a year and we have more target hazards than I can count. I consider myself lucky that every day I go to work I get plenty of opportunities to practice my job. Unfortunately my attitude is not the prevailing one.

I recently had a conversation with a relatively new lieutenant about call volume. I was giving him a…

UPDATE -…

Why am I Here?…

GEE HAW

While speaking recently at the IAFC/VCOS conference in Florida, I told the story of a time when a fire officer and I didn’t see eye to eye. I said that we did not gee haw. After the session, a Texan approached me and told me that he had not heard gee haw in many years and he asked what the term meant to me. I explained that when two people disagree…

The Sunday Preach:



Laddering



Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of a day that made me extremely proud to be a fireman and fire officer. I was a member of the first to arrive ladder company that made 4 "grabs" (removal of civilian occupants) from a well involved residential building fire. While one victim was removed via the interior, the other 3 rescued civilians presented themselves at…

Boss/Manger Leader vs Expert Leader

Does it matter if the fire incident commander was never a competent company officer? Does it matter if the company officer had limited time as a firefighter? Does it matter is the chief was an expert firefighter?…