All Blog Posts (3,147)

           Take a trip with me for a minute……Beep beep beep beep: “Attn: Fire Dept, Working structure fire 555 W 555 N.  Caller advised flames visible”.  This is what you hear out of your pager.  You race to the fire station.  As you run in, you see 5 other members putting on their PPE.  Your response guideline says 1^st two trucks out the door are Engine 1 and Engine 2 with the 3^rd being a water tender.  3 of you jump in Engine 1 and the other 3 jump in Engine 2 and…

If you are a middle child in a typical family, you are likely to be subject to the following in regards to your older and younger siblings: you don’t get the responsibility or freedom that your older sibling gets, nor do you get the chance to stay home and watch your younger brother or sister when mom or dad leaves unless it’s a quick trip to the store. 

On the other side, you don’t get the extra attention…

I wanted to thank everyone for the excellent feedback on my last blog on weak fire chief's. I had hundreds of great replies and greatly appreciated all of them. I was asked by many of you to expand on this topic to the fire service in general and the first topic that came to mind was Ego's!

We all have them, at times it might help us build our low self - esteem, give us a boost when we need it most. But as we all know, there is a flip side to this coin. How often in today's world,…

EBOLA vs FIREFIGHTING - Safety Logic

I’ve heard recently that we have nothing to fear as responders when heading out to a person sick or in a few cases even being dispatched to a “possible Ebola patient". We have nothing to fear because…

I started a new video series and am presenting a new class at FDIC 2015 called "10 Commandments for the Company Officer: A Guide for Success off the Fireground." The class touches on 10 things for the new company officer to consider for success in the firehouse and dealing with his members.

In the first section, or the "1st Commandment" we discuss preparation. Without getting to long in a blog post, there are some very basic steps that one…

We all know who they are.  They dismount the engine, grab their tools, grab the nozzle, and stretch the line to perfection with the confidence we all strive for.  The officers on scene take notice and all agree: “That person is going to be a great leader someday”.  No disrespect to the seasoned officer onlookers, but someday?

Being a leader is generally something we all want.  We all want to be that company officer everyone wants to work for, that battalion chief we love talking to,…

You as a human being can only take so much abuse or ineptitude from leadership (or lack thereof), before members of the organization begin to look elsewhere.  It is very disturbing to work in a fire department that is lonely.  You are probably asking yourself, what is he talking about "lonely".  Lonely fire departments lack quality leadership who show care for their members and the organization.  As with any organization, you do not need to hold a title or position to be a leader, but you…

In reviewing all the procedures and policies related to Mayday incidents, we have to remember the actual call itself from the trapped or lost firefighter. Does your department have a standard information set that needs to be transmitted out to the Incident Commander or the dispatch center. This is a crucial script that needs to be practiced by your crew members during weekly…

While conducting a class recently at a state fire expo I asked the room of fifty or so firefighters if any of them knew what happened in the fire service on October 17th, 1966 and the lessoned learned. As I looked over their faces I could definitely tell they had no idea, many simply starred at me and waited for me to answer, there was however one attendee who knew the answer and it was because he was writing a paper on building…

By Chris Langlois

“How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four, calling the tail a leg does not make it a leg”.- Abraham Lincoln.

            On the fireground, we are always gathering information. We need to know what is going on…

Last post we discussed the process of orientation for leadership development, which was essentially relying upon operational manuals or standard operating procedures as the foundation for leadership. While these documents may be necessary for building the knowledge for rank and position (remember leadership is not a given with rank!), it is not a process for developing leaders of people.  This process does more to build effective managers and not leaders who must motivate and cultivate…

As a late arriving officer there are some things that need to be done before just heading inside for the sake of heading inside. As I always mention, follow your departments guidelines and assignments.

In particular, as second due there are some things that I like to specifically do in concert with my assignment. If my assignment is water supply, I ensure that that task is successfully completed. In addition to my assignment, here is a list of additional tasks that I like to complete…

" Hey Chief, I just punched Firefighter Smith in the face because I didnt like the way he looked at me" Chief - "Ok, well try not to do it again". "Chief, I got caught driving DUI again and lost my License this time for 60 years" Chief - " Ok, well try and do better"  "Chief, although you received a medal for saving the whole town and everyone under the sun thinks you did an outstanding job, I think you are the worst because you didn't take my advice and let me do what I wanted to do at that…

Brown Card IC Training

How much training have your command officers actually received in commanding incidents? Oh yeah, don’t tell me they have completed the NIMS 100, 200 and 700 online. This is not to diminish the importance of NIMS training…

Are you whistling through the graveyard?

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

As I write this, I am deeply saddened and disappointed at the fact that what follows even needs to be written. 

We are firemen.  We are human.  Humans make mistakes, and firemen probably make more than the average human.  With that understanding, I want to address a problem that afflicts society as a whole, but has really affected my department and several other local departments significantly over the years. 

Drunk driving.

I loathe drunk…

One of the most challenging skills in extrication is the displacement of the various objects that may be "trapping" our patients. If we practice moving these objects (steering wheel in this example) in various directions, it greatly improves our "options" when the entrapment is not typical. Here we are moving a steering wheel/column towards the…

"We all thought that since nothing serious had happened before, nothing was going to happen this time out,"

AH-6 "Little Bird" heading out on October 3, 1993 mission. (Department of Defense photo)

"I can just remember Sgt. Eversman telling me, you know, “Moore, find…

Leadership Anosmia

When I read, almost daily, about failed leadership in the Fire Service I have to wonder how the troubled leaders came to be and how they expected to be successful with no apparent understanding of principled leadership. How do the failed leaders who make the headlines exist with such an obvious lack of leadership instinct, leadership senses, positive leadership abilities, planning skills, some…

It's hard to breath. Sweat stings my eyes until they blur and a bald head does nothing to stem the steady flow. I chose to be here. I live for this moment. My body begs to slow, to rest, to just quit. My heart says no. The family that surrounds me shares in my suffering. Their lungs burn too. Their muscles struggle to obey the message traveling down from the brain. Pain endured begets more pain but there is nowhere else we'd rather be.

"ONE MINUTE!" Moments later my mind computes the…