All Blog Posts (3,173)

Everyone knows the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Two kids who get lost in the woods and leave a trail of bread crumbs to lead themselves back home. Well while the method was not perfect Hansel and Gretel had a great idea and it is something we can use on the fireground.

Here are the two styles of door chocks I carry in my gear. While this may seem simple think about this…

Not all responders are blessed with the newest equipment. If a high strength post is too much for your cutter, attempt a pie cut as shown. Many times this will allow you to "cut around" the stronger portions of the post.   

We often times are not able to get out of service in order to get vital training. Either other companies beat us to it, calls get in the way, or other vital mission critical stuff pops up (staffing, broken equipment, etc.). We also sometimes lack the proper resources to perform certain drills. This is when the creativeness and ingenuity of the american firefighter starts to take over! Some times in order to get some great training all you need to do is look around the fire…

Have you ever seen a high ranking officer that tends to build their "inner-circle" with officers who are like-minded and often times "yes-men". You know what I mean, the guys who would follow their officer to the most ridiculous lengths just so it keeps them in the good graces of command? The guys who sacrifice their personal convictions just to…

There are those of us who have a very supportive Council Council and Mayor, unfortunately there are also some who know the sting of this cartoon all too well.

I recently watched a short program about the large, powerful ships that break ice near the poles of Earth for other ships. These machines are enormous and create a phenomenal amounts of power.

Some of the most powerful are powered by nuclear means and can break ice in the oceans and seas as thick as 10 feet. The ships power provides the energy to push and plow through the ice while it's weight and super thick hull do the work and protect the ship from damage.

As the ship moves…

Click the link for the post!

The%20Double%20Keyed%20Deadbolt.docx

Big Shot

When we think about teaching young people in the Fire Service and preparing them for what is ahead, we need to remember where WE came from, and the people who taught us. Leaders, formal or informal, should invest less time whining about what young people don’t know and more time on what you can teach them. Everyone has experiences and knowledge to share.

I get so…

The time was 2:35am as the crew of Squad 4 was being diverted off a previous call. Dispatch relayed the information, “Squad 4 respond to a MVC involving three vehicles, with a confirmed entrapment.” This stretch of Interstate 95, has been a consistent location for bad entrapment crashes. As the officer on Sq-4, it was the moment of truth. Climbing off the rig, among a maze of damaged vehicles, I remained focused on the task at hand. Each member of the crew had a task.  After grabbing the…

So we continue to tweak and hone in our application of the lessons from the latest fire dynamic research.  One of the issues that continues to be "sticky" is the management of flow path.  While at FDIC 2014, I had the honor to meet Dr. Michael Reick from Germany.  He created a device that has been in use in Germany for over 10 years with reported great success.  In fact, they have more than 14,000 units in service and have documented more than 1,200 successful deployments on working…

There were a few original Hump Day SOS's that only appeared on my Twitter and Facebook pages. A few were posted on Urban Firefighter prior to this blog. They were simply pictures with no commentary. For the next few weeks I'm going to go back repost them here on FE along with added blog text. The intent here at the Hump Day SOS is to provide a somewhat satirical…

This is just a simple trick that was taught to me and I have been passing on for years. Every engine company carries short supply hose sections of various sizes and lengths. I often found that when these rolls get above about 25 feet they can become a little difficult to deal with. Storage, deployment, etc. they are just difficult. A lot of these rolls are simply straight rolled, or doughnut rolled and placed in the compartment, or tray and not thought of until the next fire. Getting a water…

Some time ago...15 years ago to be exact, I was elected to my first position as a volunteer chief officer! I was proud and honored to say the least. I thought I was ready, having spent several hundreds of hours in classes at my young age, but that was just the start.

Unfortunately, my keys to the office, white helmet, and badges were thrown at me. Now, I had a great Chief...but the problem was, he worked 7 days a week and traveled all the time.

I was left to fend for myself,…

Lately I have heard a lot of negativity toward the use of the word aggressive in our fire service vocabulary. Whether in casual conversations, seminars or online learning outlets I have heard a sense of dismay for the use of this word. I heard one fire service member say that it should be removed from our dictionary because it is going to get someone hurt; that is a macho term that has no place in our profession. Some tend to associate this word with being reckless or careless on the…

When it comes to vertical ventilation, don’t put the cut ahead of the horse, we have a lot of work to do before we make any carts. Bad joke but important point. A systematic approach to your training will build skills progressively which leads to more sound…

Blowin' Smoke with Lt. Isaac Frazier

When securing battery power, quickly scratch through the letter B (on hood). This allows arriving units to see that battery power has been secured (This is not used on lightly damaged fender benders). This method is a good alternative to leaving the hood up, as it doesn't obstruct your view of the scene.…