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By Jason Hoevelmann with Steve Heidbreder

Tool or No Tool?

     When we go to conferences or sit around with other engaged firefighters there is no lack of lively conversation and debate. From world affairs, to sports teams, bands and of course, tactics! There is no better time spent with other firefighters learning about what others do and why. That is the key, WHY, things are done the way…

Podcast Episode on Ground Ladders, clickHERE

This episode is a discussion about ground ladders. It's a basic piece of equipment that has such a huge value to us on the fire ground, but in many cases, get's forgotten.  They're forgotten until they are needed, and then it could be a life and death situation for firefighters and victims.

We talk…

Attached is an outline we used for a quick winter operations class at work. I ran across this the other day and thought it would be appropriate to post now.  The podcast is here for this topic as well.  Feel free to add and use this as you see fit. If you have some great tips on operating in the winter, please share with…

In my years as a younger firefighter, both as a volunteer and during my career training, it was driven home that we enter building fires with a low profile.  More specifically on our hands and knees.  I was never going to question my instructors, the books or the more veteran firefighters that mentored me.  However, the more fires I got to fight, the more I started to…

When speaking of public servants like firefighters, police officers and our military, courage is a word that many use to describe our actions.  After all we are running in when others are running out.  If you were to ask a firefighter about the courage it takes to run into a burning building, odds are that they will tell you that they don't feel courageous at…

With all of the debate about exterior versus interior, I wanted to share a video that I use in many of the tactical classes that I teach and offer a few observations.  First, this is a video that is used for learning, not to critique the methods or tactics that were or were not deployed during this fire.  Second, we were not there and do not know all of the circumstances surrounding why they made their decisions.

Overall, I think they did a pretty good job in the end.

When I…

I was lucky to have some great officers and leaders influence my career path in the fire service, and in life.  They were always offering sound advice and sharing their experiences. Some I heeded right away and others I had to learn the hard way.  Either way, their words and actions provided me a template to use to work to be a good firefighter and, later on, officer.

Now I have the opportunity to pass along the valuable bits of information that was passed to me along with my own…

Stretching an attack line dry is a tactic for a set of very specific situations. A couple that come to mind are exterior stairwells, protected interior stairwells, and for tenable halls/corridors from a protected stairwell. With all of these, somebody must be assigned to mind the hose before it's charged and it must be laid out correctly in the stair well. In the photos below, you'll notice the hose on the 'inside' of the stairwell; it should be on the outside. Folds of hose can slip down…

We have the distinct honor and pleasure to offer our Firefighter Bailout class at FDIC 2015 this year as one of the HOT classes.  We feel, like most, that we should train and drill constantly on the basics like engine company operations, search, ventilation, fire behavior, ladder work, forcible and the list goes on, to prevent the need for a firefighter to have to exit an…

I talk a great deal about the role of the company officers and how they influence the members of your department.  When teaching officer development we hit hard on setting and establishing expectations and ensuring that there is follow-through with those expectations.  I was recently asked about expectations for my company officers.  They aren't too different from what I expected from my crew members when I was a company officer.

New podcast, click here.

In this episode of the Engine House Training Podcast, Co-Owner and Lead Instructor Jason Hoevelmann discusses five critical things that you must be doing to prepare for a future promotion. Jason…

From Captain David Konys

Dealing with manpower issues is a problem that I deal with at the department where I work and where I volunteer.  I am always looking for ways to maximize our manpower and it starts on the training ground.   I usually have a three man engine crew and when we are first in on a working first alarm we are stretched thin, so we have to train to be proficient and everyone knows their roles. We start by talking about what each person’s roles…

In this episode of the Engine House Training Podcast, Kansas City, Missouri Fire Captain Charley Cashen shares his story of survival. Charley was caught in a rapidly changing fire while searching for a victim in the basement of a home in January 2015. Captain Cashen, a 30 year fire service veteran shares his experience, and lessons learned from…

From Engine House Training, LLCCo-Owner and Lead Instructor Frank Lipski

Choosing the Right Bailout System for Your Department

February 11, 2015 by Frank…

How do you run your 2 1/2" lines?

What types of nozzles?

Pre-connect or static?

Length?

What is your preference and why?

This is a valuable weapon when deployed correctly. However, some are of the opinion that it's just to big and heavy to use for an initial attack or with just one person. What are your experiences with handling the big line?…

We all know that getting water on the fire as quickly as possible is the best way to avoid bad situations. We also know that some of the best in the business have been confronted with situations beyond their control even after doing all the right things and were forced to make very tough decisions for survival.

Our, (Engine House Training, LLC), class is not an excuse for a lack of training in fundamental…

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…

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…