All Blog Posts (3,172)

Photo by Steve Barnes / Times Union

Fires in parking garages are rare incidents, which is why we should prepare for them by conducting fire preplans. A vehicle fire inside of a parking garage may seem like a simple job, until you arrive to find two cars burning on the top deck under solar panels with no standpipe, or an O.O.S (out of service) FDC.   

Most fires in parking garages are burning vehicles. These PG fires can be…

Photo by Brian Butler

Every minute of the day brings the potential for a machinery rescue response. Think about it, how many vehicle extrications are there in the U.S. every single day? How many rings are cut off by rescue companies and emergency room personnel every single day? How many kids get their fingers stuck in toys, bicycle parts, or their head stuck between railings every single day? If we put vehicle extrication aside,…

True Firefighter Courage

Joseph Kitchen, Bath Twp. Fire Department (Lima, Ohio)…

The Sunday Preach:

'Everyday is your Superbowl'

"We have no such luxury of scheduling either our fires or where in the home these fires will occur. We may go to two in one day, one this week, or one in a year. Whenever a fire happens, we must be ready. For firefighters, every day is potentially game day, and we must be ready to play." (25 to Survive: Reducing Residential Injury and LODD Pg. 221.)

Tonight marks the culmination of the 2017 NFL season. Last years post…

            Stretching a hand-line is one of the most fundamental tasks we perform within our fire service. Without being proficient at stretching/advancing a line, it’s safe to say we can expect nothing short of an inadequate outcome when operating on the fire ground. Stretching is one of the first things we learn as new firefighters. In academy’s across the country, evolutions are repeated over and over at nauseam with instructors ordering “I want that line to the front door”, “Stretch…

The Super Bowl - the pinnacle of professional football greatness, myth and lore, where there have been some amazing athletes who can claim to be the glorious victors, or the devastated runner-up. However, one thing is for certain, whether you are the winner or loser of the BIG game – they all got there by being 100% dedicated to their craft and lead by passionate…

Engine Company Search: Ranch House

Life Safety is the fire services number one priority, typically accomplished by searching for victims of fire inside fire buildings. This is a high risk, high man power, and high intensity tactic that must be planned and coordinated. However, fire departments all over the country often are faced with the choice of either…

By Brian Butler

We are currently starting to see more photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on the roofs in urban area housing, especially in New Jersey which has the most solar panels per square mile in the U.S.  PV solar panels will be problematic when performing roof ventilation and ladder placement. In addition, the panels are always energized and their added…

So far in this series exploring the practical limitations inherent in any attempt to motivate firefighters to think less about their own safety and more about the lives and property we are sworn to protect; to display more boldness and less caution, I have suggested that the concept of heroism is so vague as to render it virtually useless as a tool for either change or measurement, and have proposed that the route to maximizing effort is to educate, demonstrate, and support the desired…

Scope for fire professionals :

Male and female aspirant have an equal job opportunity in this field. They will get job opportunity in state and municipal fire brigades, in industrial fire brigades, in railway and airports fire brigade, at high rise building, at five-star hotels and hospitals. In Indian scenario, in recent years, Increase industrialization, the introduction of new life safety rules and regulations, and government level effort to implement effective disaster handling…

In this post, I discuss the book: Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family and I discuss caring for your people so you can build a high performing team.

So if you want to all out effort, all in attitude, and have fun at work so you can how to get the most out of those around them, keep reading!

Below are the top 5 highlights I had from the book.

– We are social animals and we respond to the environments we’re in.

– We are…

The Armadillo Effect: Art of Foreseeability

by: Thomas D. Kuglin Jr.

            Have you ever wondered how Armadillos are always seen dead on the side or the middle of the road? Have you wondered how a squirrel jukes back and forth in the roadway when a vehicle approaches sometimes making it across and sometimes not? Have you wondered how an Eagle is able to soar high above and a precisely locate their prey?…

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the "right of the people to be secure in their persons ... against unreasonable searches and seizures." In most cases, the Constitution requires the government to obtain a warrant supported by probable cause to search a person. However, when government has a special need for a search, such as protecting public safety, courts have upheld the search(s) if it is found "reasonable" after balancing the physical intrusion against…

The basics that we need to help start influencing people and how to get rid of that negativity that’s going on.

So a real simple response to negativity is Misery loves company, so don’t engage in it.

It’s hard, you know, these might be simply answers, but they’re hard to do and that’s why most people don’t do it. The first thing is don’t go down the rabbit h*** of negativity. Try and maintain yourself positive, especially if you’re the leader of a group because the minute you…

NEW Fire Engineering January editorial illustration.

You as an instructor are there for your students, they are not there to pad your ego! I have seen way too many instructors and officers who love to show you how much you don't know, instead of how much they can…

I overheard two conversations this week that were both the number one big mistakes that I see firefighters make when it comes to mentoring. Both these guys were getting frustrated. They weren't getting the results that they wanted.

The first ones was a guy that was complaining about the experience level of his immediate supervisor. He had more experience and the supervisor. When asked, hey, are you going to help them become better? He replied That his boss is responsible for his own…

Having cited the limitations and contradictions of the concept of heroism in my last post (i.e., unmeasurable, and essentially bestowed upon all of us simply for joining the fire service), is there another attribute that might allow us to be more effective in our attempts to protect life and property by inspiring bolder searches and fire attacks? Might it be feasible to at least increase our collective acceptance of risk? And, if so, what would be the best method for accomplishing this…