All Blog Posts (3,167)

“The new look had brought with it not only a new kind of weaponry but a new kind of warrior as well. Actually, the new breed was kind of a warrior diplomat; as bloodless ballistics seemed to be phasing out the role of fighters on the future battlegrounds, the emphasis increased on the diplomatic side of soldering”

“But then, suddenly, it was too late, even for a tourniquet: Chief of Staff Taylor disbanded all the Old Army regiments, with all their history and tradition to…

A career with an Industrial Based Fire Department can be a truly rewarding experience filled with the same level of camaraderie, brotherhood, and tradition of the surrounding local municipal departments.

Along with the same similarities such as training, morning rig checks, and stories shared around the firehouse dinner table, the Industrial Fire Service comes with other elements and experiences unique to the environment at hand that a firefighter wouldn’t normally encounter…

Establishing Engine Company Success by Estimating the Stretch

As the first arriving engine on scene to any working fire, you can set the tone for success or failure right from the stretch, literally. Determining the length of hose to pull from the bed first is a skill set that comes with education and experience that is earned and gained out in the…

For firefighters, it is pretty common for them to interact with, well, fire. While many firefighters go headstrong into a burning building to put the fire out and rescue any victims that may be inside. For you full-time folks the components of fire and the importance of understanding combustion is reviewed everyday but for us small-time, maybe more rural volley fire departments this needs to be reviewed and better appreciated. …

The little things matter when it comes to lifting and stabilizing heavy objects. The strut that is a “little crooked” when you started can quickly become very crooked and unsafe under a substantial load. Our attention to detail must stay sharp when setting up to stabilize and lift.

Below is an example of taking a shortcut that could be catastrophic later. Photo A is a picture of the base of a stabilizing strut with the ratchet strap secured into the manufactured attachment point. This…

The Art of the Resume; Tips for Success

Nicholas Christensen, CFO, MPA

It could be…

Low Angle Rescue: A Quick, Simple and Effective Approach

In this article, I will review a simple method of accessing an injured patient with a low angle rescue element involved.  Low angle rescues are generally considered to fall between 15 and 35 degrees. Examples include motor vehicle accidents involving vehicles down embankments and injured runners or hikers…

We are in an age of declining fire. In direct correlation to this, is the disappearance of the fire department mission and the art of firemanship. Meanwhile, resentment is rapidly on the rise. True firemen are like starving artists. Their sole focus is to be a part of an organization with passion and drive to be good at the job. They are consistently…

The goal of Firefighter Rescue Survey (FirefighterRescueSurvey.com or check us out on Facebook) is to gather as much information as possible from actual rescues in the hopes of making us all more effective and efficient on our firegrounds. By collecting data from firefighters who have been in the exact situation that most of us spend a career preparing for, we hope to provide firefighters from around the…

Quad County Fire Deparment is a small town fire department that I currently volunteer as a training captain. Our fire department is almost as rural as it can come with a small call volume. When calls do come they come with vengeance. Our call volumes consists of motor vehicle accidents, brush fires, etc. Our structural firefighting calls are too few and are often too far gone to do much interior operations. For many departments that can cause a number of…

        The goal of Firefighter Rescue Survey (FirefighterRescueSurvey.com or check us out on Facebook) is to gather as much information as possible from actual rescues in the hopes of making us all more effective and efficient on our firegrounds. By collecting data from firefighters who have been in the exact situation that most of us spend a career preparing for, we hope to provide firefighters from around…

This article originally appeared in the March 2014 edition of Fire Engineering magazine.

Why are we here? Why does the fire department exist? What are we trying to achieve each time we show up for our duty shift or are toned out to an emergency? Many fire departments have a mission statement that usually consists of a short explanation of what the department does to protect the life and property of the…

Mentorship; The Good, The Bad, The Indifferent

Nicholas Christensen, CFO, MPA

It would be fair to say that in today’s society there are many different types of mentorship…

By: Chief Billy Greenwood; Extreme Leadership Series

Extreme Instructorship - There is a big difference in teaching adults and children. Thus the professional educator in emergency services education must have a solid understanding of learning intelligences. Have you ever been in a class where the instructor was good, he or she had decent material, but they had somehow missed the mark for student engagement? Now I am not talking about many of the obvious minor faults of an…

It’s Not A Mold It’s A Standard!

              Tom Brands Iowa Wrestling Coach, NCAA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist

When I was a kid growing up the Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Team was the STANDARD! They won multiple National Championships as a team and individuals. The “Iowa” style of wrestling was prevalent and taught. The emphasis was on toughness, conditioning, and BASICS and that created and ideal mindset of being able to…

Alexis Shady & Chris Tobin

There is a quote that we believe represents the vast majority of the fire service concerning buildings, it reads;

“Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray.”

Thoreau, Henry

Simply put, we all see buildings but few understand what they’re actually looking at. That’s a problem, a really big…

As a fire chief or any organizational leader, you set the tone, the vision and the direction that the organization is going to move in. As the person at the rudder of the ship, it is also necessary for you to recognize when change is necessary, and more importantly how to steer the ship through that change without ending up on the rocks.

Policy, procedure or SOP changes can be written and put into place quite easily,…

“It is our obligation to prepare our crews to perform on the fireground with intent and excellence prior to engaging the enemy, and then to trust and empower them to execute when the time comes.”

Hello, my name is Kaci. I love fighting fire (and I’m good at it).

I would like to invite you to dig in to the statement at the top of this page with me, and then do a full-on, introspective status check as to our own…

Ever show up to a scene, take one look, and immediately feel like your head was spinning? Maybe it was the sight of the person covered in blood or the size of the fire that made things seem to be going fast. Perhaps you were met as you stepped off the rig by people grabbing at you trying to get you to move quicker. It might be the sounds of the blaring car horn through the dust from the airbags or the roar of the fire as the windows self-ventilate that barrage your senses and start your mind…