Featured Blog Posts (259)

Its your very first day on the job. You walk into the firehouse with a stupid grin while balancing a box of doughnuts in one hand and your PPE in the other. Some old dude with a giant gray mustache barks "What are you doing here, ya jack wagon?" Take a minute; for realz. What called you to the fire service? Maybe the excitement, the lights, the sirens, the danger, just…

        For the past handful of years, through ongoing fire dynamics research, we've been deconstructing the fireground. This Fireground Genome Project has undoubtedly led us to a much better understanding of fire dynamics and the fireground. An untoward effect of this research is that the fire service is seemingly devolving into a bipartisan system. We can all sense the division. A schism has formed and too many firefighters are spewing their polarizing rhetoric…

I recently had the distinct honor to present at the Alberta Fire Chiefs Conference in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada. My experiences with our Canadian Brothers and Sisters the last two years has been simply awesome! The hospitality is second to none and everyone is always very friendly and they certainly don't skimp on the food!

But, that's not really what impressed me this year. I was asked to present two tracks for their conference; a three hour officer development class and a…

Proving once again that vacant and abandoned are just words

Chicago, 8 June 2014

One person is dead and another in critical condition after being rescued from a fire in the 900 block of North Lawndale. Firefighters found a burned man during the primary search and were told…

As I prepare for another weekend of travel teaching Tactical Extrication, I am already thinking of how much I will miss my wife and two young children. While traveling, this feeling arrives like clockwork. Then I had an epiphany. My thoughts instantly went to our troops and their families. I am leaving for a couple days to teach something that I am very passionate about, as…

As I head up to Indy today I’m reminded of 100,000’s of firefighters who become “unmotivated” by departmental climates of politics, charlatans, bureaucracies and just down right lameness. It seems the more you push for professionalism, competence and brotherhood the more disappointed you are the fakers who…

Spring is here and it’s time to do a little spring cleaning but, be careful what you ask for. Would it be interesting to tell the 1 year rookie to “get rid of everything that doesn’t get used anymore” and then see what ends up at the dumpster? Along with the items shown in the picture might also be conversation, common sense, station…

How many times have you seen it (or participated in it)? A tragedy happens where a firefighter gets injured or killed and the comments begin to fly about what went wrong - and how they would have done it differently, of course. Let’s take an incident that hit close to home for me. The Toledo Fire Department lost two brothers during an apartment fire this past January.…

I can’t remember what I am supposed to do at a fire anymore. The acronyms keep coming and I don’t want to screw anything up so I’m going to suggest we use OMAHA just like Peyton Manning. If you get to a point where all the acronyms run together and you are about to panic just take a deep breath and call,…

What do you do in your free time? Pick up a fire service magazine, grab an instructional book, or pick up a seldom used tool and learn, and teach those who may not know.



Our time is always in demand - use it wisely.

Take care and ALWAYS make a…

Old guys like me are occasionally asked what we consider to be the highlight of our career.  I always thought standing on the “big stage,” at FDIC represented the pinacle of achievement in our business.  It’s where I’ve seen all of my fire service heroes stand and talk on the latest in firefighting and what is coming next.  I had the honor some years ago to stand there.  I couldn’t believe that they let me anywhere near that podium, but I was honored to have the chance to do it.  But as it…

A few times a week, I get phone calls or emails from people trying to find out why they have yet to be promoted or hired (if from the outside applying for a position). Either they failed the recent promotional exam or they did not score high enough to get promoted and they seem to want to blame everyone but themselves for their misfortune. Most of the time, when people ask my advice, they usually start off with something to the effect of "what more do I need to obtain in the way of…

Technology is great and it allows us to operate with speeds only imagined just a decade ago. It also make us somewhat vulnerable as we rely on it and become a little complacent in the fundamental basics. For many, GPS and Google maps = not learning territory, TICs = not training on room orientation and wall…

In March of 2011, I posted Maple City Sorrow on the anniversary of the death of…

Brothers and Sisters – I am giving up my words with this post to those who know how to write them – and write them well. Sarah Gura, Chief Kenny, and Lt. Olson have agreed to co-conspire with this post regarding our mentality of invincibility. Please read…

THE AMAZING FIREMAN

Dear Firefighters,

This is a longer…

I am always amazed at how many critically important issues there are to manage in the fire department. With any high risk occupation the day is filled with decisions that have long lasting effects. Yet it seems that we never have time to do things right but we always have time to do them over.............. and when a departments crisis is at its height, we are reminded of…

The opinions about solid streams and fog streams are as old as the nozzles themselves. UL is planning a new round of experiments to answer questions about different hose streams. The advisory group has come up with a good list of potential questions that we want answered. But my question to you is, “What is your question?” What do…