All Blog Posts Tagged 'Firefighter' (39)

            As a young kid growing up in suburban America, I like most of you, developed an unexplainable desire to become a firefighter.  The sound of the federal blaring down the street would draw me to the front window every time the local engine company went on a run.  Firefighters and firefighting was something that seemed bigger than life!  When you stop and think about it, it’s crazy so many of us knew exactly what we wanted to be when we grew up; even before we knew how to count to…

If you were to walk into any firehouse on any given Sunday, most dayroom TV's will probably have the big game on.  Firefighters have their share of die hard football fans who rep the team hats, sweatshirts and jackets of their favorite team.  It seems the recent turmoil over NFL officiating has soiled the game most of us love. Sports networks and talk radio shows are a buzz over the…

          When leading a team through change, people often encounter adversity. I firmly believe that if you ever lose your will to fight someone with fight still inside of them will control your life. The “will to fight” can sometimes be described as stubbornness, and for that reason stubbornness can sometimes be a good thing.

           Leaders need to stand their ground when…

When firefighters hear the term “air management” they often think of the ways they were taught to maximize their working time while on air in an IDLH environment. They picture consumption courses, spaghetti drills, and all the fun things from recruit school and other trainings that aided them in prolonging their operational time while wearing their SCBA. They think about skip breathing and various techniques taught by others to help get the last breath possible out of that bottle. Those are…

First and foremost this if my first blog post for fireengineering.com . I am excited to share my insights and thoughts. It is my full intention to be here at…

As 2014 draws to a close, many of us take the time to reflect.  Where are we now in comparison to where we were a year ago, both personally and professionally?  As an individual? As an organization? As a profession?  If you're as passionate about the fire service as I am (as I am sure you are), then you understand how important it is to balance your passion for the craft with family -- to balance your life appropriately and not forget what's most important.  So, as you reflect and set…

Return on Investment. A relatively simple business principle that says "by giving us your money, we will make you MORE money." One may question, "how does this apply to the fire service? We don't make money for the tax payers." In short, yes you are correct but we are a totally different type of monetary investment. In truth, many people pay for us simply…

On many extended extrications access to the patient is obviously very limited. One often-overlooked method is using the seatback to facilitate much needed access to the patient. This technique is completed via the seat controls-electric/manual or by cutting the seatback…

Many times extrication training consists of popping a door or completing a dash lift on non-damaged vehicles. One method that has really added to the consistency of our success on "real world" entrapments is…

One of the most challenging skills in extrication is the displacement of the various objects that may be "trapping" our patients. If we practice moving these objects (steering wheel in this example) in various directions, it greatly improves our "options" when the entrapment is not typical. Here we are moving a steering wheel/column towards the…

I recently sat in on a brief on the new Near Miss Reporting System.  I’ve always been a strong advocate of the Near Miss System since its inception and have used it many times when preparing to teach various topics.  It has a strong history of collecting and providing valuable information to the fire service.  And I’m glad to report that the new reporting system is better, stronger and faster than ever before.  But something struck me during the presentation on the new near-miss…

We…

Another year has come and gone, and we firefighters have paused to remember the brave 343 who gave their lives on that spectacularly horrific morning in Manhattan.  We re-live the nightmare by peering at images from that crisp morning, reading gut-wrenching stories from survivor families, and admiring the ceremonies, plaques, and walls of remembrance.

It is right that we do this.

And, even without the t-shirts, helmet stickers and seemingly parroted rote…

"There Ain't No Slack in Initial Attack!"

After 6 Seasons with Cal-Fire, and 7 Years of College, I finally said it out-loud.

I want to start a company and an NPO to partner with that provides Fitness, Education, Training and Resources to Wildland Firefighters.

We are Here! And - Here is…

VSP is one of the hottest topics of conversation in the fire service today.  Captain Marsar’s research has taken the fire service by storm and has created an interesting “new” flavor of the month for those who feed on “firefighter safety through spectatorship”.  Maybe it was because of my animosity for the “let it burn” folks within our profession that I was initially against the concept of deciding if a building is searchable from the front yard and was unfairly biased.  However, the more I…

New Blog Post..     Bloggin About Protecting Your Noggin   http://blog.firefightercharlton.com

I would love to hear your thoughts.

There is a chance that I may get punched in the face for the next statement but forethought rarely stops me. I was listening to a Rockies game and rereading the Urban Firefighter Article…