All Blog Posts Tagged 'training' (129)

Not all responders are blessed with the newest equipment. If a high strength post is too much for your cutter, attempt a pie cut as shown. Many times this will allow you to "cut around" the stronger portions of the post.   

How often do you tour your TSDF facilities?  

Most fire departments will use the "Rule of Thumb" and wait for HazMat to arrive.  DO you think that is an appropriate response?  OR  Do you think we can take response steps for a release to a facility like this?

Love to hear what you have to say!

Your friend,

Todd C.…

Join us for a FREE 8 hour class put on by Nick Martin from Traditions Training LLC on August 10th in Simpsonville, SC. More details to come! Traditions Training FREE Class!!!! 

Heads Up Firefighting: One Size Fits All

Note: I wasn’t going to post a blog until after FDIC, but then I watched BC Michael Walker’s address on livestream and it really struck a chord. He spoke to the very essence of what it is to call yourself “fireman”, the strong bond between firefighters and what our communities expect when they call us.…

                I started my fire service volunteer career in 2005. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, I remember walking in to the fire station across the street from my high school looking for a way to help people and make a difference. I look back upon that experience and I can still smell the food that was cooking on the stove. When I opened the door to the station, I had no idea what would be behind it. I can recall the stares I got as I stood in the doorway lost and waiting to be invited…

You heard me!

Don’t expect accommodations or special considerations.

You’re a grunt just like the rest of us. Time to pay your dues.

You can’t be on top of your game if you don’t train.

You can’t extend your reach or maximize your effectiveness, unless you are willing to put your blood and sweat into it.

You don’t have the first idea of what I’m talking about, do you?

You were never a firefighter, were…

As a trainer (and as a firefighter in the workout room), I hear people saying, I want “abs” I want to help people achieve this. However, I frequently see people performing the least productive exercise for their abs. This is the crunch performed while lying down on a mat with the head and neck supported. This will not get you results. If you want to see the abs you feel during this exercise, change your diet!

This is another…

As firefighters we protect life and property by any means necessary. And by “any” we mean the “safest and the best.” This means we do not marry ourselves to any one response modality or school of thought. We don’t always go interior on a fire attack...or always use a Halligan to force open a door (sometimes it’s already unlocked) right? We take into account certain factors along with the environment, resources, etc. and make the best tactical decisions we can.…

Training is an issue in any department. At some levels the firefighters cannot get enough training. Whereas some, well, we know how they act. We tend to decide if a training was successful or not by getting those “other guys” to step up and train with us. Could we be missing something though? Are we capable of detecting Warning Flags in training? Do we always have control over those warnings? Let us look at some self-diagnosis.

• Does your training staff (Training Officers,…

I read an article by an old acquaintance the other day.  I don't want to identify the author because this is not about the "who", but the "what." 

What a concept.  Here's an excerpt:

“There was a code that said that the coach was always right and you NEVER questioned a coach’s decision in regards to you. Like it or not, you had to respect it. It was not an option!  Sound familiar?  It should!”

“I came up in the fire service at a time…

To follow up to my last post The Ominus Triad - Complacency, Fatigue, Mistakes I felt it necessary to provide an example. The Combat Position - Achieving Firefighter Readiness and The Fire Service Warrior present the true path for…

We recently had a trauma surgeon present a EMS continuing education lecture for our department. Part of her lecture was in regards to current trends in trauma science and the use of the Damage Control concepts. Initially I was not very interested in the lecture, that is until she used the term "Ominous Triad of Death". How cool is that, you throw…

Yeah; it is used to suck the smoke and heat from structures, but it’s also used to suck any promise that many future leaders will offer new perstpective to the old hard-line ways of a traditional fire service.

I read on fire discussion boards about concern that the “old guard” isn’t passing it down to the new guard. Along with that come complaints that the new guard isn’t interested in old stuff. They want new stuff; that is, unless it deals with the same old approach to…

In my academy we were not taught the art of search, instead we did "search and rescue" drills. When we entered a building be it the drill tower or an acquired structure we would immediately start our search as we were being trained to do. Right hand or left hand from the front door with the sole purpose of finding a victim or reporting primary clear. The monotony of the…

Why is it that some RIT crew members think that a fast and effective operation means emptying every compartment on their rig and carrying it inside to preform a rescue? You've seen these people, the ones in their bright yellow RIT vest standing like statues in a mountain of equipment waiting to leap into a rescue situation. I have even taught in a few departments that…

UPDATE: Here is the link to the story of the Wednesday, March 2nd trustee meeting:

I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems as if I’m seeing more and more departments involved in some degree of discourse.

It’s running the gamut;…