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Don Catenacci's Blog (5)

Leadership…Why has it gone wrong in so many places?





There are all kinds of schools for management and leadership, some good, some bad and some just silly.  I made myself a promise many years ago that if I ever found myself in a leadership position in a fire department that I would be the officer that I always hoped for and was fortunate enough to get in my career.  The following is a list of attributes that I have always deemed important.



1)  A passion for the job that goes from day one until retirement.  You can’t…

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Added by Don Catenacci on September 22, 2016 at 4:27pm — No Comments

Another Senseless Firefighter Death

Firefighter Larry Millard of the Endeavor-Moundville Volunteer Fire Department, in Wisconsin was struck and killed while working at an accident scene on I-39 in Marquette County on Friday December 12th. As they were operating on the highway a vehicle approached and swerved to avoid the fire apparatus striking Firefighter Millard.



I have moved back and forth between sadness over the death of a firefighter in a nearby community and anger over the needlessness of it.  I am sick and…

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Added by Don Catenacci on December 21, 2015 at 3:19pm — No Comments

Random thoughts for the day...

Empty years do not equal worthwhile experience and neither does a certificate mean you are capable of doing the job.

If you are an empty shirt skating through your career and not engaging in worthwhile training, and gaining meaningful experience, you are to blame for the slide into mediocrity that seems to be infecting the fire service.

If you are…

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Added by Don Catenacci on November 27, 2015 at 10:46pm — No Comments

How really clean are you?

 

I am really a stickler for showering after a fire, whether real world or for training.  I have long believed the faster I can get all the by-products off from my skin the healthier it is for me, and my family.  The problem has always been that lingering smell of smoke even after I showered.  I tried showering first in cool water to remove the contaminants without opening the skin pores more than they already were.  I would follow that with a warm or hot shower.  So I was washing my…

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Added by Don Catenacci on November 8, 2015 at 10:24pm — 1 Comment

The Real 2 Inch Hose.

 

I have read the many articles in various periodicals and online blogs about the new, super, almost 2 inch, 1 3/4 inch hose and wondered why not just use 2 inch hose?  The Wyocena Bureau of Fire, a small rural paid on call fire department has been doing that for over a decade now.  We don't use 1 3/4 inch hose or 2 1/2 inch hose at all.  We are a 1, 2, 3, 5 inch fire department.  The 1 inch is forestry hose, 2 inch is our handline, 3 inch is used for our apartment line, feeding FDCs,…

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Added by Don Catenacci on January 11, 2014 at 12:38am — No Comments

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