Michael Bricault (ret)'s Blog (6)

  I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you one of the truths about “the job”. Please understand that these ramblings are my opinion and that of firemen I respect. It is not intended to imply condescension rather; it is intended to pass along some truths I have learned along the way.

  With the endless hours of training a question that many new firefighters ask is, “So when does it get to be fun?” The short answer is... never. The demand of your courage and you honor is…

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            When answering an alarm for a residential fire there are many tasks and priorities that must be addressed by the responding companies.  One of the most important yet frequently overlooked tactics is the various and multiple potential rescue scenarios that the first arriving companies may be confronted with. 

            The primary decision faced by the first arriving company is something that the company officer must decide on his own, whether or not to keep the balance…

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-The following is the script of a two minute radio broadcast that happened twenty five years ago by the great Paul Harvey, on his hugely successful radio program, "News and Comments by Paul Harvey". My Harvey was a great broadcaster who had a tremendously kind spirit. He was know for taking the obscure and introducing it to the rest of us in a beautifully eloquent way. The challenge was made more difficult because, for you youngsters, Mr. Harvey was a radio broadcaster; no…

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-Abandon buildings, fires and firefighters. What is injuring us, the fact that the building is abandon/unoccupied or poor tactics?

-Take a look at this blog.… Continue

-This video was passed on to me by one of the guys at work. Take a look at it from the perspective of using it as a teaching aid and not as an opportunity to bash. There is a tremendous amount to learn from this video.
-I was shocked and in awe when I saw this but I'm interested in your comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXR-kdouVE8

-Recently I received an email from Chief Halton in reference to a new literary work in reference to residential search and rescue during a fire. The work was written from an unusual perspective... it was written by the victim.

-I have read the piece and it does have some interesting teaching points that are valid to those of us that provide these services.

-Some that read it will be offended and some outraged, believing that this is a criticism of the fire service. In fact it is not a… Continue