David Mellen's Blog (7)

During the invocation at this years FDIC, Father John Carney compared firefighters to children.  He went on to explain that the qualities shared among children and firefighters was to be trusting, dependant, resilient, honest, sometimes tackless, playful, and to have great imagination.  A firefighters quest for knowledge and…

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Public safety and customer service go hand in hand.  As many of us know, our customers are the ones that keep us around.  Whether it’s a fire, vehicle accident, medical, or a public education event, we are here to serve our customers.  When I first became involved in the fire service I had a mentor who taught me an invaluable lesson.  No matter how bad your day is going when you respond to someone in need, their day is far worse.  That lesson has…

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The term “A perfect storm” refers to a combination of events that contributes to the drastic aggravation of a situation. From severe weather to a seeming unfathomable chain of events, this phrase is widely used.

 

In the fire service,…

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For most of us in the fire service this job is a calling. It’s not something we do, it’s something we are, [insert additional corny saying here].  The bottom line is that we have dedicated ourselves to this profession for whatever reason and agreed to the responsibilities of our job; to help those who require our services in their time of need.

 

But some, including myself, have at one point lost…

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During a recent live burn training we discussed different tactics as it pertains to attacking the fire.  We watched the fire develop and had the attendees take turns knocking the fire down and then watching it develop again.  During this evolution we had exceptional thermal layering and smoke that helped reinforce the lesson of "less water is…

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Since the beginning of time this proverbial saying has been commonplace in society. Everyone, at one point, has been told to do something “because I said so”. But where does this come into play in the fire service? When does it become acceptable to use the phrase in an appropriate manor?



Obviously, we can all agree that there are some circumstances that require its use but I believe that they are few and far between. As firefighters I think we have all had that order given and there… Continue

When I began my career in the fire service there were still fire departments that were using ¾ boots and long coats, belt mounted “elephant trunk” SCBAs and had firefighters standing up in the back of an open cab rig while going to calls. Most of these things have faded into fire service history but there are still departments that operate the “Old School” way.



I recently spoke to a long time friend whom I started my career with and after a while the discussion turned to new… Continue