Robert Owens's Blog (26)

“The new look had brought with it not only a new kind of weaponry but a new kind of warrior as well. Actually, the new breed was kind of a warrior diplomat; as bloodless ballistics seemed to be phasing out the role of fighters on the future battlegrounds, the emphasis increased on the diplomatic side of soldering”

“But then, suddenly, it was too late, even for a tourniquet: Chief of Staff Taylor disbanded all the Old Army regiments, with all their history and tradition to…

It’s Not A Mold It’s A Standard!

              Tom Brands Iowa Wrestling Coach, NCAA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist

When I was a kid growing up the Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Team was the STANDARD! They won multiple National Championships as a team and individuals. The “Iowa” style of wrestling was prevalent and taught. The emphasis was on toughness, conditioning, and BASICS and that created and ideal mindset of being able to…

Engine Company Search: Split Level House

Life Safety is the fire services number one priority, typically accomplished by searching for victims of fire inside fire buildings. This is a high risk, high man power, and high intensity tactic that must be planned and coordinated. However, fire departments all over the country often are faced with the choice of…

Engine Company Search: Tri Level House

Life Safety is the fire services number one priority, typically accomplished by searching for victims of fire inside fire buildings. This is a high risk, high man power, and high intensity tactic that must be planned and coordinated. However, fire departments all over the country often are faced with the choice of…

Engine Company Search: Ranch House

Life Safety is the fire services number one priority, typically accomplished by searching for victims of fire inside fire buildings. This is a high risk, high man power, and high intensity tactic that must be planned and coordinated. However, fire departments all over the country often are faced with the choice of either…

The 3 hours is something I live by and try an do every day. I talk about the 3 hours in every class I teach, every person I mentor, and every periscope I do. I have even mentioned it on several podcasts such as the Firefighter Training Podcast with Chief Peter Lamb specifically in this episode…

The working length of hose is critical when it comes to an engine companies ability to rapidly extinguish a fire. The working length is that first 50 feet of hose from the nozzle to the first coupling. It is the money length of hose! If you can get that length to the fire room rapidly then your chances of putting the fire out multiply exponentially. However I feel that even though it is emphasized in training, students still miss the mark on its importance or even recognizing it.…

Webster’s Dictionary defines Tunnel Vision as:

• constriction of the visual field resulting in loss of peripheral vision
•   extreme narrowness of viewpoint : narrow-mindedness; also : single-minded concentration on one objective

In the Fire service, we often associate “tunnel vision” with the narrowing field of view during an incident based on a…

Placards are used to help us identify what a vehicle is hauling. They usually have a corresponding number in the ERG to let us know what to do when we encounter the corresponding material.

However would you be surprised to know that people have placards too? Would you even be further surprised to know YOU have…

Read any NIOSH report and failure to do a 360 is usually mentioned as a contributing factor. Unfortunately this has turned the 360 into a check box item rather than something to do in order to gain the entire fire ground picture. I have personally seen critical issues missed on structures due to the first in officer omitting the 360.

This leads to the question, What to look for on a 360? People teach various methods and I have one that was taught to me that is simple to remember, easy…

How Can We Reach The Future Of Our Service?

Frank Brannigan said the building is our enemy and we need to know our enemy. Some have amended that with the fire is our enemy but the building is our battlefield and we must know the terrain in which we are to do battle. Either way you put it building construction is important to everything we do. However just the subject of building construction is VAST and unending. Engineers, construction companies, contractors, developers, etc. are always trying to come up with cheaper, and more…

By now I am sure a lot of you who frequent the trade magazines, fire service blogs, etc. have seen videos and reports on how new and old furnishings impact fire growth and development.

We all know it yet we continue to see minimal change or acceptance to change on the tactical level.

I heard this quote from an instructor the other day while he was teaching about difficult airway. Basically he said when it comes to difficult airways he doesn’t belive in “fighting fair” and he is…

There is a lot of debate about what is and what is not aggressive. A lot of people determine aggressive based on their location on the fire ground. I have often thought that aggressive should be defined as the actions you are taking not where you are standing.

As I have been debating this for several years I have begun to think that perhaps we are defining our fire service “actions” with the wrong words. I have seen very non aggressive moves right next to a fire, some very aggressive…

One of the biggest things I always here about why firefighters do train everyday is time! To be honest I get it! Most firefighters in the country are volunteer and are working a full-time job, raising families, and still trying to find time to serve their volunteer departments and communities.

The same can go for career firefighters who often have one or more part-time jobs, and families. I myself have my full-time fire department job, a part-time job, and 2 beautiful boys who…

Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Toys R Us, or various other chain and brand name stores. No matter the name they go under they all have one thing in common.

THEY ARE HUGE!

They also provide a very difficult fire problem for even the largest and best staffed fire departments in the fire service. In these instances we must abandon our traditional “residential” tactics and deploy more…

Everyone knows the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Two kids who get lost in the woods and leave a trail of bread crumbs to lead themselves back home. Well while the method was not perfect Hansel and Gretel had a great idea and it is something we can use on the fireground.

Here are the two styles of door chocks I carry in my gear. While this may seem simple think about this…

We often times are not able to get out of service in order to get vital training. Either other companies beat us to it, calls get in the way, or other vital mission critical stuff pops up (staffing, broken equipment, etc.). We also sometimes lack the proper resources to perform certain drills. This is when the creativeness and ingenuity of the american firefighter starts to take over! Some times in order to get some great training all you need to do is look around the fire…

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This is just a simple trick that was taught to me and I have been passing on for years. Every engine company carries short supply hose sections of various sizes and lengths. I often found that when these rolls get above about 25 feet they can become a little difficult to deal with. Storage, deployment, etc. they are just difficult. A lot of these rolls are simply straight rolled, or doughnut rolled and placed in the compartment, or tray and not thought of until the next fire. Getting a water…