All Blog Posts (3,132)

In the early 1970’s, Ludwig Benner, a chemical engineer working for the National Transportation Safety Board identified a model of container behavior in hazardous materials incidents that provides impact points for risk reduction actions and provides a model for container and product behavior to help guide emergency response.  The General Hazardous Materials Behavior Model (GEBMO) is a chain of events from the start of an…

The Totality of Transitioning to a Training Officer

One (1) of the supreme facets of being promoted to a role within the Office of Training, is that you now play an instrumental part with influencing the level of success that the Officers and Firefighters will achieve during their tenure within your respective department.…

Emergency response is the cornerstone of hazardous materials teams. While response is important, there are other activities that hazardous materials teams can be involved in that further integrate hazardous materials into the organization, provided added benefits, and open routes to potential new funding streams.

Support at Fire Scenes

The hazardous materials team is capable of providing support at fire scenes with actions that will improve the health and safety of responders.…

Whether your organization is career, volunteer, or combination, it is likely having difficulty finding qualified individuals to fill its ranks.  While recruiting new members has been an issue for some time, the changing demographics of the nation are being skipped as an underlying cause.  Consequently, we are missing some opportunities for identifying and guiding folks…

Hazardous Materials Hot Line^© July 4, 2024

CSB Issues Statement on Hurricane & Weather Preparedness

The U. S. Chemical Safety Board has issued a statement cautioning facility owners to prepare for an active hurricane season.

Discussion:  The CSB has previously released reports on two incidents that resulted from hurricane & tropical weather.  The…

Ask your self, “why do we, the fire and emergency medical services exist?”  If you are like most of us, your answer will be something like, “to respond to calls to make the community safer and to save lives.”  You aren’t wrong, but the question you should be asking is, “why does the community want us to exist?”.  That answer is a little different and it is one that we need to answer if we want to communicate our needs in meeting their expectations. 

The reality is that communities…

Red to Rung and the 2:1

This week, I am going to introduce the idea and concept of utilizing a pre-rigged mechanical

advantage along with a thrown extension ladder as an overhead anchor point that was shown to

me by the senior man on shift when I first…

"The Rules of Going to War"

With the implementation of Incident Command (IC), the tone for operational success and the overall safety of the Officers and Firefighters working on scene can be determined with what resources are established from the start.

The fire service as…

Size-Up Consideration for the Summer Structure Fire

With each changing season here in New England comes a change in approach when performing a size-up and conducting a 360 of a structure potentially on fire and possibly occupied at the time of call.

Being the first week of June 2024, we have already begun to experience exposures to high heat and humidity with many already having their…

Property Storage or Personal Shelter

It is no secret that today’s economy is having an astronomical impact on the ability for the working class…

And the Captain says,..."let there be light"

When implementing a RIT-PAK during FAST/RIT training, a common response from those participating is that “the greatest obstacle is the limited dexterity of a gloved hand and low visibility environment” when trying to manipulate the compartments and applying the hose for…

Protest Preparedness – Defeating Demonstration Devices

With today’s political climate continuously escalating from matters both domestic and foreign, incidents of protest (demonstrations) and civil unrest (riots) are becoming more prevalent in both rural and suburban geographical areas of the United States.…

Photo Credit: Alan Baker

Customer service has been a buzz word in the fire service for decades now.  As the fire service…

PNW%20Fire%20Nuggets%20Oct%202023%20to%20share.pdf

In the realm of firefighting, leadership is not just about making decisions; it's about ensuring the safety of communities and the lives of firefighters on the front lines. Leadership that forgets about the rank and file can have far-reaching consequences, and it's a critical issue to address. In this blog post, we'll explore what happens when leadership neglects the rank and file in the firefighting profession and the invaluable lessons we can draw from these…

Communication is key in much of our daily life. As much as we try, we sometimes have that “failure to communicate”. That said, to avoid some confusion, there is a need to let go of the term and the concept of “false alarms”.  Smoke alarm or smoke detector activations related to “culinary mishaps”, burnt popcorn, or burnt whatever in the microwave or a pot of food on the stovetop, are not false alarms. Those devices did their job. Even in the case of when steam sets those devices off, those…

Rehabilitation for Emergency Operations

Establishing and implementing a strong rehabilitation process for firefighters during emergency operations is extremely important and creates numerous benefits. Due to overexertion on the fireground, combined with the existing temperature and humidity of the 2023 summer season, firefighters face a variety of risks including dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.

In an…