The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) calls them "lone wolf shooters," whereas homeland security and other agencies call them "active shooters." The United States Department of Homeland Security's Active Shooter: How to Respond booklet defines an active shooter as an "individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area."
Forty years ago this past July, a group of 20 distinguished men and women from all parts of the country and from many different walks of life came together for the first time in Room 2010 of the New Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., to begin mapping out a course that would lead to new efforts in fire prevention and control in the United States.
Ask people who have been fire service leaders for any length of time, and they will tell you that fire departments, like most other organizations, are pretty complex. In fact, if they've spent time in more than one organization, they will probably tell you that the same problems and types of people are everywhere: They just look a little different as you go from one organization to the next.
In "Mastering fireground command: calming the Chaos" (Fire Engineering, March 2011), I explained how improper risk assessment (poor size-up), lack of incident command, lack of accountability, inadequate communications, and lack of standard operating guidelines (SOGs)—or failure to follow them—can lead to firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) and injuries and chaos on the fireground.
Workers' Compensation (WC) programs are designed to treat injured employees and return them to their preinjury working status. This is not always possible, for a variety of reasons.
Congratulations on getting promoted to chief officer! Before getting carried away with the glamour of the position, realize you are in a critical position that involves leading, motivating, evaluating, supervising, training, coaching, and mentoring your assigned personnel. Your top priorities should be to ensure that your personnel go home safely to their families at the end of their shift and that they are trained and prepared for the worst-case scenario.
The fire service is entering an era of "do more with less." Even while many fire departments remain understaffed, they are still expected to be more efficient. The challenge for fire service organizations is to save time, focus on the real issues, and effectively communicate their vision to all members. It takes everyone in the organization to generate efficiency.
The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) has formed an Incident Management Team (IMT) to help with large catastrophic events in the wake of 9/11. I am fortunate to be involved with the team. As a part of our training, we sometimes shadow National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) in the wildland fire service.
How we treat one another in life is critical for developing good relationships. If you have respect for others, it shows in how you manage yourself and how you conduct your business both personally and professionally.
When you and your company draw the search assignment of an aggressively burning, occupied building, how do you execute the search with the highest probability for success without launching into a suicide mission? During company training, you need to time, preplan, and practice your search techniques.
If everyone is a good employee, why do you have problems?
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) reminds responders that they must be fully credentialed as a Public Safety Officer when assisting in disaster situations to qualify for Public Safety Officers Benefits (PSOB) in case of serious injury or death. Responders are asked to become familiar with these requirements and to share the information with departments in their states.
Last month in our continuing series on situation evaluation (standard command function number two), we looked at a fairly complete list of critical fireground factors. The list was arranged in major categories that are the result of a lifetime of study, teaching, and trying to figure out what are the basic elements that must be evaluated and reacted to while we are conducting firefighting and incident command operations.
The Teaneck (NJ) Fire Department designed this E-ONE rescue truck with a nonwalk-in body for added storage, says Chief Anthony Verley. It also has more cab seating than the former truck.
Arriving as the second-due truck at a 21⁄2-story wood-frame dwelling with heavy fire showing from the first floor, we saw numerous people in the second-floor windows waiting to be removed. Their primary means of escape—the open interior stairs—was blocked by fire and smoke, telling us we would have to remove them with portable ladders.
A few months back, I wrote a blog on fireengineering.com and received a lot of negative feedback. My intent was to take a national problem that has plagued the fire service for more than 100 years and attempt to simplify it into very understandable and direct terms.
This is an update to my article, "The Dangers of Modular Construction," published in May 2009. In January 2011, Massachusetts took the lead in addressing an issue of importance to the safety of firefighters and the occupants of buildings of modular (prefabricated) construction.
In 2007, my fellow crew member, Corporal Dennis Paige, brought to me a variation of a traditional pike pole that he called a Devil's Claw. This new tool was invented because of a particularly difficult fire we had previously encountered.
LORI MILLER was appointed as the first woman chief of an all-career fire department in Colorado, joining just a handful of other women across the country to achieve this elite status. With the departure of former Chief Gary Green, Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District has reached an historic "first" in the state of Colorado.
In today's society, a fire- fighter is not just a firefighter; he may be a volunteer, a part-time, a contract, or a traditional firefighter. But regardless of all these designations, the bedrock of America's fire service is still (as it has been for more than 200 years) volunteers.
On August 4, 2008, in Glendale, Arizona, Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department (PFD) Captain John Vardian, a veteran of Ladder 26, and his crew had just finished ventilating the roof of a two-story apartment building on fire when he began to feel weak. Nonetheless, he waited as his crew stepped off the roof; it was his custom for him to be the last off the roof.
CMC Rescue's ROPE RESCUE FIELD GUIDE is now a full-featured phone app packed with valuable charts, diagrams, and how-to information. Users can even customize this easy-to-use app with their own Notes and Favorites for quick reference in the field.
