FDIC 2012

National Firefighter's Journal

Rick Lasky's Retirement Celebration

- National Firefighter's Journal
Today August 31, 2011 is Fire Chief Rick Lasky's last day as chief of the Lewisville Texas fire department. For 11 years since June 5, 2000 Rick has stood at the helm of the Lewisville fire department. Yesterday at 3 PM friends and family of R...

Trustees; Train Hard or Go Home!

- FE Blog Network - Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich
You heard me!   Don't come here expecting accommodations or special considerations.   You're a grunt just like the rest of us. Time to pay your dues.   You can't be on top of your game if you don't train.   You can't extend you...

Journal Entry 17 -- Seat belts, Speed, and Intersections

- FE Blog Network - Ron Kanterman
  An Easy Way to a Long Life By Ron Kanterman   So, in Journal Entry 14 (posted December, 2011), we discussed the merits of the Everyone Goes Home, Courage to be Safe program; where we are, and where we're going. Indeed, the low hanging ...

Future Officers? Be Able to Answer These Questions

- Jason Hoevelmann
I get asked frequently by up and coming firefighters all of the time about what they should concentrate on in order to be prepared for promotion. Of course, there are the typical replies about certain types of training and education along with car...

San Jose Firefighter Update

- Drowning in Flame
Knowing how to remove heated turnout gear is essential to limiting injuriesA San Jose firefighter who fell through a roof last week during vertical ventilation operations was injured more severely than initially reported.  Early reports ...

Traditions Training

Winter Standpipe Operations

- FE Blog Network - Dan Shaw
Water supply is vital for the completion of our job of extinguishing fires. It really is as simple as that. Arguably, no incident demands for the quick actions of a competent driver as much as a Highrise building. They are tasked with establishi...

Waving Red Flags on the Fireground

- FE Blog Network - Ricky Riley
Thanks goes to Fire Engineering Magazine, PennWell and Chief Halton as Traditions Training Instructors Larry Schultz (DCFD) and Ricky Riley (Clearwater Fire and Kentland VFD) have been chosen to present our "Waving Red Flags on the Fireground...

Equations or Effectiveness? Have We Become So Smart We’re Stupid?

- A Return to Effectiveness - Joe Brown's Fire Engineering Blog
The following entry is a scaled down (censored) version of the original from my personal blog, which can be read HERE.In article after article and blog post after blog post I gaze with soft eyes at the material being placed into the hearts and min...

Motivation

- Combat Ready Firefighting
On the truck today I have a guy who's newer on the job and regularly assigned to an engine. After about an hour of drilling on portable ladders and forcible entry he said to me "Sarge, I just don't wanna let anyone down..." Probably one of the be...

Check your Dance Card, Part 2 "getting closer"

- FE Blog Network: Doug Mitchell, Jr.
Getting Closer... In part one of "Check your Dance Card" we discussed a few items to take a look at before we enter the fire building and start our dance with the "beauty of fire." In part 2, we will discuss a few more sp...

PL Vulcan

Welcome !!!

- FE Blog Network - Mark Gregory
Welcome Brothers and Sisters to my Blog Site. This is a first for me but, we should have a fun ride. Let's start off with FAST Paks (aka RIT Paks). What modifications have your company made to this great piece of equipment? In my company we ha...

Hoarder Patrol

- FE Blog Network - Gabriel Angemi
While the list of faux pas fire service no-no's grows larger and longer, consider why you felt the need to become a firefighter in the first place. Then, think about what you would or wouldn't do on the fire ground once you arrived to handle your ...

FETC Services

Blinder Mentality

- Tap the Box
Life moves at a fast pace these days. So fast you can easily miss an opportunity to improve one self. The pace affects everybody from the firefighter on the floor, right up to the chief’s office. There are two common management models during thes...

Legal Fire Prevention - Social Media Policy

- john-k-murphy
With the recent spate of demotions, terminations and litigation related to the use of social media to post your likes, dislikes, ranting and ravings under an assumption that your First Amendment protections apply to you, here is another thought. T...

Fireground Strategies

Maximizing effectiveness on the roof

- Fireground Strategies and Other Stuff from the Street
When you go to the roof, what tools do you bring? The usual answer is the saw, a set of irons, a hook or pike pole, and life-saving rope. Is that all? The tool that might serve us best when conducting roof operations is often left on the rig: the ...

Pride & Ownership

Fire Engineering Talk Radio

- Pride & Ownership
Join Chief John Salka and I as we move from the podcast format to a live venue with Fire Engineering Talk Radio. We should be on the air soon, Thursday nights at 1930 hours (eastern), hopefully next week! LIVE, where you can call in, jump in on ...

“The outcome of the 1% of the time we spend on the fireground is based on the actions, discipline, and leadership we display the other 99% of the time in the soft environment.” - Anthony Avillo

- Conversations with Eddie Crombie
For those of you who do not know, Anthony Avillo, a 25- year veteran, is a deputy chief in North Hudson Regional (N.J.) Fire & Rescue, assigned as 1st Platoon Regional Tour Commander. Chief Avillo has a B.S. in Fire Science from New Jerse...