Read firefighter training articles from the August 2024 issue of Fire Engineering, which focuses on leadership and management issues.
Cover photo by Dave Williams. When you respond to commercial building fires, expect to encounter numerous hazards at the scene. Large, uncompartmented areas with heavy fire loads call for stretching a hoseline with an increased flow rate and reach. Machinery, maze-like storage racks, offices with cubicles, and manufacturing rooms require the use of search ropes. Hazardous materials and conditions such as loading docks, spray booths, mezzanines, vehicle service pits, and pressurized gas cylinder storage can all be present. The Orlando (FL) Fire Department encountered a large commercial building with heavy smoke and fire showing on arrival. The building’s windows were protected by metal security bars and expanded metal grating/mesh. Heavy Rescue 1 began to remove these devices as part of their proactive forcible entry operations to give units a secondary means of access for advancing hoselines or conducting search and rescue or rapid intervention operations. It also affords personnel operating inside the structure a secondary means of egress in the event of an emergency. Due to a previous fire and the structural instability of the roof, units were withdrawn from an interior firefight and switched to a defensive operation. The hazardous conditions present and advanced fire on arrival enabled this fire to quickly escalate to a third-alarm assignment.
Features
Commanding the Mayday: The Intersection of Training, Preparation, and Everyday Leadership
Not many departments practice Maydays in higher-stress situations or as part of an entire scenario where the other fireground tasks must continue, but incident commanders need such quality, realistic Mayday training. JAMES PURDOM
Difficult Conversations: Ways to Improve Performance
Nobody can tell you exactly what to say during a difficult conversation. Effective communication during such conversations happens through personal growth and leadership skills that you develop over time. JOHN RUSS
Full Contact Leadership: Managing Change
Introducing change and transformation must be done carefully, with great sensitivity and in collaboration with those affected by the change. Fire service leaders must be well schooled in the correct methods of implementing change within their departments. EDWARD FLOOD AND ANTHONY AVILLO
The Weight of Our Words: Voice, Vehicle, and Volume
Our words are impactful and influential, on and off the job. As we continue to develop our leaders and leadership skills, communicate to the organization, and enhance infrastructure across the fire service, allow your voice to be heard and empower others to use their voices. STEPHEN SHAW
The Company Officer: Five Leadership Lessons to Simplify the Chaos
Leadership at the company level in a firehouse is a uniquely challenging position because of the nature and schedule of our living arrangements. We sweat, train, cook, eat, sleep, and see things together that nobody should ever have to see. This dynamic creates a situation that is often complex. It is easy to get lost in all the chaos. MICHAEL DOZIER
Effective Fire Service Leadership: Point-to-Point Decision Making—the Why and the How
From the first-arriving officer to the shift commander, competent, individual decisions that support the mission’s objectives will produce favorable results. Understanding the why and the how is important as firefighters, paramedics, officers, and incident commanders execute effective fire service leadership. MICHAEL J. BARAKEY
Departments
EDITOR’S OPINION: Trust, Love, and Thermodynamics
TRAINING NOTEBOOK: Training Four Generations: A Training Program Challenge
VOLUNTEERS CORNER: Meeting in the Middle: Training Between Career and Volunteer Mutual-Aid Companies
ENERGY HAZARDS: Maui 2.0: Energy Lessons Learned from the Field
