View from the Jumpseat - Ryan Pennington shares his views while riding the back seat of the fire engine in West Virginia. He writes about firefighter safety, tactics, leadership and EMS
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Crawling Through Filth
by Ryan Pennington - Sunday May 13, 2012Good evening from the Jumpseat. Yeah, here on the East Coast it is late in the night and I would like to share an experience that happened here in my local area. Since I have started the research into the world of hoarders I have had the honor of sharing many different stories of responses. From EMS incidents to working structure fires with entrapped victims the stories continue to blow me away...
Retired FDNY Battalion Chief John Salka will take a candid look at news and events impacting the fire service in this blog in the weeks between his monthly column "The Fire Scene" in Firehouse magazine.
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Don't Relieve the Rapid Intervention Team
by John J. Salka, Jr. - Thursday May 3, 2012
When you establish a rapid intervention team (RIT) at an incident, they are there to perform a vital and technically challenging task. As we all know, a RIT need not ever be activated and if they are well trained and utilized, they will still have performed several important tasks. The title of this piece is "Don't Relieve the Rapid Intervention Team" and I suggest this for several reasons...
Playing it Safe - Dayna Hilton shares ideas on fire prevention, fire and life safety education, community risk reduction and customer service.
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FP&S Grants Deadline Extended and Free Fire Safety Programs
by Dayna Hilton - Thursday April 26, 2012
I hope that this blog post finds everyone well. After recovering from having three procedures done on my ankle in early January, I am finally back into the swing of things and ready to post more regularly. It has been a long healing process, but I am finally out of the boot that I have been wearing the past six years and ready to get my life back. Wanted to let everyone know that the application...
The View from my Front Porch - Join Dr. Harry Carter as he shares his wisdom from personal and fire service life experiences.
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You Must Become a Student of Firefighting
by Dr. Harry Carter - Monday April 9, 2012
My friends, the time has come to share an important principle with you about education in the fire service. Knowledge does not float freely through the air in the world around you. You cannot take a deep breath and inhale a whole bunch of information. You do not gain knowledge via osmosis. Simply holding a book firmly in your hands will serve not purpose in the gathering of new facts, figures, and...
Riding with Capt. Dave - Read blog entries from veteran firefighter Capt. Dave Fornell. He examines line of duty deaths, fireground strategies, command decision making and more
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Firefighter Safety: Don't Play with Trains
by Capt. Dave Fornell - Friday April 6, 2012
It seems like every week we read about an emergency responder being hit by a vehicle while working an incident scene on a highway. And, with each incident, we seek to ratchet up responders' awareness of operating in dangerous environments; making sure that apparatus is positioned to block the areas of roadways where we are working and mandating that each responder is wearing high visibility...
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Brand Equity, Marketing & the Fire Service: It's All About the Story
by Ben May - Tuesday April 3, 2012Many of us in the fire service have two jobs. My "day job" involves working for this big mouse and I have learned a few things along the way allowing me to blend that job with a passion for the fire service. It's a nice gig and I enjoy it immensely. At the risk of repeating myself, here are a few things to think about. Some of this I have learned from the mouse, and some I learned from loving...
Life as a Fire Wife - Cynthia Mills writes about her life as the spouse of a South Carolina firefighter. She shares personal stories as a spouse and auxiliary member.
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Fire Wife Preppers
by Cynthia Mills - Monday February 6, 2012A friend recently sent me a link to the National Geographic channel's Doomsday Preppers series, jokingly asking if we are going to be in it. Nope. Not interested, thanks. I completely understand why these people prep though. Just three decades ago, I would go to my grandparents' house and make use of their preps, like canned foods, stored water, a greenhouse full of plants, pecan trees in...
Structural Anatomy of Buildingsonfire - Chris Naum's blog examines the role of building construction and fire behavior in the stability of structures where firefighters battle fires and rescue occupants
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Residential Pre-Arrival: What are your Considerations?
by Christopher J. Naum - Thursday November 24, 2011
A video clip of a structure fire occurring in a single family residential occupancy shows, in the first few frames a back draft occurring per-arrival of fire services. It’s apparent there is a developing and progressing fire in the Charlie division which may have originated in the, or vicinity of the detached garage (B-C) which had a breezeway connected to the main house. The large volume...
From the Editor's Desk - Firehouse.com Editor Peter Matthews discusses current events, training and other fire service industry news
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Remembering Hal Bruno
by Peter Matthews - Wednesday November 16, 2011When I received word that Hal Bruno passed away last night, I took a little time to reflect on the lessons that Hal taught me in my four years working with him at Firehouse Magazine. I learned as much about politics as I did the fire service and journalism from Hal, who always answered his home phone "Bruno!" as if he were in the newsroom at ABC taking a hot tip from a source. Hal was a...
On the Bleeding Edge of Change - Dr. Richard B. Gasaway blogs about the changes that the fire service faces.
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Groundbreaking research reveals link between golfing and firefighter safety
by Dr. Richard Gasaway - Monday July 4, 2011
Could playing golf improve your fireground situational awareness? One study seems to suggest so. While playing golf with his son, a neuroscience researcher began to contemplate the nexus between what it takes to achieve success on the golf course and how that might apply to firefighters. After all, the principles of situational awareness should be universal, he hypothesized. What would this look...
