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...
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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Firefighting: A Super Big Game
by Ryan Pennington - Sunday February 5, 2012That's right folks, it's time to order up the chicken wings, chips, and find the biggest television imaginable to watch the biggest game on the biggest stage. It's Super Bowl time! For many the Super Bowl will be the biggest game of their life, one that they have spent years preparing for. In a way the football format can be applied to the fire service. Just think about it - we have a general...
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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Honesty Is the Only Policy
by Dr. Harry Carter - Sunday February 5, 2012
Quite some time ago one of you kind folks out there in reader land took the time to share an important thought with me. After reviewing one of my early leadership commentaries, back in July of 2000, this gentleman took the time to drop me a note. He was most generous in his praise of the research that had been done by the members of Harry's Gang, an ad hoc group of people who responded to my...
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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My Friends
by John J. Salka, Jr. - Monday January 30, 2012I'm heading up to Massachusetts tomorrow to visit some friends. Not just any friends, but a group of very special men. My trip will take me to Worcester, where on Dec. 3, 1999, at box 1438, six men lost their lives fighting a fire at the Worcester Cold Storage warehouse . I never met those men and I never will, but as things turned out I did meet some other firefighters from Worcester. I met...
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Reputation Equity in the Fire Service
by Ben May - Friday January 27, 2012What's your reputation worth? If you think about it, your reputation as a firefighter in your community is worth the value of the reputations of 1.6 million firefighters in this country. Any and every person, family, business and organization coming into contact with you sees the brand - either a firefighter or fire department - through you and just you. Our citizens rarely differentiate...
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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A Golden Fire Safety Nugget
by Dayna Hilton - Tuesday January 10, 2012
There is nothing quite like finding an unexpected surprise on the web. This evening, while surfing the web looking up some data, I stumbled upon this golden nugget, a page on the USFA for Kids website . If you are like me and you feel as though you have seen everything the site has to offer, you may be wrong! With new things added on their site all the time, you might want to occasionally...
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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You Have To Understand the Problem In Order To Solve It
by Capt. Fornell - Monday December 5, 2011
I received a message a while back to call a friend of mine, an officer on an aggressive Midwest fire department. He needed some advice on a water flow issue. It seems that a few days before, they had a fire that fully involved an attached garage and with flames through the roof, the incident commander ordered a two and a half inch line pulled for initial attack. Based on the amount of...
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 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...
