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Day 10 - Fire Academy
By Tim Butler - Tuesday November 24, 2009Up at 0330 to study for class, check email, and prepare comments for a press conference and a staffing discussion today. The academic portion of the fire academy is extensive. We are preparing for the state certification test for Firefighter I and II, and using the “Fundamentals of Fire Fighting Skills, 2 nd Edition” textbook and workbook published by Jones and Bartlett. The book was authored by a panel of experts from the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association. In class, we cover a chapter from the book each day during the morning lecture periods. Some of the chapters are quite extensive; the chapter I studied last night and this morning (hoses, nozzles, streams and foam) is 60... -
The Orphaned Thought
By Dr. Harry Carter - Monday November 23, 2009
I thought that this month I might share a sort of a parable with you. This story came to me recently as I labored through the personal travail of the past few months. It is as though there are those out across the country and around the world who wish for everything to stay as it has always been. These people seemingly resent the fact that other people have thoughts that run at a divergence to theirs. They seemingly cannot tolerate thinking I thought that I would couch my words for this week’s visit with you in the framework of a short story about a poor little orphaned thought . Perhaps you have seen a similar little thought in your own lives. This one particular thought went unused, because no one felt compelled to... -
Company Officers "The True Trainers of the Millennium"
By Doug Cline - Monday November 23, 2009
It is imperative that we change how we do training to meet the changing needs of emergency services. Responses have changed over the years and will continue to change significantly as we move forward into the future. So who steps up to the plate on this one? Well it might be argued that it is the Fire Chief’s responsibility. Others may say it is the Training Officer’s job. This may hold some truth to each, but who truly trains the fire service today? If you guessed the training officer, guess again. No, it’s not the famous instructor at a major conference. It is the Company Officer. That’s right, the Company Officer!!! Company Officers have more of an impact on the education of the fire service than most... -
It's Occupancy Risk-Not Occupancy Type
By Christopher J. Naum - Sunday November 22, 2009
It’s Occupancy Risk NOT Occupancy Type The traditional attitudes and beliefs of equating aggressive firefighting operations in all occupancy types coupled with correlating, established and pragmatic operational strategies and tactics MUST not only be questioned, they need to be adjusted and modified. Risk assessment, risk-benefit analysis, safety and survivability profiling, operational value and firefighter injury and LODD reduction must be further institutionalized to become a recognized part of modern firefighting operations. Aggressive firefighting must be redefined and aligned to the built environment and associated with goal oriented tactical operations that are defined by risk assessed and analyzed tasks that are... -
I Ain't That Brilliant: I Just Take Good Notes and Share
By Dr. Harry Carter - Sunday November 22, 2009
Once again our Pastor at the Colts Neck Reformed Church, Scott Brown, started the wheels of my brain turning again during our sermon today. He said something that resonated with me. He stated that we should not make ourselves out to be more than we really are. I loved it. I thought of scores of people who really ought to pay attention to those words of wisdom. In the same sermon he also stated that we need to be grateful for what we have even when things are not going our way. That makes sense to me. I have always worked hard to remember to say thank you to those fine people who have been kind enough to share their thoughts, words, and deeds with me. Once again someone has accused me of possessing a great deal of common... -
The Essence of Fire Ground Behaviors
By Ed Hadfield - Sunday November 22, 2009"In no other profession are the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling or so irrevocable as the military" General of the Army Douglas MacArthur Although General MacAurthur was making reference to the military, one could easily make a case for the same statement as it relates to the fire service. In order to understand how we do things, why we do things and the basis for general purpose and behaviors, we should look at the building blocks of solid professional traits associated with effective fire ground practices. The bedrock of professional fire ground behaviors is grounded in the understanding of Mission of Purpose. Life Safety Incident Stabilization Property Conservation... -
Opportunity Knocks thanks to Chase Bank
By Brian Vickers - Saturday November 21, 2009Chase (JP Morgan-Chase to be official I guess) is holding a contest through Facebook with people voting for funding to go to their favorite charities. The prizes are donations to the winning charities ranging from $25,000 up to $1 million. The site says that 500,000 charities are already in their database which was compiled from IRS records on 501c3 organizations with less than $10 million in their latest filing to the IRS. Which should be just about everyone but the largest career departments. Their Facebook page for this contest is: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommun...9&jp_avt=35813 In case you don't find your department here's the form to submit it for inclusion: http://survey.chase.com/wix/p32683536.aspx Only caveat... -
Day 9 - Fire Academy
By Tim Butler - Saturday November 21, 2009The basement room was just 25 feet long and maybe 10 feet wide. Concrete floor…..pitch black darkness….At the far end of the room lays a crumpled manikin, and the PASS device it is wearing blares out an announcement: “FIREFIGHTER DOWN!!! ” I’m crouched in the doorway in full turn out gear and SCBA, ready to “make entry” to look for the “fallen firefighter,” which the manikin represents. There is no rope tag line or a hose line to follow…I connect up my SCBA regulator to “go on air,” and enter the dark basement room. Groping my way along the right hand wall, I keep in constant contact with the gym lockers that line the right hand wall. My left hand and leg are sweeping towards the middle of the room... -
THE FIREFIGHTER
By David Bates - Friday November 20, 2009“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt 1910 -
Talk is Cheap: You Have to Walk the Walk
By Dr. Harry Carter - Friday November 20, 2009
I have spent a great deal of time over the past several years studying the concept of leadership as it evolves within the organizational environment. In comparing my research with the people I have studied in the world around me, I have noted a decided change in the type of people who are serving as leaders in the fire service. Perhaps it is a by-product of the way that our society has changed, or maybe it is just the next step in our evolution as a fire service. In either case, I am upset. The inward, selfish focus of certain people has really begun to bother me. If I hear one more person, either a leader or a follower, say “…what’s in it for me, “ I think I will scream. Heck gang, we are in the lifesaving...