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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Stopping Inspections? Insanity In Watertown
By John J. Salka, Jr. - Friday February 1, 2013I was reading a few news stories online when I came across a very interesting and disturbing situation. Without knowing all of the details other than what appeared in the newspaper story, it appears as though the city of Watertown, NY, has ordered their fire department to stop inspecting buildings . I'm not quite sure what administrative or political situation behind the scenes caused this action but I do know one thing, it's a mistake! Whether or not the inspecting firefighters have any enforcement powers to correct code violations or not, there is a huge benefit, for both the community and the firefighters, to having them visit and walk around and familiarize themselves with the interior layout and furnishings of commercial... -
Salka: A New Year's Resolution - Training!
By John J. Salka, Jr. - Friday January 4, 2013
I'm going to go on a little rant here because of the way things seem to be in the fire service concerning training. I travel extensively, across the country and up into Canada and Alaska. I cannot believe the number of career fire departments that do not have an official designated training period sometime during each shift. I can't believe the number of volunteer departments that don't train every week. Some train bi-weekly and others once a month. Let me be straight with you here. If you are training just once a month you should hang up the helmet and get a job at Walmart before you kill yourself or someone else. If you work for a career department and you are not spending some time every time you are on duty training, you are not... -
Salka: Ladder Pipe Liability
By John J. Salka, Jr. - Monday November 5, 2012
I've written before about this subject and I've even had some good and interesting conversations about this activity but, I still see it often in the pages of fire service magazines and in newspaper coverage of fires. It's the image of a firefighter, atop an extended aerial ladder, working with a ladder pipe. Let me get this right out there up front. This is a stupid and extremely dangerous tactic that produces little if any positive results. Now that I've said it let me make my case: 1. If you are using a ladder pipe or just about any other elevated master stream, your fire operations have not produced the desired results. In plain English, you are conducting an outside attack, or a defensive operation and the building is either... -
Do You Close The Door?
By John J. Salka, Jr. - Tuesday October 16, 2012
There has been much discussion about the issue of closing the door. I’m talking about whether firefighters entering an apartment from a public hallway or stairway, or even firefighters entering a single family home through the front door, should close the door behind them when they enter. There are many fire departments that have firefighters enter ahead of the hoseline to search the building for victims and fire. When you get to the second floor and locate the fire in apartment 2F, there are decisions to be made. The question is, after getting through the door and entering the fire apartment, do you chock the door open, or close the door behind you? This debate and discussion has been around for years and my good friend Marty... -
Stupid Idea # 98 - Detroit's Tourist Firefighters
By John J. Salka, Jr. - Thursday September 13, 2012
Just this morning I read an article that stated the Detroit Fire Department is considering allowing firefighters and/or tourists from around the country to ride with their companies and work with their crews at fires and emergencies. Well I have heard some pretty stupid stuff in my 30 plus years in the fire service, but this tops the list. Oh, did I mention that the city was going to charge these folks admission for the privilege? This seems like a safe and secure way to raise money for the cash-strapped city doesn't it? Let me list the reasons that this is a stupid idea: Whoever shows up to ride with these fire companies, there is no way of knowing if they are trained or even capable of performing a firefighters duties. The...
