Politics meets performance in many different ways and plays out every day as fire departments strive to deliver service throughout the country. We all know how much impact elected...
It began more than a year earlier - initial discussions, concepts, exchanges of ideas and an open forum with key members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, including Deputy Chief...
This two-part column, which began in February, covers one of the most critical aspects of avoiding close calls: appropriate staffing on the first alarm. We opened by reviewing...
Last year, my two teenagers were with me in the car on the night of the Fourth of July. In most communities, nighttime on the Fourth of July is busy with fires and EMS calls. ...
Firefighters and members of law enforcement work side by side, day in and day out. In 99% of cases, the relationships are respectful, even cordial. However, occasionally conflicts...
SUBJECT: Lifting Heavy Loads - Part 6 TOPIC: Safety When Lifting Heavy LoadsOBJECTIVE: Understand necessary safety considerations when lifting heavy loadsTASK: Given various scenarios...
There is an abundance of material written and spoken about the things firefighters do wrong. We are bombarded daily about omissions, corrections that need to be made to our behavior...
Eight years ago, I was a member of a panel of four response chiefs teaching a two-day battalion chiefs training program at a fire service conference. We had just finished an overview...
On Dec. 30, 2007, shortly before 6 P.M., Bonner Springs Police were dispatched on a report of a suicidal man who had cut himself with a knife and left the residence. When officers...
Anyone who has been in the fire service for more than a few months has probably, at some point in time, been involved in a fire station discussion about automatic fire alarms,...
Over the past couple of years and, more recently, within the last six months, we have observed a confluence of thought from many fire service organizations. That thought is almost...
Rapid City is the second-largest city in South Dakota, with more than 69,000 residents. In addition to the resident population, Rapid City is also a major tourist destination ...
As we move further into the 21st century, the base of our financial support is, in many areas, under attack. This is unfortunate, as the need for our skills and talents remains...
There is always debate in the fire service. Maybe it's about the last fire we responded to, debating how we could have operationally done a better job. Sometimes, arguments go...
NEW YORK CITY: March 3, 1909 - Just after 2 A.M., thick clouds of noxious smoke poured up the stairways of an old tenement at 374 Seventh Ave. in Manhattan, trapping many families...