A 124-year-old, vacant Romanesque Revival church was destroyed in an early-morning fire near the Downtown area of Detroit, MI, on May 11, 2014. The fire occurred a block from the future site of the Detroit Red Wings hockey arena.
Dedication: This month’s Firehouse® is dedicated to Assistant Chief Roger D. Tome, 71, of Kennedy Space Center, FL, Fire and Rescue; Lieutenant Bruce Britt, 48, of the Columbia, MO, Fire Department; Lieutenant Homer “J.R.” Harrell, 46, of the Orange City, FL, Fire Department; Firefighter Gregory D. Barnas, 57, of the Wallington, NJ, Volunteer Fire Department; and Firefighter Steven J. Knaus, 47, of the Willowick, OH, Fire Department, who died in the line of duty, February 2014.
Cover by: Cover photo by Steve Neavling/ www.motorcitymuckraker.com
Editor’s Note: The Firehouse staff wanted to share some of long-time Editor in Chief Harvey Eisner’s work. Harvey, a fixture on New York City firegrounds and at major events and conferences since the 1970s, passed away on Oct. 23 . He was 59. He has...
For the 33rd year, the career fire service takes to the pages of Firehouse ® Magazine to share and compare statistics about company and department activity levels, funding, staffing and pay. A total of 218 fire departments took part in this year’s...
Gas Leak Detector
MSA has introduced the Gassonic Observer-i ultrasonic gas leak detector, designed with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) intelligence and real-time broadband acoustic sound-processing technology for a broader leak-detection range and...
Finn Named Boston Commissioner
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh appointed Deputy Fire Chief Joe Finn of Division 1 as Fire Commissioner/Chief of Department on July 7. Finn was hailed as a seasoned leader who will command the rank-and-file’s respect...
PVPFF Purchase Animal Oxygen Masks
The Pahrump Valley Professional Fire Fighters (PVPFF), in partnership with the town of Pahrump Fire Department, recently purchased three animal oxygen masks, to assist in saving lives of pets trapped and suffering...
DETROIT, MI, MAY 11, 2104 – A suspicious fire in a vacant, 124-year-old Romanesque Revival church destroyed the building in the early morning. The remaining portions of the state landmark First Unitarian Church building were demolished later in the...
MAY 20: OCALA, FL – Crews arrived to a report of a kitchen fire to find the resident had kept damage to a minimum by using a fire extinguisher to contain the blaze. He then evacuated his wife and three-year-old child. No injuries were reported...
I am constantly hearing and reading stories, discussions and debates about the mission of the fire service and how it is changing. No doubt it is changing, as everything always is. What I continue to hear is that fires are down and our role as a fire...
PIERCE MANUFACTURING INC. has announced plans to host its second annual Pierce 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI, on Sept. 6, 2014, beginning at 9 A.M. Last year, Pierce’s inaugural stair climb at Lambeau Field – with nearly...
Manns Woodward Studios Inc.
Maryland based architectural design firm Manns Woodward Studios Inc. offers expertise in fire station design and is dedicated to providing exceptional service and design solutions that meet the specific needs of clients...
THE FLINT, MI, FIRE DEPARTMENT has taken delivery of a KME Flex custom pumper featuring a KME 100-inch Predator Severe Service chassis XMFD, 400-hp Cummins ISL9 engine, Allison 3000EVS transmission, 1,750-gpm Hale Qmax-175 pump, 750-gallon poly water...
Top-performing fire and EMS organizations hold to very high standards. These standards range throughout the organization from the chief operating officer down to frontline personnel. More importantly, these core standards are enforced and enforced...
Have you ever heard of or witnessed a situation in which two principal leaders from two separate organizations let their personal dislike for each other interfere with their decision-making? Sometimes, this situation interferes with doing what is in the...
It is my hope that each reader of this column is somewhat already aware of the tragic fire that took the lives of two Bryan, TX, fire lieutenants in February 2013. The fire also critically injured two firefighters – all as a part of what was witnessed...
I have the opportunity to travel often to speak, consult, or maybe just get away. Inevitably, like some magnet pulling me in a certain direction, I see a firehouse and I stop – often to see if they are selling T-shirts or maybe just to look over the...
On Oct. 9, 1871, a conflagration occurred in the United States known as the Great Chicago Fire. It lasted for 27 hours, killed more than 250 people, left more than 100,000 people homeless and destroyed nearly 18,000 buildings.
On the fire’s 40th...
This month, we get into a tactical discussion on a topic that frequently arises as a discussion item. For many departments, the idea of using thermal imagers (TIs) at hazardous material calls is not often apparent and not well understood. However, with...
Mass shootings. Active shooters. Mass violence. Responding firefighters, rescue teams and EMS personnel must be aware of the nature of these incidents and how to respond safely and effectively.
The paradigm has certainly shifted for fire/EMS, making it...
Chris is up against the clock as the semester winds down. The firefighter’s final class paper is due in exactly nine hours and he hasn’t begun writing the introduction.
Although he knows that copying and pasting material from the Internet is...
Most of what the average person knows about fire safety likely came from his or her early education and involved characters like Smokey Bear and Sparky the Fire Dog. While these programs have proved very effective at increasing fire safety awareness for...
A female firefighter complains about being sexually harassed by a male coworker. The fire department initiates an investigation. When the firefighter claims she cannot continue to work with the harasser, the department temporarily transfers him to another...
It happens every day. An EMS or fire crew is toned out for a medical call. A unit checks in service, and for the dispatcher it’s on to the next incident. That’s the way things are supposed to be. Except when the rig does not check in or respond, and...
I recall an article I read in the Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark, NJ, that dealt with the assertion that the best leaders generally are good listeners. This was interesting to me because I am by nature a very bad listener.
Years ago, I took part...
Welcome to this month’s Firehouse Chefs Corner. Last time, we covered summertime grilling and BBQ and I also mentioned that Firehouse Chefs was going to open our first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Southern California. I am pleased to announce that...
