The Gifted Chief

You got to love Nozzlehead in Fire Chief Magazine, he is a real straight shooter. This month he is writing about Chiefs who do not understand the need for resources. I call these guys the ones who were gifted their jobs by daddy or some politician who knew they would keep quiet. They did not ever ride an engine for very long or move up through the ranks the hard way so they do not understand much. They know "ALOT" and their people are idiots in every way (sarcasm insert).

This points to a great need for some competent regulation of the NIMS standard so that these types of Chiefs will no longer roam the land seeking to hurt any firefighter they can through "i know better recklessness". A Chief that I have heard speak several times said a most simple thing regarding manpower at a scene. "Take the seven basic steps of firefighting plus RIT and assign 2 people for each job" That gives you a bare minimum of 18 fully trained firefighters on scene. Sure we have all gotten by with less but that does not make it right, or safe.

Governing bodies should be held accountable by the Federal boys to having a certified, competent, goes by standards Chief in every department in America.


Watch this video to see a real Chief and what we are up against, super informed commissioner here!

Smoke Tells a Story

Your success is my objective and here is one very effective but short video that if paid attention to can save your life and your brothers. There is great importance to keeping important details in YOUR noggin and seeing the big picture is one of them.

Smoke will always be the great deceiver and should be observed with the future in mind!

The Great Complacency

Ask yourself this question today, am I going to better prepare myself for firefighting this week or will I continue down the road that leads to the greatest risk for firefighters, complacency?

Tell yourself I am going to move forward, run that mile, train safely, take-on that new project, and in general let inertia take effect on my success as a firefighter because i WANT TO LIVE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY!

How many times a shift do you blame someone else for your lack of knowledge or training,count the times honestly and start doing something positive to change that never ending excuse! After all your a firefighter,someone people call upon to take the bad and make it good, you must be READY!

Size This Up

Pulling the big guns out,look at the set-up and the fire-power they put on this one,love the guy who is bigger than the five inch supply line(ARNOLD).

Good Example of putting the water where it needs to go, so many times the nozzleman greatly influences the effectiveness of the firefight.

Drills we need to repeat

These guys got it right, the big picture is we all need to do this to really be ready....MORE often than we do!!

The "Brave" new world

Have you asked yourself lately why the powers that be are going the way of the lawyers and not just fighting back, you know what I am talking about!

Some really smart people want us to not be firefighters anymore, they want us to ride to the fires with our helmets secured in locked storage and gear in a closet and boots in an "approved" compartment and airpacks come to the scene in a special delivery truck and only then will you consider putting them on!

Lets not prevent accidents and deaths with stupidity, how about we take a look at solving the problem with some of the god given brain power we have and collectively fight back against the tide of suit happy people out there. Here is really how simple it is, take the time today to strap your helmet to your head and put your seatbelt on and then go to the incident, AMEN!

Live Burn Like it Love it Do it

Fear is starting to creep into the fire service thanks to my favorite people (Lawyers and Judges) but guys press on. In the absence of a money tree most departments can not find training that would match live fire training. There are so many advantages to be gained by continuing to train hands on like this , the biggest being that fires are not coming as much as they had in the past and so the only experiences and familiarity we can get come from this training. I hear the various excuses spewing forth but you are just afraid. Burn with the people who know NFPA 1403 and follow it, this greatly reduces the hazards for real. Set fires that will train others for fire behaviour and intensity, smoke travel, rollovers etc. There is a great group of guys in the Carolinas that are continuing to provide the best of the best firefighter survival training, check it out at Gaston College. These guys are committed to the truth of the toughness needed and the reality of heat and smoke in training applications. New guys can do no better than to search out live burn training if the ladies in their department will not deliver it, be safe and have a great shift!