Rise up Leaders!

Maybe you don't see this happening everyday, but I do. Fire Chiefs unwilling to call for the necessary personnel at a scene because of every poor and irresponsible excuse in the book. It contributes to firefighter deaths, takes longer to get the job done, and doesn't utilize the common sense training they have had as Chiefs...maybe. There are national standards you Chiefs are always holding firefighters to while you ignore all the ways command can work to keep firefighters safe. Take all that pride and ignorant ego crap and throw it away right now while you still haven't hurt or killed anyone. You want your generation to be respected then show us how your going to train yourself to do what will be best for your firefighters not yourself....come on... you can rise up and lead!

Command

Ventilation Practices

Common ventilation practices have tried to advance beyond common sense and this is never a good thing, kinda like NFPA adding all the foolish "safety" standards to fire service apparatus.
In the video you see two components of a vertical vent go well and fire attack go poorly which demonstrates my first thought here, why are we not communicating enough information so that ventilation does get done in direct relation to how the fire fight is getting done?

Why do we book ventilation to death and teach young minds to always get the PPV set up quick so we can get the smoke out when there are many other firefighting issues to consider like construction and fuel load for starters?

Underwriters Labs has put together some great information on ventilation that is based on facts instead of "backdraftology". Check it out!!

http://content.learnshare.com/courses/73/306714/player.html

Vacant Buildings

Recently we see firefighters losing their lives or getting badly injured at abandoned or vacant fires and when you examine the training versus the response they are greatly at odds. The fire service knows this is a growing problem, the fire commanders and firefighters have the knowledge to react correctly but each and every time the only observable consistent thing is that most people on scene forget all the Mr.Obvious cues and go about risking a lot of life, for very little, even when an exterior set of operations would safely and effectively end the fire situation.

Very experienced officers will say in one sentence that the hazards are great and yet when they commit firefighters to an interior strategy they hurt them or get them killed. Why oh why are we inside, because that's where the action is! Not because of a confirmed rescue situation or hazards related to an exposure problem. You can use those last two as your excuses but they do not hold water with me because they are so few and far from the usual set of facts.

Its simply like asking yourself, if I know there is fire showing from a basement do I send firefighters in on the first floor? NO, NO, you do not folks, stop the madness!

Vacant and abandoned structures should be approached with aggressive observation and sizing up of the present and future possibilities of the fire potential. If interior operations are unavoidable then all necessary resources need to be called and a time limit might need to be employed. When the cues related to the fire tell you everyone out, do it immediately. Interior crews should always report conditions that are hazardous and leave when they are!

I listened to a recent vacancy fire in a big city with many resources and, while communication was great, no one responded to what they heard until very late in the game when a safety officer finally deems it unsafe enough to leave. Many of them reported very hazardous conditions and very little exposure problems but did they leave? NO. The commander wanted to know about the fire in the basement but not the holes in the floors and the sagging walls where people were operating. Real safety means taking real actions to make people as safe as is possible in this very dangerous job. They were lucky this time but how about I don't get to say that anymore and we all start keeping the firefighters safe.

Ask yourself this last question. If this fire I'm working has no one to rescue and no significant exposure issues and it burns to the ground what will happen?

Five quick tips for training

1. Make it hands-on
2. Make it as real as safely possible
3. Make it fire related
4. Prepare for the class
5. Keep doing it consistently


If you really want to be at the top of your game and train like you fight fires then go train with these guys, you will never forget it!

http://www.gaston.edu/programs/images/scbabrochurefall09.pdf

http://www.gaston.edu/fire/training.html

You just really have no idea how great training can be until you go here, if you are a firefighter for REAL!

Of course here is my video offering of the day, be safe keep in touch!

Rockin Article on Wind -Driven Fires

Here is a great, short article on a fire condition that we do not see often and is very unpredictable in every way. When guys talk about taking a beating inside I guarantee you they are talking about this. I recall a fire that was in a 40mph wind awhile back and it was unforgiving, so watch out for these fires they like to bite.