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?

Incident Command System Revised

I feel the need to supply way of communication that will help with all the great, easy to use systems out there. The nims system that we are all using...har,har...is wonderful if you use it and I do not mean make your own use of it.

If your frustrated with the command structure within your department it is probably because of two things, which are correctable by the way. One is, people in your department are not trained in their responsibilities or held accountable to their role either. Two, the top does not do their role or respect the roles below them because their ego will not allow it.

So the change now to bring to your department is the very novel idea of.... now hold your breath....use your rank structure and hold people accountable for not doing it.
If your the Chief and you pass information on to a firefighter or write up a firefighter then you probably just ignored two or more ranks that held the resposibility for delivering those things and you did wrong. YOU compromised the safety of personnel by bypassing the command structure. And since in most departments there is no one holding you accountable, its time for changing...YOU!

So start using command systems everyone and if its not your job leave it to the great people who do that for you.

The Iron Fireman Rides On

There are old schoolers out there who may understand this best and I hope they read the description. This ad for a heating coal fired heating unit was found underneath 18 layers of wall paper. This unit was sold 1940's era and the company had 24 hour service, WOW! If you read through the description you will pick up on the similarities between the ad and real Iron Firefighters that last a great long time and provide great service! Short for today but this takes old school to a new level!! Be safe!

Relentless in many ways!

The firefighter has many great qualities that serve the public well and one of these is being relentless. We tire from mental and physical exhaustion but press on to rescue a life , to preserve properties and assist other agencies. Firefighters are so relentless in doing the job that they become taken for granted like we see now with our crazy economic state "forcing" governing agencies to look at cutting the fire service first.

I would like the Federal government to help us out in some real ways like passing legislation that would require politicians to be trained to oversee the services they presently do not and pass tests to know they have fulfilled the requirements.

I think also it is time that all businesses that provide water to the citizens also provide water to fire departments without harassing them. These businesses should be fined daily for not allowing or providing water to FD's for training and firefighting. I doubt that if the public knew that this happens they would tolerate it and it would cause litigation.

It should be a comfort to the public that while the politicians relentlessly attack us we will still stand strong and relentlessly provide great fire protection.

I am rambling on today and fired up about politicians who are not educated...etc.... but watch this to see what will be coming to your town soon!

Firefighter Bailouts

I've watched this close call and wondered about a great many things about firefighting and this one also made me think back on FDNY Lt.McCormack's FDIC presentation because the two could be used together for training. While it is true that there are many unknowns here and I hope that the FD's involved really review this incident thoroughly, Mr.Obvious does rear his head here for several issues.

There are many firefighters on scene at the beginning of this video but where is the vent team and where are they venting? There is great fire involvement of this structure but where are the attack teams operating, I count at least twelve guys with the hands in their pockets out back? Now the bailout, they do help with the ladder but how about a hand down the ladder, my legs are burning up thinking about how long he hangs there with no help. There's a possible rescue and you cannot see much sense of urgency. This guy with the cam on air is a joke in real time.

I hope training and the guts to do what needs doing comes to this department some day. This firefighter is so fortunate to have found a window.

Carry On,You Guys Rock!

Just thinking about the boys up north today and what a sacrifice! Hope they are surrounded with great love and loyal leaders. This is just my little spot to say keep doing your best guys, you rock!

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!

Accountability

I know that most thoughtful, loyal, progressive leaders truly care about where their people are operating and want to know that they are safe.

These guys follow a realistic system so that this is accomplished and the one thing that does not work is a tag mounted on a rig. You say by cracky that's how we do it, I say you have a dog tag for when they die, that's all.

The way you know is first of all to listen when your approaching or on the fireground to the reports given out. Secondly, company officers should as a discipline radio in their crew location and any change of location. Well we have heard that a hundred times , sure but it is time to start making it happen so that everybody really does get to go home. How do I know where you are, because you tell me where you are.

Of course this also requires radio discipline, let's just start training all our personnel in how to talk instead of letting them learn bad habits on their own and we will see a change here.

You can spend thousands of dollars but until you do this there will only be a false sense of possibly knowing where you guys are and that is not the kind of accountability that really saves lives.

Are you going to have to spend time drilling this into their heads, oh yes you do because our independent nature tells us not to radio anything like where we are because it is a responsible behaviour and we hate that.





This is WHY!!! Rest in peace brothers!
It could happen to you, Today, Think about that!

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!

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!!

Just a Little Truth

I was thinking about manpower again, ya know the kind of manpower we all need is sometimes the kind that is hard to appreciate. I'm talking about those hardheaded individuals that we all have that also train hard and take the job real serious. These guys will call you out on anything, say stuff you would rather not hear, yet when that working fire comes in or a real job needs to get done they will go the distance. These people come out of the fire to tell you what is done not why they could'nt do it. They do not back down to much and that is why they are the best! Firefighters are like soldiers in that they are not always the best at being real nice, it is a battle after all!