Trust. Only a five letter word, yet it carries so much weight. When we leave home in our own vehicle for work or travel, we automatically are trusting of the other drivers on the highway. On a two-lane road we trust that the driver coming towards us will stay in his lane. On a larger […]
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Motivation
Motivation can be defined as a term used to explain behavior. Motivation drives people’s actions, desires, and needs. A motive is what prompts the person to act in a certain way, or have a tendency to exhibit a specific behavior. So, how can we, as leaders, motivate our people? Here are two schools of thought. […]
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My PTSD Journey
So I have really never considered I have had PTSD, but some of the symptoms have been coming more evident as the years go by. I had started to notice I was a different person that what I can remember of myself before the start in public safety. I have always been a champion of […]
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My PTSD Journey Part 2
My PTSD Journey – Part 2 So I have to be honest with you, I’ve had thoughts of suicide. Now, I haven’t talked much about because I was embarrassed about it, frankly. Now this hasn’t been all the time and it usually comes up when I haven’t had the best sleep or during points of […]
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The Business of Fire & EMS
There has been a lot of talk lately of privatization of either fire service, EMS, or both in some communities. The thing about this choice to do so is that communities will suffer if the choose to do so. Why, do you ask? Because firefighting and even EMS is not a sustainable business model. There […]
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Brothers Helping Brothers visit The Fire Asylum
This week I was given the privilege of observing The Fire Asylum’s Masters of Mayhem training program. The Fire Asylum is the brain child of Marty Mayes, a retired veteran police officer and firefighter from Texas. I have known Marty for quite sometime and this training program has been building for many years before this […]
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Key points for scene size ups
Emergency scene size up can be defined as “A rapid mental evaluation of various factors related to an emergency incident”, or “An initial on-scene report by the first arriving unit that is clear, concise and relevant”. The fire service loves acronyms and of course we have some for scene size-up. Some of these acronyms are long […]
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Radio Straps Part 2
It’s been about two years since we published our article about radio straps and turnout gear. It has been shared throughout various magazines and training pages. A few readers asked about our ideas and pointed out that we didn’t address enough when firefighters are wearing the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). We took that point and […]
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The Door Chock
This article started off as a What’s In Your Pockets Wednesday? Facebook post but there was just too much good advice to cut it down so we turned it into a full article! Thanks to Chris Puzzanghero and Clint Cardinale for their input and advice. The article covers both a truck company firefighter’s and an engine company […]
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The On Scene Size Up
Size up begins after a call is dispatched. On the ride to the scene, all members should start to think about all potential impacts that the location will have on the type of incident. Upon arrival of the first due officer in charge he or she should give a detailed description of the incident over […]
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