Firefighter Safety
Fireground safety, incident management, rescue operations and line-of-duty risk.
What’s One More Noise on the Fireground?
First off, a faulty PASS device is UNACCEPTABLE on any fire scene. When firefighters and officers hear a PASS sounding it should ONLY mean that a fellow firefighter is in need of assistance.
How are Your Organizational Competencies?
I certainly support the idea of pursuing accreditation by those organizations that have the resources, e.g., people, time, and money, but what about those who don't? Well, for those departments I'd like to suggest that they use my "homegrown" template for identifying what's important in their service delivery so that they can then collect the data to determine, How are we doing?
Networking for the Common Good of Fire and EMS
If I were you, I’d spend my limited money on equipment to put CAFS into my firefighting arsenal instead of buying LDH; the 6” water mains in your town really don’t justify the use of LDH. I think that maintaining your 3” supply line cache and combining it with CAFS will give your department plenty of tactical firefighting capability.
Resource Management When the “Big One” Hits
While WBT and social media apps can greatly enhance your community's ability to recruit and mobilize resources in "real time" following an event generator, don't wait until the event happens to put a system in place beforehand. Start now to create a marketing plan to inform and educate the public about how your community will use social media when an EOP/COOP/COG event strikes the community.
Some thoughts on flashfloods and swift water rescue
In the past couple of years, many communities have been faced with torrential rains and flooding. As we've seen in the most recent flooding in Colorado, we are exposed to a huge risk when it comes to emergency response to both the slow rising water type of flooding and flash floods.
6 tools for breaching auto glass
Automakers use two types of glass: tempered and laminated. Tempered glass has commonly been used for the side and rear windows, while laminated glass was reserved for windshields.
Battery-powered extrication tools: 6 things to ask
In the beginning there was the Hurst Hydraulic Rescue Tool — the Jaws of Life — and extricating patients from motor vehicle crashes has never been the same.
4 things to know before buying a rotary saw
Power saws have been an important part of the firefighter's tool cadre for many years. Today, most departments carry a variety of power saws including, but not limited to circular or rotary saws, chainsaws, and reciprocating saws.
Incident Safety Begins with Proactive Fireground Behaviors
In these days of budget reductions and inadequate staffing, the best use of RIC is the non-deployment of RIC because our proactive fireground behaviors ensured that they were never needed.