Incident Command System
Are firefighter MAYDAYS becoming too frequent?
Does your fire department have a written firefighter mayday procedure (SOG)? If not, you should be asking why not? If it does, how skilled and practiced are you and your peers at following the procedure in the event you find yourself in a mayday situation?
Residential Fire Sprinkler Systems and You
As numbers of residential sprinkler systems in the country continue to grow, fire service leaders need to ensure that our fire officers and firefighters have the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to work with these systems to effectively ensure extinguishment of the fire and effectively address property conservation, the third incident priority.
Resistance to Change in the Fire Service
Let me introduce you to the “sacred cow” in the North American fire service: interior firefighting. Once again we hear the same tired arguments against changing our default tactics for combating structure fires...
What I’ve Learned by Reviewing Firefighting Videos
We have more access to “real world” fire video because of mobile recording devices and the Internet, but how much are we really taking advantage of this wealth of information to get better at doing the job more safely, efficiently, and effectively?
Firefighters and Smoke Disorientation
If we cannot objectively analyze our own actions and the actions of others for the purpose of learning and not repeating mistakes, can we really call ourselves professional firefighters?
Taking Care of the Rescued Firefighter
We have to be able to seamlessly move from firefighter rescue to firefighter patient care. And that will entail additional training and practice on the part of both firefighters and the EMS providers — who may not be firefighters. Why? Because in addition to a firefighter who may be in need of life-saving medical intervention, such an event is also a workplace injury site if the firefighter survives, or the site of a line-of-duty death if resuscitation efforts are unsuccessful or the firefighter later succumbs to his injuries.
4 Tools for Personnel Accountability on Scene
There are many Personnel Accountability System options available to fire departments. There are four basic systems to pick from: name tag, passport, bar code and unit identifier; here's a look at what you need to know to find the right one for your department.
Every fireground leader must be a safety officer
Nobody can, or should, have more positive influence over the behaviors of a firefighter on the emergency scene than his or her tactical leader.
Tampa II Conference: Food for Thought
In support of our brother and sister firefighters and "industry insiders" who are in Tampa this week, I'm going to repost a couple of the blogs I've written in this space on the topic of firefighter deaths and injuries and our progress--and lack thereof--in reducing both of those outcomes. The first is Smoke and Firefighter Disorientation: The Link to Firefighter Fatalities and Injuries.
Coaching for Command Competency
I know that I learned a great deal from everyone whom I facilitated, and my officers and their firefighters really looked forward to our short but productive sessions. They always said that they appreciated the time I spent with them because they learned how to be better initial incident commanders, and they learned what my expectations were for them at the emergency scene in that role.
How Prepared is Your Community to Communicate During Its Coming Crisis?
There is a lot more that can be done to use social media in a community emergency, but this should be a good “starter kit”. So what are you waiting for? Your community emergency, either man-made or naturally occurring, is “just around the corner”.
Update: What I’ve Continued to Learn by Reviewing Firefighting Videos
By: Robert Avsec Note to My Readers: I first published this piece early in 2013. I think it’s pertinent to republish it–with some revisions–because I continue…