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Some Fire Service History The fire and emergency services, in general, have long struggled with the need to get the latest and greatest in equipment and tools. As I have firsthand experience with this phenomena, I can speak directly and frankly about the mistakes we make in...

Since 2011, the United States has seen a marked increase in the number of mass violent events (Active Shooter/Terrorism) (FBI, 2014). These increases have put a spotlight on the Public Safety communities’ response. Since the events of Columbine High School, Virginia Tech...

Firefighter rescue teams (whether called RIT, RIC, FAST or one of a host of other acronyms) are essential and necessary to our survival on the fire ground. To be effective, firefighters assigned to a firefighter rescue team need to have the right tools. Let’s look at a few...

Why Convert The SCBA Waist Strap Into A Harness? One of the biggest challenges in the fire service is to drag an unconscious firefighter out of a fire.  Setting up the SCBA pack as a harness will allow us to drag, move or carry that downed firefighter much more effectively. ...

The truck company driver or chauffeur needs to accomplish, in short order, a number of tasks upon arrival on the scene. Positioning the rig itself is only the first task. Here are 4 tools which will help make a good truck driver into a great truck driver. We’ll spend a...

Before We Respond We have touched on some of the personal tools for the truckie and now I want to focus a little on the tools the truck driver or engineer can use to make life and work a little easier. As the saying goes, these are my tools; there are many like it, but these are...

We often hear about the use of ladders on the fire ground. With all the truck company is responsible for, with limited personnel, how do we have time to ladder a structure while at the same time carrying out our other really important tasks?  We get proficient at carrying them...

As we conclude our review of the #30 Dowling Circle event in Baltimore County, Maryland, we will expand on the truck company’s role in task assignments. Once again, I must point out this is a learning piece not a critique or critical piece. If you have not reviewed the...

Hopefully you have had the chance to review the information in part 1 of our series and the associated NIST and NIOSH documents. As we pointed out in part 1 this is not a critique of what the folks on the ground did or did not do that day. It is a learning opportunity....

We have all responded to the fires that just didn’t go well. In many cases, the only thing hurt was our pride and the building. In some cases, we got hurt, civilians got hurt, or we lost someone. I want to touch on one such event in this article. I want to make clear, this...