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The success or failure of leadership boils down to how functional that leadership is. Crews on career fire departments may rarely interact on a personal or professional level with anybody above the rank of Battalion Chief. On volunteer departments, the Chief is very likely to be...

#3 – Deltoid Fly The third worst mistake occurs during a deltoid or “delt” fly which works the shoulder muscles. All too often I see people in the gym swinging the arms to bring the weights up, going beyond shoulder height. The idea is to lift the most weight, right? Wrong....

Carrying tools in our pockets is commonplace and essential for every firefighter. But the problem is that we could essentially carry a whole toolbox in our pocket and this will cause problems for us. One issue with having too many tools in our pockets is that it will cut down on...

You build on failure.  You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space. — Johnny Cash Johnny Cash had it right...

The 360° size-up is a must do task at every structure fire. It provides us with vital information to many factors so we as fire officers can formulate our IAP (incident action plan) to best attack and extinguish the fire. This is accomplished by actually walking around the...

#4 – Bicep Curls Mistake #4 is actually two mistakes, both commonly occurring during bicep curls. When doing bicep curls I often see people “swinging” the weights up, using their hips to gain momentum. Another mistake is allowing the elbows to migrate backward, in other...

A jump bag, go bag, or grab bag is simply a duffle or gym bag that is packed with necessary items that we may need in case of a long incident or weather emergency. The bag can be stored either in our vehicles or close to the front door of our homes. There is no set standard for...

#5 – The Bench Press Mistake #5 is arching your back under bench presses. When this occurs you are making the exercise easier, hurting your spine, and likely not engaging the right muscles. While doing a bench press, or any weightlifting exercise for that matter, you should...

Using The Tools of The Trade After we’ve completed our size-up of the padlock, we need to apply our tools to the problem. Remember, we always want to go after the weakest part of the puzzle, whether that is the lock or the hardware it is attached to. We have a variety of tools at...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Forestry Service, the Department of Homeland Security, and many state agencies offer fire service grants for everything from apparatus to station buildings to bunker gear. In many cases, we are competing for funding with hundreds...