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Harry M. Archer MedalCourage and Valor…Understated, Revisited
The citation is proof that people can survive even in the most unthinkable conditions. The FDNY announced its 2012 Medal Recipients this week. The highlight of this year is the awarding of the Harry M....
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Blanket Statements
A new post from "Captain" Dave LeBlanc. All vacants are empty…. Fire through the roof means no entry…. We have 20 minutes interior before collapse happens….. Victims can’t survive in burning...
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“Getting it Done”Absurdity on Alabama Fireground
Video begs us to ask why isn't the message getting out and why is this thought to be okay in the first place? There’s little information on this fire but that is not relevant. It doesn’t take a Blue...
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Rhetorical Lesson No.10Profiling and Pets
If VSP is to reduce risk of injury and death it should apply to searching for the Golden Doodle, right? This month NIOSH released the firefighter fatality investigation report of the Worcester,...
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A Profiling ScenarioDo you know what your next move is?
Scenario should worry you and lead you to look into what might happen. O400 hours… “Communications to Engine 7, Truck 4, neighbors are reporting that there are people trapped inside 604 Smith Street.”...
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Why We Search:Abandoned House, Hospital and Projects
Not that well boarded up on Oahu Fire in an abandoned home on Oahu’s North Shore ended with two squatters receiving treatment for smoke inhalation. Candles were the cause for the Pupukea Road blaze, in...
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Obligations
FDNY “As first responders to fires, public safety and medical emergencies, disasters and terrorist acts, FDNY protects the lives and property of New York City residents and visitors. “ Los Angeles...
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Why We Search:Jumper and Rescue at Chicago Abandoned Building Fire
Two people injured after fire in South Side home Chicago firefighters responded to the 4800 block of South Indiana Avenue on the city’s South Side for the abandoned house fire. A woman had jumped to...
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Protecting Lives
Protecting people’s lives will involve risk for us as firefighters “A female occupant, in her 40’s, was unable to escape due to the intense heat and thick smoke and was quickly located by...
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Contradictions in Atlanta
Rescue challenges those who cling to absolutes in fear and tradition. Atlanta firefighters rescued a man from a house fire on 4 March 2013. The facts reported should remind us all that many of the...
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Why We Search: Dropping the Hammer in Lewiston and Dead in Vegas
"Vacant" properties in Maine and kids playing inside them in Nevada Lewiston, Maine. After a multiple alarm fire ripped through two vacant apartment buildings on Monday, as well as the 29 April blaze...
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Why We Search: Columbus Firefighters Rescue Child in Vacant House Fire
It’s not just drunks and drug addicts in these joints An 8-year old Columbus boy is in critical condition after having been rescued from a vacant house fire. Columbus firefighters responded to the...
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Why We Search: Rescue in New York, Bodies in Texas, Colorado and Ontario
Refuting the belief that there is no need to enter since no one is inside It continues, the reporting that inside some of these abandoned, vacant structures, people of all type seek shelter inside...
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The Greatest Risk, Taking No Risk At All
There is a debate that rages, on a daily basis; aggressive versus safe – interior versus exterior – searching versus waiting. Depending on where you work and what your experience is, you no doubt...
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Pushing The Envelope
Start off on the right foot – Don't shortcut the basics 'Pushing the envelope' is a phrase that was popularized in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book “The Right Stuff”, about the NASA’s space program. The...
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Does This Label Look Familiar?
It should, after all, it is on the inside of YOUR turnout gear. In the past, we have used pictures of the FDNY’s “war years”. Many of these came from Michael Dick who owns the website...
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Remembrance and Our Purpose by Dave LeBlanc
Did you forget why you signed up for this job? Maybe you should review the origin of ‘EGH’ No matter whom you ask, June is a tough month for the fire service. From the Vendome in Boston to the Super...
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Crew Resource Management for the Fireground by Dep. Chief Ron Ayotte
Safety for the fire service begins in many places, converging at an incident I was reading the July-August issue of AARP Bulletin (please, no giggles from the peanut gallery, you will all be there in...
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Why We Search: Vanishing X’s and Rescues
Building Markings and Rescues The latest in our ‘Why We Search’ feature highlighting rescues, smart and safe tactics and the plight departments and municipalities are in dealing with these...
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Rhetorical Lesson No.13: Do Large Departments Get a Pass?
If this were in the suburbs, what would the reaction be? I understand. I’ve been there myself, on the roof, no SCBA or sometimes with SCBA but not ‘on air’. I was younger then and with youth...
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