B Shifter

Send us Fan Mail We call this "Open Shift", discussing a variety of topics with the crew this time around including health and wellness, wild land fires, communications and out of control IC's. This episode features Nick Brunacini ,  John Vance ,  Sean Glaser and Mike Dobesh. Sean Glaser is currently a lead instructor for the Train the Trainer Blue Card Command Training and Certific...

Send us Fan Mail It's Leadership Thursday so we gathered the chief's around the table to talk about stuff on the strategic level and tell a few light hearted stories too. It like having microphones at a support group for chief officers (and you are invited too!). This week we talk about ballistic protection for firefighters, alternative response and taking care of the safety of Firefight...

Send us Fan Mail We are talking to Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb of the FDNY (see his bio below) about cancer prevention and work life balance. The day after we interviewed Chief Leeb, the FDNY performed a heroic rope rescue at on the 20th floor during a working fire. Read all about it here: https://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/from-the-ic-about-the-fdny-rope-rescue-fire/ A free Healthcare Pr...

Send us Fan Mail It's Leadership Thursday so we gathered the chief's around the table to talk about stuff on the strategic level and tell a few light hearted stories too. It like having microphones at a support group for chief officers (and you are invited too!). This episode features Terry Garrison , Nick Brunacini and John Vance. Sign up for our two day command training workshops here....

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Josh Blum , John Vance & Doug Wehmeyer. The guys are talking hazard zone accountability and how proper accountability on the task, tactical and strategic level outperforms any other system  Sign up for our two day command training workshops here. Shop B Shifter here .  This episode was recored in Westbrook, Maine on October 6, 2022.  Please subscri...

Send us Fan Mail This week there was a joint safety advisory issued regarding the emergency alert button (EAB) on portable radios. You can read that here. This episode is co-hosted by Josh Blum , John Vance & Doug Wehmeyer. Sign up for our two day command training workshops here. Shop B Shifter here .  This episode was recored in Excelsior, MN,  Phoenix, AZ and Deerfield Township, OH on Octobe...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Josh Blum , John Vance & Doug Wehmeyer (making his B Shifter debut!). Douglas Wehmeyer is a thirty-three-year veteran of the fire service holding every rank from fire cadet to fire chief. He is currently a Deputy Fire Chief and Shift Commander for Deerfield Township Fire Rescue Department in Warren County, Ohio and a part-time Fire Chief for his ho...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Josh Blum and John Vance . This episode features rescue radio traffic from Georgia and an Arizona department that does Blue Card without an active tactical radio channel dispatcher. Sign up for our two day command training workshops here. Shop B Shifter here .  Please subscribe! This episode was recorded in Minnetonka, MN on September 21, 2022

Send us Fan Mail You can find information on the FSRI study here . This three-year Research and Development Project examines fireground size-up measures and search and rescue operations as part of a coordinated fire attack on a residential structure. Our guest is Craig Weinschenk, Research Engineer. Craig is a Research Engineer with UL's Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). He holds a Maste...

Send us Fan Mail We are talking fire science with Daniel Madrzykowski. Dan is the Director of Research for the UL's Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). He has a PhD in fire engineering from the University of Canterbury and a MS in fire protection engineering from the University of Maryland. Dan has more than 32 years of experience working to improve fire safety by conducting research and d...

Send us Fan Mail We are discussing certification based training for fire personnel and delve into a certification program for incident commanders (hint; it rhymes with "true guard". This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshops, Division Operation Workshop, Big Box Workshop or a Blue Card Train the Trainer  here....

Send us Fan Mail RESCUE! We go to Deerfield Township, OH and Olathe, KS  for physical rescues of two different entrapped occupants. We break down the radio traffic and talk about the components of Blue Card.  One of the rescues makes Nick take pause while we talk about command function #1, deployment.  This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Sign up for the next Ma...

Send us Fan Mail RESCUE! We go to Cobb County, Georgia for a physical rescue of an entrapped occupant. We break down the radio traffic and talk about the components of Blue Card. This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshops, Division Operation Workshop, Big Box Workshop or a Blue Card Train the Trainer  here. Shop B Shift...

Send us Fan Mail This is part 2 of our conversation with the legendary Chief Vincent Dunn. This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini and John Vance . Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshop here. Shop B Shifter here . Vincent Dunn's Facebook Page Get Vinny's Books books here! Vincent Joseph Dunn is a retired firefighter who served the New York Fire Department for 42 years, risi...

Send us Fan Mail If you are interested in our new two-day workshops or a Train the Trainer for Blue Card, give this episode a listen! This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshops, Division Operation Workshop, Big Box Workshop or a Blue Card Train the Trainer  here. Shop B Shifter here . 

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini and John Vance . Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshop here. Shop B Shifter here . Vincent Dunn's Facebook Page Get Vinny's Books books here! Vincent Joseph Dunn is a retired firefighter who served the New York Fire Department for 42 years, rising in rank to Commander of Division 3 (Midtown Manhattan). A longtime cont...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . We focus on the "help order" and how that works for resolving maydays from the inside out. Sign up for the next Mayday Management Workshop here. Shop B Shifter here .  Please subscribe!

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Grant Light joins us to talk about using Blue Card and more specifically, the strategic decision making model for non-fire events such as trench, water and haz mat incidents. Grant Light has more than 40 years invested in the fire service. He started in 1977 on small suburban departments as a volunteer and pa...

Send us Fan Mail Shane Ray has been a volunteer firefighter since 1984 and a career firefighter since 1994. He has also served as a mayor for six years and the Tennessee Fire Chief’s Legislative Chairman for 12 years. Ray served as the fire chief of the Pleasant View Volunteer Fire Department in Tennessee for 13 years. He then served under Governor Nikki Haley in South Carolina as superintendent a...

Send us Fan Mail Captain Phillip Grandon of Lubbock (TX) Fire/Rescue experienced a life changing event in 2018 while making an attack at a fire in cotton warehouse. He and a fellow crew member experienced a massive collapse of cotton bales and declared a MAYDAY when they were separated from their hose line and could not exit the structure. Captain Grandon shares with us, in detail what happened th...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . We have seen a lot of big box and distribution center fires that have resulted in total losses lately. This includes the Home Depot Fire in San Jose on April 9, 2022. We review that audio and talk about the critical fire ground factors at Big Box Fires (hint: it is a lot different than a single family dwellin...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is co-hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum and John Vance . Radio traffic from Colerain Township Ohio that has a lot going on. The engine was sent to a smoke investigation and discovered a structure fire. Listen as the alarm is upgraded and IC #1 puts together an effective IAP after evaluating the critical fireground factors. This also features a great command transfe...

Send us Fan Mail Don Abbott's Project Mayday has been updated with 2021 numbers and we are here to break it down and offer some commentary on what is continuing to get Firefighters in to trouble. We finish up the episode with another Timeless Tactical Truth from Alan Brunacini. This episode is co hosted by Nick Brunacini , Josh Blum , Jeff King and John Vance Production Assistance from Katie...

Send us Fan Mail In 2008, Firefighters from Colerain Township (Hamilton Co, OH)  Fire Captain Robin Zang Broxterman, 37-years-old, a 17-year veteran career Firefighter and Paramedic, and Firefighter Brian Schira, 29-years-old, a 6 month probationary, part-time Firefighter and EMT with Colerain Township Fire & EMS both died in the Line of Duty after the floor they were on collapsed into the bur...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features real world radio traffic from Cobb County, Georgia. We will break down the different elements of the application of the 8 functions of command and review the initial size through a strategic shifts. This episode is hosted by Josh Blum. If you have radio traffic that you like to submit, please send it to josh@bshifter.com . This episode is co-hosted by Nick Br...