5-Alarm Task Force!

*From the newest cadet to the 30-year firefighter, we have all become part of the “fire culture.” We enjoy hearing stories from the senior folk and cannot help but to juxtapose those stories to this fire service in 2020. Lots of changes and adaptations have occurred. For some we know the reason and for others, we have no idea. Most of those changes came about through the first person who thought a...

We fight fire, we fight HAZMAT, we rescue the ill and injured. And we don’t think twice about doing so. This is who we are and what we do. However, imagine that your enemy is unseen, yet deadly. You have no way to protect yourself, not your gear, or SCBA! What do you do? That is part of question raised by attorney Robert Bilott. If you saw the recent movie, “Dark Waters,” actor Mark Ruffalo portra...

OK, let’s be honest. For many, this pandemic with lockdowns, quarantines, etc., gave folks a lot of home time. Sitting around, binge-watching on cable or satellite and eating. I don’t mean three squares a day, I’m talking about potato chips, tacos, ribs, candies, etc. You probably just stopped reading and dropped your chin on your chest! “How does HE know what I did?” you ask yourself. How? Becaus...

Welcome our monthly installment of “MAKE DUE,” with Capt. Nick Peppard, Sean Duffy and our guest, Capt. Joe DeVito. In this episode, Capt. DeVito, with twenty years’ experience and, who has become an excellent instructor in the use of thermal imaging cameras (TIC’s), makes a strong point that TIC’s are not just for overhaul. As a matter of fact, your TIC is an invaluable tool for your size-up! Cap...

When the average person thinks about firefighters, paramedics and EMTS, the adjectives that often come to mind include, brave, caring, compassionate, putting others’ needs first, etc. The words they often do not think of include, depressed, anxious, upset, confused and more. Why? While most of us love our jobs and helping others when it is most needed, that “love” does not include the pain, trauma...

Sadly, the word, “cancer,” is all too common in today’s fire service. Sure, we have made some bold strides in both educating our members and providing tools and funding in many cases, to mitigate our exposure to carcinogenic compounds. However, there was one place we never thought to look for it, if it were not for a former Worcester MA firefighter and his wife. That location? The very bunker gear...

It is the “buzz-word” of the fire service today - “Leadership.” With about 1.2 million firefighters in the U.S., there are probably about 1.2 million definitions of fire service leadership! In this second podcast of our fifth season, I am joined by a well-educated and well-trained leader in the fire service, Lt. Jason Liska, aka “The Can Man,” who is also a dear friend and colleague, in more than...

Here is a fact – approximately eighty percent (80%) of America’s firefighters serve in suburban departments! Sure, they might work in “cities,” but when we think about urban firefighting, we think of FDNY, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and many more. But most of us are not in cities that large. We may be close to one, but it still means we are suburban firefighters. Sure, we have mixed usage, i.e.,...

One of the most lasting discussions in the fire service, at least since I started in 1977, are those about leadership and mentoring. No matter your generation or your background, when we joined up we were all “rookies,” “probies,” “newbies,” or any other name you wish to attribute to the newest member in your “house.” However, to achieve that sought-after goal of “riding the rig,” we had to learn...

When most of us first heard about the coronavirus, we probably thought that is was a problem for the Chinese to solve. That opinion held until we saw it begin to spread throughout East Asia and Europe. But who thought it could “swim” across the Atlantic or Pacific to reach our shores? My guest on this episode of “5-Alarm Task Force” one of those who did! Dr. James Augustine has served as the Medic...

“DAMN!!! That was fricfkin’ close!” you exclaim, as you are standing next to your Heavy Rescue on a busy, four-lane road. Your engine and ladder helped setup a “blocking” safety to lane to allow you to work on an extrication. But that semi that just passed you ran over half your orange cones! This week, June 14-20 is the annual, joint, IAFC –- NVFC Safety Stand Down. During this week, fire and EMS...

We try to do IT. No matter our vocation or avocation, most of us try to do IT! OK, so what is, “IT?” Well, look at it this way – people have jobs, from first responders to cement works, from pool installers to meat cutters, from first responders to bank presidents, and from teachers to neurosurgeons, we all try to find some way to juggle our professional lives with our persona lives. Sometimes we...

If you are older than 18-20, you probably have had to deal with some form of crisis; be it very small one like a broken shoelace when dressing for a special occasion, someone close to you was ill or a major job interview was lost due to a technicality. None of us is immune to the concept of crisis, however, we are often defined by how we manage that crisis! My guests on this episode of “5-Alarm Ta...

This weekend (4/24-26/2020)the entire Windows Library folder entitled, "MUSIC" was lost in an unauthorized transfer that Windows performed during a reboot to its OveDrive cloud platform. All the files built up over the nearly 4 years of the show were lost. Will I or can I recover from such a loss is yet to be determined. Until next time, Stay Safe, Stay Well and remember to take of each other.

For well over a month, our lives and the lives of millions of people across six of the seven continents, have been turned upside down. The loss of life has been like nothing that has been seen since 1918! And the interruptions to our lives, from home quarantines, online schooling for our children, a ridiculous run on toilet paper, etc. My guest on this podcast is Anthony Mangeri, a certified Publi...

It is all over the news! It has invaded our lives and everything we do! It is the Coronavirus. For well over a month, it has changed our entire perspective into our daily lives; what we do, where we go and who we can and cannot see. No one is more affected by this pandemic than our first responders, from our amazing dispatchers, to our firefighters, LEO’s, paramedics/EMT’s, doctors, nurses, road r...

OK, so we realize that going into the fire service, no matter if it’s career, volunteer, part-pay, wildland, etc., that it can be a dangerous job…very dangerous! And yes, most of us will put our lives on the line to save someone else that, for the most part, is a total stranger! We do so out of our deep commitment to our job. My guest, Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO wrote a very interesting book, “I Can...

Even with all the electronic media at our hands, we often want ourselves to be “spoon-fed” news the way we want to hear it, as opposed to the actual content. When we allow ourselves to hear all the details, we can better understand the topics and discussion around them. This is especially true in the fire service. Though most of the time, when the fire service is in the news, it is usually good ne...

When we’re on the fireground or other emergency scene, most of the time we work as a great team. We know what to do, how to do it and what to do when we’re done. Sure, from time-to-time we may wonder about a particular task we’ve been assigned, but for the most part, it’s smooth running. However, back in the firehouse, it’s often a different story. Each firefighter is encouraged to ask questions,...

In any organization, morale is one of the most important facets of the group, whether they are volunteers at a religious facility, workers in a mill, or the staff of a huge law firm encompassing an entire floor of a high-rise. Yet, it plays an even more important role for a cadre of first responders, especially, the fire service. Most of us have seen a fire department, maybe our own or a neighbori...

Every first responder must remember that any and every emergency scene remains fluid. No matter how hard we practice, review, prepare, etc., there is always an “unknown” factor that can, and often does, come into play. For the fire service, when that happens, we call a “MAYDAY!” Nevertheless, when we do, the scene often devolves into chaos. My guest on this episode is retired Chief Don Abbott. Chi...

PHOTO CREDIT TO Battalion Chief (ret) Keith Helms) As firefighters we constantly face challenges, however not all of them are at an emergency scene. Many of these challenges occur every day; often before we ever leave the station. And many of those challenges deal with our attitudes. You might be surprised at the toll that a wrong attitude can have. My guests for this episode of “5-Alarm Task Forc...

As long as we have had two-way radios in the fire service, the first arriving officer (or whomever was in a “right seat”) would provide some sort of report upon arrival. In my active years in two different departments from ’77-’85, the FAO might give a 15-30 “quick view” to dispatch. I remember being assigned to “recon” a structure file, a few times and report back to the ranking officer on scene....

Many of us in the fire service believe that, for the most part, most fire departments in North America are the same, other than size and run numbers, with some being career and others volunteer. Part of that broad statement is that many of us still face major organizational problems. How we deal with them might make a difference. Chief Stan Metcalfe of the Beaverlodge Fire Dept., in Alberta Canada...

Brad Davidson is a Canadian Fire Executive with 38 years serving, “Mrs. Smith.” Brad has a strong love and passion for the fire service, underscored by his years of experience and his certifications. Through out chats on Twitter and by phone, I shared my passion regarding the Fire Service Cancer Initiative with him. And with that, he was off and running. He has done several years of research since...