Getting Above A Fire Safely And Effectively

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/27/2014 to Fire Fighting

When it comes to fighting fires, the conventional wisdom is to attack the fire from the base, having your feet firmly on the ground on equal footing with the fire. However, there is little doubt that sticking with that wisdom can be risky and could result in more damage to a structure, especially if that structure is two or more stories and the fire is on the first floor.

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So You Want To Become A Firefighter

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/26/2014 to Fire Fighting

If you’re thinking about becoming a firefighter, you probably already have the most important trait a firefighter needs to have – the desire to help people. Because, let’s face it, you won’t get rich by being a firefighter, so there are no reasons to become one if your primary motivation is material gain.

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Reset the Near Miss

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/21/2014 to Fire Fighting

A few years ago, the IAFC put forth a new initiative designed to turn some near-miss situations into learning experiences for various fire departments around the country and the world to better protect all firefighters. The Near Miss program was intended to create valuable lessons for all firefighters to find ways to improve training, protocols and even technologies so that one fire crew's near-miss experience will protect hundreds or thousands of other lives later from the breakthroughs developed.

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Firefighters Offer To Cut Their Own Pensions?

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/21/2014 to Fire Fighting

In city and county governments all over the country, the effects of the Great Recession are still being felt. Even years after the recession ended, several cities have filed bankruptcy and there are a laundry list of others on the verge of it unless they get their financial houses in order quickly. And for some, that may mean the difficult step of either laying off workers like firefighters or police officers or cut government employee pensions or medical benefit payments to keep from having liabilities so large that the municipality couldn't recover.

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Could Hobby Planes Interfere with Wildfire Battles?

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/20/2014 to Fire Fighting

We have all seen them - heck, some of us have had them at some point in our childhoods - buzzing around front yards and in parks. They are the model remote-control or wireless controlled airplanes and helicopters that we so enjoy as we pretend to be a pilot.

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How to Be a Champion for Change

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/20/2014 to Fire Fighting

You are a good, talented firefighter in a great department and a great station crew. So this is not to say that there are bad departments out there, but certainly some departments are better than others. And if you are someone who thinks there should or could be changes that can help your department be even better but you are not in a position of authority in order to put some changes into motion, that doesn't mean you should sit by and wait for someone in authority to come up with the ideas on his or her own.

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Assess Your Fitness Level

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/14/2014 to Fire Fighting

Firefighters are expected to remain in good physical condition, even after going through the initial candidate fitness tests. Though firefighters are not formally evaluated on their physical fitness beyond that initial candidate test, having some sort of informal assessment can be useful for some fire captains and crews to give firefighters an opportunity to evaluate the fitness regimen they currently use and determine if they need to change tactics to address any weaknesses in their overall fitness.

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Don't be The #FirehouseTwit!

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/14/2014 to Fire Fighting

Social media is probably here to stay, though it may evolve as technology gets better and better, but it seems pretty certain that social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit and others will be around for a long time as they continue to mature as a source for getting out breaking information and opinions.

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The Long Slow Run

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/13/2014 to Fire Fighting

For firefighters, there is no question that staying in good working shape is vital to being an effective front-line firefighter. With so many adverse conditions all at once on the fine line - poor visibility, poor air, high temperatures and weight of equipment and clothing - firefighters have to be in top condition during every shift.

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How to Kick Axe Properly

Posted by Feld Fire on 8/13/2014 to Fire Fighting

For firefighters, the axe may very well be the most used handtool at its disposal. It can be a very versatile tool for firefighters in that there are very few instances where an axe would not be useful.

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