Wednesday, February 8, 2012
2010 Decade Forecast: Cultural Barriers
By Kelvin Cochran, U.S. Fire Administrator
To meet the challenges we face, and to take advantage of the great opportunities before us, the American fire service will require a collective focus....
2010 Decade Forecast: Emerging Economy
By Rob Brown, Chief, Stafford County (Va.) Fire Department
While the economy gave us the best of times and the worst of times over the past decade, one truth remained constant — the American fire service is every community's all-hazards solution....
Champion, Volvo Partner on Extrication Training
By Mary Rose Roberts
Idaho Emergency Services Training has approved the Five Star Extrication Academy mdash; jointly sponsored by Champion Rescue Tools and Volvo Cars of North America — as the state’s official curriculum for auto-extrication instructor training....
Chicago OEMC Hosts 3-Day, Large-Scale Exercise
By Janet Wilmoth
Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications held a three-day regional exercise to test and evaluate capabilities to respond to and mitigate large-scale incidents....
The Best Teacher
By Glenn Bischoff (glenn.bischoff@penton.com)
Every kid dreams about what they're going to become when they grow up. One of my dreams was to be a firefighter....
NIST to Determine Face-Mask Weaknesses
By Mary Rose Roberts
The U.S. Fire Administration and NIST have begun researching the potential weaknesses in the thermal performance of SCBA face pieces....
Chaos Theory
By Glenn Bischoff (glenn.bischoff@penton.com)
Protocols and intuitive managers are key to reducing dispatcher pressure in 911 call centers....
No Excuse for No-Shows
By Richard J. Royston
Can fire-department personnel actually be a liability? If they don't attend training sessions, they can be....
Virtual Reality
By Mary Rose Roberts (maryrose.roberts@penton.com)
The Houston Fire Department spends millions on an action-packed simulator warehouse....
National Guard Trains Botswana Fire Officers
By Mary Rose Roberts
In the first civil-to-civil exchange of the State Partnership for Peace Program, a team of fire officers from North Carolina traveled to Gaborone, Botswana...
Beware the Hazards of La-Z-Boy Learning
By Ronny J. Coleman
I am particularly dismayed when the death of a firefighter is called "an unfortunate accident." There is nothing accidental about going to the scene of a fire. We go on purpose and everything we do there also should be on purpose....
Factory Approved
By Keith Klassen
A rural Arizona department found a way to extend its water supply through CAFS technology and hands-on education....
DOE Criticizes Los Alamos County
By Mary Rose Roberts
A report released this month by the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General tongue-lashed the Los Alamos County (N.M.) Fire Department for inadequately training its firefighters after the agency paid 100% of the county fire department's $135 million operations under a cooperative agreement. ...
Houston Training Simulation Program Goes High-Tech
By Mary Rose Roberts
The Houston Fire Department spent millions of dollars this year to upgrade its fire-training facility, said Brian Kimberly, a training officer at the department. In fact, the training facility morphed from a garage-based facility available only to chief officers to a $2.6 million, 10,000-square-foot simulator warehouse...
Iraqi Firefighters Get Trained by Air Force
By Mary Rose Roberts
For six weeks, members of the 407th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron mentored Iraqi firefighters to provide them with adequate fire-response experience and training....
Help is a Call Away
By Frank Reiner
A nationwide program offers assistance for chlorine-accident response....
In-Classroom Ambulance Simulator Gives EMS Trainees a Dose of Realism
By Glenn Bischoff
Rhodes State College, in Lima, Ohio, opened its in-classroom ambulance simulator, which is a major component of its EMS education program, about a year ago, and it already is having a significant impact....
Dress to Protect
By Donna Brehm
The process of donning turnout gear is simple — the technology and principles behind it aren't....
D.C. Agency Rises from the P.R. Ashes
By Bruce Evans
Despite being cannon fodder for the local media, the management team has demonstrated true grit in its efforts to make D.C. Fire and EMS the pride of the country....
Love at First Sight
By Glenn Bischoff
An in-classroom ambulance simulator takes EMS education to another level....
Foundation Offers Free Evidence Training Materials
By Mary Rose Roberts
The Firefighters Support Foundation now offers free evidence-preservation training materials aimed at firefighters, said the nonprofit’s president, Ralph Mroz. The program addresses all aspects of preserving evidence at fire, medical and rescue scenes. It also describes the kinds of evidence that first responders are likely to encounter and how to preserve it for law enforcement....
Beware the Perils of Organizational Hypocrisy
By Ronny J. Coleman
You have to take your personal behaviors and place them under a microscope to determine whether you are actually living and breathing what you have espoused during strategic planning....
Affirming Foam
By Janet Wilmoth (janet@firechief.com)
Knockdown time, firefighter safety and the environment are among the reasons to embrace this highly effective tool....
Risky Business
By Stephen H. DiNolfo
Training easily can lead to liability exposure unless precautions are taken....
A Walk in the Park
By James Pellitteri
Preparation and training are the keys to effective high-angle rescue....
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