Last night on the Firefighter Netcast, we discussed the Dekalb County, GA incident. At the time of our discussion, we were joined by ChiefReason Art, and Christopher Naum. I enjoy talking to guys like the two of them. The reason why I like talking to them is that they usually offer a thought, a mindset, or an ideal that I might not have thought of on my own. I am not talking about a varying opinion per say, but more of broadening the scope of the discussion to bring up issues I didn’t have the inclination to.

While the incident happened in Dekalb, this is not about the Dekalb County Fire Rescue Department. This is about the incident, why it happened, and preventing it from happening again….anywhere.

In case you just crawled out from underneath a rock, the Dekalb County incident I am referring to is best portrayed by Dave Statter’s coverage here and here.

Chief Reason Art offers his view of the incident:

And if I was a resident of this county, I would want some assurances that asses will come out of the seats of the trucks and check my welfare, if needed. And that’s really my biggest beef. Even after not smelling smoke or seeing fire, someone could have, at the very least, checked on this lady’s welfare, just to re-assure her. Continue reading his full post on the subject.

There has been an investigation report published by the Dekalb County Fire Rescue Department. The report can be viewed here. I am unclear if there is a further investigation going on or not.

The incident occurred at 1687 North Houghton Court in Dekalb County, Georgia on January 24th. To this point, 5 personnel have been fired over the events and the Fire Chief David Foster resigned.

Art Goodrich brought up some thoughts last night about how long it will take for Dekalb Fire and Rescue to overcome this incident.

Think about how many departments are facing budget cutbacks. Year after year, we have to cut more and more. Now think about hard your locality would be hit by a big dollar lawsuit.  How will anyone be able to afford a settlement or lawsuit and where will they take the money from to pay for it?

How will this incident reflect on the public’s confidence in their department. I don’t know about you but I think I might be second guessing my department if something like this were to happen. The public doesn’t understand what we do and this incident only complicates things. It is unacceptable and the entire incident should be thoroughly investigated to find any underlying issues which need to be corrected.

I feel as though there might be an underlying problem here. Potentially the way in which firefighters do business. If doing a visual from the street is an every day occurrence, there needs to be remedial training done from the bottom up and top down to address the tunnel vision and ensure compliance with strict SOP’s.

If we get a fire alarm, we get out of the truck and do a 360 walk around. We look in windows and shine flashlights into them to get a visual on the inside of the building. We make sure that it is false alarm and we do not take others words for it. If we are able to gain access, we check the area where the alarm is going off and make sure that there are no issues.

If we get a call for a fire, we do the same. This woman called and reported a fire in her house. I will be damned if I am not knocking on her door.

Complacency kills. This is a case study for that.

I have ALWAYS maintained that we can have all the fun at the firehouse. We can play practical jokes on one another. We can cut up and enjoy camaraderie. HOWEVER, once those tones hit we go to work. We should be serious, professional, thorough, and responsible. We are being held accountable…rightfully so!

I am sure that the members of the Dekalb County Fire Rescue Department are VERY committed to their customers. I am sure that they are great at what they do and are great firefighters. I certainly hope they are able to overcome the obstacles which might present themselves after this incident. I realize that this incident and mistakes made during it do not reflect the entire department.

If you take anything away from this, let it be that you have learned from their mistakes.

This is a reminder that Firefighter Netcast will be live tonight.

We will be discussing Old School vs. New School Firefighting and how social media has benefited/hampered us.

Feel free to add some comments for us to think about. Also, plan on being with us live at 9pm EST. Click on the banner to go to FirefighterNetcast.com.

We will also be hitting on some recent firefighting news like the incident in Dekalb, Georgia.

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. The Firefighter Cancer Support Network has been connecting firefighters with cancer to help them cope, assisting them throughout their battle, and giving them tools so they understand more about the cancer they have.

I remember meeting one of the guys behind the Firefighter Cancer Support Network at the IAFF Convention in Toronto several years ago. I am not sure the name of the guy, but he created it after battling cancer and winning his fight. He created it to help other firefighters.

I dare say that there are not many firefighters in the U.S. or elsewhere who do not know of a firefighter who has been stricken with some form of cancer.

Take a minute to check out the site and learn what they are all about!

I am not exactly sure how they do things in Poland. However, one guy is extremely lucky his wife asked for his undertaker to grab a necklace off of his supposedly dead body before burial.

That is right. A man in Poland was pronounced dead by a doctor…but when an undertaker went to retrieve a necklace from the man’s neck he found a pulse.

Not only was the man not dead, the man is alive and well today.

According to the report, the man was released from the hospital after a couple weeks of treatment.

“The undertaker saved my life. I am so grateful. The first thing I did when I got out of hospital was take him a pot of honey,” he said. Read the entire article here

If you want to know where I get my news at…some of it comes from The EMSNetwork.org. Subscribe for daily EMS news updates at the site!

You can access all the latest posts from some great blogs at FireEMSBlogs.com

FireEMSBlogs.com is a “community” of Fire Blogs, EMS Blogs, Fire/EMS Blogs, Training Blogs, and even News Blogs related to the Fire/EMS service. Let me start off by saying that I am not speaking for FireEMSBlogs.com, I am merely explaining my view of what it is and what it isn’t. I don’t work for them.

What we are….Independent blogs which operate in a community. Think of “The Kitchen Table” over at FireRescue1. Kinda. Actually, some of the bloggers you see in this community also write for The Kitchen Table blog. Maybe even the family of bloggers over at Firehouse.com or FireEngineering.com…but not quite. All of those bloggers are writing specifically for those publications (web sites).

The creators of FireEMSBlogs.com merely took independent blogs and brought them into a community. That community feeds off of each other through commonalities like certain areas of the each blogs template.

What we aren’t…We don’t write for anyone but ourselves and our readers. The stuff we write is born of our own thoughts and we are to blame if we piss you off. There is no oversight from FireEMSBlogs.com on our content, although I am sure there are some rules somewhere along the way to prevent things like pornography for example.

FireEMSBlogs.com got started a couple of months ago and I decided to hop on board with FireCritic.com. I did this after many questions about the new community and I needed to know what it was and what it wasn’t. After all, I didn’t want anyone telling me what to do or what not to do. After finding the answers to my questions, I decided to take the plunge into the unknown. I figured at least there would be an increase in traffic so it couldn’t hurt.

In the end, or the beginning of FireEMSBlogs.com if you want to look at it that way, I am happy with my decision. I have been able to maintain if not increase traffic and I have become a part of a very powerful community.

Not too many people know about the community though. There hasn’t been much mention of FireEMSBlogs.com or what it is. That is mainly due to the building, maintaining, designing, and adjusting by the men and women who run it. The individual bloggers have been adjusting to the new platform and trying to garner the potential content of having our stuff show up on other blogs.

That being said, they have been marketing our content through several different mediums. For the most part, this has been through their facebook page of Firefighter Nation or the facebook page for JEMS Connect. They also have twitter accounts they use to network. In case you didn’t know, Firefighter Nation and JEMS Connect are brought to you by the same people as FireEMSBlogs.com.

Throughout the homepage for FireEMSBlogs.com there are various ways of seeing content, popular content, and the newest content from the individual blogs in the community.

For instance, STATter911.com is a very popular site. I don’t have any numbers so don’t ask. What I do know is that I get a decent bit of traffic from Dave when my stories show up on the global footers, or my banner shows up on the global header. If you don’t know what I am referring to, scroll all the way to the bottom and you will see 4 stories by bloggers in our community. It is a powerful networking tool.

When you get a chance, check out FireEMSBlogs.com. The site is really only one page that offers the most recent stories by the bloggers in the community. It also offers a Blog of Note in the top right. Even more cool is that you can scroll by topic and see what we are writing about any specific issue.

Outside of the “global” areas of our individual sites maintained by FireEMSBlogs.com, we have full control of what shows up on our posts and pages.

I guess you could think of FireEMSBlogs.com as being an rss reader of all of the blogs in the community. There are some great blogs here. As new posts are written by the various blogs they show up on the front page at the top and drop off the bottom as new posts are written.

So there you have it…FireEMSBlogs.com in a nutshell as I see it. There have been many blogs added since its inception and there will be more to come.

In case you don’t know what blogs are on here, there is a dropdown menu at the top of the page. I will also incorporate all of the blogs by listing them below. I only realize now that I should have named this site AAAA Fire Critic!

• A Firefighters Own Worst Enemy
• Ambulance Driver Files
• Backstep Firefighter
• Chief Reason
• Command Safety
• Fire Critic
• Fire Daily
• Fire Geezer
• Firefighter Blog
• Firehouse Zen
• Happy Medic
• Life Under the Lights
• Medic 22
• Medic 999
• Medic Three
• Raising Ladders
• S.A.F.E. Firefighter
• STATter 911
• Street Watch
• The Company Officer
• Tiger Schmittendorf
• Traditions Training

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to “A Firefighters’ Own Worst Enemy“. The blog is a new one that recently captured my attention. I would categorize it as a hybrid training blog with some real World experience written in by the author.

The “about page” states:

Jason Hoevelmann is a Deputy Chief/Fire Marshal with the Sullivan Fire Protection District, a combination department, and a career firefighter/paramedic with the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District in North St. Louis County.

and also that:

The blog is based on a class developed by Jason that he will present at Missouri Winter Fire School and at FDIC 2010.  Here is a brief description about A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy:

A comprehensive look at why firefighters make bad decisions on the job and off duty. This class is designed to offer methods for dealing with your own problems and challenges as a firefighter and how to help officers assist their men and women with these problems. We will discuss why the same situations are killing us year after year and identify ways to avoid becoming a statistic. Finally, we will point out ways to enrich our own careers and personal lives, as well as assisting our firefighters in advancing their own careers and ways to help the organization improve and grow.

If any of you will be at FDIC, plan on attending Jason’s class! I plan on attending FDIC, we will see what kind of trouble I can get into!

I admit it, I am a junkie when it comes to stupid humans. I love sites like Break.com, NothingToxic.com, and EvilChili.com. These sites offer the best in stupid humans along with other viral video. One thing that really amazes me is watching people (most often young kids) lighting themselves on fire.

I don’t remember specifically being told by my parents, the nuns who taught me, or anyone else not to light myself on fire. I think it was just inferred by my common sensibility and realization that I am not immune to combustion.

Either way, some kids think that they are fireproof. I assure you that they are not. Burns are not fun, burns will change the way you look, and burns which are bad enough can indeed kill you.

That being said, some kids still believe that they can run around on fire and nothing bad will come of it.

Please, whatever you do…DO NOT SET YOURSELF ON FIRE.

Of course I have video evidence. Check out this idiot below. What the F was he thinking.

I just watched this video below on Firefighter Spot (video is embedded from Firevideo.net). The video really caught my eye because the firefighters were operating so well. I just couldn’t get over how the firefighters seemed to go to work on their various tasks at a steady and efficient pace. No one was running, yelling, freaking out, or even yard breathing. Hoselines were being pulled, guys were masking up, ladders were being thrown, and the job was getting done. Almost like it was choreographed.

The fire has been dubbed a close call because of the smoke explosion which occurs at 1:40. Even with all that, the crews don’t freak out and it is obvious everyone is ok.

That being said, I feel the need to point out one issue I saw. The roof vent firefighter hits the ladder at about 3:05. He fails to sound the roof although he does start his saw before getting on the roof. Taking a pike pole or axe to sound the roof would have been ideal. If the saw stalled, he could have resorted to using the axe. Around 3:55 we lose all sight of the firefighter who is working alone on the roof (by my standpoint). I believe he went to the rear of the roof where a ladder had been thrown earlier in the fire. Either way, if I was the Incident Commander I might have had to move around a little bit to keep track of him. Ideally, he would have had a partner up there with him and he would have been on air prior to getting on the roof in those conditions. After all, if I fall through the roof I would want to be on air already.

Great job Guys

Find more videos like this on firevideo.net

Engine 3 - Combination Utility Non-aerial Truck...you figure it out!

I have new digs…not here at the Fire Critic, but at my job. I got moved from a station which was built in the 70’s to a station built last year. I went from most recently driving a 75′ Quint (single rear axle) to driving an engine with an elevated master stream. Both trucks have the same cab and relatively the same engine components. This one just weighs less and is by all intents and engine, just doesn’t look like one.

The biggest difference is the crew. Myself and my Captain are the most senior guys (with almost 11 years a piece). That was a nice welcome for vacation signups. The Captain and I were actually in Recruit School together and is one of two out of my recruit school to make it to Captain first. I probably have several more years….no big hurry.

We have 1 firefighter and 3 firefighter/ALS (2 paramedics and 1 intermediate). The average of their tenure is about 6 years. Needless to say, we have a fairly young crew.

So far we are enjoying ourselves. We burn through a ton of coffee a day which may prove to be expensive…but I am sure we will make it just fine.

Our station houses an engine and a medic unit. We typically ride 2 on the medic and 3 on the engine, but on occasion we will enjoy 4 on the engine.

Wish me luck!

Don’t worry, I will be back with several posts tomorrow!!!

Heather as seen in the HFD Pipes and Drums Calendar. Click on the image to purchase now... $12 to support the HFD Pipes and Drums...and get this awesome photo!

Dave Statter ran a story about a Houston Pipes and Drums Calendar that is causing an uproar. The story accompanied another story in Houston that is related sexist and racist remarks surrounding female firefighters. I covered some of that story in the past and will leave it up to Dave to hammer out. The links are here and here.

On the other hand, the deal with the Houston Pipes and Drums Calendar is right up my alley. Why you might ask? Well mostly because of the picture to the right. You might remember the Top Ten Female Firefighting Calendars post I ran a couple months ago. Yes, I am very proud to have taken the time to dissect such and important issue facing Firefighters across the Globe….And Yes, I am willing to be the talent scout if anyone needs me in the future.

Therefore I need to step in where Dave left off. I took it upon myself to hunt down Heather and speak with her. That was actually pretty easy, I have a friend who is friends with everyone…Joel? Did she actually speak with me you might ask? Of course she did via email. I just told sent her a picture of ruggedly handsome Justin Schorr myself and she bought it!

As I said, Heather graced the Fire Critic blog once before (see number 1). This morning, as I was sipping some coffee made just like FireGeezer said to prepare it, and I nearly lost all senses. There she was again…

Heather in all her glory has posed for a benefit calendar for the Houston Pipes and Drums. The calendar was created to raise money for their group. Buy the calendar you will not be disappointed. Mine should be in the mail soon as I ordered it online already (order yours here).

This is an example of an image in one of the Houston Firefighters Calendar. You can order your 2010 Houston Firefighter Calendars here.

This brings me to the situation. SOME people are making a big to do about Heathers dress…or lack there of.

I must say, she looks stunning. Hell if I had a washboard stomach you would be looking at it right now.

Judging by Heather’s photo above and the one to the right could we be talking about a double standard?

Why is it that we cannot choose for ourselves what we want to look at and what we want to purchase. My guess is that these calendars will sell like hotcakes!

Heather offers the following on the situation:

I standby my decision and the fundraiser.  The Houston Pipe and Drum Team are an awesome group of dedicated fire fighters who unselfishly give their time, energy and effort to beautifully memorialize our fallen Brothers and Sisters across the US, many times paying for instruments, uniforms and travel from their own pockets.  They are a part of a long standing tradition in the fire department and one of the only ones we are allowed to still have and enjoy.  I was thrilled to be able to help and had no problems with the vision of the photographer and and the pictures taken. There were no department rules violated and the benefit is in no way affiliated with the city.  We all appreciate the support.

And may I add that I am damn proud to be a Houston Fire Fighter and would not change a thing about my near 15 years here.  I have and still work with some of the BEST!

In one article found here it states:

“It’s pretty indicative of your view of women,” said Joe Ahmad, the attorney for Draycott, Keyes and other female firefighters. “The problem with photos like this is they maintain the image of women who aren’t viewed in term of being competent at the workplace but merely as sexual objects.”

The Fire Critic says that as long as women inhabit the Earth they will be seen as sexual objects by men. That is just a fact…maybe not all men, but that is another story all together. The same way cougars flock to handsome half naked pictures of male firefighters in their own calendars and view them as sexual objects.

This does not mean that women cannot fight fire. This actually has nothing to do with it. Just because Heather has a fantastic body doesn’t mean that men will think she cannot fight fire. I actually think the opposite. Just by looking at Heather you can tell that she eats healthy, works out often, and take care of herself. Isn’t that what everyone is talking about now anyways…Healthy firefighters. So what gives of this double standard? I say forget about it.

In a response to scrutiny about the calendar, the HFD Pipes and Drums offered this:

I do not feel that the calendar is exploitative.  I do not believe that the calendar has “gone to far”.  This calendar was designed and produced by the same group that has produced many calendars, including the Houston Fire Fighter’s Calendar.  They produced the calendar at their own cost and will be donating the proceeds to the band.  Without the support of the community, the band would not be able to honor the careers and memories of the brave firefighters that have dedicated their lives to the service and protection of the citizens of Houston, and the greater Houston area.

As some of you may know, I am also the editor of VAFireNews.com. VAFireNews.com is an online State fire news website. I have been following the news and emails on Virginia Task Force 1 out of Fairfax County and Virginia Task Force 2 out of Virginia Beach. If you have links, info, news, photos, video, or anything else to share please let me know via Fire Critic or at editor@vafirenews.com.

At this point in time, Virginia Task Force 1 has two teams operating in Haiti assisting with rescue operations following the 7.0 earthquake.

USA-1 is the original heavy response team of 72 members which arrived in Haiti on the 13th.
USA-2 Medium is the 36-42 member team which arrived in Haiti this morning (15th).

Virginia Task Force 2 has one team of 80 members which should have arrived in Haiti last night or this morning.

At this point, the teams have made several rescues and are certainly making an impact in the Haiti Earthquake relief efforts!

To keep up with the news on Virginia Task Force 1 and Virginia Task Force 2, please direct your attention to a constantly updated thread on VAFireNews.com here . Much of the information on Virginia Task Force 1 can also be viewed at STATter 911.

As I said before, if you have anything to share, please let me know.

This question is posed for both Fire and EMS work.

At what age should you decide to hang up the badge and either retire, quit volunteering, or go to a supportive/auxiliary role in your department?

This question is brought on by discussion we had last night over at Firefighter Netcast. We dissected LODD’s and spoke about the many things causing LODD’s as well as ages in when firefighters and/or EMT’s are dying in the Line of Duty.

We discussed about a 72 y.o. LODD.

I am merely posing the question, should we still be fighting fire (or running EMS calls) at this age. Let us be honest, firefighting is dangerous and physically challenging. Are we really doing ourselves a favor by remaining active for this long.

My angle is not for departments to start discriminating or deciding at what age you have to quit. My angle is that individually, we need to understand that there will come a point in time where we will need to stop being active.

I had another discussion today about it via twitter. I did not have an answer. We all know that you could have a 60 y.o. who is in better health than a 40 y.o. Likewise you could have an 80 y.0. who might be in the shape of a 60 y.o. In theory, there probably isn’t a perfect age to cease active service. I know in my department there used to be a sunset of 66 on working as a firefighter. This came to a stop after certain legislation was passed to end discrimination on age.

I know from speaking with coworkers that it is not easy to retire and go on with your life after spending 20-30 years doing what you love. Many have a hard time leaving because they think the department cannot operate without them. Others have a hard time realizing that the department can operate without them.

When do you think you will turn in the badge? When do you think you should turn in the badge?

It is my honor (or honour) to announce Medic 999 as the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year for 2009. Medic 999 is run by Mark Glencorse who is a Paramedic for the North East Ambulance Service in England.

Mark has run Medic 999 since December 2008 and discusses the times and tribulations of being a medic in England as well as hot button topics of paramedicine and prehospital care.

Mark has recently enjoyed the spoils of being featured in the Chronicles of EMS. Chronicles of EMS was born from the efforts by Mark and Justin of The Happy Medic (San Francisco) to dissect the differences and similarities in EMS services at their respective departments.

I have a lot to say about the contest…what I learned, what I didn’t learn, what I will do differently, and how this contest will be over the top next year!

Unfortunately for Mark, the only prize this year is BRAGGING RIGHTS. However, I predict there will be more in the future!

Thank you for competing, thanks to those who nominated and voted for Medic 999, and thanks to everyone for publicizing the event!

I would also like to thank the judges who narrowed down the 23 nominated blogs down to 10 by judging on certain criteria…

2009 Fire/EMS Blog of the Year Judges

Marty Martin

Search Engine Optimization Consultant
Marty Martin is an Internet marketer and search engine consultant with over 12 years experience in the web industry. He has consulted for companies and government organizations across the USA and Europe and has been a guest speaker at business organizations, colleges and universities.
http://mear.is/me
http://twitter.com/mosquitohawk

Kirke Phillips

Kirke Phillips, known as ‘Mookie’, is a Firefighter/Paramedic/Web Designer in Texas. Mookie has been a firefighter since 1991 and is currently employed by the City of Leander. In 1997, he founded a personal website that has grown into what is today known as Texas-Fire.com, which provides news and community to Texas emergency services professionals. In 2001, along with his brother (also a firefighter) he founded CenTexFIRE Web Designs which hosts and designs websites. As of December 2009, Texas-Fire received over 3 hits a day, which includes Mookie, his brother, and their mother. On FaceBook

Andrew Catron

Andrew Catron is a career firefighter for the city of Kingsport in Kingsport, Tennessee. He entered into the fire service in 2005, and has been fulltime with KFD for two years. He is a member of the Town of Chilhowie Fire Department as well and maintains their website – www.chilhowiefire.org. Once he realized he enjoyed managing a web site he decided to start one of his own. Recently he began a web site for Tennessee Fire News. The web site is growing and he realizes nothing is built overnight. Check out TNFireNews.com – www.TNFireNews.com.

Medic 22

MEDIC 22 is a Radio DJ turned Paramedic Student in the Pacific Northwest. After over twenty years of working in the broadcast industry, M22 decided to quit his full time job, return to school full time, switch careers and write about it. His website, strangely enough called www.medic22.com details the trials and tribulations of a middle aged guy going through paramedic school. His website is full of polysyllabic words and sometimes people actually even read it. Oh, and he doesn’t like biscuits. Be warned.

More information on the contest to follow….

The voting continues through 17:59 EST tonight!!!

I have not posted anything besides the contest to give as much airtime for it as  possible. I am now posting the MMSO for this week.

The Monday Morning Shoutout goes to Firefighter Netcast this week. The reason for it is because we are announcing the winnner of the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year during the Live show. If you haven’t checked out the Firefighter Netcast, be sure to do so now. The netcast is brought to you by its hosts John Mitchell of Fire Daily and myself.

The show airs at 8pm EST tonight. Listen, chat and call in!!!

Firefighter Netcast web site

Link for information on tonights 1st “Official” live netcast here (links and info on what we will be talking about)

Link to the show page on Blog Talk Radio (this is where you need to be to listen in)

Firefighter Netcast on Facebook

Firefighter Netcast on Twitter (@FFNetcast)

Be sure to continue voting through 17:59 this evening!!!

I apologize for the issues with voting. Trust me, it has been an issue that has bothered me. I have corrected the problem by changing the voting platform. You may continue voting and now you can do it once every 6 hours instead of 8 hours. This is solely due to the new platform not offering an 8 hour timeline.

Please click on the image below to vote now and thank you for your patience.