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Get Fit. Get Safe. Make It Personal.

My Three-Part Risk Management Plan: Alex, Laurie and Kathleen

Despite the fact that I wrote this piece for Fire-Rescue Magazine last year, I’m pretty sure its content is still relevant as we ponder recent and not so recent events during Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/usfa-reminds-you-that….

As I stated in comments to another blog by John Mitchell (www.firedaily.com) titled: “The Charleston 43″ (http://www.firefighternation.com/profiles/blogs/the-charleston-43) — if we don’t make these incidents personal to us, incidents like these have the unique ability to quickly become personal for us.

Thus, I present for your review, a re-post of “Make It Personal” http://tigerschmittendorf.com/2009/09/07/make-it-personal/

Let me know what you think of the piece and what you’re doing to make Safety Week 2010 personal for you.

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Posted by tiger on June 24, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Training & Development, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, Billy Goldfeder, Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, courage to be safe, everyone goes home, fire department, fire rescue magazine, fire service, firefighter, firefighternation, FirefighterNation.com, Generation Y, leadership, line of duty death, lodd, motivation, practices, Safety, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

Raising a flag about lowering THE FLAG!

It’s after Memorial Day-2010 and I’ve been working on this blog for about a week, in hopes of having it finished prior to the start of the holiday weekend but life got in the way and that didn’t happen.

In retrospect, I’m glad I procrastinated. I’m glad I waited, because now, I think this blog has even more meaning.

The hot dogs are all gone, the parties and picnics are over. Now it’s time to think about what Memorial Day is really about. My goal is not to go into some patriotic tirade that offers the opportunity for readers to tune out before they even tune in, but more importantly to share with you some personal experiences that have put this annual remembrance in perspective for me. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on June 7, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Public Relations • Tagged: Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, fire department, fire service, firefighter, funeral, Generation Y, leadership, line of duty death, motivation, practices, public information officer, story telling, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

@FireRECRUITER: Make the Right Investments

The following article tells of a small city that is threatening to stop collecting a voluntary public donation that has brought thousands and thousands of dollars in mission-critical equipment to their combination (paid/volunteer) fire department.

Apparently, the threat is in response to a dwindling number of volunteer firefighters in their department, between 5 and 10, as the article points out. Without a lot of volunteers, they apparently don’t feel it’s appropriate to collect a donation on behalf of the volunteer side of their fire department. This situation seems to be causing quite a riff in the department.

Is it just me, or does any one else smell opportunity?

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Posted by tiger on May 24, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: campaign, fire department, fire service, firefighter, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruit, recruitment, retention, Tiger Schmittendorf, tweets, twitter, volunteer

@FireRECRUITER: It’s EMS Week – Roll With It!

From www.FireRECRUITER.com:

In honor of EMS Week-2010, I thought I’d promote the (dare I say) sexiest video I’ve ever seen come to volunteer recruitment and retention.

“Roll With It!” is a part music video, part movie trailer — full-on high energy – high impact web site for the recruitment of fire and EMS personnel.

Celebrate EMS Week in style: “Roll With It!”

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Posted by tiger on May 19, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Patient Management, Public Relations • Tagged: campaign, CFR, Clearinghouse, emergency medical services, ems, EMT, fire department, fire rescue magazine, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, Paramedic, Pennsylvania, public information officer, Public Relations, recruit, recruitment, Roll With It, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering, www.rollwithit.com

The FDIC Experience: Returning Home

Alex, Laurie and Kathleen

Alex, Laurie and Kathleen

My goal is to chronicle, as best I can, some of the many great experiences I had last week at FDIC-2010 in Indianapolis, Indiana. There’s so many of them flowing through my brain, some of them are short snippets while others I remember as full-length features, and I plan to present them accordingly.

My FDIC-2010 experience ranks up there with some of the greatest memories of my career and life. Full of laughs (my stomach still hurts), meeting good people (and John and Rhett too!), going on “adventures” together and most importantly, sharing the brotherhood that few other professions enjoy.

So, with the intent of eventually sharing all of these experiences, I thought I would start with the end of the trip instead of the beginning; for in the end, in a very unexpected way, the value of my trip to FDIC and the importance of my returning home became very apparent to me.

You’ll see why in just a little bit. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on April 25, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development, fire, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, Brotherhood, facebook, FDIC, fire critic, fire daily, fire department, fire department instructors conference, fire rescue magazine, fire service, fire-ems blogs, fire-rescue, firecritic, firedaily, firefighter, firefighter netcast, firefighternation, FirefighterNation.com, Generation Y, kids, leadership, make-a-wish foundation, motivation, run to the curb, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, tweets, twitter, volunteer, volunteering

Going to the Show! See You in Indy.

I hope to see all of my loyal followers (both of them) at FDIC in a few short weeks. I’ll be presenting “From the X-Box to the Box Alarm” on Thursday-April 22, 2010 at 10:30am in Room 127-128. There’s room for 308 of my closest, most personal friends so there’s really no excuse for not joining me! LOL (more…)

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Posted by tiger on April 10, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Featured, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, Training & Development • Tagged: Brotherhood, campaign, clean the litterbox, Clearinghouse, erie county, FDIC, fire department, fire department instructors conference, fire engineering magazine, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, kids, leadership, marketing, motivation, practices, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, SAFER, story telling, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, tweets, twitter, volunteer, volunteering

@FireRECRUITER: Recruiting in a Gray Area

My helmet is off to the folks in the Syosset NY Fire Department for recognizing 40+ aged recruits as a viable part of the solutions to our recruitment and retention challenges.

Age is Nothing But a Number at Syosset Fire Dept.

Joining later in life is becoming more the norm

The approach and image of the volunteer fire service portrayed in this article is in sharp contrast to the news articles I highlighted in “Is This Our Best Approach?”

In fact, I came across a similar article today that raises the exact same question:

Fire Companies Struggling to Get Volunteers.

I think we can do better. Let me know what you think.

Read the whole story at FireRECRUITER.com.

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Posted by tiger on April 6, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: Brotherhood, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, story telling, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

FireRECRUITER: The Art of Speed-Recruiting

If you had just 30 seconds to convince someone why they should join your volunteer fire department, what would you say?

What would your message be? Do you have a standard sales pitch that you use for just such occasions? Can you even say hello in 30 seconds?

I recently had the opportunity to coach and practice some speed-recruiting exercises with the Doyle Hose Co. 1 in Cheektowaga NY. They had been invited to be a part of career day at the local high school in their response area and they invited me to join them.

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Posted by tiger on March 18, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, R&R Toolkits, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: billboard, campaign, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruit, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

Re-Enlist.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m posting this blog literally minutes after completing my first NetCast on the topic of volunteer recruitment and retention, compliments of FireCritic and FireDaily at www.firefighternetcast.com. What a tremendous opportunity that was to connect with so many people via the live chat and simultaneous telephone call-ins.

My helmet is off to those two gentlemen for harnessing that technology to accomplish something that they may not even realize they’re doing: Telling Stories.

Storytelling is important to the survival and success of the fire service. Very important. As I wrote in my article: “Saving Stories,” in this month’s edition of Fire-Rescue Magazine, storytelling “passes on our traditions, conveys our values and protects the rich heritage of the fire service.” Thanks to Rhett and John for doing just that through the tales shared on FirefighterNetcast.com.

At the end of the Netcast, I let the cat out of the bag about a new partnership I created between our volunteer fire service and the National Guard. Look for more info on that coming soon. In the meantime, the following is a story that is a little bit about my love for my father, my passion for the fire service and my appreciation for the military men and women who protect our freedom every day. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: Brotherhood, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

LIVE: Casting a Net over Recruitment and Retention Challenges

I was in Texas for Advanced Unified Incident Command training last week (which I’ll tell you about soon), so I’m late getting this out.

I’ve been asked by FireCritic and FireDaily to join them as their special guest on this week’s edition of Firefighter NetCast.

Naturally, we’ll be discussing volunteer recruitment and retention along with an overview of my presentation “From the X-Box to the Box Alarm” at FDIC (Thursday-April 22nd at 10:30am) and my cover story in the March edition of Fire-Rescue Magazine featuring my storytelling project: Run-to-the-Curb.com.

I hope you can join us at 9pm ET this Wednesday-March 10, 2010 at Firefighter Netcast for a lively discussion of challenges and solutions to the volunteer fire service’s survival and success.

Stay safe. Train often.

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Posted by tiger on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: Brotherhood, campaign, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

RuntotheCurb: Everybody Loves Sparky

Everybody Loves Sparky the Fire Dog!

Everybody Loves Sparky the Fire Dog!

Just as much as kids love firefighters, every kid (well, almost every kid) loves Sparky.

Recently I had the chance to catch some Run-to-the-Curb type kids interacting with their favorite Fire Dog, learning all about fire prevention and safety and making new friends. Thanks to Sparky, I’m sure these kids will be running to the curb to watch the fire trucks go by, just as soon as they’re old enough.

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Posted by tiger on March 1, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics • Tagged: adventure, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, recruitment, run to the curb, Tiger Schmittendorf

@FireRECRUITER: Big Win for the Youngins’

The Volunteer and Combination Officers Section of the IAFC recently released a new and long overdue guideline focusing on the proper and safe operation of fire department youth programs.

It holds something for everyone including chief officers, youth leaders, fire department administration, parents, support liaisons and the youth themselves.

Read more at FireRecruiter.com>>>

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Posted by tiger on February 21, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: Brotherhood, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

@FireRECRUITER: Who can afford to volunteer?

Who Can Afford to Volunteer?

That’s the question asked by Don Grogg, a commissioner for Harris County Emergency Service District No. 9 in Texas in this article titled: “Suburban Fire Districts Sound the Alarm” in the Houston Chronicle.

While I understand that they have somewhat unique staffing and support challenges, when you ask it like that, who could expect anyone to answer with: “I can. Pick me. Pick me.”

Other than a closing remark about one department who expanded their boundaries for joining, the article does a great job at identifying the problems — but few if any solutions.

As I’ve asked before, “Is this our best approach?”

Here’s the link to the article at FireRECRUITER.com. You decide.

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Posted by tiger on January 19, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News • Tagged: campaign, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

Fire Chief Blogs His Way Through Fire Academy Experience

St. Paul MN Fire Chief Tim Butler is blogging about his fire academy experiences

St. Paul MN Fire Chief Tim Butler is blogging about his fire academy experiences

I don’t remember how and when I stumbled across this particular blog, but it’s a good one.

St. Paul, Minnesota Fire Chief Tim Butler has written a blog about his experiences with the fire department since being appointed to the position two years ago. What’s so unique about this chief’s blog is that it details his adventures in participating in the latest recruit academy executed by the fire department.

The chief indicated early on after his appointment that he fully intended to experience everything his firefighters have experienced. In that vain, he prepared himself for and is actively engaged in the academy.

I was very impressed with his attitude as he wrote “We (sic) must share a common bond – a common culture – and a shared base of experience and perspective. We all must be confident in each member’s ability to operate safely and effectively on an incident scene or when representing our department to the public.” (more…)

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Posted by tiger on January 2, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: adventure, blog, blogging, Brotherhood, fire academy, fire chief, fire department, fire service, firefighter, leadership, marketing, motivation, recruit, recruitment, St. Paul Minnesota, Training, training academy

Flight 3407 Responders Recognized for Recovery Efforts

Buffalo radio station WBEN-930AM listeners have overwhelming chosen the first responders to the crash of Continental Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, NY on February 12, 2009 as their “Persons-of-the-Year.”

READ THE FULL STORY:

http://www.wben.com/The-2009-WBEN-Persons-Of-The-Year—/5984262

Personal Note:

It’s been almost a year since the crash and I haven’t shared this personal story yet, but this is probably a good time to do so:

The night of the crash I was watching a movie with my 16-year old son Alex when my alpha-pager went off, as it does pretty frequently in our business. Thinking it was possibly another administrative message or perhaps a more routine event, I almost couldn’t believe what I was reading when I looked at my pager that told me: “Alert 3: Plane crash into a house.” (more…)

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Posted by tiger on December 30, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Fires, HazMat, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, News, Public Relations • Tagged: Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, Continental Flight 3407, fire department, fire service, firefighter, leadership, Plane Crash, public information officer, Public Relations

@FireRECRUITER: SAFER App Period Extended

DHS has revisited the existing policy on supplanting for the 2009 SAFER funding cycle. The Secretary has decided that DHS will consider petitions for waivers on supplanting from 2009 grantees on a case-by-case basis and under certain conditions.

In order for all potential applicants to have sufficient time to consider this revised policy guidance, DHS will extend the 2009 SAFER application period. The new application deadline will be 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Friday, January 15, 2010.

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Posted by tiger on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, R&R Toolkits, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: campaign, Clearinghouse, erie county, FASNY, fire department, firefighter, Generation Y, grant, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, SAFER, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

@FireRECRUITER: VFDs Get Creative About Recruiting

I applaud their efforts to diversify their membership, both in age and in function. Fire Explorers, Junior Firefighters, and FireCorps members are a great way to expand your work force.

Allowing interested candidates to specialize as fire police or pump operators is a great way to spread the work load. As the article says, not everyone needs to be the person running into the burning building as all the sane people are running out. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on December 15, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: campaign, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, grant, leadership, marketing, motivation, practices, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, SAFER, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

If you’re worried about getting cancer — you probably shouldn’t be a firefighter!

That’s what I overheard a certain young fire officer tell a probie recently.

“If you’re worried about getting cancer — you probably shouldn’t be a firefighter!”

I didn’t miss-hear or mis-understand him, nor did I take his comment out of context. That’s exactly what he said.

I nearly blew my cork. What an immature, ignorant, reckless thing to say.

Here’s all I have to say to him: “This one’s for you.”

THE FOLLOWING IS A MUST READ ARTICLE – DON’T SKIP IT.
IF YOU’VE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT TAKING YOUR MASK OFF, EVEN JUST FOR A SECOND, WHILE THERE IS STILL SMOKE OR FUMES PRESENT — THINK AGAIN! READ, PRINT, POST AND DISTRIBUTE THIS ARTICLE
TO EVERY FIREFIGHTER YOU KNOW.

“We Danced With The Devil: One Firefighter’s Cancer Chronicles”

Editor’s Note: If you can stomach reading this gut-wrenching story, you might like to read:

Stay safe. Train often.

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Posted by tiger on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, News, Safety, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, Brotherhood, carbon monoxide, clean the litterbox, courage to be safe, fire department, fire service, firefighter, funeral, Generation Y, leadership, line of duty death, lodd, motivation, Safety, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training

Fountain of Youth or Flood of Problems?

The FFN WebTeam recently posted a news article about some Pennsylvania fire departments going into the high schools to recruit future firefighters. (http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/pennsylvania-volunteer?xg_source=activity&id=889755%3ATopic%3A4414468&)

A day later, one participant on the FirefighterNation.com noted that there has been an inordinate number of blogs and discussions related to Junior Firefighters and Fire Explorers. (http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/what-is-up-with-all-these-jr)

In my opinion, both discussions have pretty much turned into Junior/Explorer bashing.

I have very strong feelings on the subject but before I share my thoughts, I’d like you to go to FireRecruiter.com and weigh in on the subject: http://firerecruiter.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/survey-says-fd-youth-programs/

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Posted by tiger on December 10, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Funding & Staffing, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: Brotherhood, explorers, fire department, fire explorers, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, junior firefighters, leadership, marketing, motivation, Public Relations, recruitment, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering, youth programs

Change, for Safety’s Sake.

If you are a Fire/Rescue Chief, Commissioner, President, Fire Officer or in a leadership role of a Fire Department or Fire Company, you have the responsibility of ensuring firefighter safety.

With the holidays right around the corner, here’s a cool opportunity for your organization to provide something to your members, and support the work of the Safety, Health and Survival Section of the IAFC. By policy, the IAFC does not fund the section, the section must raise all of their own funds in order to operate. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on December 9, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Safety • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, Billy Goldfeder, Brotherhood, campaign, clean the litterbox, courage to be safe, everyone goes home, fire department, firefighter, funeral, health, iafc, leadership, line of duty death, lodd, marketing, motivation, practices, Safety, survival, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training

A December to Remember

North Division Explosion Victims Remembered I’m not big on forwarding for the sake of forwarding; or just regurgitating information in an effort to build traffic to a web site.

However, my good friend Billy Goldfeder sent out a broadcast yesterday that deserves sharing. His efforts were followed up by a newsletter distribution from the USFA Coffee Break that highlighted similar events.

These stories and Billy’s comments remind us of our obligation to be better story tellers, for prosperity’s sake — and for safety’s sake. It also reminds us that we have an obligation to those we love, those who are making the real sacrifices every time we leave home to go do what we love. Those we are obligated to do everything in our mind and power to go home to after every call.

May we never forget all those lost in these Decembers to Remember. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on December 3, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, News • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, Billy Goldfeder, Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, courage to be safe, everyone goes home, FDNY, fire department, fire service, firefighter, funeral, leadership, line of duty death, lodd, Safety, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training

“Run to the Curb” Kids

Getzville Firefighter Ryan Russell with two appreciative fans

Getzville Firefighter Ryan Russell with two very appreciative fans

You’ve read my previous references to “Run to the Curb” type kids in “Fortune Tellers” and in my other writings. Now I’ve created a whole new web site just for telling my stories and to give you a place to share your stories too.

Run to the Curb.com is a work-in-progress blog I just created and a possible online book project too. There I’ll share my experiences, my stories and my thoughts on our need to be better story tellers.

And, I want to hear your stories too. You can share your childhood experiences and your connections to the fire service and in doing so, share the brotherhood, history and traditions of the fire service with fellow firefighters — and those who wish they were.

Check back often as more stories are added and we build this legacy document together.

Run to the curb. Tell your story. Tell your fortune. We can’t wait to hear it.

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Posted by tiger on November 30, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits • Tagged: adventure, Brotherhood, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, leadership, marketing, motivation, practices, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

Creating a Clearinghouse

Patience is some times not one of my better virtues. I’ve been kicking around the idea of creating an online clearinghouse of recruitment and retention resources for quite some time.

Needless to say, it’s an area of the fire service that I’m quite absorbed in but I’ve always waited for someone else to create such a thing. Sure, there’s the National Volunteer Fire Council and VolunteerFD.org, which does a more than formidable job of compiling resources for the volunteer fire service, but I still felt there was something lacking. I needed more. We need more.

I identified a gap, an opportunity to create a single source for everything related to how we market to, recruit, indoctrinate, treat and retain the single most important resource in the fire service: our people.

Finally, I couldn’t wait any longer. I registered and published: FireRECRUITER.com – a single site dedicated to ensuring the survival and success of the volunteer fire service across our nation. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on November 27, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: campaign, Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, leadership, marketing, motivation, practices, Public Relations, recruit, recruitment, SAFER, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

Reversal of Fortune?

HEADLINE: Johnson City to Explore Adding Volunteer Firefighters http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20091116/NEWS01/911160345/1112/Johnson-City-to-explore-adding-volunteer-firefighters

Is it just me or are two worlds colliding here?

At the same time many volunteer fire departments struggle to maintain their ranks, their career counterparts are being stripped to the bone in both manpower and operating budget by their community’s and our country’s fiscal crisis.

This is not the first article I’ve read recently with a recurring theme — career fire departments reverting (or in some cases, converting for the first time) to combination departments.

We have many communities in our county, currently supported by all-volunteer fire departments, where a part or full time staffed career fire department would be simply unaffordable. They would have to go without fire protection if it weren’t for the dedication of their volunteers.

Unfortunately, it seems that several communities with pre-existing career fire departments are coming to the same realization: fire protection is a much needed but costly service to maintain properly. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on November 18, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, News, training-fire-rescue-topics

It’s Time to get SAFER!

This article is one in a series of toolkits focusing on recruitment, retention, fire service marketing and leadership.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Are you SAFER than you were last year?

That is, did you submit a grant application under the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response” program for recruitment and retention?

If you didn’t, you missed out on a great opportunity to better your fire department, or in our case, the entire volunteer fire service in our region.

Here’s the good news. You get another chance. DHS just announced that the application period for the 2009 SAFER grants opens November 16, 2009. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on November 1, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development • Tagged: campaign, Clearinghouse, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, SAFER, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

RT @news4buffalo: Fatal accident closes Rt. 16 in Holland/Sardinia when a car and semi collided: http://ow.ly/2rwWw 2 weeks ago
RT @firechiefmag: Dedicate or name your fire station? http://blog.firechief.com/mutual_aid/2010/08/17/in-dedication/ 2 weeks ago
RT @FireCritic: “Fire Fair” informs and strengthens community's safety — Kirkland ... http://bit.ly/byxChe 2 weeks ago
The battery died in my pager this morning. Perfect timing. I'm on vacation! 2 weeks ago
RT @ECFireBlotter: LIVE Streaming Coverage from Firemen’s Day at the Fair...For the convenience of those who (cont) http://tl.gd/33oebr 2 weeks ago
More updates...

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