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.
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>>>
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.
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…)
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…)
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.
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…)
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.
Editor’s Note: If you can stomach reading this gut-wrenching story, you might like to read:
Stay safe. Train often.
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/
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…)
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…)
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.
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…)
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…)
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…)
I’ve read and watched this news clip from the NY Daily Dispatch about how training requirements in New York State are hurting the volunteer fire service: http://www.weny.com/News-Local.asp?ARTICLE3864=9148872
Unfortunately, I think it follows a growing pattern of articles and news pieces that focus on the problems – and not the solutions to our recruitment and retention challenges.
While we certainly need to identify and acknowledge what the challenges are, I don’t think that promoting them, certainly making a news story out of them — is our best approach to motivating people to help us overcome our staffing issues by volunteering. Do you? (more…)
I recently had the opportunity to tape a radio show titled: “Sound Magazine” with Carl Russo of 97Rock.
The segment focused on the recruitment of volunteer firefighters and will air on several Citadel Broadcasting affiliates in the Buffalo area.
Carl is a long-standing afternoon jock on 97Rock and is also a volunteer firefighter with the East Seneca Volunteer Fire Company in West Seneca NY. Carl isn’t just a firefighter, he’s also president of the fire company and a commissioner in the fire district.
It offered me the opportunity to talk about being a kid who “ran to the curb” whenever I heard a fire siren and all of the great things that come with being a volunteer firefighter.
This was the second installment of “Sound Magazine” that focused on volunteer recruitment and more are planned for the future.
Click here to listen to “Sound Magazine” VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER RECRUITMENTSept 09
Let me know what you think.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Firefighters must start living the Life Safety Initiatives for us to see an impact on LODDs.
The following article is a reprint from the June-2009 edition of Fire-Rescue magazine. It is also a companion piece to my blog titled: Clean the Litterbox.
I recently attended a seminar on preparation for line-of-duty deaths and firefighter funerals. If you’ve ever read one of my blogs here or at FirefighterNation.com, you know that I have very strong feelings about firefighter deaths.
But, for the first time, the subject really hit home with me. While it’s important to plan that stuff, if we really think about it, doesn’t the need for proper funeral planning only further acknowledge our acceptance of failure in protecting our own from the risks we face? (more…)
Dig in.
“Early on in my fire service career, we responded to a report of a tractor-trailer rolled over on a nearby state highway. We arrived on scene and found a truck lying on its passenger side. The wheels were facing the roadway and the top of the cab was on the shoulder of the road. The truck driver was being treated as walking wounded. It seemed like a relatively benign accident.
As we approached the curb side we realized that this was no ordinary call. It turned out that the truck driver had a young female traveling with him. When the tractor trailer tumbled on its passenger side, the girl apparently fell half way out the window. Only her right arm was now visible outside the overturned cab, turned up at a ninety-degree angle towards us, her hand motionless. (more…)
Fortune Tellers:
In my last blog titled “Dig In.” I talked about the importance of story telling in the fire service and how it serves as a means of sharing experiences, traditions and values from generation to generation. In this article I try to tell a story, and in that story, I hope you can find a lesson to share for generations to come.
Almost every firefighter I meet speaks of how they always knew, from the time they were a very young boy or girl – that they wanted to be a firefighter.
I was one of those kids. I call them the “run to the curb” kind of kids. (more…)
“You Have to Want It!” is the message that Albion Volunteer Firefighters and EMTs are sending to their community in a new effort to challenge more citizens to become part of their local volunteer emergency response team.
Thanks to a four-year $134,500 grant from the US Department of Homeland Security specifically for the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters, the all-volunteer fire department will have the funding to develop recruitment efforts and marketing materials with the help of Tiger Schmittendorf, who also helped them write and secure the grant. (more…)
As I travel around the country talking with other firefighters, a commonly recurring theme of our chat is the future of the volunteer fire service.
The conversation always comes around to the topic of today’s firefighters and the next generation of firefighters. Some “more experienced” firefighters (notice I didn’t use the term older) share that they don’t understand the “kids” coming into the fire service today. (more…)
My family is motivation for much of what I do in the fire service. Alex, Laurie and Kathleen (l-r)
This blog is a companion piece to my article titled “Make it Personal” featured in the June edition of Fire-Rescue Magazine.
I was reading a not so tongue-in-cheek blog on FirefighterNation.com written by my good friend Art Goodrich titled: “Ordering From the Risk Menu” and it reminded me of a Saturday I spent recently, full of fire service activities.
I started the day by attending a heavy dose of an 8-hour seminar focusing on preparation for a Line of Duty Death. If you’ve ever read one of my blogs, you know I’m very passionate about fire service funerals and making sure that they’re planned and executed appropriately, always considering the family’s needs first.
In contrast to Art’s blog, it’s important to plan that stuff too, but if we really think about it, doesn’t the need for proper funeral planning only further acknowledge our acceptance of failure in protecting our own from the risks we face? (more…)
Erie County Fire Chiefs Awarded $500k Recruitment Grant
- Offer Opportunities for You to Get Involved
The Erie County Fire Chiefs Mutual Aid Organization, in collaboration
with the Erie County Division of Fire Safety, are pleased to announce
that they have been awarded a $498,800 SAFER-Staffing for Adequate
Emergency Response grant by the US Department of Homeland Security
specifically to enhance the recruitment and retention of volunteer
firefighters in Erie County.
The performance period for the grant is from April 30, 2009 to April 29,
2011 and includes funding for web development, mass marketing and public
events, and scholarship opportunities for new and existing volunteer
firefighters. (more…)
From The Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE www.fasny.com
Contacts: Liz Burke (212) 981-5263; (917) 573-1440 / Andrea Vividor (212) 981-5193
STATE FIREMEN’S ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES RENOWNED
PANELISTS FOR THE FASNY CONVENTION IN NIAGARA FALLS
(NEW YORK – May 27) This year’s Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY) Convention, which will be held from August 19-21 in Niagara Falls, NY, promises to be the most informative, educational, and family-friendly gathering yet. FASNY has assembled a top team of panelists to discuss the most pressing issues facing our firefighters today, including:
o Loveland-Symmes (OH) FD chief Billy Goldfeder, examining recent major fires and detailing the lessons learned from each
o Ex-Shreveport, LA fire chief J. Gourdon Routley, looking at firefighter safety in relation to large commercial fires
o Phoenix, AZ fire chief Al Brunacini, discussing best practices in leadership, management and organization of the fire service
o Deputy Fire Coordinator Tiger Schmittendorf of the Erie County Department of Emergency Services, offering unique insight into solutions to the challenges fire service leaders face back at the firehouse as well as risk management for all fire personnel (more…)
 This blog is part of the Emergency Services Ad Network. For marketing opportunities, please click here |
I wrote a non-EMS related blog. It's about my vagina, and who doesn't want to read about my… (more)
FORCE MORE DOORS IN A DAY THAN YOU HAVE IN YEARS! The Bluffton Twp. Fire District will be hosting… (more)
There was a "life lesson" or some sort of Fire Department training in every task. They worked hard… (more)
Retired Norfolk (VA) firefighter Sara Jones "Jonesy" needs your help in her battle with cancer.… (more)
