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Run-to-the-Curb Radio: Chief Tim Sendelbach

It’s like “Run-to-the-Curb Radio” — but better!

“Firefighter Storytellers” is a natural outgrowth from my popular “Run to the Curb” series — as it offers a radio show designed simply to facilitate kitchen table type discussions between firefighters.

“Storytellers” is an open-format radio show in which listeners are encouraged to call in with their own stories of what brought them to the fire service, what’s made the experience memorable for them, and to share their insight as to what keeps them going day-in and day-out, serving in our business of delivering emergency services to our communities.

Tonight’s installment (Wednesday-July 14, 2010) features Chief Tim Sendelbach, fire service leader and Editor-in-Chief of FireRescue Magazine. Like many others, Tim’s roots in the fire service started with his Dad, a firefighter in his hometown of Wilder, Kentucky.

Produced by John Mitchell and Rhett Fleitz of FirefighterNetcast, visit their site now, sign up for a new user account for BlogTalkRadio, and be prepared to join in the conversation with each new show.

Listen in. Log in. Call in.

What’s your story?

Link to the show for Wednesday-July 14, 2010 – 9pm EDT on Firefighter Netcast

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Posted by tiger on July 14, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Funding & Staffing, Public Relations, Training & Development • Tagged: Brotherhood, fire rescue magazine, fire service, firefighternation, FirefighterNation.com, Generation Y, leadership, motivation, Public Relations, story telling, Tiger Schmittendorf, volunteer, volunteering

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

Run-to-the-Curb is Top Story

That's me with Past Chief John Latimore, one of my best friends in the fire service and the neighborhood I grew up in.

It’s been more than a month since my presentation at FDIC and my live Internet radio talk show on FirefighterNetcast from the show floor, but a lot of exciting things have happened since then.

Feedback from my show about the importance of storytelling in the fire service with special guest Chief Tom Merrill was tremendous and it’s amazing to see the influence that the Run-to-the-Curb (RttC) concept has had on people. Several firefighters have since shared their own personal stories of growing up in and around the fire service. In fact, so many have responded that it’s tough to keep up with and more of their stories are pending publication here.

Read more at: http://runtothecurb.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/run-to-the-curb-is-top-story/

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Posted by tiger on June 7, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, Technology & Communications, Training & Development • Tagged: Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, fire department, fire rescue magazine, firefighter, Generation Y, kids, leadership, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, recruit, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, story telling, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering

Local Fire News Sites Get Press, Mixed Reviews

A recent article in the Buffalo News featured two online fire service sites (www.ecfwire.com and www.ereicountyfireblotter.com) that provide live audio feeds and in-depth news coverage of the fire service here in Erie County.

Although the article focuses on the potential training value, some fire chiefs had mixed feelings about what could be considered a form of social media and the information they share.

Read it here:

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/05/22/1058838/wire-fire-on-the-web.html

What do you have in your Internet neighborhood?

What’s your take on citizen-jouranlism sites like these?

Discuss it here and on FirefighterNation.com.

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Posted by tiger on May 25, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: erie county, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, marketing, motivation, public information officer, Public Relations, Training, volunteer, volunteering

Tis’ the Season

THIS IS A DRILL! This is not an actual event. Evans Center Firefighters "responded" to a Pre-Prom Season DWI Drill that demonstrated the devastating effects of drinking and driving to juniors and seniors at the Lake Shore High School. Photo by Tiger Schmittendorf

THIS IS A DRILL! This is not an actual event. Evans Center Firefighters "responded" to a Pre-Prom Season Stop-DWI Drill that demonstrated the devastating effects of drinking and driving to juniors and seniors at the Lake Shore High School. Photo by Tiger Schmittendorf

Despite the fact that as I’m writing this it feels far more like winter than spring in Buffalo, it’s not those seasons I’m talking about in this story.

Evans Center, my volunteer fire company, planned and supported a Pre-Prom Season Stop-DWI drill for our Juniors and Seniors at the Lake Shore Central Senior High School Friday morning. Coordinated by our Asst. Chief Tom Szczepaniak, Principal Chris Walsh and the Town of Evans Police Department’s Chief Ernie Masullo, Capt. Chuck Danzi and Patrolman Ralph Maslach — the assembly and demonstration stressed the devastating effects of making poor decisions relating to drinking and driving.

Not much unlike what is done at schools across the country at this time of the year, the Lake Shore team put together a comprehensive program that really hit home with these at-risk young adults. And, when I say “at-risk” I mean that, statisticly, they are at great risk of being involved in an alcohol-related accident before they graduate from high school or make it to their freshman semester in college. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on May 9, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Public Relations, Training & Development • Tagged: accident, Angola NY, Buffalo NY, campaign, clean the litterbox, coroner, DOA, drill, Erie County Stop-DWI, Evans Center Volunteer Fire Company, evans police department, extrication, fire department, fire service, firefighter, Generation Y, John Latimore, Lake Shore Central School District, Lake Shore Senior High School, Latimore-Schiavone Funeral Home, mercy flight of wny, mothers day, motivation, pre-prom, prom season, public information officer, Public Relations, stop dwi, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training, volunteer, volunteering, YNN

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

Live, from Indianapolis, it’s Saturday Morning!

ChiefReasonArt, Chris Naum and some other guy

ChiefReasonArt, Chris Naum and some other guy at FDIC 2009

Join Snyder NY Chief Tom Merrill and I for a live broadcast from the show floor of FDIC on Saturday-April 24 from 9:30-10:30am CST. We’ll be special guests of FireCritic Rhett Fleitz and FireDaily John Mitchell — hosts of the new hit Internet talk show series: FirefighterNetcast.

We’ll be discussing my FDIC presentation, my www.runtothecurb.com project and the importance of storytelling in the fire service. Chief Merrill will be sharing some of his own stories and who knows, we just might drag some unsuspecting passerby into the conversation.

A full schedule of Netcasts are being hosted at the Fire-Rescue Magazine / FirefighterNation.com / Fire-EMS Blogs.com Booth #3755 throughout the week.

I hope you can join me for my conversation titled: “From the X-Box to the Box Alarm” on Thursday-April 22, 2010 at 10:30am in Room 127-128; and most certainly at the MeetUp at Indy. You do not want to miss this gathering:

When: Friday April 23rd – 8pm
Where: Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery just blocks away from the Convention Center at 10 West Washington.
What: Blogger/FireEMSBlogs.com/Firefighter Nation/Fire Rescue Magazine meetup.

The event is being sponsored by the great folks at: Fire-Rescue Magazine / FirefighterNation.com / Fire-EMS Blogs.com booth #3755. Hit me up at the show for some free drink tickets. However, I can’t be responsible for your resulting actions!

Even if you can’t physically be there, I’ll be Tweeting, updating my status on Facebook and maybe even blogging throughout the show as I meet and greet some of the biggest names and greatest faces in the fire service. It’s gonna be cool. Very cool.

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Posted by tiger on April 19, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: blog network, Brotherhood, campaign, clean the litterbox, Clearinghouse, facebook, fire department, fire rescue magazine, fire service, fire-ems blogs, firecritic, firedaily, firefighter, firefighter netcast, FirefighterNation.com, Generation Y, kids, leadership, public information officer, Public Relations, recruitment, retention, run to the curb, story telling, 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: 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

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

@FireRECRUITER: 10 Step Guide to Volunteering

I feel that overall, the guide offers valuable insight into the world of volunteer firefighting and any effort to draw attention to the opportunities available to serve your community — are good efforts.

The guide outlines 10 individual tips for preparing to join our ranks. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on January 4, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Fire Rescue Topics, Funding & Staffing, R&R Toolkits, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development, fire • Tagged: Clearinghouse, fire department, fire service, firefighter, FireRECRUITER.com, Generation Y, 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

@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

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

Fifteen years ago; in a land far, far away…

I stumbled across this post from FireCritic (Fire-EMS Blog Network) and was dumbstruck. I haven’t thought of John Jordan in a long, long time.

In May of 1994, as Managing Editor of The Fire Fighter Newspaper and as a guest of VFIS, I and three other local firefighters (Dave Sherman, Jim Guy and Ric Dimpfl) traveled to Washington DC to attend the National Fire & Emergency Services Congressional Caucus Dinner coordinated by the Congressional Fire Services Institute.

Several hours before the dinner started and before I ever met him, John Jordan taught me a very valuable lesson: Don’t judge a book by its cover. (more…)

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Posted by tiger on December 6, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, News, Training & Development, Videos • Tagged: adventure, bosnia, Brotherhood, clean the litterbox, erie county, fire department, fire service, firefighter, john jordan, leadership, line of duty death, motivation, Public Relations, Safety, sarajevo, Tiger Schmittendorf, Training

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

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

Listen Up: Recruitment Radio

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.

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Posted by tiger on September 15, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, Featured, Funding & Staffing, News, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development, Videos

Make It Personal

Firefighters must start living the Life Safety Initiatives for us to see an impact on LODDs.

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…)

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Posted by tiger on September 7, 2009 • Filed under: All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Featured, Firefighter Safety & Health, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Safety, Training & Development, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: 16 life safety initiatives, clean the litterbox, courage to be safe, everyone goes home, fire rescue magazine, Fire/EMS Safety, firefighter funeral, Firefighter Stand Down, firefighternation, Health and Survival Week, leadersthip, line of duty death, LSI, Safety

Dig In.

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…)

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Posted by tiger on September 1, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Featured, Funding & Staffing, R&R Toolkits, Safety, Training & Development • Tagged: Generation Y, made to stick, recruitment, retention, story telling

Fortune Tellers

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…)

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Posted by tiger on September 1, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Featured, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, Public Relations, R&R Toolkits, Training & Development

From X-Box to the Box Alarm

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…)

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Posted by tiger on June 21, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Clearinghouse, Command & Leadership, Featured, Firefighter Safety & Health, Funding & Staffing, R&R Toolkits, Safety, Training & Development • Tagged: Generation Y, recruitment, retention

Schmittendorf Secures $500k for Erie County Chiefs to Conduct R&R

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…)

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Posted by tiger on May 28, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Fire Prevention & Education, Funding & Staffing, News, Training & Development

STATE FIREMEN’S ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES RENOWNED PANELISTS FOR THE FASNY CONVENTION IN NIAGARA FALLS

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…)

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Posted by tiger on May 28, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, News, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: Billy Goldfeder, FASNY, recruitment

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