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Fire Chief Blogs His Way Through Fire Academy Experience

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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…)

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

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loddThat’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.

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Reversal of Fortune?

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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…)

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

Make It Personal

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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…)

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

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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…)

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: , ,

3407

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Continental Flight 3407 crashed into a home in Clarence Center around 10:20pm on Thursday-February 12, 2009 - killing 50 people and changing the lives of thousands more, including mine.

I responded in the first wave of emergency services personnel sent to help restore order to the chaos that the crash created.

Frankly, I’m not ready to write about this experience at length. Not because I’m deeply disturbed by what I saw (how can you not be?), but because I don’t want what I write to be about me, despite my being intimately involved.

I just didn’t want to go any longer without conveying my deep sense of pride, admiration and gratitude to the men and women and the families of the Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company. (more…)

Posted by tiger on February 24, 2009 • Filed under: All Blogs, Command & Leadership, Featured, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Funding & Staffing, HazMat, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, News, Rescues, Safety, Special Operations, training-fire-rescue-topics

Night at the Museum

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Christina, Kyle, Tiger and Dennis

Christina, Kyle, Tiger and Dennis at the Buffalo Fire Historical Museum. PHOTO BY: Margaret Coghlan

OK. I admit it.

It was a day at the museum but hey, nobody ever made a movie with the catchy title: “Day at the Museum.”

Regardless, we had a great day recently when we visited the Buffalo Fire Historical Museum on William St. near Ogden St. on the city’s eastern border with the Town of Cheektowaga.

I was there once before, a very long time ago, but had forgotten just how rich the museum is with placeholders of our heritage. And the best part was, I went with friends.

I dragged along my best friend Chief Denny Allen, my 21-year old niece Christina who is a new firefighter with neighboring Lake Erie Beach; and Kyle, the 9-year old son of another best friend – Chief John Latimore. I’ll tell you about Kyle another day but for now, Kyle is a real kid with a great imagination who represents everything good about the neighborhood we grew up in. He’s a real stitch and fun to have around. That’s why I was glad he accepted our invitation to join us on this most excellent adventure. (more…)

Posted by tiger on January 26, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Public Relations, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

Some things bear repeating

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I’m not one to regurgitate information. I don’t do a lot of pass through e-mails. And I certainly don’t perpetuate “Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Some inane subject matter” e-mails like so many copy-and-paste-challenged people do.

But some things bear repeating. Some things strike you so profoundly, so succintly, that you simply feel obligated to pass it along, even if so many others have done so already.

This is one of those occasions. I’m re-publishing (with permission) this excerpt of an e-mail from my good friend and mentor Billy Goldfeder. It’s from his not-so-secret Secret List at FirefighterCloseCalls.com. If you don’t subscribe to it, you’re either out of touch or you don’t care about our brother firefighters getting hurt and dead.

This one hurts to the bone. Read it. Re-read it. Make adjustments to your life and fire service operations as appropriate.

Stay safe. Train often. Happy New Year! (more…)

Posted by tiger on January 2, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, All Blogs, Brotherhood, Command & Leadership, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Major Incidents, Safety, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , ,
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