Save Your Balls|WEAR YOUR MASK! received an honorable mention in Bill Carey's recent post on Backstep Firefighter.
I personally just never understood why, if we go to the roof for the purpose of, and with the full intent of being successful at releasing the super-heated and toxic gases of the fire, would we not wear our mask?
Does making the fire more survivable for the trapped-victims excuse us from making the fire more survivable for the trained-firefighters?
I had the pleasure of sharing my "Xbox Live" conversation with virtually the entire membership of the Brighton Fire District a few months ago and they revealed that they've never had a formal swearing-in ceremony for new members. No oath, no standing up in front of the group and raising your right hand. Nothing.
I told them how I've always thought that to demonstrate real brotherhood and to truly welcome a new member: have the new recruit stand up in front of the membership at their first meeting, raise their right hand and state their name — immediately after which the rest of the existing membership stands up, raises their right hand, states their names — and together the membership and their newest member(s) recite the oath of membership together. And in doing so, they rededicate themselves to the department and the people they serve.
What an awesome sight that would be. What an impression that could make on your new member.
Once in a while — an idea sticks.
My good friend, Brighton Capt. Rick Zicari just shared this photo of their entire membership reciting their new oath of membership for the very first time, together. And to top it all off, they had their Senator Joe Robach administer the oath. Truly a hallmark moment in the history of their great fire department. They get it.
Once in a while you have a chance to make a small impact. I'm confident that this was just as proud of a moment for them, as seeing this photo is for me. Thanks so much for sharing, Rick!
Do members of your volunteer fire department take an oath of membership? Do you recite the oath as individuals, or as a group as shown here? Send me a pic of your swearing in ceremony to tiger@tigerschmittendorf.com and I'll post it here.
Let me know how I can be of assistance to you and your fire department.
Stay safe. Train often.
— TigerSchmittendorf.com|FireRECRUITER.com
Author: "From the Xbox to the Box Alarm — Understanding, Motivating, Leading and Training Today's Firefighters"
View the photo: http://tigerschmittendorf.com/files/2013/10/Brighton-Swearing-in-Ceremony.jpg
While a lot of folks are counting out the days before Thanksgiving by sharing day-by-day what they’re thankful for, I’ve decided to summarize the past few weeks here as they have been some of the most challenging and rewarding times I’ve ever had in my life. Here’s to giving, receiving and thanks:
GIVING: Just a few weeks ago I was deployed with seven of my cohorts on the Western New York Incident Management Team (IMT) to assist in the response and recovery efforts related to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy blowing through Long Island and New York City.
RECEIVING: As we were traveling through New York City on our way to our final destination at the Nassau County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) we were informed that they had absolutely no means of housing our eight-person team. There were no hotel rooms available within an hour or more of our work site and despite bringing cots and bedding with us, there was ‘no room at any inn.’
Thank God I have friends in the fire service throughout the state and country as it took just one phone call to Rob Leonard, a good friend and brother firefighter with the Syosset Volunteer Fire Department and public relations committee chair with FASNY, to find us a place to rest our heads. Despite being without power and heat at his own home, Rob connected us with their chief and commissioners to clear the way for us to bunk at their nicely appointed Woodbury Firehouse.
THANKS: Due to the widespread lodging shortage, Syosset accommodated us for the first three nights of our deployment. Warm beds and hot showers were a welcome relief at the end of the 14-18 hour days we were working. Without them we would have literally been left out in the cold. For their generosity, hospitality and brotherhood in the face of their own challenges – we THANK them.
Lt. John Mitchell of FirefighterNetcast.com fame and Snyder Fire Chief (Ret.) Tom Merrill are just two of the countless friends I have been blessed to gain in my 32 years in the fire service.Editor’s Note: The Federal Fire Department Identification (FDID) Number for the Evans Center Volunteer Fire Company is 15032, thus the title of this article teaser “32 Years in the 15032.”
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It was thirty-two years ago, on September 2, 1980, when I raised my right hand and said “I will” serve my community as I was sworn in as the first junior firefighter the Evans: Center Volunteer Fire Company ever had. I was 17.
Like the old sidewalk they’re replacing outside our fire station, my path in the fire service has been full of both ups and downs. From the highs of truly helping people and really saving lives — to the agony we face in the streets, and sometimes in the firehouse, when our best efforts just aren’t enough, at least in the eyes of some people.
Through all of it though, I have had the good fortune of always being surrounded by great people who have had a deep and profound impact on both my personal and professional life.
From our sister site: FireRECRUITER.com
What started out as a vision for a successful joint recruitment project has morphed into a passion to connect firefighters and soldiers of all stripes.
Based on the concept that we're looking for the same people — and we are the same people, I created a joint recruitment project between our county's volunteer fire service and the NY National Guard.
If you think about Guardsmen, Soldiers and every other appropriate title given to those who serve in all the branches of the US Military, they can be ideal candidates to recruit into the volunteer fire service. They already understand discipline, respect, teamwork and the chain-of-command — and they certainly get the whole "brotherhood" thing! As many have shared about this idea, "it's a no-brainer!"
In his February 17th Morning Lineup features (and updated on February 20th), FireGeezer.com's Bill Schumm discusses and demonstrates the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of using video as a recruitment tool. While his perspective on why we face the recruitment and retention challenges we do are certainly part of puzzle, the value of his commentary lies in the subliminal call to action that we need to be more creative in creating the solutions.
Certainly, a recruitment video with appropriate visuals and a good, solid message can be effective, but FireGeezer proposes that we need to do something about our culture, our society, to inspire and perpetuate volunteerism. I couldn't agree more.
As I've said before:
“Simply put, it’s my belief that the survival and success of the volunteer fire service relies on our ability to create more opportunities – for more people – to volunteer less time.
Our success depends on our ability to effectively plan for, lead and manage people; whether you don’t have enough – or you have more than you can handle.
The possibilities for their involvement are only limited by our imaginations.”
- Tiger Schmittendorf – From: "A New Pyramid Scheme for your Volunteer Fire Department"
An article recently posted to FirefighterNation.com outlines the challenges faced by volunteer fire departments in Pennsylvania in recruiting and retaining their members. Although these types of articles are becoming all too frequent, this one in particular is better than most in that it focuses on the positives of being a volunteer firefighter — not all the negatives. I’ve cited many examples of what not to say if you’re actually looking to solve your R&R challenges in a previous post titled “Is this our best approach?” Too often, it seems that we hand a prospective candidate all of the reasons and excuses why they wouldn’t join on a silver platter.
I have to tip my helmet to the volunteer fire service in Pennsylvania who is no stranger to these challenges — or to innovative solutions to those challenges. I’ve previously mentioned them in “PA VFDs Dip Into Fountain of Youth” for potential solutions as well as I’ve applauded their efforts in the successful recruitment campaign: “Roll with It!” — the sexiest thing to come to volunteer recruitment I’ve ever seen. It rivals the GoArmy.com and NationalGuard.com campaigns.
The world is changing rapidly and the fire service is getting caught up in the tornado effect of technology on our society.
More and more fire departments are smartly using web sites, e-mail and social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to recruit new firefighters and to stay connected to their community. There isn't much you can't do with a mobile device today that took a super-computer to do less than 30 years ago.
I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a conversation with a large group of fire instructors titled: "From the Xbox to the Box Alarm" for the University of Kansas Fire and Rescue Institute wherein we discussed today's and tomorrow's generation of firefighters. The conversation focused not only on the challenges in understanding, motivating, training and leading this unique cadre of individuals, but also enlightened the participants as to the tremendous potential they possess for moving our fire service forward.
And, naturally, you can't have a conversation about today's generation of firefighters without discussing the importance of technology and the impact of social networking.
I am often reluctant to write about commercial business ventures in my blogs and other platforms as I am sensitive to the trusted relationship between a writer and their readers, and leary about self-promotion. Thus I have delayed writing this post for quite some time.
It wasn’t until I came to the realization that this is not about me or what I’m involved in as much as it is about you – my readers, followers and the fire service at large – that I felt the timing was right for sharing this exciting news.
Earlier this year I was invited by my long time and good friends Dave Iannone and Chris Hebert to share in their vision for tipping the traditional training program on its head. Dave and Chris have a knack for surrounding themselves with inspired people and a solid reputation for bringing innovative and successful solutions to the fire service community, so it wasn’t much of a tough sell for me to join them and the other members of their team at the table.
The conversations were very indepth and engaging, even sparring at points, but all with a common goal in mind: to bring a new and exciting approach to providing training for firefighters and first responders. As I looked around the room, I saw a tremendous amount of passion and caring for getting this right.
It wasn’t long before I was hooked and signed on as chief of training, charged with driving the direction of the educational content of their new conference concept.
Her Dad was a fire lieutenant and her two youngest brothers (twins) joined as cadets, then volunteers and eventually became career firefighters.
But when Janet Wilmoth tried to join her local volunteer fire department, the fire chief told her to “Go home and have babies.”
She went on to do that too, but in the meantime, Janet Wilmoth took another approach to the fire service. She’s been with Fire Chief Magazine since 1986 and now leads the charge for improving the fire service as the publication’s editorial director.
I wonder if that chief has since been reminded of that famous quote: “Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel!”
Join Janet and Tiger Schmittendorf, host of the Firefighter Storytellers Internet radio show live at 9pm EST on Wednesday-February 9, 2011, as Janet tells her story of growing up as a firefighter’s daughter to being a fire service leader. (more…)
As I do with much in life, I take new experiences and new information and compare it to other aspects of my life in emergency services. Whenever it’s the least bit relevant – I try to apply it to the business I love: the fire service.
Such was the case this past week when I completed a National Fire Academy on Safety Operations and Management. I applied the process and premise of managing safety in our organizations and applied it to recruitment and retention.
While the resulting article may raise more questions than it provides answers, I hope you’ll ask yourself these same questions to assess whether or not your volunteer fire department is taking the right steps to be flush with volunteers — or needlessly flushing them and their experience away.
Click this article to read more at www.FireRECRUITER.com.
Glenn Usdin was a Run-to-the-Curb kid, growing up in the Long Island New York fire service and rising to the rank of fire chief in Lancaster PA. Like many in the fire service, his career path has taken him in several different directions including a tenure as associate publisher of Fire Engineering Magazine, president of American-LaFrance Used Fire Apparatus, now the owner of a large used fire apparatus company – Command Fire Apparatus and his most recent venture with FireEMS Blogs, founding the FireTruckBlog.com.
Listen in as Chief Usdin shares his story of how he’s made a career out of his fascination with fire trucks with host Tiger Schmittendorf on the Firefighter Storytellers Internet radio show live at 9pm EST on Wednesday-January 12, 2011. (more…)
It should be no secret by now that I’m big on this whole concept of storytelling in the fire service.
In fact, I’m pretty sure that storytelling has never been more imporant than it is now as a way of sharing our experiences, perpetuating our values and passing down our rich history and traditions.
That’s why I created www.runtothecurb.com as a means of not only sharing my stories which have been writing themselves over the past 30 years, but more importantly, as a platform for others to tell their stories as to what brought them to the fire service and what keeps them going day-to-day and year-after-year. Now a natural extension of that web site, I was offered the tremendous opportunity to develop Firefighter Storytellers — an Internet radio show that gives a voice to those stories that form a common bond amongst us all.
It’s been a great, long, hot summer — causing me to take some time away from blogging to spend with my family and friends. Although I haven’t been writing much, I have been doing a lot of reading and observing. And, it’s my observation that the need for effective story telling in the fire service has never been greater.
This was never more apparent than during my observation of and interaction with recruits participating in the Firefighter 1 Boot Camp at the Erie County Emergency Services Training & Operations Center where I work.
Each day, I had the opportunity to spend time with those 50 recruits from 37 different fire departments across our county, talking not just tactics and techniques, but about life in the fire service. (more…)
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.
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…)
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/
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.
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?
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!”
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…)
It should be no secret by now that I have a passion for story telling, and especially telling of the importance of sharing stories in the fire service as a means of passing down our history, traditions and values.
It’s almost an obsession.
It’s gotten so bad that I’ve started drawing my Blackberry from its holster and pressing the voice note “Record” button at the drop of a hint that a story is about to unfold in conversation. While I took a lot of friendly fire for that from friends while sharing in some “networking opportunities” at FDIC recently, the gems I’ve captured are absolutely priceless. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to read and listen to some of them soon.
It was also at FDIC that I was reminded of what got me on this story-telling kick and who inspired me to tell my stories by creating the Run-to-the-Curb concept.
Click here to read the rest of the story of how I got my story-telling start. (Try to say that 10-times, fast)
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…)
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:
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.
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…)
On Kevin, MD today, Julia Frank, MD demonstrates that being delusional is apparently no barrier to… (more)
The event is a no-fluff, all-meat time of discussion about the basics for firefighters and company… (more)
A Virginia jury has returned a defense verdict in favor of the estate of the driver of an engine… (more)
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