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Fire/EMS Blog of the Year 2009 #FCBLOG09

Fire/EMS Blog of the Year 2009 (#FCBLOG09 on twitter)

It is time for a new contest…

If you would like to sponsor this contest with a prize for the winner please let me know at firecritic@firecritic.com.

The contest is to find out per our readers who the best is…

Welcome to the ultimate in fire/EMS blog contests. Who will end up with the bragging rights of being the best Fire and/or EMS Blog of the Year 2009?

Nominate your favorite today via twitter , email, or contact page . Just send us the blog, url, and why the blog is the best. If using twitter use hashtag #FCBLOG09.

A while back I posted about the best fire blogs, EMS blogs and web sites. You can view it here. The problem I had was narrowing it down to the best. Therefore, I am asking you all for help. After all, you don’t care what I think as much as I care what you think! Feel free to use those blogs listed as a guide for some of the best, but your favorite might not be listed.

One thing I have tried to do here at the Fire Critic is to help showcase other Fire/EMS bloggers. I have done this through the Monday Morning Shoutout, showcasing other bloggers, and linking to others content. I feel as though many fire/EMS blogs don’t get read enough because it is hard to keep up with all of them and some are hard to find. There is one thing for sure…there are some GREAT fire and EMS blogs! This contest will certainly show who the favorites are!

Nomination period:

Begins on December 30, 2009 at 1500 hours EST

Concludes on January 5, 2010 at 1459 hours EST.

Ten finalists will be picked by our judges (TBA) from the list of eligible nominees.
The finalists will be chosen based on the following criteria:

Caliber of posts relating to the Fire and/or EMS fields
Design elements in their blog
Professionalism towards our service(s)
Use of other social media to extend the network of their blog
Longevity as a blogger

Please contact me if you have questions or comments.

Read more information here…

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Posted by firecritic on December 30, 2009 • Filed under: Contests, News • Tagged: Contests, EMS Blog of the Year, Fire Blog of the Year, Fire/EMS Blog of the Year

Top Ten Most Popular Posts This Year on Fire Critic

Even though The Fire Critic is a mere pup at 6 months old, I still feel the need to point out the top blog posts by views for the Year 2009. If you want to know the most popular by comments just look on the right hand sidebar!

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Posted by firecritic on December 30, 2009 • Filed under: News, Top Ten Lists • Tagged: Top 10 list

Blog Tip – Monetizing your Fire/EMS Blog Part II

Making Money on your Blog

Part II of Monetizing your Blog/web site will go over the numerous ways of making money on your blog. If you missed part I please review it here.

There are many ways of making money on your blog. I have detailed several below. You should note that there are plenty of other sources of making money on your blog other than listed here. These are the ones that I have found to be worth the time. Feel free to let me know in the comments of ways you make money and share with everyone! These are in no particular order.

Donations
Selling Ads
Selling Text links
Selling Merchandise
Ad Networks
Affiliate Marketing
Product Reviews
Sponsorship for events/podcasts/contests

1. Donations

This is not a very popular way of making money without actually offering a service, but it can work. I have never actually placed a donation link on any of my sites. In my experience, most of the donations that work are on sites which offer a service but don’t require payment or sites which offer a free product.

The hangup most people have with asking for donations is some people feel it is like begging.

The easiest way to set up for donations is to get a paypal account. Paypal offers buttons to put directly on your site for accepting donations.

Chronicles of EMS is a perfect example of making donations work!

I sell numerous advertising spots on VAFireNews.com. Some rotating spots and others which show up on every impression. Click on the image to see how I do it on VAFireNews.com

2. Selling Ads

You don’t have to be a marketing genius to sell ads on your site. You do need to be somewhat of an effective salesperson! I have sold ads on VAFireNews.com for several years.

Here are some lessons I have learned for selling ads:

Stick with the accepted size ads [468x60, 160x600 or 120x600, 728x90, 300x250, 125x125]
Stick with rotating ads. You can share the wealth of a decent spot to more than one advertiser.
Use decent real estate. Don’t put your ads at the bottom of the page. You WANT people see the ads and click on them!
Start out cheap to get them on board.
Offer a free month or half price advertising.
Offer a discount if they pay for longer terms. Give a % discount if they pay a year in advance.
I recommend pre-payment for advertising.
Find out what your competitors or comparable sites are charging for advertising.
Prepare a media packet on the pricing and placement of ads.
Offer a phone number they can call. I use my cell phone number.
You can also use impression based sales. I have not gone to this. I have always stuck with a monthly rate.

3. Selling Text Links

Have you ever gotten an email about exchanging links? If you run a blog or web site then the answer is probably yes. Here is the deal. The company who contacted you sees a value in having a link to their site from yours. For whatever reason they want that link. Make them pay for a long period up front, otherwise they will forget or you will forget and they will get that link for free.

Text link advertisers like Text Link Ads (click on banner below) offer easy to use code that turn your keywords into links.

Click on the image to view the Fire Critic's Cafepress store

4. Selling Merchandise

The Fire Critic offers merchandise for sale. I admit that this is more of a marketing ploy than a money making venture. Cafepress or Zazzle offer decently priced merchandise for sale. Especially for people only ordering one item. The cost IS a little higher per item than ordering 200 shirts from the local screen printer.

FireGeezer has done a great job with the FireGeezer Mugs. However, I am not sure this was a money making venture. More of a marketing ploy I believe. He kept it simple and his readers love it!

If you were to create a Cafepress or Zazzle “store” I recommend the following:

Take the time to make high quality images for use on the merchandise
Take the time to customize the store
Order some of the merchandise before you publicize it to ensure quality assurance!
Don’t set the prices too high.

Sites like Lulu offer the ability to make books, calendars, ebooks, etc. as well.

View the Fire Critic’s Cafepress store here

5. Ad Networks (Contextual Advertising)

The use of ad networks like Google Adsense can be seen on almost every blog/web site you stumble upon. Originally (years ago), I had reservations of using this code because of the look of the link units. Once I came around I found ways of incorporating the code in a way that I was ok with. At its height I have made hundreds of dollars a month with ad networks. Google Adsense is probably the widest known ad network. PSClicks specializes in Public Safety websites.

psclicks as seen on VAFireNews.com. I also run this on FireCritic.com

psclicks as seen on VAFireNews.com. I also run this on FireCritic.com

Networks I would try:

Here are some tips:

Make sure you are following the rules. I think google limits you to 3 ad units per page.
Try different ad placements.
Review the performance on various placements and stick with what works.
The better the real estate the better the return on clicks.
Don’t forget to put these on your rss feeds too.

CPC vs. CPM

CPC – cost per click is when you get paid per each click through. Google Adsense is an example of CPC.

CPM – cost per mille is when you get paid per thousand impressions. Burst Media is an example of CPM.

6. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s marketing efforts [source]. You might be rewarded by cash or other merchandise. Examples of this that work well in the Fire/EMS niche is Amazon affiliates or Chief Supply. Most affiliate programs pay out once you reach a certain amount of credit. Since I wrote a book, I use the amazon affiliate program to sell the book (I get paid royalties for the book plus a commission of selling it if they click through my amazon affiliate link). If The Fire Store ever decided to do affiliate marketing I would be the first to use it. I should make money just off that tip alone….hint hint.

7. Product Reviews

Bloggers can actually make money on product reviews. I am not referring to getting free products as that is a bonus to doing reviews. Actually, businesses will pay bloggers for reviews. Before you jump up and down, I don’t know of any right off that I have seen done in the fire/EMS field…but I am sure it happens. And no, the Fire Critic does not get paid for reviews at the time of this writing (view my terms here).

You can also use sites like SponsoredReviews.com or PayPerPost.com to get leads on reviews.

@Firemom at Stop, Drop, and Blog offers product reviews. You can view her terms here.

8. Sponsorship of Events/Podcasts/Contests

Fire/EMS related companies are beginning to understand the effectiveness of advertising and marketing through blogs like this one. Bloggers/webmasters of sites like EMS Garage, EMSEducast, and The Bravest Online are capitalizing on this by having companies sponsor their podcasts and other events. Get on the wagon!

There will be plenty more written about making money on your blog. Look for the next installment soon.

How do you make money on your blog?

What have you used? What works and what doesn’t?

If you see something you want more information on let me know. If you don’t see something that should be here please let me know. I will be happy to include it in future blog tips!

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Posted by firecritic on December 29, 2009 • Filed under: Blog Tips, Must Read, News • Tagged: Blog Tip, Making Money on your Blog, Monetizing your Blog

Today We Said Goodbye to a True Firefighter

Today, we buried Battalion Chief Billy Obenchain. You can read more about him here and view more photos about him here.

He was an outstanding Battalion Chief and a great firefighter. He was 57 years old, retired with 25 years on the job, and had battled cancer for 9 years.

He left an impact

He made a difference

He created a legacy…

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Posted by firecritic on December 28, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Billy Obenchain

Huge MVA, Wildland Fire, Arson

The Monday Morning Shoutout will be tonight. Be sure to submit your ideas here.

10 dead as 100 cars pile up on highway

At least 10 people died and 19 were injured Monday in a series of rear-end collisions, involving at least 100 vehicles, on a highway in east China’s Jiangxi Province. Read the rest of the article

Firefighters and medical staff rescue the victims of a severe pile-up crash believed to have been caused by low visibility in the heavy fog and slippery road surfaces in Jiangxi province on December 28, 2009. (Xinhua)

Firefighters and medical staff rescue the victims of a severe pile-up crash believed to have been caused by low visibility in the heavy fog and slippery road surfaces in Jiangxi province on December 28, 2009. (Xinhua)

Fires destroy 20 homes near Chile’s port of Valparaiso

The forest fires have burned some 2,000 hectares of wood and brush in the hills near the port of Valparaiso.

At the weekend, hundreds of residents had to leave as the fires neared their homes.

Officials suspect arson and say a 12-year-old boy could be responsible for at least one of the fires. Continue reading

9 Suspicious Fires in Massachusetts Leave 2 Dead, Officials Say

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Authorities investigating nine “suspicious” fires in a western Massachusetts town that left two people dead are treating them as crimes.

Federal, state and local fire and police investigators are trying to determine what caused the fires, which local District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel says are suspicious.

Scheibel says the fires broke out across Northampton, Mass., between 2 a.m. and 3:15 a.m. Sunday. She says five fires were in buildings and others in cars.

The two victims were found on the first floor of a house that was engulfed in fire. Police have not identified them. Continue reading

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Posted by firecritic on December 28, 2009 • Filed under: News

Vote for Raising Ladders!!! Show Your Support

I wrote the other day about Raising Ladders. Alex has entered into a contest with onehelluva video from DCFD Engine 26.

You can now vote for his video since he was picked as one of the top 50. Click on the picture to vote! Vote often!!!

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Posted by firecritic on December 25, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Alex Capece, Raising Ladders

Merry Christmas From the Fire Critic

The Fire Critic had to work tonight, Christmas Eve. It isn’t a big deal, I don’t have the seniority to get this cycle off. That is the life we lead. Luckily I have Christmas Day off. Actually, I get to enjoy a four day break starting Christmas Day. I will be spending the day at home with my family. I cannot make it to Nashville to spend Christmas with my extended family, but we will make it to Richmond on Saturday/Sunday with my wives family.

On Sunday night I will be back in Roanoke to be at the viewing of an Icon in my FD. You can read all about Battalion Chief Billy Obenchain here.

On Monday we will pay our respects with a full honors fire department funeral. If there is any question as to how we take care of our Brothers you can view the last funeral we held for a comrade who died suddenly here.

Needless to say, it has been a tough couple of months for our department. We have a couple other firefighters battling cancer as well. One who is off-duty and another who is still working.

This cycle I enjoyed working at a different station than the one I am assigned to. I have been working at Station 2, The Palace, while a good friend of mine is riding the car (battalion). We have had a pretty decent cycle.

The highlight of the cycle was the 14 lb. prime rib roast we made for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I got two calls while getting ready to eat so I had to eat cold prime rib. However, cold prime rib is better than no prime rib at all.

Merry Christmas to all. I hope that everyone enjoys their Christmas morning with their loved ones. For those of you working…stay safe.

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Posted by firecritic on December 24, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Billy Obenchain, Christmas

Raising Ladders Video

Alex Capece of Raising Ladders has been blogging since becoming a firefighter/paramedic for DCFD (Sept. 2008). He flaunts his ability behind a camera every chance he gets. His story is actually quite interesting as well.

His photography isn’t the only great part of his blog though. He writes with passion and he does it very well.

He has now added a new notch in the blogging bedpost….video. He recently uploaded a video to the Nikon Festival “A Day Through Your Lens” competition. The video is awesome! Alex works at Engine 26 and captures some great video including some helmet camera footage!

I am not exactly sure how the contest works, but it appears to me that his video has been chosen as one of the top 50 contenders. Now I believe it is up to the judges.

Oh yeah…and I am one who always tries to give credit where it is due so I must admit that Captain Wines of the Engine 9 Blog gave me the heads up on this one!

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Posted by firecritic on December 23, 2009 • Filed under: News, Videos • Tagged: Alex Capece, DCFD, Raising Ladders, Video

These Boots Were Made For Weather

Remember those boots I did a product review on…they are still doing great. They have completely replaced my warrington pro (firefighting boots) zip ups that I previously wore around the station and on calls not requiring turnout pants/boots. They have been very comfortable working through the recent snow we had (about 18″).

If you are looking for a product review on your product please review my terms here.

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Posted by firecritic on December 23, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Product Reviews

Editorial Suicide or Expert Marketing…”Another Noose”

The other day, Cindy Devone-Pacheco wrote a blog post on Firefighter Nation titled “Another Noose”.

The post has sparked a lot of conversation both here and here. Mick Mayers gave his side here.

The basis of Captain Busy’s argument is that he doesn’t agree with race being used to stir the pot…

What is not right is the use of race issues, religion or sexual preference to stir the pot, make people angry and point fingers at folks who quite frankly (if they are anything like me) were surprised to read such an obvious attempt to get folks to respond.

Kali goddess of destruction started another thread that pretty much says the same thing:

The below article, written by by an editor at FireRescue, which owns FFN, paints the entire Fire Service as racist for the sole purpose of generating “buzz” or traffic to this website.

If you continue reading the discussion moves on to Cindy and her job security, the webchief and his moderation ability, Tim and his apology for Cindy, and about a ton of other analogies for those of us that didn’t think the KKK reference was bad enough.

Here are some issues though (yes I am playing both sides of the field):

1. User terms of service #14 for FFN: in a manner that is hateful or discriminatory based on race, color, sex, religion, nationality, ethnic or national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or age or is otherwise objectionable, as reasonably determined by Ning;

Were there any complaints of the “white guy” reference being hateful or discriminatory towards white people or “guys”? If this fits the criteria and any other comments/blogs have been deleted because of the same infringement then the webchief needs to draw a more permanent line in the sand of what can and cannot be said.

2. What would have happened if they had just removed the entire blog post?

You guys would be sitting in a padded room clutching a teddy bear and sucking your thumbs! You guys freak out when stuff gets deleted. Oh but wait…you didn’t agree with it being up there so it is a catch 22.

3. Should she have apologized?

I think so. It was a poor choice of words. Tim can’t be but so pissed because I am sure it did great things for traffic! Some people have vowed to not read the magazine anymore….cry me a river.

I think that Captain and Kali missed the boat though. Of course it was about engaging readers. Sure the statement might have been strong, but if it weren’t to entice the readers it wouldn’t have been written at all. After all, we are all just a bunch of narcissists writing blogs, writing in forums, and responding to others.

Some of the responding users did hit the nail on the head with the real issue (comparing the fire service to the KKK).

Writers want people to read our stuff. Whether you are writing a book, a blog, an article, or a comment we want it to be read. With that being said we have to be responsible for what we write and have the balls to stand up for it. Cindy wrote it and published it…it is history now.

Here is my take. I don’t appreciate Cindy insinuating that I am part of a brotherhood that is an extension of the KKK. Me being a “white guy” as she called it and a firefighter would lead me to believe that she is indeed talking about me.

But does it really piss me off? NO. A comment like this won’t make me quit a subscription, stop using FFN, or anything else. If anything, it entices me to read more from Cindy to see what she is all about….”Expert Marketing” unless of course she gets the can in which it would become “Editorial Suicide”!

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Posted by firecritic on December 22, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Cindy Devone-Pacheco, Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation

The Netcast is coming

That is right!!! The Fire Critic is partnering with Fire Daily to create an all new podcast/netcast for the fire service. The first one will be on January 12th at 8pm EST. Please mark your calendars. Further information will be available.

We are going to keep the discussion fresh and capitalize on the ability of our listeners to call in.

We will have plenty of information available prior to our launch. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or comments!

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Posted by firecritic on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: NetCast, News, Podcast • Tagged: Fire Critic, Fire Daily, NetCast

MMSO – IronsandLadders.com

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to IronsandLadders.com. The site has been online for only a couple months but it looks to be promising. The “about us” page states:

This is a place to talk shop, post new ideas/tactics and continue the pursuit of becoming masters of our craft. There are multiple authors writing and providing input for a variety of topics. This could not be done without the help of many contributors and mentors. Thank You.

The site is about truck work, training, and the like. They are off to a great start.

The guys have a decent look and I think that they will have a lot to offer. Don’t worry, I am sure they will be on twitter and facebook before you know it…hint hint!

At least they went with wordpress right off the bat!

Be sure to check them out regularly and submit your content to them!!!

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Posted by firecritic on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: Monday Morning Shoutout, News • Tagged: IronsandLadders.com, Monday Morning Shoutout

Chronicles of EMS Trailer

Setla Films has uploaded the trailer for Chronicles of EMS. The trailer is but a taste of the larger pilot to come in the future. I must say that a trailer like this should have sponsors knocking down the door to get involved.

The filming of “The Project” and the subsequent creation of “Chronicles of EMS” seemed to be a snowball effect which really took on a life of its own. The whirlwind of social media that surrounded the buildup of “The Project” was a marketing wet dream! What a dream to have all of that free publicity, some great industry social media geniuses involved, and more and more people getting on board every minute.

What I really don’t understand is why companies which spend tens of thousands of dollars (probably a lot more) in advertising on industry websites and mags couldn’t come up with a marketing strategy to advertise on Chronicles of EMS. That is just amazing. That being said, they did have some great sponsors most notably Zoll.

I guess it just goes to show that many industry leaders still haven’t wrapped their heads around the capabilities of social media.

If you don’t know…now you know

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Posted by firecritic on December 17, 2009 • Filed under: News, Videos • Tagged: Chronicles of EMS, Happy Medic, Justin Schorr, Mark Glencorse, Medic 999

Major Fire…Major Fire

Check out this video of a fully involved house on arrival in Chicago.

Yeah….I am one of those guys who still can’t get over the use of 3/4 boots, but it works for them so be it. I am also not a fan of long coats for dexterity reasons.

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Posted by firecritic on December 17, 2009 • Filed under: News, Videos • Tagged: Chicago Fire Department, House Fire, Video

Blog Tip – Monetizing your Fire/EMS Blog Part I

Considerations on whether or not to monetize your blog and when

As with most blog tips by the Fire Critic, this one can be used for non fire/EMS blogs and is applicable to web sites as well as blogs. This will be a multi-part posting, so feel free to comment with questions so I can answer them in the following post.

Some people are very finicky about making money, posting ads, and asking for donations on their blogs. Some love it and others hate it. I am referring to the actual bloggers here, the readers are another thing. Whether you decide to monetize your blog is an important decision and one that should not be made without proper research on best practices. That is where I come in. I hope to help you along in making the best of your blog and doing it right if/when you decide to monetize it.

“Monetizing your Fire/EMS Blog will delivered in the following installments (subject to change)

Considerations on whether or not to monetize your blog and when
Various monetization schemes
Where to put your links and banners
Best Practices and lessons learned

There are numerous ways of making money on your blog/site. Whether you are selling advertisements, placing affiliate marketing ads, asking for donations, selling links, etc. Once you decide on monetization you will have to constantly monitor each advertising solution to make sure it is working.

Should you or Shouldn’t you - Some people have decided to not monetize their blog. They are striclty against it and that is the way it is. Others want to but don’t know how. Whether you do or don’t, you want to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with the readers experience on your site.

Case and Point – FirefighterHourly.com runs one set of ads on his site by Lion Apparel. I do not know the relationship, but I do know that Jay offers kind reviews on Lion apparel. It is my understanding that the site has a lot of readers and the alexa ranking puts it right behind the Fire Critic. Therefore, I know that if Jay were to add some ad banners or links in the mix he could make decent money on his blog without really doing much more work.

Traffic - Do you have readers? You might think this is a stupid question, however I see blogs started every day and more time spent on creating and placing ads than on actual content and gaining readership. Most blog themes offer a spot or two for google adsense or another application. It is fine to utilize this spot from day one, but you might be better off placing a static image of a link to another site for now.

Case and point – FireGeezer didn’t monetize his blog for a long time and he had plenty of readers. I imagine that since going to the new platform of FireEMSBlogs.com that FireGeezer will be making decent money in ads which run on the blog. The same can be said for STATter911.com. Both sites boast some great traffic stats!

Layout – Plan ahead for monetization. When you create the design, choose a theme, or develop the look of your blog/site go ahead and plan for expansion. Don’t place the banners, but plan for where you will want them and make the arrangements to place them there 0nce you are ready. This will make a seamless transition into the realm of monetization. However, do not design a blog around advertisements, instead design advertisements around your blog.

Case and point – http://be-a-firefighter.com/ might be a great website, however there is way too much advertising going on here. The overpowering of ads distracts from reading the actual posts and probably loses return visitors.

Timeline - Develop a timeline for when you will add advertisements. Plan for several months out and decide on when you will be ready for ads. This deadline will help you crunch your time in making your blog/site the best so that when you go live with ads you are ready.

Case and point – When I started VAFireNews.com I spent the first 3-4 months working on content and design. Once I started looking for advertisers I had a pretty decent product. Those advertisers who started out early have remained with me to this day. I was not in a hurry to get ads, I wanted to make sure I had something to sell first.

Don’t get ahead of yourself - I can tell from experience that you probably will not be retiring early because of your income on your blog. If it is possible I will let you know…I am not giving up anytime soon. Unless you have some new technology or angle at taking out Firehouse.com you probably will not be laying in a bed of money by simply monetizing your blog. The main thing is to network.

Case and Point – I am not retired yet!!!

Network – Read and utilize my “Top Ten Marketing Tools for Fire/EMS Blogs and Websites”. Be sure you are capitalizing on these networking tools! (I am doing one of them by posting this link here)

Case and Point – The best thing you can have is other sites link to you. On average, I nearly double my hits on a day when FireGeezer links to me. While I doubt that I do the same for him I certainly try.

Stay tuned for more on monetizing your blog/web site. Feel free to get your comments/questions in so that I can make sure I fit in an answer in the following posts.

I will be happy to incorporate your trials and tribulations on monetizing your blogs as well. Let me know what has worked and what hasn’t!

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Posted by firecritic on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: Blog Tips, News • Tagged: Blog Tip, Making Money on your Blog, Monetizing your Blog

Monday Morning Shoutout – BoronExtrication.com

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to BoronExtrication.com. What the hell is boron you might ask? It is a high strength steel. The site is all about boron and other high strength steel and how to deal with it in extrication.

This site should be useful for all you Pin Job fanatics!

BoronExtrication.com was created by Mike Smith. His very imaginative peers have nicknamed him Smitty (I believe there is a Smitty in every department in th U.S.). Mike is a paid on call firefighter/EMT outside of Detroit and he makes a living in the automobile industry. Therefore, Smitty knows something about vehicles and construction of vehicles.

Stop on in and check out his site. Chris also runs HybridExtrication.com and Firefighter900.com.

Smitty has been blogging for about 1 year and uses the blogger format. He started blogging because of a lack of information on UHSS and Boron in vehicles. His daily reading list includes Fire Daily, VentEnterSearch.com, and yours truly. His best experience as a blogger has been having another blogger reference his site; his worst is going several days without updating the site.

Keep up the great work Smitty!

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Posted by firecritic on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: Monday Morning Shoutout, News • Tagged: Boron Extrication, BoronExtrication.com, Monday Morning Shoutout

MMSO – Submit Your Site Today

I finally did it…I put “MMSO” instead of “Monday Morning Shoutout” in the post title. Consider this a huge step for me. I actually feel as though people read this and know what MMSO stands for. If it doesn’t work I will revert to the old way of spelling it out.

I had no luck getting a site up for MMSO this week. Actually I gave up. I wrote one up, but I am waiting for an answer to a question I have on it so it will wait til next week.

Then I had two or three others that I was working on and they fell through for one reason or another.

There is a chance I will follow up with another MMSO post, but for now I will tell you about a new process.

You can now submit your own site/blog for MMSO. On the navigation bar above you will see “MMSO“. Click on that and you can read about MMSO and what it is. You can also submit your site there. I will be adding a submission form to make it easier, but until then just use email.

Anyone and everyone can submit their site, however there is no guarantee that I will use it.

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Posted by firecritic on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: Monday Morning Shoutout, News • Tagged: Monday Morning Shoutout

Raleigh firefighter Lt. Harry “Flip” Kissinger Succumbs to His Injuries

The Fire Critic reported on Raleigh firefighter Lt. Harry “Flip” Kissinger last week when he was tragically injured in an MVA on his way home from work. The Lt. died today, a week after the accident where he suffered numerous injuries including head trauma.

The original post on FireCritic.com

The Story on Channel 5 in Raleigh

The Facebook page set up for Flip

Rest in Peace Brother

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Posted by firecritic on December 11, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: Harry Kissinger, Raleigh Fire Department

Time To Call in the Big Guns

Check out this house fire in Norway? The fire is blowing out many windows as the video begins playing. Then pay attention to :14 seconds in at the possible smoke explosion in the rear of the structure.

The firefighters are certainly up against it in this fire, but they were able to get the last word. At one point you can see firefighters exiting the structure at the same time exterior crews are flowing water outside.

They call in the big gun around the 1:34 mark and put the fire out with a foam truck. Apparently one person died in the fire.

Does anyone know where this fire was exactly?

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Posted by firecritic on December 11, 2009 • Filed under: News, Videos • Tagged: Foam, House Fire, Norway, Video

TBD Fire Blog Carnival

While I am working on getting a podcast off the ground with a colleague of mine I have one other thing I have been wanting to work on…. A Fire based blog carnival.

The EMS blogosphere has an EMS one called the Handover Blog Carnival.

I need some help from you Fire/EMS Bloggers out there though… I need to know who is interested in taking part in it. That way I will know I am not wasting my time.

Who is invited? Anyone! While the content will change from month to month, I would like to keep it on track for Fire related stuff…including fire based EMS. However, I do not want to overlap the Handover Blog Carnival.

I have been meaning to write a post for the Handover Blog Carnival but I haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe soon.

So if you are interested in being a part of the “To be named” blog carnival let me know. Feel free to give me name suggestions as well! Of course, the first one will be hosted here….so don’t worry about that! If you don’t know what a blog carnival is follow this link and read about it. Give me some ideas on names too!

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Posted by firecritic on December 8, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: blog carnival, Handover Blog Carnival

Trust Me…this will never happen to you!

mario trevino

Chief Mario Trevino. Photo from the City of Bellevue, WA web site

Attention all firefighters: the story below details a battle that will never happen to you. It might happen to someone you know, but I assure you it will not happen to you.

Recently, I wrote a post about a video and detailed how I felt the firefighters on scene were better taking their SCBA off than just carrying it around since they weren’t using it. Of course, I was being sarcastic. My point was not to take it off, but to use it. After all they are lugging it around right.

Please visit that post and review the comments. Then realize that this story below is why I wrote what I did.

The story is written by Chief Mario Trevino and is worth your time to read. This is probably one of the top ten articles written this year!

Here is the story written by Chief Mario Trevino (in order to read it in its entirety please visit this link):

The story I’d like to share with you is deeply personal. It’s also harsh, perhaps even brutal; it’s meant to be. That is because I want anyone who reads it to know exactly what I went through so that, perhaps, they can take whatever steps they find possible to avoid a similar fate. Forewarned, as the saying goes, is forearmed.

Like too many cancer victims, I ignored the symptoms at first. From the beginning of the summer of 2008, I had an annoying, low-grade sore throat. After a few weeks, I realized it was not going to bloom into a cold or the flu. It just lingered. After a while, I started to think I may have had tonsillitis, as, unlike a lot of my peers, I still have my tonsils. What a pain it would be, I thought at the time, to go through surgery in the summertime. I’d heard that a tonsillectomy is a lot more complicated for adults than for children, so I went to work every day, simply ignoring the small pain in my throat and hoping it would just go away.

As the weeks passed, I started having trouble swallowing. I often had to try to swallow a mouthful of food several times before it would finally, grudgingly go down. While I thought it was a weird symptom, I continued to assume it had to do with my tonsils. “I’m going to have to see a doctor about this soon,” I thought. But the weeks passed and I stayed busy and continued to think I would just go back to normal soon. Read the rest of the story

Thanks to FirefighterCloseCalls.com/The Secret List for the heads up on this article.

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Posted by firecritic on December 8, 2009 • Filed under: Firefighter Safety & Health, Must Read, News • Tagged: FirefighterCloseCalls.com, Mario Trevino, The Secret List, Throat Cancer in Firefighters

Monday Morning Shoutout – Kids Firefighter Blog

KidsFirefighter.com is this weeks Monday Morning Shoutout. The blog is geared towards kids, but there is plenty of information for the older “kids” too.

This one of a kind blog will more than likely shoot to the top of search engine traffic for fire related kids material. They have covered the topic very well since April when they started. They have a twitter account to @kidsfirefighter.

Now if I can only persuade them in going to a wider blog format to utilize more of the screen….

Check out KidsFirefighter.com and leave a comment to tell them to keep up the great work!!!

There are some great posts in the recent archives about Christmas and gifting as well!

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Posted by firecritic on December 7, 2009 • Filed under: Monday Morning Shoutout, News • Tagged: kids blogs, Kids Firefighter Blog, Kids Firefighting web sites, KidsFirefighter.com

John Jordan, head of a team of Americans helping Sarajevo’s firemen

This is an older video. I don’t have the exact date. I must warn any younger viewers that parts of the video are graphic. The video tells of a pretty neat story of a Bristol Firefighter, John Jordan, who helped out the Sarajevo Firefighters. The video also shows what they were up against. Just watch the video!!!

The video states:

(Studio: Diane Sawyer) Bristol, Rhode Island, volunteer firefighter John Jordan, who has made trips to Bosnia to help the firefighters there, profiled; scenes shown from wartorn Sarajevo. [JORDAN - talks about fighting fires in Sarajevo while the snipers shoot.] Jordan shown delivering a shipment of firefighting equipment to Sarajevo. Jordan’s background reviewed; photos shown. [JORDAN - talks about the community nature of firefighting and helping to equip the men in Sarajevo.]

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Posted by firecritic on December 5, 2009 • Filed under: News, Videos • Tagged: Diane Sawyer, John Jordan, Sarajevo

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