Best of the Rest – Crosstitched, Tribute Wine, Chief Takes Toys and Heads Home, RIT?, 1st Amendment, Hero Rush, and More!

I got accepted to the Virginia Fire Officer Academy (June 9-14) at the University of Richmond. The VFOA is put on by the Virginia Fire Chiefs Association. I am excited for the opportunity.

There has been a lot of articles, videos, and updates on FireCritic.com and the Facebook page. Be sure to keep up!

Interested in getting your content on FireCritic.com? Read this and submit your content today!

If you are planning on being at FDIC, I will have the itinerary for myself and Captain Wines up soon!

We have had 3 Line of Duty Deaths in the past several days. They are below:

Check out Crosstitched for a deal. They have several new designs available on their web site. They have been announcing them on their Facebook Page. Here is one example: Firemen’s Prayer Burnout Printed In Metallic Ink, With Foil. 3XL-4XL Printed On Solid Black 100% Cotton. Available Under Size. Get Your Weekend Pre Order Discount, Plus Spend $50 Get Free Shipping. http://www.crosstitched.com/firemans-prayer-burnout/, while you are there you can pick up the Fire Critic/Iron Firemen “Hey Brother” T-shirt.

STATter911.com – Interim Fire Chief Quits & Lets Everyone Have it. Read Scathing Resignation Letter From San Bernadino, CA Chief Paul Drasil.

VAFireNews.com continues to offer up fire and EMS news from across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Check out the web site here

FireNews.net offers news from across North Carolina. Asheville recently had a big fire at a historic cotton mill and FireNews.net has pictures and info.

Fire Law Blog delves into the First Amendment and the Press’s right to take photos

First Due Questions asks how many departments include an RIT/FAST Team on the Initial Alarm?

FirstDueTackle.com has a great extrication article on Garbage Trucks and Lifting a Heavy Load

Hero Rush – The obstacle race by firefighters for everyone. Are you in? Join the nearest race to you and save $10 with promo code Save10 and join the “343” wave to support the NFFF. Details and dates at HeroRush.com — bring the crew, family & friends.

PGFDPIO.Blogspot.com: 

This story was authored by a Prince George’s County Firefighter that suffered severe burn injuries while battling a house fire in Kettering four years ago.  A firefighter that had sustained such horrific burn injuries we were not sure he was going to survive.  He did survive and than we became concerned that he would never be able to return to work as a firefighter again, he did.  On the fourth anniversary of his sustaining burn injuries he has shared, on his Facebook page, his thoughts as he remembers them and we have reprinted them here.

For previous coverage of this story click here and here and here.  A Safety Investigative Team report of the incident can be read here.

In his own words, Fire Fighter Daniel McGown writes….. (Read it here)

Tribute Wine by Distant Cellars

Tribute Wine from Distant Cellars to Support the NFFF. You might remember I told everyone about the Tribute Wine being available from Distant Cellars last month, well it is finally time to order! Check out what I wrote about Distant Cellars and why they created the Tribute Wine and then go buy some! More information here (or the direct link to the wine)

Public Safety Confessions on Facebook – a new page has sprouted up and I am wondering what you all think about it. Here is the idea behind it:
It is a “confessions page”. People who need to vent or bitch out a person with out actually publicly doing so can. We have a anonymous survey up so anyone can submit a confession and then I post it to FB. It can never be tracked back to the person. These confessions pages are all the rage on college campuses. Way for kids to vent about school, and professors and life as a student. There are a few rules including: no mentioning people by name, no saying exact depts, no talk of doing illegal activity, no harassment.