I am not sure where this video is from, but I thought it was intriguing as to how fast the fire spreads engulfing the lower floor of this apartment complex.

Is that a booster line? The first line off? Maybe that is how they roll…

What line would you pull first?

I work in a department where we utilize a traditional (some might say aggressive) interior attack on fires at every chance we get. Sure, there are some empty lots in our City…including some parking lots downtown. We haven’t saved every building…but our track record is pretty good. Chalk that up to our quick responses and ability of our firefighters. I wish I could say that we get decent fire training made available by our department numerous times each year, but that is not true. I wish I could say that our staffing levels and lack of closing down companies are the reason why our responses are so quick, but our story is very different.

We are just like every other department, we get the job done with what we have to work with.

Transitional attack is something you might see in our department, but you probably wouldn’t hear anyone using the terminology “Transitional Attack”. It would merely be a case of cooling the fire prior to heading inside if needed.

One thing I will note is the old teaching of pushing the fire through the house…I have never seen this happen. I am not saying it can happen. I will just say that the way we used to teach that you HAD to fight fire from the unburned side to keep from pushing the fire will not always occur if you get in their and put plenty of water on the fire.

Kill The Flashover

Their motto is “We test, we demonstrate, you decide”

Watch the video below…

What do you think?

Kill the Flashover is an experiment. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t find a definitive web site for the project. Joe Starnes’ web site has information on the project(2011 here and 2012 here) and then points to BShifter.com. I couldn’t find any information other than “Blue Card Certification” on BShifter.com though…nothing on Kill the Flashover. Maybe I just couldn’t find it.

There is a Facebook Fan Page for Kill the Flashover here.

There is a Youtube channel for Kill the Flashover here.

The Average Jake Firefighter recently wrote about the video I shared above. The post “So Traditional Attack is Wack Huh?”, delves into what you watched above and discusses its use in his departments.

Mark Vonappen also speaks on the topic in a post titled “Pride and Anecdotes”.

What do you guys think?

Here are some other videos from Kill the Flashover

Kill The Flashover (Burn Down Training Moment) Albemarle, NC
Watch this video closely and comment what you think the training moment is. There is a very important lesson in this short video that we all need to learn from.

Kill The Flashover Using Air Intake
This video clearly demonstrates the effects on temperature that something as simple as closing a do can do. This footage was taken during the first Kill the Flashover burn held in Shelby, NC in 2011. For more information on Kill the Flashover see us at www.facebook.com/killtheflashover

This week has been another busy one. Tomorrow will mark my first full shift in four. I have been off traveling and busier than ever. I am still playing catch up from over a month ago. I am getting there though.

Don’t forget to check out Daily911Deals.com for some great deals. Especially if you are interested in getting a Fire Critic/IronFiremen challenge coin from NM Coin! The deal won’t last forever.

We were in a reserve engine yesterday. That meant when running calls it seemed like we were in a parade. Yesterday was busy running around and running calls. We got a lot accomplished though. We even caught some work (dumpster fire). I don’t mind pulling the levers like this instead of being reintroduced after time off with a huge fire. Our firefighter extraordinaire Dave Lucas made quick work of it. Willie has wrote about Dave in the past. He is the one with the boomerang bugles. He got promoted to Lt. and then they rescinded the promotion because they simply didn’t count the available positions correctly. There are 4 boomerang bugle (Sergeants as we call them because we don’t have that position) in all. None of them have been promoted since. Dave is the kind of guy everyone wants working for them.

One other picture I would like to share was seen at Captain Wines firehouse #13…The message was apparently sent from downtown. What in the heck does it mean exactly? Kind of a mixed message I think.

I just signed up at the Chief level in the Officers Club of the National Firefighters Endowment. This is one of the ways that FireCritic.com gives back. The Officers club is a funding mechanism for the NFE and the funds will help support Fire Departments through the NFE. Join the Officers club here. Annually, you will receive a numbered collectors challenge coin. There are three levels of the Officers club.

Shoutout – Situational Awareness Matters

Web site - samaters.com

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/SAMatters

Twitter - @RichGasaway

Training

VentEnterSearch.com has a unique tool for getting into some closed vehicle gates. Check out Induction Loop Trick

Tweet of the Week

News and Opinion

Better Late Than Never Captain Willie Wines Jr. does some catching up since his computer died…and shows his love for Dave Statter.

Fully Involved – Cadence

“There can be no more us versus them. Training budgets are gone and turnover is occurring at a meteoric rate. We have to share our job knowledge at every opportunity, in every possible way.  It seems that things get better – like morale – when we train, sweat, and push our limits as a group.”

Firehouse.com – Are you a pink Flamingo? Ryan Pennington Do you do work? Or are you just there to have fun and look pretty?

Firefighters in hot water for building a golf course behind station  Firefighters make use of some of their free time…the biggest issue is the land they groomed for golfing isn’t theirs!

Former mansion of the late Isaac Hayes goes up in flames Big McMansion fire!!!

What is a firefighter worth? This article has gone viral. Written by the wife a firefighter

“So before making our minds up that firefighters are the financial problem, sit down with a local firefighter and ask him about his job. Ask him about his wife and his sons or daughters, what kind of house he lives in, and what type of car he drives. And then ask yourself, if you were to take on such a career, what would you expect in return?

Tina Clarke

Proud wife of a Cumberland firefighter”

I will be my brothers keeper  Another great article by Chris Sterricker.

Proud to be a firefighter A short article detailing pride for being considered one of America’s Bravest

What if we are Community Paramedics Already? 

“And I couldn’t agree more.  The goal of a community paramedic program seems to be providing care to fill a gap in a particular community.  While many of the existing and proposed programs are focused on the rural environment, why can’t we do the same in urban systems?  In fact, what if we’re already doing this in an urban system?”

Hampton Workers Take “Like Button” Firings To Court

“Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”

One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had “liked” the Facebook page of Roberts’ opponent, Jim Adams.”

Five San Francisco Firefighters Injured in Four-Alarm Apartment Blaze

Firefighters rescue man from burning Danville home

3 Steps to Improved Cardiac HealthCrucial lifestyle changes can prevent heart attack & improve health

“According to the U.S. Fire Administration, 87 firefighters died while on duty in 2010. Of those, 50 of the 87 firefighter deaths were related to heart attacks. Although there are certain variables associated with heart attacks that we can’t change (i.e., age, gender or family history), we can maximize those variables that are controllable.”

Disasters and Social Media a look at how social media plays a role in sharing information during disasters.

A Dose Of Mortality an excellent post about learning from shared information on a LODD with his son and aspiring career firefighter. 

What Happened to the Big Green Truck Donated to Detroit Fire? Charlie LeDuff is still at it in Detroit. This time uncovering a donated truck that should have been in service but instead just sitting idle in a lot.

Another False Alarm: A Tale of Complacency

“Recently on one of my trips I was startled awake at 2:53am by a fire alarm activation. The alarm only rang about 10 seconds. Knowing what I know about night clerks at hotels, I suspected the alarm had been prematurely silenced. My suspicion was confirmed when I went to the lobby and heard the clerk on the telephone telling someone the alarm panel is indicating the fire pump is running. I was the only patron of the hotel who came to the lobby.”

 Exclusive: Grieving FDNY Father Seeks Recognition for “Black Sunday” Son Retired deputy chief Joseph DiBernardo wants recognition for his son Joey DiBernardo.

Video: Wildfire Crew Bosses can’t speak Spanish and are laid off 

Here is another helmet camera video. This one states it is fresh from yesterday morning at 4:30am in Jacksonville, Florida. This footage was taken using the FDCam.com camera.

These FDNY guys have all the fun! This is from Woman v. Workout Ep. 3 and titled “Can a Model Handle FDNY Training?”.

I think she did a pretty decent job. What is interesting for me is seeing a bunch of the stuff at “The Rock” being used. There weren’t any recruits there when I have been there.

From the video info:

Watch as Lauren trains with the firefighters of FDNY at their training facility. There’s no special treatment for this model – she’s taking the test like any other firefighter-to-be. Find out how she handles the heat in this episode of Woman v. Workout!

More Episodes of Woman v. Workout: http://goo.gl/8L6Ko 
Check Out More Shows from 3V: http://www.youtube.com/3v 

On each new episode of Woman v. Workout, our fearless host will take on a crazy new fitness challenge. Whether she’s learning capoeira, or boxing with the pros, Lauren manages to stay on her feet while wearing a smile (well, most of the time). Subscribe to 3VFitness to see a new episode of Woman v. Workout every Wednesday!

Facebook: http://goo.gl/MeutS

I am getting back into the swing of things after FDIC. The feedback from our trip has been outstanding. It was great meeting so many Brothers in Indianapolis. We cannot wait until next year.

Daily911Deals.com currently has 3 deals going on. Check them all out here. One of those deals includes the Fire Critic/IronFiremen challenge coin. You won’t be able to get it this cheap for long! Be sure to “like” Daily911Deals.com on Facebook too!

Shoutout – Fully Involved

Fully Involved – Thoughts on Coaching, Leadership, and the Fire Service

Written by Mark VonAppen

Must read post “Stay Hungry”

The keys to success in this venture are strong station leadership and core chemistry.  Strong core leadership ensures that the role players fall in step and comply with the program.  Without strong leadership in the station the new faces – recruits – can easily slide into bad and potentially lethal habits. You don’t have to have a title to be a leader, you can lead up, down or sideways.  Show your fellow firefighters how to be a positive influence from anywhere in the department even if the positional leaders are unwilling or incapable of supporting your efforts.  

Training – This is MY Ladder

This is my Ladder. Written by Brian Brush and found on Fire Service Warrior. I can’t quite do this post justice in a short synopsis…read the post and I guarantee you will learn something new. Unless of course you have already read it, or you are Brian Brush who wrote it.

Speaking of ladders, have you checked out the Ladder Pride available through Firehouse Pride?

Random Tweet of the Week

Some of us have more than one. Don't worry, we have poor grammar too! #nojoke

News and Opinion

NFFF 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Events. Two events have already been held. Be sure to take part in your first, or another climb this year!

Ride Out Comic is plugging away with fresh new content. Check out their latest to the right. Be sure to check out their web site and follow them on Facebook as well!

Firefighter Dan. For all of you fire safety and education specialists out there, Firefighter Dan is up and running and moving right along. He has added video/lesson #5 to his site via Youtube. Check it out and learn more about Firefighter Dan (web site/Facebook)

20 Questions with Christopher Brennan of Fire Service Warrior. In case you missed this brand new column here on The Fire Critic, be sure to check it out!

IronsandLadders.com is revisiting the past. They are gearing up for a bunch of new material, but want to share some of their favorites and most popular stories from the past. Read it here!

Dave Statter and I to speak in Ohio May 23rd. Ohio Fire & Emergency Services Foundation’s 2012 Leadership Conference. We cover various aspects of social media and the fire service.  Join us in Newark, Ohio for May 23 & 24. Click here to sign up.

Captain Willie Wines Jr. and I will be touring South Dakota and ending up at the South Dakota Firefighters Benefit on September 15th. We will get some mic time at the event, but mostly want to meet South Dakota’s Bravest. Anyone and Everyone is invited. This will be the place to be if you are a firefighter in South Dakota, North Dakota, West Dakota, East Dakota, or Mexico…err whatever is south of South Dakota. We will be traveling from Rapid City to Sioux Falls in a Spartan ERV apparatus and stopping by firehouses along the way. More info: SDFirefighters.com

National Firefighters Endowment

The National Firefighters Endowment is accepting video submissions for a grant process currently underway. Simply create a video, upload it to Youtube, and your department could be the recipient of a $5,000-$6,000 grant from the Endowment. More information here including some tips on creating a decent video submission.  Also catch up with the Endowment on Facebook!

Here are some other must read articles:

• ELAFFHQ – Reflection
• Working the Job – “Awakening”
• Engine Co. 22 – “Culture of Self-Improvement”
• IronFiremen.com – The Simplicity of Brotherhood

Unfortunately, I was unable to make it to Hero Rush (web site/Facebook) this past weekend. I had every intention of participating alongside of my wife, but there were too many obstacles in our own lives that we couldn’t make it. She is nursing a sprained ankle above all the other things going on, so she couldn’t have done it even if we made it there. It appears as though Hero Rush was a huge success. I haven’t heard from anyone who completed it, but I am sure there were many there who had a blast. For those of you who didn’t make it, check out the video below.

Finally, I will leave you with a pretty decent prank…

“20 Questions” is a new segment to FireCritic.com. In it, I will be featuring other fire/EMS bloggers, instructors, writers, and people who intrigue me.

The questions will differ with each “interview” and the answers to the questions will be posted verbatim. If you have someone you would like me to include in this column please let me know in the comments. If you would like to be the subject of “20 Questions” please let me know.

The inagural post of “20 Questions” features Christopher Brennan. Brennan runs “Fire Service Warrior” along with some other great firefighters. I have been intrigued by the site, the following it has created, what FSW stands for, and the movement it has started. I appreciate Chris taking the time to take part in this new column.

• Fire Service Warrior web site
• Fire Service Warrior on Facebook
• Fire Service Warrior on Twitter

Christopher Brennan

1.    How long have you been in the Fire Service?

FSW: In May of 2012 I will begin my 16th year.

2.    What is your current assignment (apparatus, firehouse)?

FSW: I am a career Firefighter and currently hold the tested rank of Engineer.

3.    What departments have you worked for or been a member of?

FSW: I began in 1997 as a Paid-on-Call member and have held part-time and career positions with a variety of departments in the South and West Suburbs of the Chicago area.

4.    Your blog Fire Service Warrior seems to have created a substantial network of like minded firefighters. How do you measure your success?

FSW: I measure success by the feedback we receive.  At FDIC I had a firefighter come up and say “Thank you,” because he partially attributes achieving his fitness goals and losing a substantial amount of weight to the information he has found on our website.  Several times a month we receive an email from a firefighter who shares that the things he has learned or the motivation he has taken from our message has helped him improve. I know most websites base their  concept of success on statistics and analytics, and we check them, too, but the fact remains that for me it is the feedback we get from those who are using the site that makes me feel we are successful.

5.    What are some of your goals for FSW?

FSW: Our goal is to be a resource, an opportunity, and a community for firefighters who are prepared to thrive on the fireground so they can protect the lives and property of their neighbors.  We know full well that responding to building fires is generally not the largest percentage of our duty; however there is no more threatening environment on the planet than the interior of a building that is on fire.  If we can grow our personnel to thrive in the high stress, dynamic, and time compressed world of a building fire then we can prepare them to excel at any other mission we have.  I hope that we can get that message out through well developed articles, videos, and courses.

6.    You have created a community at Fire Service Warrior. The core of that community seems to be fitness and smart aggressive firefighting. Is that a decent synopsis of what you are doing?

FSW: I think your synopsis is the public perception of what we are about.  From our perspective we have three domains that we strive to master and integrate: Mindfulness, Fitness, and Training.  Mindfulness includes our mission, our Ethos, and preparing ourselves emotionally and psychologically to thrive under challenging circumstances.  It’s really the most important piece of the puzzle.  Fitness is making our bodies ready for the very real physical demands of the fireground.  The science on this is pretty well understood now: we have to have the same metabolic capacity as a Navy SEAL or a professional Boxer, and we have to be able to function with the effects of heat stress, sympathetic nervous system responses, and often contend with sleep deprivation.  Fitness is a means of maintaining long term health and wellness and making ourselves more resilient to these stressors over the length of a career.  Training comes down to being able to execute our fundamental fireground skills with a high degree of fluency.  That fluency translates into efficiency on the fireground which in turn increases the capability of the whole fireground team.  The trick is integrating these three domains into the daily experience of your life so that in one way, shape, or form, everything that you do is helping prepare you for that moment when you are called upon to protect your neighbors from the effects of unrestrained fire.

7.    What post(s) on FSW are you most proud of?

FSW: Brian Brush’s post “This is My Ladder” is one of the best training pieces I have ever read. Nate Jamison’s “The Fire Service Warrior Significant Other” touches on a critical component of our lives.  John Shafer’s “An Ounce of Prevention” visits an often neglected aspect of our Ethos.  Gary Lane’s “Stay the Course” is a great motivator.  Those four really ring out in my mind.

8.    You work out most days of the week. Do you have personal goals you are trying to meet? Are you training for any events or competitions?

FSW: Currently my fitness program is geared towards maintenance and preparation. I am not striving to be a competitive athlete; I want to be prepared for the rigors of the fireground.  That being said I do like to find ways of testing my physical capacity to keep myself honest.  So far this year I have participated in the CrossFit Games Open and identified some key weaknesses I want to develop; completed a Firefighter Combat Challenge event at FDIC where I posted a time of 3:22:03 (3 seconds slower than my PR time); and I ran a 5k in 28:28.  I am hoping to compete in another Combat Challenge in Oak Forest this year if my work and travel schedule will allow.

9.    Explain what WOD, GOAT, T-1rm, and some of the other abbreviations mean on your site.

FSW: These are a few of the fitness-related acronyms and abbreviations that become familiar fairly quickly to those who use our resources. WOD stands for  ”Workout Of the Day”; GOAT is our term for working on a fitness skill you have trouble with, 1rm is a one-repetition maximal lift.

10.    If someone were to come to your site and be interested in following/participating in the workouts, what is the best advice for getting started in the FSW workouts?

FSW: Click on the Fitness Tab at the top of the page.  When I rolled the programming out initially in June of 2011 I wrote a pretty extensive piece that gives a lot of advice on how to get started. They key is to START.  You are only going to learn the skills by trying them, and being a student of fitness to make sure you are doing things correctly.

11.    Your book “The Combat Position – Achieving Firefighter Readiness” was published last year. How long did it take to write?

FSW: I was 34 years old when I turned the manuscript in so… 34 years?  Honestly, I would say that it was a five year process in one way or another.  I had the initial idea about trying to develop the Fire Service Warrior Concept in 2005 and started doing a lot of reading, research, making notes, and generally letting things incubate.  In 2007 I wrote the first draft outline and started writing articles.  Several of those were bought by Fire Engineering and appeared on-line and in the magazine. In 2008 I launched the website and used it to try out material I was developing for the book.   In 2009 I pitched the book to PennWell and at FDIC 2010 we signed the deal.  At that point the book was 25% written.   I finished the writing in four and a half months.  The challenge for me isn’t getting the words on paper, it is the time that I need to saturate myself with information and for ideas to incubate. Once the illumination happens, it become mechanics.

12.    Is there another book being written now?

FSW: I think there is. There is a premise that I am working with, a void that I see in the current fire service texts, but I don’t know yet what it will look like when I’m done.  This is sort of like asking a band when their next album is coming out.  They had their entire lives to work on the first 12 good songs and folks want to see the next 12 seven minutes later.  I imagine that whatever the next “book” looks like you will be seeing its gestation on fireservicewarrior.com over the course of the next several months, or maybe years.

13.    You recently held the FSW Fundamentals Seminar. What is it? What do you see this seminar turning into in the future?

FSW: The FSWFundamentals Seminar is the first step in a five step professional education program. Students come out and spend 24 hours over two days being exposed to the core concepts on FSWMindfulness, FSWFitness, and FSWTraining.  They take classes, participate in discussions and tabletop drills, work on functional skills, are exposed to Stress Inoculation Training, do six workouts, and are mentored and coached the whole way through.  The program actually begins 21 days before you show up with a series of preparatory assignments that include readings, reflections, and workouts to get your mind and body ready. Our first class is now into what we consider to be a Guided Learning phase where participants are reading, practicing, and developing their skills.  They exchange ideas in conference calls and share what they are learning.  In the future, we will be rolling out two additional seminars, each of which builds on the previous one.

14.    What are the biggest issues facing firefighters today?

FSW: That’s a very broad question.  If we look at the whole of the North American fire service I will say the state of the economy and the corollary call to “do more with less.”  There are only two ways to do more with less: either develop a technological solution to a problem (like airliner cockpits replacing the Flight Engineer with a computer) or maximize the capacity of the individual in the arena (like the Special Operations Command does).  I don’t see technology reducing our work load in the fire service, if anything it is increasing the physiological demands.  To me that means that we have maximize the capacity of the individual then if we want to be able to effectively and efficiently serve our neighbors while maintaining a relative degree of safety.

15.    What do you think the solution is to the problem of overweight and obese firefighters?

FSW: Overweight and obese firefighters are simply a reflection of an overweight and obese society.  We have a society that doesn’t eat real food anymore.  We consume an absurdly large amount of processed food or items that contain refined sugar.  It’s killing us.  The best solution I can think of is to mandate that ALL firefighters have an annual physical and that for those who will be called upon to work on or in a building fire, that their physical include a cardiac stress test meeting the standards of NFPA 1582.  If your folks cannot pass a physical because of a deficit in fitness or because their blood panel is out of balance because of dietary concerns then you aren’t doing them a favor by ordering them turnout gear with a bigger waist.

16.    Do you diet? If so, give us an example of how you eat to be healthy.

FSW: I try to make good choices and eat real food.  What is real food?  Things that you can hunt or harvest are real food.  Do I make choices that stray from that at times?  Sure.  I’m not going to live a life based on being neurotic about food.  To me the key is this: make your meals “clean” (meat, vegetables, some fruit, a little bit of nuts or seeds, healthy fats) as often as possible; eliminate the refined sugar; eliminate the processed foods; forget what the drive-thru lane looks like; drink water (if you weigh 200lbs you should be drinking 200oz of water a day).  Strive to do this 75% of the time.  The other 25% of the time live like it is your last day on earth and you are at a Bacchanal.  Go out and read “Good Calories, Bad Calories” or “The Paleo Diet”.

17.    In your career thus far, what are you most proud of? 

FSW: Having The Combat Position published.

18.    Name some men or women who you look up to and why.

FSW: I wrote a pretty long piece about this topic called “Who Are Your Heroes?”  Top on my list though is Lt. Michael Murphy, USN, Medal of Honor (Posthumous).  For anyone who knows Lt. Murphy’s story it is one of selfless service, dedication to his men and his mission above himself, and aspiration to the highest of virtues.   The last few years I have done the CrossFit Work Out “Murph” in his honor as close to June 28th (the day of his death) as I can. The workout is a 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and a 1 mile run.  In the fire service I have always looked up to Bob Hoff (Retired Commissioner Chicago Fire Department and now Deputy Chief Carol Stream FD). Chief Hoff was an Instructor of mine and I lay out my experiences from him in my book.

19.    What will you be doing at FDIC this year? What about other conferences?

FSW: I taught a four hour workshop at FDIC 2012 and I will be submitting to teach FDIC 2013 along with the 2012 Nebraska Society of Fire Service Instructor’s Les Lukert Conference. I do more teaching directly for departments, FOOLS Groups, and the like, than I do present at conferences, but I am always open to coming out and presenting on the topics I love.  I can be reached at info@Spartan-Concepts.com.

20.    Add anything else you might want to add that I didn’t cover?

FSW: I think one of the biggest things that folks in the fire service would benefit from is coming to see our trade as really a multi-disciplinary field.  We have to deal with chemistry, physics, decision making, human behavior, psychology and physiology, boredom and fear in alternating doses, and a host of other dynamics.  We need not have graduate degrees in all these fields, but I think that having a working awareness of them is critical.  That takes looking to what is happening outside the fire service and seeing how we can apply that to what we do.  There are no good studies on skill attrition for firefighters that I am aware of, but studies of physicians and nurses  retaining cognitive and psychomotor skill for ACLS or ATLS can give us a sense of how long you can go without throwing a ladder or pulling a hose line.  The second law of thermodynamics tells us that all closed systems will move to disorder (entropy).  Your mind works the same way.  If you have quit learning,** then your thought process will devolve to disorder over time.

You might recall the “Owning the Job” series I began a while back. I haven’t forgotten about it. Here is another installment.

This is also part V of my FDIC wrapup. Read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Attitude and Being a Good Officer

Chief Steve Kraft spoke in a keynote at FDIC (video below). I didn’t get to see it in person, but Jonah Smith shared it on The Hose Jockey. In it, Chief talks about looking at yourself, not others.  It is a motivational speech and hits the mark. I think everyone will be able to get something out of it.

Chief Kraft’s 5 points are (from my notes and what I got out of it):

1. To be a good officer, you have to be a good coach (correct mistakes).
2. Show your people you care.
3. learn from your mistakes. Be willing to make mistakes.
4. Lead by example.
5. Have a positive attitude.

Similarly, Jason Hoevelmann created an entire class about a funk he was dealing with in his career. The class “A Firefighters Own Worst Enemy” spurred the blog by a similar name FirefightersEnemy.com.

I got into a similar funk somewhere along the 13 years I have been with Roanoke. I have my excuses why I got into the funk, but I am trying to slowly dig myself out. Rick Lasky’s Pride and Ownership was a step in the right direction. I am getting there and created the ”Owning the Job” series as a way for me to write, reflect, learn, and potentially even help inspire.

Here is Chief Kraft’s Keynote address from FDIC 2012

FDIC was a blast. I will probably write some more about our week there in the next couple of days. Someone mentioned to me that the fire blogs were quiet with so many of us at FDIC…I think I am making up for that now.

Willie and I can’t stress enough how much fun we had (even though he is sick as hell still). We always enjoy meeting up with our friends and meeting others for the first time.

As always, there is more posted on The Fire Critic Facebook page as well as on Twitter @FireCritic. Be sure to check it out!

My friend Andrew Catron snagged this picture at the beginning of the FOOLS Brotherhood Bash at FDIC. That is my helmet with a special run MN8 FoxFire band. It was given to all who climbed at Greenbelt, MD 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Great Pic

Shoutouts

Here are some recent posts about FDIC:

• IronFiremen.com part I
• IronFiremen.com part II
• Backwards and Stupid – The things he learned at firefighter camp (FDIC)
• The Hose Jockey writes about FDIC here and includes two keynotes you won’t want to miss
• Average Jake Firefighter writes about FDIC in his part 1 review
• Paul Hasenmeier gave a brief writeup and included some words on his father
• Fire Critic FDIC Wrapup part I – the Renegade Pipes & Drums
• Fire Critic FDIC Wrapup part II – climbing 110 stories
• Fire Critic FDIC Wrapup part III – the people we met
• Fire Service Warrior – I’m proud to be a firefighter
• Rescuing Myself – Day 1 of FDIC
• Rescuing Myself – We Climbed

Some other blog authors we ran into:

• Working the Job 
• Pink, Warm, and Dry
• Backstep Firefighter
• Green Maltese
• Boron Extrication
• Firefighters Own Worst Enemy
• FireGeezer 
• Fire Daily
• STATter911.com
• County Fire Tactics
• View’s From the Jumpseat
• Midwest Firefighter
• EngineCo22.net
• Hybrid Medic
• Command Safety

Random Tweet of the Week

News and Opinion

Dave Statter and I will be speaking in Newark, Ohio on May 23-24. Be there! The gloves are coming off…just kidding, we are speaking not fighting. Ohio Fire & Emergency Services Foundation’s 2012 Leadership Conference. We cover various aspects of social media and the fire service.  Join us in Newark, Ohio for May 23 & 24. Click here to sign up.

Captain Wines and I will be in South Dakota in September for a brand new event that promises to be a great one. Check out more on SDFirefighters.com. Wines and I will be speaking and having a great time with everyone else. That isn’t all though. We are actually going to tour South Dakota from Rapid City to Sioux Falls in a Spartan ERV fire engine. Yeah, that is how we roll! SDFirefighters.com

STATter911.com – Death Race 2010 and 2012…I think my chevy could hang!

FireRescue1.com – Practical PPE by Mike McKenna. Firefighter turnouts: Does color impact safety? The visibility of department members the fireground and on the roadways is critical to reduce the risk of injuries

FireGeezer.com – The Fashion Police err FireGeezer has a story about a cutie who headbutted his mom and burned her house down. Read more

Firefighter Nation.com - Massachusetts Firefighters Battle Six-Alarm Fire. Six neighboring departments responded to the Marlborough condo fire.

FireEngineering.com - Grant Awarded to Detroit Fire After Premiere of Documentary Film. Read more

Last I will leave you with this video of a house fire in a small single family dwelling. There is certainly some work being done, it just seems they are having trouble finding the seat of the fire.

Willie and I climbed again. We climbed with 100′s of other firefighters. This would be our 5th climb, we thought that the 4th one was our last…we decided on it. A pact if you will that we wouldn’t climb anymore. Why do we say this? I can’t really put a finger on it, but it has something to do with not losing what we have gained. When we climb, it is emotional. The feelings I have felt, the thoughts I have had, the emotions have been engraved in my mind. They are my tattoos.

Then we climbed again.

This time we said the same thing after we were done. We wouldn’t climb anymore.

Thanks for all the Brothers who climbed with us. You know who you are and it was an honor to climb with you.

The cards of the 343 at the FDIC 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. Photo by Brian Brush

We will never forget. We know that. As Brian Brush says in one of the video’s below: if you can’t climb, pay the $25 donation and he will carry the card. The money benefits the counseling unit of the FDNY. Without the stair climbs, the unit would be unfunded and be closed down.

Climbing at Lucas Oil Stadium was different than climbing in a stairwell. In a stairwell it is more personal.

It is tough, it has never been easy even when we climbed in shorts and a t-shirt.

Do me a favor and pick out a climb this year and do it if you have never done it before. I ask you to climb because I want you to experience what we have experienced.

Visit the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb web site here.

This past climb, I carried the cards of Firefighter Andrew A. Fredericks (squad 18) and Firefighter Ruben D. Correa (engine 74).

I also carried the cards of the guys I have climbed for in the past:

• Martin McWilliams (engine 22)
• Firefighter Durrell V. Pearsall (rescue 4)
• Firefighter Frank J. Bonomo (engine 230)
• Firefighter Karl H. Joseph (engine 207)
• Raymond York (engine 285)
• Firefighter Joseph Agnello (ladder 118)

But the real truth is that I climbed for all 343 of them…and I climbed for myself.