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Monday Morning Shoutout – TOTWTYTR

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to To Old To Work, To Young To Retire (aka TOTWTYTR). The blog is brought to you by an anonymous blogger. I was fortunate enough to meet the blogger this past weekend.

What I found most interesting was how some of the other EMS bloggers were amazed at meeting him. Most of us bloggers have spoke on the phone, seen photos of each other, or at least emailed each other. Over time, this turns into a relationship/friendship of sorts. Prior to this weekend, I do not know that I have ever been in contact with TOTWTYTR. I have read his blog but must admit that I don’t catch it every day.

Apparently he writes some pretty interesting stuff. Interesting and opinionated enough that his identity must remain as anonymous as possible to keep a distance between the online anonymous writer and his real life identity. I understand this and have no issue with it.

Take a look at TOTWTYTR!

totwtytr

Monday Morning Shoutout – The Fire PIO

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The Monday Morning Shoutout this week is The Fire PIO.

I have always been intrigued by PIO work although I have never done it. I guess it is one of those things that I wouldn’t mind doing as a second career after my fire career is over or something to fall back on if I were to get injured. I think that I would be decent at it.

I have enjoyed following PIO Social Media Training.

Now there is a new guy on the block with a refreshing view of PIO work. The Fire PIO is run by Jeff Bressler.

Jeff Bressler is the Public Information Officer for the Smithtown Fire Department located on the North Shore of Long Island’s Suffolk County. An all volunteer department, Smithtown answers over 3,000 fire and EMS calls annually www.smithtownfd.org. (From his bio on the blog)

Jeff offers ideas for PIO’s, points out good and bad PIO work across the Nation, and blogs about other information for PIO’s. If you have not been following him you should check him out. His blog is one of the newer additions to the FireEMSBlogs.com community.

You can also follow him on twitter, facebook, and linkedin via links on his sidebar.

Great work Jeff!

firepio

Monday Morning Shoutout – Life Under The Lights

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to Life Under The Lights or (LOTL). LOTL is run by a Chris Kaiser, a Firefighter/Paramedic in Illinois (the S is silent).

His blog focuses on para-medicine, although he runs the occasional fire. His insight on EMS 2.0 is thought provoking and well examined. He has recently been involved with Justin and Mark in their latest videos “A Seat at the Table“…

Chris was also featured on Firefighter Netcast among other things. Life Under The Lights is celebrating a year on the net this month. I look forward to big things from Chris in the future and read his site daily!

Check out Life Under The Lights for yourself!

lotl

Monday Morning Shoutout – FirstDueMedic.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to FirstDueMedic.com. FirstDueMedic.com is a blog titled “The Gate Keeper” with a site built around it and is a personal journal about a volunteer firefighter and EMT who is currently in schooling to become a Paramedic. Look for him on twitter @FirstDueMedic and on Facebook.

Ronnie Grubb runs FirstDueMedic.com and his bio states:

In 2006, with a resurging interest in public service and the time to devote to his community, Ronnie rejoined the ranks of the volunteers in Henry County and began the arduous task of retraining and recertification. It was during this time the he noticed that he had entered into a realm that had changed and was now foreign to his memories of what emergency work was about.

Ronnie has aligned himself with those whose mission it has become to establish Emergency Medical Services into a respected career and profession. While pursuing an associate’s degree and certification as a National Registered Paramedic at Patrick Henry Community College, Ronnie has developed a high threshold for professionalism and quality of service that was imparted through his instructor and mentor, Jeff Reynolds.

The bonus for me is that this is a blog that is very close to my locality. I love bumping into another blogger near me and I look forward to reading more from FirstDueMedic.com. Keep up the great work Ronnie!

firstduemedic

Monday Morning Shoutout – Firefighter Cancer Support Network

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. The Firefighter Cancer Support Network has been connecting firefighters with cancer to help them cope, assisting them throughout their battle, and giving them tools so they understand more about the cancer they have.

I remember meeting one of the guys behind the Firefighter Cancer Support Network at the IAFF Convention in Toronto several years ago. I am not sure the name of the guy, but he created it after battling cancer and winning his fight. He created it to help other firefighters.

I dare say that there are not many firefighters in the U.S. or elsewhere who do not know of a firefighter who has been stricken with some form of cancer.

Take a minute to check out the site and learn what they are all about!

firefighter cancer support network

Monday Morning Shoutout – A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to “A Firefighters’ Own Worst Enemy“. The blog is a new one that recently captured my attention. I would categorize it as a hybrid training blog with some real World experience written in by the author.

The “about page” states:

Jason Hoevelmann is a Deputy Chief/Fire Marshal with the Sullivan Fire Protection District, a combination department, and a career firefighter/paramedic with the Florissant Valley Fire Protection District in North St. Louis County.

and also that:

The blog is based on a class developed by Jason that he will present at Missouri Winter Fire School and at FDIC 2010.  Here is a brief description about A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy:

A comprehensive look at why firefighters make bad decisions on the job and off duty. This class is designed to offer methods for dealing with your own problems and challenges as a firefighter and how to help officers assist their men and women with these problems. We will discuss why the same situations are killing us year after year and identify ways to avoid becoming a statistic. Finally, we will point out ways to enrich our own careers and personal lives, as well as assisting our firefighters in advancing their own careers and ways to help the organization improve and grow.

If any of you will be at FDIC, plan on attending Jason’s class! I plan on attending FDIC, we will see what kind of trouble I can get into!

ffworstenemy

Final Day of Voting and Monday Morning Shoutout

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The voting continues through 17:59 EST tonight!!!

fcems092

I have not posted anything besides the contest to give as much airtime for it as  possible. I am now posting the MMSO for this week.

The Monday Morning Shoutout goes to Firefighter Netcast this week. The reason for it is because we are announcing the winnner of the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year during the Live show. If you haven’t checked out the Firefighter Netcast, be sure to do so now. The netcast is brought to you by its hosts John Mitchell of Fire Daily and myself.

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The show airs at 8pm EST tonight. Listen, chat and call in!!!

Firefighter Netcast web site

Link for information on tonights 1st “Official” live netcast here (links and info on what we will be talking about)

Link to the show page on Blog Talk Radio (this is where you need to be to listen in)

Firefighter Netcast on Facebook

Firefighter Netcast on Twitter (@FFNetcast)

Be sure to continue voting through 17:59 this evening!!!

Monday Morning Shoutout – DCFD.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to DCFD.com. The site is all about fires/firefighting in the District of Columbia. It is run by Administrator – John Mullen, Webmaster – Justin Baer, Contributor – Vito Maggiolo, Photographer – Elliot Goodman, and Graphic Design- Kevin Copley.

The site is updated all the time with great photos from Vito, Elliot, and others. If you keep up with STATter911 you will see their work on the site regularly.

It is amazing how much press that a handful of guys can give a department…Keep up the great work!

dcfd

Monday Morning Shoutout – Charlotte Fire Blog

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the Charlotte Fire Blog…and more importantly the work that  Mark Basnight and Rob Brisley have done with embracing social media for their fire department. I did a detailed report on CFD and their use of social media here.

logo1But this is more about VOTING FOR THEM, than the actual shoutout. Yes the Monday Morning Shoutout is a very prestigious blog post, but the award they might win is more of an event! Read on…

I have posted about this in the past, and I am hitting on it one more time. Tomorrow the 29th, is the last day to vote for the Charlotte Fire Department on PIOSocialMediaTraining.com.

You might ask why I am stumping so much for Charlotte, the reason is because I nominated them. I nominated them because I felt they were the epitome of embracing social media by a fire department!

Therefore, I feel as though I have a personal stake at hand here. Not that I don’t think the other finalists aren’t great, I just had to chose a side!

Go here and vote. Then email all your friends, retweet, and post on facebook. Do whatever you have to do to get your friends to vote!

charlotte

MMSO – IronsandLadders.com

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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!!!

ironsandhooks

Monday Morning Shoutout – BoronExtrication.com

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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!

boron

MMSO – Submit Your Site Today

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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.

Monday Morning Shoutout – Kids Firefighter Blog

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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!

kidsffblog

Monday Morning Shoutout – PUMPFIRE.COM

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pumpfire2Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell the url in the title. The truth is that they spell it in all caps on their site so I thought I would do the same.

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to PUMPFIRE.COM. The site has been going strong since 2003. Up until a recommendation the other day for MMSO I hadn’t checked the site out in a while!! My  bad! Nothing like a refresher to get you back to a decent site with a lot of information. Did I mention they have their own Ladies of PUMPFIRE.COM calendar!!! Maybe we need a Women of Fire Critic calendar!!!

PUMPFIRE.COM is chock full of great content. They update the site regularly and do a great job of covering the VA/MD/PA/NY areas.

I will admit that the site could be modified to be a little easier for the user (and a lot better for the webmasters). Sorry that is the developer side of me! One big way they could improve is a link to the Fire Critic!!! Trust me, it will make any web site POP!

Back to the calendar…you just can’t go wrong with a site that has their own calendar.

Did I mention….the calendar……?

pumpfire

Monday Morning Shoutout – TNFireNews.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to TNFireNews.com.

That is right….for those of you who didn’t know that Tennessee had a State Fire News site they do now. Andrew Catron began the site to fill the void and has been learning the ins and outs of running a State Fire News web site.

Please stop in and check out the site that is only a couple weeks old.

Be sure to submit your news, apparatus, new deliveries, training, and all else you would like to share!

Click the image to view the site!

tnfirenews

Monday Morning Shoutout – FireGroundPhotography.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to FireGroundPhotography.com. Steve Allen runs the site  to promote his excellent fireground photography!

I can speak for myself (as a self proclaimed amatuer photographer) that it is all about being in the right place at the right time.

Steve has been in that place a lot!

Based out of Virginia Beach, Steve has been a Career Naval Firefighter for the past 12 years. He was a volunteer Firefighter with the Budd Lake Fire Dept in Morris City NJ. He has been capturing the action on fire/ems scenes since 1994.

All of his photos on this site are for sale. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at stephen.allen@firegroundphotography.com

Here is a taste of the site. Click on the picture for more!!!

firegroundphotog

My only question is this: If Stephen gets all these great shots of fires in Virginia…Why the heck isn’t he sending them in to VAFireNews.com?

If you have an idea for the MMSO then let us know!!!!

Monday Morning Shoutout – Christ 4 Responders

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to Christ 4 Responders. The site is a Ning network which offers a useful interface between the site and the user. Don’t just check out the site, sign up to see what is going on!

Be sure to follow @RevCrutchfield on twitter too.

The Fire Critic has enjoyed poking around the site and felt as though some of you might like a resource such as this one. In case you were wondering…the Fire Critic does not cuss, does not sin, and tries to lead by example….ah what the heck you guys aren’t buying that are you?

Check out Christ4Responders.org

The site was created by:

Rev. Robert A. Crutchfield
Chief Chaplain, Christ 4 Responders
Chaplain, Katy (Texas) Fire & EMS
http://www.christ4responders.org
http://www.twitter.com/revcrutchfield
chaplain@christ4responders.org

christ4responders

Monday Morning Shoutout – USAFireTrucks.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to USAFireTrucks.com. This brand new web site is the brainchild of Jeff Harkey of FireNews.net, Grant Mishoe of SCFireWire.com, and Rhett Fleitz of VAFireNews.com (and Fire Critic!). The site/service was designed as a one stop shop for fire/EMS apparatus. Think of it as the “auto trader” for the fire/EMS service.

Advertise for free through November 30th! Check out the site for more information.

usaft

Catching Up This Week

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Hey readers….both of you…I am behind, way behind. I am condensing a bunch of stuff into one post.

Follow along…

Monday Morning Shoutout - This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout (delivered on Tuesday) goes to Pedro the Paramedic. I have enjoyed this blog for some time now. I am a huge fan of pics and vids, Pedro apparently is not. He has some pics and vids, but a lot is text. Either way, his style of writing captivates me in a way unlike a picture book. Check him out sometime if you haven’t already!

pedroparamedic

Tuesday Morning Job Security Check this is sometimes posted in the morning, but who is really paying that close attention to when whatever happens. This weeks TMJSC is just a humerous montage of video:

Funeral Coverage - Full coverage and images of the funeral for Roanoke Fire-EMS Department Captain Chris Brown are available over at RoanokeFire.com. Check out the images and a couple videos from the local news channels. Yes, that is the Fire Critic’s handy work behind the camera…I am getting better.

Fire Critic Apparel – Finally, if you are looking for the Fire Critic Apparel the link is here. I apologize for leaving it out of the sidebar. I will be adding it soon enough. Check out the shirts, mugs, aprons, etc.

Monday Morning Shoutout – VentEnterSearch.com

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mmsoThis weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to VentEnterSearch.com. VentEnterSearch.com has been online for some time. In my opinion, VentEnterSearch.com is one of the best and rawest training tips sites on the internet. The site is down and dirty, cleanly put together, and to the point.

Any website that can continue to get submissions week after week as they do is obviously worth the time. Clearly, the readers who take the time to submit articles with pictures and explanations are what makes the site revolve. However, I am not taking away anything from Jeff Ponds and Jimm Walsh who created the site and have everything to do with its success.

They found a niche and created a great site that has garnered a readership from around the world. And to think, they don’t have a single advertisement on the site.

This site encompasses everything good about the fire service…by firefighters and for firefighters. There is even an occasional topic about engine work. It has always amazed me that I haven’t found a similar site about engine work (there might be sites out there, but none that I think are like this for engine work). If anyone is interested in starting a site that mimic’s VentEnterSearch.com for Engine guys let me know.

Now, all I have to do is go through the archives and learn all I can since they took my engine OOS and now I find myself on a Quint! Velcro…check, orange spray paint….check, pliers….check, helmet camera….not quite there yet, gut belt…check.

Keep up the great work guys!VentEnterSearch.com

Monday Morning Shoutout – Rescuing Providence

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout Goes to Rescuing Providence. The blog was just recently moved from blogger to Wordpress and given its own url (something I highly recommend).

Lt. Michael Morse, the blogs owner, is also an author. He wrote “Rescuing Providence” and is currently looking for a publisher of his second book. You can purchase Rescuing Providence at Paladin Press.

I have not read his book yet, but I intend to purchase it soon. I haven’t been a long time reader of his blog, but I intend to keep it in my weekly reads.

Michael is currently assigned to Rescue 1 in the City of Providence Rhode Island.

His blog is very well written (I know that kinda comes off like a “But she has a great personality” comment, but it is true. You can tell that he spends time writing his posts and that communicating with the readers comes easy. His writing keeps you wanting to read the next post and the next post and so on.

Take a minute to check out Rescuing Providence.

rescuing providence

A little note from the Fire Critic on Monday Morning Shoutouts…I always enjoy looking around at various sites and checking out their links pages. I never know where I will end up. This is usually the process for picking the next MMSO. However, if you have something that you want me to check out shoot me an email or use the contact page. Maybe your site will be next!

I rarely let people know their site is the next MMSO, and I rarely let them know I picked them once I post it. I just let them find it on their own.

Monday Morning Shoutout – SConFire.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to SconFire.com. The website is the Fire/EMS news source for South Carolina. SconFire.com is run by a friend of mine Grant Mishoe. Grant is a Captain with the North Charleston Fire Department and has a passion for firefighting.

The site took a back seat for a while after the loss of 9 brothers in Charleston, SC. However, the site is back and better than ever! Check out the site and all it has to offer.

sconfire

Monday Morning Shoutout – Raleigh/Wake Firefighting Blog

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This week’s Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the Raleigh/Wake Firefighting Blog. The blog is from Mike Legeros and based on the Raleigh/Wake, North Carolina area. However, Legeros has no boundaries on what he posts. He runs the gamut on fire, EMS, history, apparatus, news, and everything else.

Mike Legeros bills himself as an Author, historian, photographer, buff. More info on Mike can be found here.

The Raleigh/Wake Firefighting Blog is one of my daily reads.

legeros

Monday Morning Shoutout – FireGroundVideo.com

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to FireGroundVideo.com. This is a brand new website. So we are going to help out and boost its readership. The website is kinda like Firefighter Spot, although I think that there is a significant difference. You will more than likely find videos on FireGroundVideo.com that you might not find on Firefighter Spot. Basically, there might be more videos and ones that might have been culled by Firefighter Spot. Competition, maybe but I think you will find a unique approach on the website. The website is brought to you by Prinston Media.

You can follow them on Twitter too @FireGroundVideo.

firegroundvideo1

Monday Morning Shoutout – Bajan Fire Fighter's Blog

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This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the Bajan Fire Fighter’s Blog way down in Barbados. I have been following this blog for sometime and have enjoyed reading about what is going on down there. Their latest post really caught my eye though. Just about 7 1/2 years ago I travelled down to St. Lucia for our honeymoon. We really enjoyed everything about the place and had a blast even if we stayed at an all inclusive resort! I recommend it to anyone.

Three Dead As St Jude’s Goes Up In Smoke -

Three people are dead following an early morning blaze that left the entire Surgical Ward of the St Jude’s Hospital in St Lucia ablaze. Residents of the Vieux Fort and Laborie area reported hearing loud explosions between 12:30 and 1am, that shook their houses. Reports are that several residents were on the scene helping to remove patients from the burning building which also houses the Pediatric Ward. Read more

bajan firefighter blog