I admit that one of the coolest things about The Fire Critic Facebook Page is the questions that the readers ask me either via message or on the page. They want answers. They want the truth. They can’t handle..alright enough of that. The questions range from broad to detailed and encompass the entire scope of Fire & EMS. I appreciate the questions and try to share every one of them on the page. You will see them in the form of a question followed by [ - Question from a Brother]. Keep them rolling. The last one I put up was one I thought of all on my own (I do that occasionally…think that is). The question “Do you wear your wedding ring on duty? Why or why not?” is sitting at 207 comments.
Rom Duckworth writes at Rescue Digest. Recently he belted out an excellent article on Brotherhoodand then he followed that up with an article about The Fire Critic and Iron Firemen. It is nice to get a little press every now and again. We met Rom in Denver last year at FRI, although that might not have been the first time. Thanks Rom!
Paul Hasenmeier is taking notes from Captain Wines and writing about his firehouse life. His blog First Due Tackle’s latest post is about the rookie, or as he has earned the nickname Sweat Bee. Learn how he earned that nickname here.
MN8 FoxFire has a new shirt out “Real Women Love Firefighters, The Rest Marry Cops”. Check out the new shirt here.
Rescuing Providenceis passing along some great information from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and Everyone Goes Home Program. RESPONSE TO VIOLENT INCIDENTS: Nine Questions You Should Ask. Questions inspired by 2012 Violent Incident Summit with IAFC, CFSI, NFFF, NFPA & NVFC. Read more about it here.
Dave Statter has an interesting story about Firefighters having some fun and others finding it to be hazing. I think where they went wrong was going out in public with the messed up hair-cuts. We have to at least look professional! Read about it here.
The Disputanta VFD (VA) is the latest to offer great helmet camera footage. They even used some dash camera footage in this house fire video from the 16th of January. Check out the video here.
FireGeezer has the story about 50% something EMS is messed up in Detroit. Am I the only one who feels horrible for these guys? We read every day about how freakin bad it is up there….is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Read about the latest news here.
The National Firefighters Endowment is proud to present a check on behalf of the Officers Club, to Union Deposit Fire Company #47, to purchase new air cylinders. These air cylinders will allow their firefighters to safely enter hazardous conditions to perform life and property saving services to their community. Check out more on the story here.
Benjamin A. Metzger, represented the Officers Club, presented the Union Deposit Fire Company #47 their check for $5000.
I will leave you with a two alarm chimney fire in North Whitehall, PA
Friend and notable blogger FireGeezer Bill Schumm has hit another milestone… his 4th year of blogging. In related news, Dave Statter cries because his blog is not as old as Bill’s…
FireGeezer came online on March 25, 2007 with a short article you can read here. A couple of days later, Bill introduces himself for the first time and explains the blog a little bit (read that here).
I have had the enjoyment of meeting Bill in person twice. I have hung out with FossilMedic Mike Ward quite a few more times. It is always my pleasure! These guys are two very interesting and great people. If you ever get the chance to meet them, take the time and sit down to chat.
The FireGeezer Blog is one of the most well rounded and far reaching fire service blogs out there.
Recently, FireGeezer added some new writers to his crew and has really refined the blog. The truth is that you just never know what will be written about day to day in the fire service.
The very unique thing about FireGeezer is Bill’s Morning Lineup…his intro to the day about what he is thinking about much like walking in to his station to relieve the shift before and have a quick discussion before shift change. Bill wrote about his 4 year anniversary in the latest morning lineup here.
Here is an excerpt:
It was very primitive to begin with. I didn’t have the ability to post images yet, and videos were out of the question at the time. And while I had a general idea of what I wanted to cover, I needed to get a lot of postings under my belt before I could get a sense of what sort of story would be interesting enough that people would want to check back the next day and see another one. That is a never-ending chase because universal interests are always changing and I try to stay within that group desire.
Congratulations on the first 4 years Bill…Here’s a toast to the next four!
This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet up with so many great bloggers, twitter friends, and other acquaintances. We were at the EMS Today conference.
I would like to give you the rundown. If I leave anyone out please let me know and I will add you in. There are some I may have met but not realized your other identities online.
I also got to meet Mark Brady (@PGFDPIO) the PIO for PG County, Md. Great guy…I think I bored him.
And how could I forget a highlight of mine. I got to meet Dennis Rubin, the Chief of DCFD. It was an honor to chat with him. I have been a fan of his for a long time. I have enjoyed watching him work in the various roles and departments as well. Great chat and thanks to Mike Ward for introducing us! Justin and Mark got to meet him as well. You might see Chronicles of EMS in DC sometime in the future.
I also added a video below from Dave Statter that showcases Justin Schorr, Mark Glencorse, John Mitchell, Mike Ward, and myself!
Many of the photos below were taken by me. Others have been collected from facebook and other sites. I apologize for not giving credit for each photo. Be sure to scroll down for video and photos!
I hope for many more meet ups like this in the future! Who is going to be at FDIC?
Many of the Bloggers/Twitterers at EMS Today
I got into Baltimore around 1am on Friday morning. My first meetup was with John Mitchell (@FireDaily) of FireDaily.com and my co-host on Firefighter Netcast. We roomed together for the weekend and got to chat a little bit before calling it a night for the events of Friday. John and I have talked on the phone, through email, and even done some video skype sessions. We are great friends and have finally been able to hang out in person.
When Friday morning rolled around we hit the exhibit hall floor at EMS Today. Our first stop was the Zoll booth. Unfortunately I decided to listen to John on where the booth was and we walked a mile in the exhibit hall before realizing it was right near the front. John was adamant it was in the back. Our first disagreement…awe.
Walking up to the Zoll booth, we saw Justin Schorr (The Happy Medic and @TheHappyMedic) and Mark Glencorse (999 Medic and @UKMedic999). I didn’t expect either of them to pick out the two of us (who probably come off as a David Spade/Chris Farley looking duo). Justin quickly came right for me introducing himself. I introduced myself and hugs ensued. Justin is another guy I have spoken with a bunch, blogged about, and consider a brother. We were finally able to meet…in person. I introduced John (John had already realized that I love talking…). We then met Mark Glencorse.
Justin Schorr getting FireGeezer Bill Schumm to sign his mug
Right after meeting Justin and Mark we met Ted Setla (@setla). The stage was set. I had now met the main components of Chronicles of EMS. I would later meet Chris Eldridge (@thedridge), a cameraman who works with Setla and did wonders for Chronicles of EMS.
After chatting with Mark, Justin, John, and Setla we headed to the JEMS booth where we ran into Dave Iannone (@cooldavej) and Chris Hebert (@chebert13). These guys are huge entrepenuers in the Fire/EMS Service and I have learned a lot from them. I have spoken to both of them through email and phone and was thrilled to meet them. I have been a long time fan of both of their work and look forward to following them in the future! They both are with Go Forward Media and bring you FireEMSBlogs.com, FirefighterNation.com, and many other sites. They are formerly of Firehouse.com.
Dave and Chris were a lot of fun to hang out with. Chris and I had fun busting each others chops…just like at the firehouse! They shared the tab of the meetup later that night with George Washington University.Thanks for lunch as well guys!
Things just kinda fell all together after meeting Chris and Dave. The rest is not in chronological order necessarily.
Mike Ward, Rhett Fleitz, Dave Statter, and John Mitchell
We met Chris Montera (@geekymedic) of the EMS Garage and Jamie Davis (@podmedic) of MedicCast. These too guys put on great podcasting shows and put on live shows during the conference. It was great to see them in action and learn about what John and I hope to be doing in the future at Fire Conferences!
Jamie also runs the ProMed Network (an EMS podcasting hub).
Some of the rest of this may or may not include real names. I may refer to them as their twitter tags and/or blogs. I will do this in case of outing an anonymous blogger or because that is the only way I know them.
I met @nateemt_b while talking to some other guys. He was excited to be there and I had fun talking to him.
Soon after,April Saling @Epi_Junky showed up. She runs the Pink Warm and Dry blog. Very cool person and I enjoyed talking to her later at the meetup. Small World…she lives very close to my grandparents!
@Epi_Junky picked up Chris Kaiser (@CKEMTP) of Life Under The Lights. Chris and I hit it off well. He has been a guest on Firefighter Netcast and again it was like I knew him for years! Great guy, very articulate and speaks with words I do not know!
FireGeezer Bill Schumm, FossilMedic Mike Ward, Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz, and Fire Daily John Mitchell
I met Tom Bouthillet (@tbouthillet) of EMS12lead.com. Very cool guy. I know nothing about 12 lead anything, but he apparently does…and enjoys it enough to write about it. He posted about EMS Today here. Tom is a Fire Lieutenant / Paramedic for Hilton Head Island Fire & Rescue and works for Chief Mick Mayers of Firehouse Zen (Mick was not present).
I met up with Mike Ward, the Fossil Medic (@FossilMedic). He runs FireGeezer with Bill Schumm (@FireGeezer). I would finally meet Bill on Saturday. He made the trek up to Baltimore to meet me…ok not really. He came to meet Justin and Mark…and the rest of us. Justin and Mark were thrilled to meet Bill and had him and Mike sign their FireGeezer mugs. Bill and I go back to the beginning of FireGeezer. I caught up with him when I was still going strong with RoanokeFire.com (my first blog). We have talked on the phone and email ever since. Great guy!
Mike Ward was a lot of fun too! He enjoyed the banter between myself and Dave Statter (@STATter911) of STATter911.com. I got to meet Dave at the meetup on Friday night. Needless to say, I feel like I know Dave really well! Anyone you can say “Nice to meet you, you son of a bitch” and them NOT get mad is alright in my book! Dave and I hit it off really well (at least that is what I thought..he may hate me now). Actually, Dave and I share a similar sense of humor.
Dave and I have talked on the phone and through email for years as well. I remember when he started STATter911.com and have enjoyed reading his site daily. His site is probably one of the most read in blogs in the Fire Service. Some love Dave, some love to hate Dave, but they all come back to see what he is writing about next. I cannot wait to hang out with Dave again in the future!
You might know Dave Statter as the blogger with the longest post titles in the world!
I got to meet @NJDiveMedic. He hung out with Me, Justin, Chris, John, and @Squirrl325 for drinks after the meetup.We had a blast and enjoyed some brews. @Squirrel325 was a blast to hang out with and was able to hunt down a great Irish pub when our first idea folded. Kaiser ended the night with an offer for all of us to do shots….I can’t hang like that anymore!
I got to meet Carissa O’Brien (@Carissao). She is really cool people and seemed to stay busy during the events. I also got to chat with Sebastian Wong (@SebWong). He is the EMS Chief (pretty sure that is his title) for the San Fransisco Fire Department. He just started a blog here. Great guy, easy to talk to, and fun to be around.
The interesting thing about David and Greg is that they have never met. Much like Justin and Mark before they finally met for Chronicles of EMS and John and I before this weekend. It just goes to show how friendships are born, partnerships are created, and businesses are started via networking through social media. Great guys and great ideas…forging ahead!
I also got to meet up with Ronnie Grubb, his wife and a friend. Ronnie lives near me and blogs. Ronnie runs The Gatekeeper. He gave his view of the events at EMS Today here. Ronnie was a blast to talk to. His excitement for EMS, firefighting, and other things we talked about was awesome. I look forward to more from Ronnie in the future…
I am sure there are plenty others out there whom I met and others there I did not get a chance to meet.
Chris Eldridge
Geeky Medic Chris Montera
Mark Glencorse, Justin Schorr, Michael Kurz MD, and Chris Montera
Justin Schorr
Justin Schorr getting FireGeezer Bill Schumm to sign his mug
Mark Glencorse
Justin Schorr and Mark Glencorse
Mike Ward, Rhett Fleitz, Dave Statter, and John Mitchell
Jamie Davis...The PodMedic (on the right)
Ted Setla
Rhett Fleitz and Justin Schorr
Justin Schorr and John Mitchell
John Mitchell, Mark Glencorse, and Rhett Fleitz
Many of the Bloggers/Twitterers at EMS Today
David Konig and Mark Glencorse
Rhett Fleitz, April Saling, and Jared Scott
FireGeezer Bill Schumm, FossilMedic Mike Ward, Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz, and Fire Daily John Mitchell
Exactly who are the best firefighters? How can we tell exactly. I think that many of us have firefighters of all ranks we look up to in the Fire Service either locally or Nationally.
Who do you think are the best? The names below are just examples.
Best Chief…someone like Billy Goldfeder of Loveland Symmes Ohio, or John Mittendorf LA City, maybe Charles Warner in Charlottesville Virginia, or Dennis Rubin in DC, how about Tom Shannon (seems to be well liked), maybe Alan Brunacini, Brannigan, or John Salka.
Certainly some of the names above might fit the Best Fire Service Speaker with the names of say Bobby Halton, or Ray McCormack, maybe Dugan, or Gordon Graham.
Then there are the best Fire Service Instructors like Eddie Buchanan, Frank Ricci, Tim Sendelbach, Andy Fredericks, the guys from VentEnterSearch.com, or Ron Moore. Of course there are so many disciplines of training so I am sure there are so many great instructors.
Some of the names above might be the best authors with names like Brannigan, John Norman, or Ray Downey Sr., Mittendorf, or Salka.
Or just firefighters who have very recognizable names for one reason or another like Kevin Shea, Ray Downey, or these guys most recently.
What about the Best Tech Savy Firefighters like Iannone and Hebert, or Charles Warner.
Or the best News type firefighters like Schumm and Ward, or Statter (firefighter back in the day).
What other areas can you think of? What names come to mind for you? I am sure I left great names out. These were just ones that came to mind at the time of posting this.
Leave a comment who you think the best is and in what category. Feel free to give as many as you want!
MN8 FoxFire has a new shirt out “Real Women Love Firefighters, The Rest Marry Cops”. Check out the new shirt here.
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