Many knew who we were, the others were trying to figure us out. Willie and I were overwhelmed (to put it mildly) at the FOOLS Bash by how many of you guys found us (wasn’t that hard was it). That made it very easy to meet so many people and put faces with the names!
First of all an apology…
Kris Mola of the Remembrance Rescue Project
We met so many people, many who we knew from the blogs or Facebook, or Twitter but had never met. We apologize we didn’t have more time to catch up. We hope you guys understand that there was just so much going on at the show and the events we attended that it was not our intention to leave any of you hanging.
Be sure to check out the photos below. Also check out Facebook for more and tag yourself if you are in them.
Second of all, thanks to Zach Green of MN8 FoxFire for having us in their booth. It is always a pleasure! We had a blast hanging out with your entire crew!
Contact us if you would like us in your booth at other events! We can bring a crowd and create a buzz!
Some of the people we met or ran into again are included in the photos below. I apologize if I left you out or forgot your name. Others include: Average Jake Firefighters Robbie Owens, Danny Owens, and Ed Owens, Jeff Harkey of Daily911Deals.com, John Shafer, Michael Smith, Jason Jefferies, Jonah Smith, April Saling, Russell Stine, Tony Mack of The Bowring, Nick Langerock and Gary Lembcke at Spartan ERV, Chris Wilson of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, The crew of Black Helmet, Bill Carey, Stefan Svensson, The crew at Fire Rescue Magazine, Mike Ward, Greg Guise, Mike Brooks, Clayton Kovats, Chad Watson of TRA-FX, Sterling Wright, Doug Pierson, The guys of DetroitFireFilm.org, Jay Martinez of the Spartan Shield light, Mickey Milam of HelpTheGoodGuys.com, Chris Huston of Everyone Goes Home, Matthew Smith of Kovenex Fabrics, Rory Blanchard and the rest of the crew at Remembrance Rescue Project, Chris Moren of “The Pig”, Timothy McCloskey and Joe Brown of Firehouse Pride, Tim Landingham of PacMule, The crew of Glove Crafters and many more!
Jonah Smith
Paul Hummel
Johnathon Paholke
Christopher Naum
Nik and Ron of FatIvan
Our server at the Tilted Kilt
WD Patterson
Kris Kaull from FireRescue1.com
Trevor Bertram
Paul Hasenmeier
The whole crew from MN8 at the booth
Troy Maness
Stephanie Goddard and Lauren
Beau Doss
Anthony and Jim from American Military University
Ray McCormack
Sonny O'Connor
Brian Bailie
The Virginia Crew at FDIC including Tim Estes Brandon Roark and Steven Burke
The crew of MN8 FoxFire Debbie and Amy and Kelly
Brian Brush Jared Lindholm and Andrew Catron
mariachi band
Mike Elston and Andrew Catron
Sean Doney
Liza Fleites
Jeff Schwering
Christopher Brennan and Mariah Leavitt
Kris Mola of the Remembrance Rescue Project
Clark Mackey
Bobby Conley
Garrett Rice
A bunch of great ladies at the Tilted Kilt
I have no clue who these women are with but they wanted their pictures with us
Andy Fossum At the Fools Bash
Joe Lyons
Andrew Catron
Scott Wieson
Reid Black
Two of the Firefighter Models from Firehouse Dolls at the Fools Bash
Kim Fitzsimmons
Brett Miller
Dave Statter
The Jaegermeister Girls and Austin Simpson and Lance Bellamy and Jared Lindholm and Andrew Catron at The Wild Beaver
This article is going to ramble…I warn you now. It is also not going to be in any particular order of appearance.
I think there is a saying that goes something like…Your character shows in who you surround yourself with. I can say that I am a better person because of the friends that I have. Below are some of them.
On a side note: I also bumped into Art “Chief Reason” Goodrich at FDIC. He still has a blog on FireEMSBlogs.com but doesn’t update it anymore. You can now find him at FireEngineering.com. He seems to be enjoying himself! He wasn’t at the meetup…he apparently doesn’t hang with us anymore…
I got to meet with several companies both during FDIC and since. Several of which I hope to be doing product reviews for very soon! If you are looking for having a product review for your product, check out more information here. I spoke with Major Mack of The Bowring today on the phone. They are sending me their product to review shortly. There’s was one of the busier boothes at FDIC. I think the product looks like a potential tool that years from now will be a staple in “What’s in Your Pockets” discussions!
I also have more of a review coming for Foxfire soon!
Black Diamond Footwear will be sending me their brand new X2 boot to review soon as well. You might remember my review of their X boot here and here.
I met the Fire Service Warrior Chris Brennan. He recently had his book published and it was available at FDIC this year. Chris’ name was a buzz word this FDIC…he has a unique perspective of the fire service which goes against the grain of some. This young author is certainly making people take a look. His has some similarities to myself (in my view) that are good and bad…He is young, outspoken, and doesn’t mind telling you what he thinks. I look for a lot more from this guy!
I got to eat lunch and a dinner with Josh Creamer of No Ambition But One. Our time was not ideal for him and I to chat too much because Tiger always has to be the center of everything…the only thing he doesn’t have a handle on is eating his meal…
I spent some time with “The Nick’s” of FDLiveIn.com and Hyattsville VFD. These guys are a lot of fun…and I could not hang with them out until all hours of the morning…wait til Baltimore guys! I won’t have as much on my plate there!
Mike Ward, Bill Carey, Chris Brennan and myself hold court at the floor of FDIC
I got to see Martin Grube of FireRescueTv.com once again this year. It is always a pleasure and he is just so damn nice…he helped settle me in at the classroom ready room when I was preparing to teach my class. He is the coordinator of this area and has been helping FDIC for many years.
I got to meet Kevin Shea. That was pretty cool. The only problem is that I took a pic of Willie and him and didn’t get my photo taken with him. Kevin has a group on the Fire Engineering Community for you hunters out there titled “Off Duty with Kevin Shea. Check it out here.
As always, it is fun hanging out with friends! I enjoyed dinner and more with the guys/gals from Go Forward Media team, Fire Rescue Magazine, and Elsevier teams like Dave Iannone, Chris Hebert, Jeff Berend, Bill Carey, Paul Andrews, Tim Sendelbach, Shannon, Janelle, Cindy, Mary, and others.
I also got to hang out/meet/say hello to Doug Cline, Diane Feldman, Bobby Halton, Frank Ricci, P.J. Norwood, Billy Goldfeder, and Doc Multrup.
name dropping turned off…
I am sure I left plenty of great people off the list. I might have hit on them in other articles about FDIC. Willie and I bumped into people all week long everywhere we went who knew of our sites and recognized Willie. It was a ton of fun and I cannot wait for Fire Rescue International and Firehouse Expo this year!
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!
Over the past several years, I have created several web sites. The Fire Critic has remained one of my favorites.
The past several weeks has brought clarity to its purpose. In an effort to move the site forward, I have decided to update more often with videos, articles, and whatever else is new or interesting in the fire service.
What this means to you is that you will have to check back more often to see what is new and/or scroll down further to see what you have missed!
I have also been working to maximize the potential of the twitter account (@firecritic) and facebook page of the site. As always, you can friend request me as well here.
This past weekend, I have been stuck at my house trying to pass a kidney stone which my friend Captain Wines so eloquently wrote about here on Ironfiremen.com. Prior to that was the epic anti-climactic “Rhett said” vs. “Dave said” between Dave Statter and I over the events in Obion County Tennessee (Fire Critic links here, here, and here & Statter links here, here, here and here).
Of course, if you weren’t able to catch the live netcast of the discussion on Obion County, be sure to check it out below!
Firefighter Behavior has a decent look at whether or not Vacant Structures are actually Vacant unless we say they are. I have been trying to explain this for a long time. There is a difference between “VACANT” & “UNOCCUPIED”.
In my opinion, vacant simply means no one resides there on a regular basis (i.e. homeowner or renter). Vacant structures can still have people in them. Whether it is squatters or kids playing around, vacant structures can be “OCCUPIED”. The only way to rule out a structure being occupied is by doing a thorough search. Read the story of a child who died in a VACANT, but OCCUPIED structure and why Backstep Firefighter is asking the questionWhen Did It Become Okay To Say ‘No’?They also followed up recently with this post: Why We Search: Baltimore
Have you ever left a coffee mug on the tailboard?
One more thing… FireGeezer has finally come up with a coffee mug that might withstand you leaving it on the tailboard and forgetting about it when you get a call. The new travel mug is available, you can check it out here!
Dave Statter once again latches onto one comment of mine from last night. I made reference to the fact that the media sensationalized this story. I am right. I understand why the media does this. I may not agree with it, but it is what it is. Dave twists that as me blaming the news. That is incorrect. I still blame the elected officials and local government of Obion County. I was simply making a point.
That being said, I love Dave for it! You might ask why. Well the answer is simple.People read, learn, agree, disagree, and make changes.
I would also like to thank everyone for the comments on this blog and other blogs I read. The comments have been very insightful and show the thought processes of firefighters, how those thoughts vary, and where we are on this topic. Even the negative comments are good. They are good for debate. I love the fact that everyone can offer their opinion. I think this situation shows the benefit of blogs and other forms of social media!
Dave mentions that I am right about everything…but then says I am wrong. Make up your mind Dave. You know I am right, everyone knows I am right. I am not putting the spin on it that everyone else is. Hell Dave, I keep reading this post of yours (here) and I am beginning to think you might have multiple personalities. You keep saying I am right, then saying I am wrong. You say you agree with me, then saying you disagree with me. Make up your mind Dave. You love pointing I am wrong by saying I am right! It is hard to follow.
Anyone taking bets on who will get the last word; Dave or Me?
I would like to summarize my thoughts.
I merely stated the facts…the outcome was predictable. Homeowners who live in Obion County that fall under the Fire Protection District covered by the Municipal Fire Department of South Fulton get coverage if they pay the $75 fee. Plain and simple. If they don’t pay, they don’t get the coverage. There is no spin there. I find it hard to believe that anyone cannot understand that.
That being said…I will reiterate my point. The system is antiquated, unsafe, unfair, and not a good idea.
Obion County needs to immediately develop a timeline for creation of their own Fire Department.
I still stand by the my comments that you CANNOT fault the Firefighters or Fire Department for their actions. South Fulton operates in Obion County as a Fire Protection District. They do so by way of policies set forth by their government. Obion County has clearly accepted the format of delivery by South Fulton as well as that of the other 7 municipal departments which operate their own Fire Protection Districts in Obion County.
This is NOT the way the Municipal FD’s operate within their jurisdictions…just the way they operate in their Fire Protection Districts outside of their Municipalities.
After listening to the netcast from last night again…Dave really doesn’t disagree with anything I say except for one word I used. However, even then he says I am technically right but that it isn’t the way things should be done. Thanks Dave, exactly what I have been saying. “Everything operated the way it Should” – my words. Everything did operate the way it should under the current system. Nothing happened the way it should this day in age. The antiquated system that is being used in Obion County should be completely overhauled.
Put me in coach!!! I will be happy to head down to Obion County to help them come up with a solution. Hell, better yet there are plenty of consultants out there which would be happy to be bank rolled to come up with a positive solution.
Here is the audio from the incident
Here are related links:
STATter911.com previous coverage of this story here, here and here
The FireEMSBlogs.com meetup was a huge success. The event was hosted by Fire Rescue Magazine, Firefighter Nation, and FireEMSBlogs.com. The event was also sponsored by Black Helmet and Black Diamond Boots.
My time at FDIC was a blast. We managed to pack the week full of friends, fun, and work (Firefighter Netcast). The people I have met through this blog, twitter, facebook, etc. will stay with me for a long time. Our occasional chance to meet is always fun!
L-R Chris Kaiser, Art Goodrich, Rhett Fleitz, Tiger Schmittendorf, John Mitchell, Justin Schorr, Chris Hebert, Mike Ward (if you look close between Chris and Dave in the back), Dave Iannone, Chris Naum, Bill Carey
Whether it be through commenting on each others blogs, following each other on twitter, being friends on facebook, or any other of the many social mediums we stay connected. We know when each other are having a bad day, working, having a birthday, or whatever.
There may not be an exact core of the fire/EMS interwebs, but it grows daily. Mostly it is championed by several leaders. And yes, the Fire and the EMS interwebs are connected. The leaders are not self proclaimed or “formal” leaders. They might not even realize they are leaders. However, they have a following and stay connected to others through social media. These leaders have “tribes” or followers and the various tribes are interconnected as well. I would name a few but I would probably leave out many. The point isn’t the leaders, but the followers. Most of the leaders are followers in other tribes and so on… You get the point.
We all have a stake in this and we are all working towards the same goal…connecting.
One way of connecting is by meeting up. One of those meetups was held this past weekend at FDIC.
The night began with a get together for several of the bloggers. Consider it some down time for the guys/gals to network before the crowd arrived.
I had a great time meeting and talking to everyone!
I was honored to be asked to announce the winners of the raffle items. There were Black Helmet Hats, $100 gift certificates to Black Helmet Apparel, Firefighter Monopoly, and a pair of Black Diamond Boots given away.
A lot of thanks from John and myself to Chris, Dave, Bill, Paul, Jeff, Tim, Shannon, Olga, and everyone else!
All in all it was a huge success… I will give the rest via photos of the night!
Here is an overhead shot of the crowd! It was a great time!
L-R Chris Kaiser, Art Goodrich, Rhett Fleitz, Justin Schorr, John Mitchell, Tiger Schmittendorf, Chris Hebert, Dave Iannone, Chris Naum, Bill Carey
Some guys I met...I told them I wouldn't remember their names but that I would post the picture!!! I am a man of my word!
The same booth babes from Black Diamond Boots who were hounding me apparently were also into the owner of BD! I knew it was too good to be true!
James from Black Helmet Apparel and firefighter Carrie McAtee (not one of Black Helmet's models as we previously posted...but she could be!!!)
An anonymous blogger behind Justin Schorr, Chris Kaiser, April Saling, and ?
Rhett Fleitz, Susan (@SusanABI), and Peter Kirk from SaintGobainOneSuit
Mike Ward, John Mitchell, Chris Kaiser, Tiger Schmittendorf, Justin Schorr, and Dave Iannone (in the back)
Here is the fun pic...I was never in drama in high school. Actually I was taking the photo.
This is the entire crew of bloggers, Fire Rescue Magazine, FireEMSBlogs.com, and more! I will not even attempt to identify everyone.
Chris Hebert, Tiger Schmittendorf, Art Goodrich, John Mitchell, Bill Carey
Tiger Schmittendorf, Rhett Fleitz (in the back), Shelly Wilcoxon, John Mitchell. Tiger and John are sporting the Black Helmet hats they won!
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!
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