NIOSH issues Report on: Leading Recommendations for Preventing Fire Fighter Fatalities, 1998–2005 The United States currently depends on approximately 1.1 million fire fighters to protect its citizens and property from losses caused by fire. Each year in the United States, approximately 100 fire fighters die in the line of duty. Sudden cardiac death is the […]

Check out the story and references to the controversial 8-alarm fire that occured on December 14, 2007 at the Lorraine Apartment Building in Gloucester, MA. The fire, just across the street from the Central Fire Station, left a 70-year-old man dead, destroyed the apartment building and a synogogue. The fire chief announced his retirement just […]

Fire/EMS Survival Alert from the IAFC We know all fire chiefs and most members of the fire/EMS service are focused on budget and related issues these days. With some very recent firefighter line-of-duty deaths, itÂ’s also important for all members of the fire/EMS service to keep a strong focus and redouble efforts on issues related […]

On the February, 2009 edition of Firehouse.com, Training and Tactics Talk, host Chief Douglas K. Cline looks at the role of size-up in todayÂ’s “strategy and tactics” on the fireground. Chief Cline and Christopher J. Naum focus this program on equipping fire officers and firefighters with the tools needed to understand and perform effective size-ups […]

USFA Releases Provisional 2008 Firefighter Fatality StatisticsThe United States Fire Administration (USFA) announced there were 114 on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2008. During this period, there were firefighters lost from 34 states and one from the Virgin Islands. North Carolina experienced the highest number of […]

Everyone Goes Home® is a national program by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to prevent line-of-duty deaths and injuries. In March 2004, a Firefighter Life Safety Summit was held to address the need for change within the fire service. Through this meeting, the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives were produced and a program was born […]

2009 Safety, Health & Survival Week: June 14 – 20 This year’s theme – Protect Yourself: Your Safety, Health & Survival Are Your Responsibility encourages chiefs and Fire/EMS personnel to focus on what they personally can do to manage risk and enhance their health and safety. Visit: 2009 Safety, Health & Survival Week Website

360 Degrees of Separation. The fireground often has competing or conflicting incident priorities, demands or distractions before a complete appreciation of all mission critical or essential information and data has been obtained. The effective assessment of the incident scene is much more than the three-sided size-up methodology of past fireground practices. In fact the term […]

NIOSH has recently released the following Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Reports: F2008-20 May 06, 2007Volunteer fire fighter dies while performing exterior fire suppression at a large machine shed fire – Illinois http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200820.html F2008-12 Apr 08, 2008Volunteer deputy fire chief dies when struck by motorized water monitor that “launched” off aerial ladder truck – Pennsylvania http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200812.html […]

I spent a large part of this past week, and the entire day and evening this past Saturday conscientiously working on refining sections of my lecture program that will be presented at this yearÂ’s Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in April. I was deeply immersed in some research and in reviewing a number of case […]