Southwest Inn Hotel Fire – 2013 6855 Southwest Freeway  Houston, Texas May 31, 2013 Incident Number 1305310305 A few weeks ago on Father’s Day, while in Houston (Texas) on business I stopped by to pay my solemn respects at the site of the May 31, 2013 Southwest Inn fire that claimed the lives of Four HFD firefighters and […]

“Operational Excellence is achieved through Tactical Discipline, Tactical Patience and Knowledge of our Buildingsonfire” Understanding the Compartment in various types of occupancies and variation of building types lends itself towards the identification and selection of appropriate tactics with corresponding capabilities in the form of sustainable water flow for the expected fire load package. Understanding the […]

Four years after nine firefighters died battling Sofa Super Store fire, a report details an eerily similar set of breakdowns in a March blaze.

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Remembrance of 9|11, The First-due; Honor, Courage, Duty and Fortitude, that defines who we are as firefighters.

During the last quarter of 2010 and leading well into the second quarter of 2011 there has been a significant emerging trend developing in basement fires, compromised floor systems and assemblies leading to collapse and numerous near-miss events, close calls and unfortunatly, line of duty deaths during fire operations. If youÂ’ve been paying attention to the various news and […]

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement  With so many changes (budget cuts, staffing reductions, reduced training, etc.) in so many fire departments, it is critical for fire fighters to focus on their own survival on the fire ground. There is no other call more challenging to fire ground operations […]

The “Rules” were formally adopted by the IAFC Health, Safety and Survival Section at the Fire Rescue International Conference held last week in Chicago.

Dynamic Risk Assessment is commonly used to describe a process of risk assessment being carried out in a changing or evolving environment, where what is being assessed is developing as the process itself is being undertaken. This is further problematical for the Incident Commander when confronted with competing or conflicting incident priorities, demands or distractions […]