Do not let bad weather slow down your training!

Sure the calender says Spring but here it has been COLD! A few days ago we even had 3 inches of snow! Due to that a lot of times our Hands On Training (HOT) has to be postponed until warmer and less oppressive weather returns. However this is no excuse to let our training suffer.

A few years ago while assigned to a different station on a particular winter weather day the shift decided to get creative and not let a perfectly good 24 hours go to waste.

 

Utilizing the steel bar joist roof construction of the bay, a simple folding ladder, ropes, harnesses, and 8 plates we were able to practice single person rappels, pickoffs, self rescues, and lock offs all from the comfort of the bay.

This is just one example of how creativity can still provide great training! The options are ENDLESS, all it takes is some initiative and ingenuity.

Do not let the frigid temperatures slow you or your shifts progression down utilize the vast resources of your own fire station and get to work! The warmer months will be soon upon us, but do not put it off until then!

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

 

Mr. Perfect?

Anyone who watched wrestling growing up is bound to have heard of Mr. Perfect Curt Henning. He did several promo’s about just how perfect he was and how easily he could accomplish the most difficult task. He even when coming out tot the ring would spit his gum out and swat it away (something I spent hours trying to emulate). This guy was absolutely PERFECT. However behind the curtain Curt Henning was far from perfect. He was a steroid user, battled several demons, and eventually died far to young from an over dose from a combination of cocaine and pain killers.

The point? His on air persona was far from reality. His was the picture of perfection to some, but was a normal human subject to desires, bad decisions, etc.

I think this persona, or idea of perfection s sometimes placed on those of us who choose to put ourselves out there in social media, blogs, etc. I have almost three years of posts on this site, written articles for several other website, magazines, tweets, and other outlets and I can not find one time where I mentioned anything about me being perfect. I strive for that as I think all of us should do but I myself am FAR FROM IT! I make mistakes, I made one just last night while acting in charge of the engine company. One of the greatest lessons I have learned in my fire service career was when I attended an 8 hour forcible entry class from FDNY Captain Robert Morris. During this we saw several videos of forcible entry techniques, some times succesful, others not. When asked why he kept the mistakes in the video he said he wanted to show the class that even he and his crew with all their experience in the fire service that they may still make mistakes, and that they learned more from mistakes than from success.

I make mistakes in all aspects of my life, I am a horrible critic on myself some might even say too hard, but as one of my twitter followers said if you’re not hard on yourself then who will be? The name Average Jake was created out of the fact that I consider myself just average. I am the average firefighter, or what I think the average firefighter should be (passionate, dedicated, love for the job) and I try to put those traits out there.

So the overall point is no matter if it is me, The Fire Critic, Jumpseatviews, Fire Service Warrior, or some other blogger, writer, oe tweeter NONE OF US are perfect. We strive for it, and attempt it but it is unreachable and we will fail, but trying to get there will make you pretty good. I know it can be difficult to embrace your mistakes, especially in a business where a mistake can mean life or death, but as I tell my oldest son when he doesn’t want to practice with people better than him at sports. You learn nothing from beating the same people over and over, you learn a lot from going against someone better than you. So do not shy away from mistakes. Train to make them reduced during the real thing. I know I learned a valuable lesson last night and plan on following up on that so the mistake is not repeated. Hard work is the only way to accomplish it, we are never done learning and just when we think we might be fate usually has a way to jump up and let us know we need to keep plugging.

Thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

Victim Survivability Profiling? And some thoughts

Have to thank my good friend Rude Boy for pointing this video out to me. Apparently it was on some other websites but I missed it.

I just have some thoughts, and I do not know everything about this fire, this fire department, their staffing anything like that. I just see a very small snap shot in time and have some thoughts to consider.

1. It seems a lot of focus was on the room on fire. While I think that’s a good thing fire tends to move up,down,left,right,front, and back. It what appears to be some sort of multi family occupancy with adjoined rooms where is the line above? Where is the line in the room adjacent to the fire room? In fact why are searches not being initiated in those rooms as they present more chance to produce a viable victim?

2. They found a victim after knocking down a MASSIVE amount of fire. They obviously thought this victim was viable because they drug him out of the building. Then they took what they thought was this viable victim and….left him there. Why did someone not start hands only CPR? Why was an EMS crew not close to the scene?

Again not picking because I do not know what the circumstances are that these firefighters were facing, but this incident speaks to me about some priorities I may want to make at my next fire, or that you may want to consider at your next fire.

Do we (insert your FD here) even have the resources readily available to combat a fire like this and care for a victim? If not how can we get them? If we are depending on mutual aid can we get them on the first alarm, or do we need to adjust when that process gets started?

The fire service is not easy, especially today when we have extreme fire loads, buildings that fail easier, and we have to process all of those things in a dynamic time compressed environment. On top of that every move we make now is documented and put out there for all to see, so every “mistake” is magnified. That makes it all the more important to get in the gym, get on the training ground, and do all the prep work on the front end. Lets give these amature filmmakers Oscar performances!

Thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

Why Fight Fair?

By now I am sure a lot of you who frequent the trade magazines, fire service blogs, etc. have seen videos and reports on how new and old furnishings impact fire growth and development.

We all know it yet we continue to see minimal change or acceptance to change on the tactical level.

I heard this quote from an instructor the other day while he was teaching about difficult airway. Basically he said when it comes to difficult airways he doesn’t belive in “fighting fair” and he is going to use every tool at his disposel in order to secure the airway, and secure a good clinical outcome for the patient. This brought to mind the question….

Why do we fight fair?

Lets think about it.

Fire is dangerous: It is hot, it produces toxic smoke and can use it’s by product for destruction and death. It is already well ahead of us by the time we know about it.

Buildings are dangerous: The wood used today even if dimensional is not of the same density, of legacy construction and does not perform as well under fire conditions. Additionally the buildings connection components are not as strong as they used to be.

Our training is inadequate for todays fire environment: We train in concrete burn buildings with class A combustibles that in no way mirror the fire growth, fire behavior, or building response of the modern fire environment. Even when we train in acquired structures the fuel packages and safety features we add to the houses make them unrealistic.

Some of our staffing levels are inadequate: Some departments are being made to ride with less than 3 people making it even more difficult to make a positive impact of today’s fires.

Taking into account all of these things, knowing all that we know, and yet we still make the conscious effort to fight these fires fairly!

We do not owe these fires a fair chance! We need to take the maximum amount of water, people, and equipment in order to overwhelm the fire. BY taking in undersized crews, handline, or pushing poor tactical choices is the same as going after an elephant with a BB gun.

Do not get me wrong overkill is not the answer, but when appropriate use the big guns, as an old captain of mine used to say know the difference between an infantry fire, and an artillery fire. Do not be afraid to knock it down from the outside and then finish it off, in that same breath do not be afraid when it is warranted to crawl down that dark hallway with a handline and put the fire out.

No matter what you do, or who you are the fire always has the element of surprise when it comes to us, lets minimize its advantage by using our superior fire power and not giving it the chance to win.

As usual thanks for reading spread the word and STAY SAFE!

 

THE PODCAST IS LIVE!!!!

I have been teasing it for a while but today is the day that Ryan Pennington and Robby Owens (www.viewsfromthejumpseat.com , Averagejake Firefighter) took the next step in spreading our message of firefighting and fire service excellence!

So take some time out of your day today and go here http://www.firehouse.com/podcast/10831931/the-average-jakes-views-from-the-jumpseat-complacency-fire-service-goals and listen to our new podcast on http://www.firehouse.com

This podcast will be THE place for the firefighter perspective and will be expanding over the coming months to include guests and hitting the hard topics. Please take a listen and send us some feedback on the site, our individual blogs or over twitter.

Thanks to Firehouse.com, Peter Mathews editor of Firehouse.com, Ryan Pennington for including me, my wife and kids, and each and every one of you who take a little bit of time each day to read this blog, or follow me on twitter. Without anyone listening or reading my musings I would have packed this in years ago. So without getting to mushy thanks and I hope you enjoy what you’re going to see out of this blog and the podcast.

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

The Week Of AWESOME STUFF!!!!!

Thanksgiving may be a few days away but this week it feels like Christmas has come early! I have had the chance to get some really neat stuff and experience some very cool things.

First my brother-in-law Adam has recently just returned from his military deployment aboard the USS Enterprise. Adam is a Ship Board Firefighter in the United States Navy and this was the last deployment of the USS Enterprise. On top of that being cool enough they had to ride through Super Storm Sandy! Well Adam brought back a gift for me here it is

 

HOW COOL IS THAT it is the Challenge coin for the Enterprise Firefighters, and no offense to The Fire Critic and Ironfiremen but this goes to the front of the list for the coolest Challenge coin I have ever received. I can’t thank Adam enough and I hope that once his military service is over that he gets to realize his dream of becoming a career firefighter.

Second I got an email the other day from Brian Brush over at Fireservicewarrior.com. He said he wanted to send me a copy of the new Fire Service Warrior Foundations book, and a little something extra for helping spread the FSW message. So today I got this in the mail.

I got a copy of the book, and a Colorado 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb Shirt! I am very humbled that Brian and the other guys over at Fire Service Warrior thought to send me these things. I plan on putting myself though the foundations program and giving a full review on the blog. Thanks a bunch guys and I will see you in INDY!

Lastly today I got to participate in my first official podcast with Ryan Pennington from www.viewsfromthejumpseat.com . Our Podcast “Average Jakes Views From The Jumpseat” will be a monthly podcast on Firehouse.com and will be a street level podcast for the and from the firefighter perspective. To say I am excited would be an understatement. This has been the culmination of a lot of skyping, meeting, hard work, and conversation, and I think the finished product will be one that everyone will be able to enjoy. I want to thank Ryan for involving me on this venture as we have never met in person only through texting,email, skype and twitter. He took a chance on a complete stranger and we have even become friends throughout this process. Another big thanks goes out to Peter Mathews the editor of Firehouse.com for the chance to do this. So stay tuned every month to Firehouse.com for the show and please send a TON of feedback.

Well that is all for tonight. As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

Update on some things

Wow has it been busy around here! Working both jobs, studying for class and the promotional assessment center, kids, and add in a super storm hurricane and it has been quite a lot going on and it has been taking a lot of my time up and away from the site. So I wanted to post today because with the storm still closing in we may or may not have power in my area.

First off my podcast venture with Ryan Pennington on Firehouse.com is still a go. There have been some editing issues and other technical stuff that has delayed the launch but it will be out soon. In the mean time we are getting ready to record the second episode so that once the first one hits the web the next one will be locked and loaded. So stay tuned to twitter, Firehouse.com, this site and http://viewsfromthejumpseat.com/ for information.

Speaking of Ryan and the “Views Crew” I had the pleasure of viewing his very first webcast today on Fires in Hoarding Homes. Ryan has become an expert on this topic and has done research all over the world on the topic. This is a very serious topic that affects EVERY Fire and EMS provider. The webcast was just an hour-long but I have spoken to Ryan and he is already planning the next one. If you or your department is looking for a great training class then you need to hit the link above and get Ryan to come to your locality. YOU WILL NO BE DISSAPOINTED! Hoarding is a serious threat to us all and we need to be ready, Ryan has some great information so contact him today!

Lastly I have become a member of Team Firefighter http://teamfirefighter.blogspot.com/ is a group of firefighter from all over the country who race in road races, adventure races, triathlon, and other endurance races. On the site you will find bio’s of all the team members, and reviews of the races they have run. Here is a link to my bio page http://teamfirefighter.blogspot.com/2012/10/robby-owens-bio.html . If you are interested in running races, or already to and want an avenue to share ideas, and your thoughts on racing and fitness then contact Team Firefighter and join today!

Well that is it for now, hopefully the Hurricane will stay a non issue and I will not have to report back to duty until Wednesday. If your out there in the storm, or on duty stay safe,and keep your situational awareness high.

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

Shock The Door

The above video gives you some examples of shocking, gaping, setting, and forcing the inward swinging door. One thing firefighters often leave out is the initial shock of the door.

Shocking the door can indicate where the door is secured and how many locking points are engaged. Failing to do this may result in extended forcible entry time, allowing the fire to grow possibly beyond the capabilities fo the first due alarm assignment.

The above picture is a door I encountered on an emergency response a few years ago. As you can see there is no exterior indication of the type, or number of locking mechanisms that may be in place.

The inside of the door reveals to us that this door is usually secured by a rim lock on the top, and a hasp with a type of “S” clip at the bottom. Is this door impossible to force? Absolutely not, but without identifying these locks it could lead you down the wrong path to force these doors, causing the door become deformed yet still secured and delaying or denying entry all together.

Visual size up while important is not the end all be all, we need to perform a physical size up in order to identify how secure these doors are.

So remember SHOCK, GAP,SET,FORCE and you will improve your success in forcing doors 10 fold.

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

October Drill Of The Month: The Handcuff Knot

Short sweet and to the point, the handcuff knot is vital to RIT/RIC operations. It can be used to attach to down firefighters either using the loops created by tying the knot, or using those loops and attaching a carabiner. The biggest advantage is that the knot creates to pulling points for firefighter to use in the rescue attempt. This provides a great mechanical advantage in lifting the firefighter from below grade.

Bottom line this knot saves lives! You need to be able to tie it in the dark, in the smoke, with gloves on, under the most stressful conditions imaginable. Take some time this month (whats left of it) to practice this knot like someone elses life depends on it, CAUSE IT DOES!

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Take a look at the picture above. You have a working fire in a multi family occupancy with an obvious rescue, what do you do?

Take your fire department, engine, crew, etc. and sit down and talk about it. Then hit the drill ground and practice this plan.

In my situation I think 2 plans would be put into place. Some of our Engines are housed with Truck companies, and Squad companies, allowing for simultaneous arrival of the first engine and first special service company. In that case the solution to me is simple, let the special service company handle the rescue, and the engine stretch the appropriate line and mount a fire attack, more than likely transitional.

Arriving as a lone engine company with 3 person staffing, I feel like we have 2 choices. Dedicate all you people to the rescue, or make an attack on the fire, and stop the “patient generator” from growing. I would make an exterior fire attack on this occupancy with 1 firefighter (1 firefighter should be able to handle the hose) and have the officer throw a ground ladder for rescue (again 1 person should be able to throw the ladder alone). Once the driver is set up he can come over and assist.

Neither is wrong, but the important thing is to HAVE A PLAN, AND TRAIN ON IT! Just talking about it is not enough.

So I ask again What Would You Do? Send your responses in the comments section, twitter, or email. make sure to give a little background on your department as well, so we know what you’re facing where your from.

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!