Interesting data from the USFA (United States Fire Administration). The number of fires [in the U.S.] is down over 6 percent in 10 years, but fire related deaths [in the U.S.] are up over 10 percent in that same time. Any thoughts on why this is?
Read More »Thought Leadership
Women in the Fire Service: Carrying the Burden of Being Female
So, if a strong and articulate and bright woman can feel like this over the course of her career (Remember, she rose through the ranks and retired as a captain), how are other women dealing with these issues and anxieties?
Read More »Personal Pre-Planning for Your Next Fire Service Conference
These three steps are more than just individual or group tasks. Collectively, they constitute leadership and mentoring on your part. By doing so, you’d also be creating expectations for attendance at future conferences by you and members of your department.
Read More »Firefighters need PPE options
Firefighters need to have PPE options that more closely align with the tactical operations that they do beside just structural firefighting. No longer can structural PPE be the “one size fits all” option.
Read More »Pregnant women in public safety is not something new
Your efforts to recruit and retain women for your department are doomed to fail if you don't have those policies and procedures in place now. If every one of your male officers and firefighters aren't informed and educated about how a female colleague will be treated when she finds out she's pregnant, your efforts are doomed to fail.
Read More »The role of scholarship in fire and emergency services
Chief Avsec highlights the importance for scholarship and research in the fire service with this post that features a new research paper from Firefighter Lydia Wilcox on the topic of women entering the fire service in Ontario, Canada.
Read More »A missed opportunity for women firefighters
You lost your “bully pulpit” because you weren’t out in front of the ACLU’s action. But more importantly, where was your support and advocacy for fire service women, especially those women in the Fairfax County Fire Rescue Department?
Read More »Reducing Organizational Risk in Your Fire and EMS Department
Firefighters and officers behaving badly. There are probably hundreds of causative factors at work, and while I'm not a trained sociologist by trade, I'm going to discuss a couple that really stand out in my mind: the use of social media and "helicopter parenting".
Read More »Sexual Harassment in the Fire Service: How Can You Not Know?
I’ve said it before in this space, and I’m saying it again, white males have created this culture in the fire service and only white males can fix it. And this is not a problem to be fixed with training and education.
Read More »Cases of Fire Departments Behaving Badly
How can any person feel that they’re doing a good job as a fire chief when their officers and firefighters are not being guided by policies—the governing documents for any organization—that are up-to-date, congruent with all federal and state laws, rules, and regulation, and focused on “doing the right thing”?
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