By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Update: I’ve updated this post because I was moved by the courageous post I read today from a fire service colleague, Angie Hughes, Captain (Ret.) Baltimore County (Mary.) Fire Department. Or today, if it’s early enough in the day. Men in the fire service need to “step up” and call out sexist and misogynistic ...
Read More »Why aren’t fire departments getting better at inclusion?
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer So, I was on the road headed towards FDIC 2019 in Indianapolis and some random thoughts began running through my head concerning fire service organizations and sexual harassment and inclusion and how are these things all intertwined. And how does the fire service work to eliminate that entanglement? Former U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief ...
Read More »What fire statistics don’t tell you, but a fire person will
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 »Firefighter Cancer Presumption Laws Are Not a Silver Bullet
Firefighters will very well find themselves in the same position in the future as a growing number of firefighters develop cancer from doing their job will find themselves being crushed financially paying for cancer-related treatment and cancer-related deaths prompted by firefighter cancer presumption laws. When that happens, we should not be surprised when efforts begin to reduce or even dissolve the social compromise between firefighters in those governments.
Read More »What’s Different About Warriors Heart and Why Firefighters Need to Know
The primary goal of the foundation (a registered 501(c) nonprofit organization) is to support Warriors Heart—the first private, fully licensed, and dedicated residential treatment facility for the healing of our nation’s warriors--in meeting its mission. And that’s the only populations that they serve (Note I said “populations”—that includes firefighters and EMS personnel and law enforcement officers. Just want to make that clear!).
Read More »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 »Cleaning Your SCBA: Are You a Caveman or a Transformer?
During these types of events, and particularly during interior structural firefighting, the SCBA unit can be exposed to a toxic “soup” of chemicals, chemical compounds, and known carcinogens while it protects the firefighter’s respiratory system from those same hazards. And while much is currently being discussed and written about how to protect firefighters from those hazards, there is much to be learned about how to keep SCBA units clean and decontaminated after each use and ready for the next emergency.
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 »The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
But perhaps the greatest threat to our psychological well-being is reluctance on the part of many in the emergency services field to accept that these hazards exist and that their negative impact on our lives, our families, and our organizations are real. In many respects, to quote the adage, “We have met the enemy and it is us.”
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