Behavioral research shows that by the time they begin their school years, young girls and boys already have some pretty “defined” ideas of what men and women can or cannot do, especially regarding jobs.

While waiting for Mrs. Avsec to finish a dental appointment the other day, I slipped across the street to a McDonald’s restaurant in Dunbar, West Virginia to get a drink, a hot apple pie and use their free Wi-Fi to get some writing done. While looking around a bit, I saw things and thought of things that prompted these five thoughts on how what McDonald’s does could help any Fire and EMS organization to recruit and retain more people.

Many of us first became familiar with Dr. Clark and his “big thinking” approach to fire service issues when he was among the first fire service leaders on this firefighter safety issue: Firefighter “Mayday”. Dr. Clark was the first to bring awareness to the issue by asking the tough questions...

Sound rather harsh? Sound unrealistic? So does closing fire stations and laying off firefighters. So does continuing to expose firefighters to increasing levels of risk of injury or death because of negligence on the part of building occupants, developers, and builders. So does continuing to increase the fiscal burden to local taxpayers to pay for an antiquated fire protection model that is reactive rather than proactive.

State and local government agencies spend more than $10 billion a year on energy to provide public services and meet constituents' needs — putting a strain on taxpayers and budget decision makers facing shrinking budgets. Here are five tools to increase energy efficiency at a firehouse to cut energy consumption and reduce operational overhead for big savings.

Here are several tools for firefighters working the already perilous 2014 wildfire season.

The job market, depending upon where your department is located, has become very competitive--for the employers. For volunteer departments, their very survival is dependent upon their ability to recruit new members to maintain their ability to provide services.

Follow these steps to keep your reserve fire apparatus more ready for duty and more appealing to the firefighters using them.

Drafting from static water supplies is a different animal than pulling water from a municipal source; here's how to get the most from your rig.

I’m sitting at my computer on a beautiful Sunday morning, Mother’s Day as a matter of fact, and I’m working on this blog post. And I’m getting madder by the minute. Mad because I’m collecting the written comments from the survey on Sexual Assault and Rape Against Women Firefighters and I cannot comprehend the idea that the same men who are treating the moms in their lives to flowers and cards and dinner are the same men who have sexually assaulted or raped their female colleagues in the fire station.