Robert - this article is right on track. I've personally been involved in using NFIRS data to justify the need for new Stations, Rigs and Personnel. It was response time analysis that allowed us to show areas of the city where we were falling short. That data helped convince the politicians and taxpayers, both.

NFIRS “goes” by many names. Some call it by a state program name, e.g., The [Enter a state name] Fire Incident Reporting System; others call it by the software program a department purchased, e.g., Firehouse™ Incident Reporting; and some simply call it “run reports.” It’s all the same thing, no matter what you call it. And it’s highly useful.

I first came across the term, "conference commando," several years ago in a piece by Scott Kirsner in Fast Company magazine entitled "The Conference Commando Field Manual." Kisner described a conference commando as...

Gender violence issues. Did you know that researchers have found that when a large percentage of both men and women hear those three words, what they really “hear” is “woman’s issues.”

Information overload has come to the fire apparatus cab. Mobile data computers and tablets are being used by the company officer to access driving directions, building pre-fire plans, hazardous materials information and much more.

Commercial truck fires present a serious fire risk, right? The American Trucking Association's Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) thought so when it established a task force to investigate the causes of commercial truck fires and prescribe possible solutions.

Preventative vehicle maintenance for emergency response apparatus has proven to be a very cost-effective fleet-management practice. A comprehensive preventative-maintenance program can extend apparatus service life by ensuring proper and protected air intake for the engine; ensuring that the engine and transmission are properly lubricated with clean oil and fluids; and catching small maintenance problems while they can be easily and inexpensively fixed.

I'm confident that the issue of fire prevention has been discussed at length as it should be: if no fire occurs or it's extinguished by an installed fire sprinkler no firefighter need be injured or killed in the line-of-duty. So here's my blog repost for your and those folks at Tampa 2 on "get away day", Children Don’t Cause Fires, Adults Do

This brings to question, are fireground officers and today’s firefighters receiving adequate training? The question remains, are proper size-ups being conducted to allow for a decision regarding whether it is an offensive or defensive fire attack [situation]? It all comes down to decision making capability and fire ground safety. We simply need to focus on the basic fundamentals of fire fighting.