FireRescue1 Articles

Popular TV commercials for a credit card these days feature pitchmen Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon — and occasionally Fallon’s adorable young lady sidekick — asks the question: "What's in your wallet?" Personally, I like it when the little girl asks it and makes Fallon look a bit silly, but that's just me.

Sirens. Firefighters love them and more than a few in the general public detest them — as evidenced by letters to the editor in many daily newspapers. And lawyers have grown increasingly fond of sirens as a new revenue stream.

Obtaining a water supply for fire suppression from a static source like a lake, stream, or pond has always been a cornerstone of rural water supply. Not that it's always been easy. But a new generation of hard suction hose and appliances are making this crucial rural water supply task much easier.

The fire apparatus business in the United States is extremely competitive, but then, you already knew that. The fire apparatus manufacturers are also a very innovative bunch who are constantly looking at ways to build pumping apparatus that meets the tactical needs for fire suppression, rescue, EMS, hazmat, wildland-urban interface fires, etc.

It hasn't been that long ago that firefighters first began seeing radio/intercom headsets for their riding positions on the apparatus. Those wired-in systems enabled the crew to communicate better amongst themselves while the vehicle was in motion.

Back in 1969, an Australian lifeguard from the Avalon Surf Lifesaving Club was returning to the Land Down Under from lifeguard duties in the United Kingdom. Australia has beautiful beaches along its more than 16,000 miles of coastline, and in addition to the beauty, those beaches have a wide variety of some of the wildest surf on the planet.

In the beginning there was the Hurst Hydraulic Rescue Tool — the Jaws of Life — and extricating patients from motor vehicle crashes has never been the same.

The subject of fire apparatus and ambulances shutting down because of Environmental Protection Agency required filters on their diesel engines becoming too dirty has garnered a lot of attention in recent months.

I remember when the first desktop PCs appeared in our fire stations about 1994; by mid-2002 we got our first exposure to using computing technology in the field when we introduced an electronic patient-care reporting system.

Power saws have been an important part of the firefighter's tool cadre for many years. Today, most departments carry a variety of power saws including, but not limited to circular or rotary saws, chainsaws, and reciprocating saws.