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When two individuals who are equally qualified for a promotion, one from the majority group and the other from the minority group, and you still pick the majority group member when you have zero members of the minority group “at the table,” that’s your Majority Group Bias Showing.

When you respond to any emergency, you’re first task is doing a good size-up: What has happened, what’s currently happening, and what will continue to happen without intervention? Every firefighter learns that starting in their entry-level training and it’s a basic part of most training for the rest of your career. But nobody taught you how to ask those same questions of yourself when YOU are the emergency, right? Or what interventions you need to take when you’re under the influence of stress. Well, we’re going to see about rectifying that in this article.

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer In the online publishing world, my editors use the term evergreen to describe a past article, that with a bit of tweaking (updating), is still highly relevant enough to use again. In the past few months, as I was tasked with tweaking a couple of my past articles for new posting, I started looking ...

Many people are still unaware of the potential threat of asbestos exposure. The toxic fibers are regulated in the U.S., but they still aren’t banned. Firefighters, especially, need to be aware of these risks.

But over the course of my career (both of them) I've embraced this definition of integrity “Keeping your promises.” As in when you get married you promise many things (love, honor, cherish, etc.) and above all to be faithful to your spouse.

I wrote several pieces for FireRescue1.com in 2015 on this topic of roadway safety that, unfortunately, are still relevant in 2020. I encourage you and your firefighters to review these articles—and others like them—in preparation for this week’s Safety Stand Down.

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to deepen across the U.S., one thing I’m hearing and reading much about is how fire departments are “scrambling” to get online solutions to their community outreach efforts. Perhaps scrambling is a bit hyperbolic, but the fact remains that fire safety educators and firefighters are not ...

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer And there was life before COVID-19 and for many fire departments that life was a struggle that life that already included: All fire departments, especially those that provide EMS in their community, are on the front-lines in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Lack of adequate funding and stress-free lending for personnel and equipment; Finding and ...

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer So, the other night my fire service colleague, Sue Jones, a Fire Prevention Officer with the Ottawa Fire Services, posted the following message on Facebook: “Last night, at the Fire Chief’s Commendations and Awards Ceremony, I was honoured [sic] to receive the Fire Chief’s Ambassador Award for my efforts with Camp FFIT. I think ...