Fire & EMS Leader Pro The job of old firefighters is to teach young firefighters how to become old firefighters!

By: Mrs. Avsec Shhh! Don’t anyone let him know that I’ve commandeered his PC to post this blog. But it’s really important that I do this. Why? Because he does a lot of good things for many people, most of all me! (Hey, he knows where his bread is buttered!) And it’s not often that I get the chance to ...

And West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and most West Virginians were not thrilled either. Three weeks after Gov. Justice ordered an investigation by the director of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety (DMAPS), he announced that all 34 correctional officer cadets from the class and three academy staff members would be fired, and four instructors suspended without pay.

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Tanya Bettridge My fire service colleague Tanya Bettridge is the Captain for Public Education at Mississauga (ON) Fire and Emergency Services. But more than that, she’s an extraordinary communicator when it comes to developing effective fire and life safety messages for the public. Here I’ve borrow a piece that she posted over on LinkedIn ...

As numbers of residential sprinkler systems in the country continue to grow, fire service leaders need to ensure that our fire officers and firefighters have the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to work with these systems to effectively ensure extinguishment of the fire and effectively address property conservation, the third incident priority.

Why did it take a week for the incident to become public knowledge? More to the point, what kind of environment and culture exists at the training academy run by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) that gave everyone in that photo the “comfort level” to display one of the most recognized symbols of racism and hatred in the world for their class photograph? That’s the real question.

Last time I checked, it's 2019. Isn't it about time to retire the diversity "dog whistle?" Why is it that so many white males in the fire service still hear "diversity" and their Pavlovian Response is "Diversity is fine, but not at the expense of quality and competence?

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer I’m doing research for a future article on inclusiveness. I know, I know, everyone is writing about diversity and inclusiveness in the fire services organizations. But I’m taking a different course. I want to hear real-life examples of situations where you felt inclusiveness and situation where you felt the exact opposite. I believe it’s ...

By: Marlene Kostyrka, Assistant Chief, Charleston (SC) Fire Department As I scroll through social media these days there seems to be a glaring issue with people skills, in the fire service.  My motivation for writing this blog is a personal mission to provide information on inclusiveness and how the lack of it creates an internal risk that will take years ...

Most 911 centers in the U.S. are chronically underfunded and understaffed. The former means that centers often don't have enough authorized positions for the workload and/or they can't afford to pay employees a salary that commensurate with the job and its responsibilities; while the latter forces employees to work involuntary overtime.

By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer The short answer is: Human capital. I received the following message from a colleague who was a fire chief until recently. A real bright and shining star in the fire service leadership world, IMHO. I had sent this person information about a course development project for which I was seeking developers to work on. ...