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The Firemanâs Guide to Main Street: The Bowling Alley
The various construction styles, bowstring roofs, exposure buildings, wooden floors covered in wax and oil, and endless hidden voids make bowling alley fires a recipe for incendiary disaster. These fires are notoriously difficult battle spaces for even the most skilled fireman.
The Firemanâs Guide to Main Street: The Old Mill
The old mill: What would a town be without the mill? Nonexistent, thatâs what. Unless youâre in a planned bedroom community platted in the 21st century then itâs highly likely your town grew around industry during the American Industrial RevolutionâŚ
The Firemanâs Guide to Main Street: The Taxpayer
The Type 3 Taxpayer: AKA âMain-street USAâ. These are the quintessential multi-story brick buildings that exist in some version in every North American town, big or small. Ordinary Type 3 construction is by far the most commonâŚ
The Firemanâs Guide to Main Street: The Old House
The older single family homes in historic districts and around Main streets come in a countless styles and forms. From large ornate Victorians that line avenues from early prominent landowners to small shotgun bungalows withinâŚ
The Firemanâs Guide to Main Street: 5 Buildings to Know
Simply put, we all see buildings, but few understand what theyâre actually looking at. Thatâs a problem, a really big problem for two important reasons: a building is the one thing that directlyâŚ
To Boldly Go!
Iâve often said that the hardest step a fireman takes on the fire ground is a step back. Everything we do is hard charging, lights and sirens, full speed aheadâŚ
Thinking Person's Game
Some peopleâs hardest decision in life is whether or not they want ketchup on their fries. We wish all our decisions and operations were black and white. Truth is, thatâŚ
To Whom It May Concern
Iâm a millennial firefighter and Iâm offended. Iâm offended that weâll never get the same experience you got, and that is held against us as if it is our choice.
Are fires getting worse, or are the firefighters?
Not so long ago in the fire service, fires were a high-frequency and low risk event because we were running them a lot more. Today they would be classified as a low-frequency high-risk event, firefighters arenât
Renaissance Rising
If you look up the definition of renaissance youâll find it means âa revival or renewed interest in something, a rebirth of old waysâ Iâm here to tell you thatâs exactly what is happeningâŚ
A Commitment to Train
I will admit that I have been working on and thinking about this article for quite some time. It started in many forms before I left in April for FDIC in Indianapolis. Thoughts continued there, especially afterâŚ
For the Grinders
For the ones who donât care about the B.S⌠For the ones who walk into a dirty station, donât say a word and just clean it, because they know how to choose their battles. They could confront the other shifts, and they mightâŚ