wraftery

Yeah, I know. I didn't spot it until after I posted but it was right in there when I was talking about spelling,so I left it there. Thanks for finding it. Since the spelling of a chemical name is of utmost importance in a hazmat incident, let's put you on the ICS team. I would say Situation status unit(It's in the Planning Section).

You are talking about society in general when you say that, but firefighters were always a different type of people than the rest of the population. We don't want ordinary people on our job. AS CAPT2102 said, you hand him the right raw materials and he will build a firefighter. We need the right combination of balls and brains to come to us in the hiring process and we'll take it from there. You know, we need the ones who run into burning buildings when ordinary people are running out. The tests ordered by the courts don't take this into account when judges make their rulings. I agree that everybody should get an equal chance to try to get on this job. But that's it! We should not have to hire equally. I'm not talking race, religion, or color here. I am talking about hiring persons that have the raw materials we need to make that person one of us. One thing that bugs be is the training saying "Is the scene safe?" If the answer is "no" then stage around the block or don't enter the building, or wait for 53 more persons show up.etc. "Is the scene safe?" No, it's not safe, a$$hole, that's why they called us. If the scene were safe, any idiot could handle it. Our job is to look at that scene, perform a risk vs. benefit analysis within 30 seconds, start an incident action plan within the next 30 seconds, and put that plan into action. I don't think that the guy should be on this job if: He can't spell (little words, not hard ones like Polychlorinated Biphentls), and can only answer questions like "there are three men assigned to an engine company. One gets arrested, How many are left?" By the way,Anybody know how many judges or ACLU lawyers passed proby school?

Sadly true. It breaks one of the greatest traditions of the Fire Service: Brotherhood

I noticed in the flier that you have to be in "excellent" physical condition but only of "good" moral character. I guess the city doesn't worry that Firefighters go into people's houses when they are not home. And, Cap, you must be old school if you noticed all the typos. Back in your day (and mine) the job descriptions always said "Performs light clerical duties." That piece of the job description is gone, so candy dates don't have to spel gud no more. I better stop writing now or I'll get in trouble

In the Hampton Roads area here in VA, they are very into accreditation, but some departments who are accredited are not worth the title in my opinion. OTHERS LEAVE WESTCHESTER IN THE DUST. It's not all caps because I'm yelling. The caps lock was stuck.

Of utmost importance for a rookie to remember is to remember. ...to remember everything he is taught and to remember it for a lifetime and to be able to bring it out of the archives of his brain at any given moment

That was the job I was talking about. And we did get control of the 6th floor and the building looks like it never happened. I also know Graham.

You are welcome, Tommy. It's actually few and far between that we are thanked for our professionalism. FYI I worked with Vinny Varley. He was in Qay Sanh during the Tet Offensive. We had a job in a cockloft one night and Vinny said "Nam has nothing that beats this." He since got hurt on the job and had to retire. If you see Vinnie, say hello for me

Congrats, cogs, I always enjoyed your input.

This is your cut and paste test from Ms Word

Ditto what Bnechis said

I was being kind. But it looks like you understand what "right to work" really means.

Re: Master FF First of all, VA is a "Right to Work" State (which I consider to be a misnomer, anyway) and public employees are not allowed to engage in Collective Bargaining. Thus, the IAFF local cannot negotiate something like Officer covers Officer. Master FF is a good concept in pointing out the good senior man as opposed to the guy who does not have 20 years experience, but has 1 years experience 20 times. It would difficult, however, to compare it with a state like NY that has collective bargaining. Second, can it be abused jn NY? Certainly. Can it look like a good thing and backfire on you because of a couple of greedy individuals? Of course. That happens all the time in almost every department . Personally, I believe that you should have in place a system that has you cover the rank above you (Captain covers Battalion Chief, Lt covers Captain, etc) because it establishes a learning curve to administratively prepare people for promotion. If BCs are only covered by BCs the Captains are inexperienced when promotion time comes around. That being said, I would like to wish a Merry Christmas to all the Captains out there who are working the BC slot on Christmas Day. The entire Fire Service is led by Captains on Christmas Day because all the BCs took the day off. Nuff said

The Virginia Beach FD has a rank called Master Firefighter. It is not a promotional rank where you take the test and go on a list to be in the running in the position. To qualify, you must have at least 6 years OTJ and have attended a list of required courses such as Ladder Co. Ops, Engine Co Ops, Initial fire attack, and so on. Once you pass the courses, your Company Officer puts you in the officer's seat and he rides the jump seat. The Co. Officer observes and evaluates you until he's satisfied you can handle the position. He then gets approval from Battalion and you get the title. All who pass the procedure become Master FF's. A Master FF can ride the officer's seat in the absence of an officer ( and Co. Officer duties in house). Pay increases by 10% when appointed as MFF. To take the Captains test, you must have 2 years as a MFF This kind of makes the position of senior man a little more official and adds a pay incentive. I think it is a pretty good system and recognizes the guy who would otherwise be our "Senior Man"

They are titled like that just to confuse people

Best of luck in retirement, Doug, I know you will miss it.

You could write your Rep/Senator to fix the obamacare law to treat volunteer FF's fairly in light of what they contribute to the community. or You could ask the elected officials in DC to cover Vols for nothing, using some money they get out of things like exempting themselves. or You could write your Rep/Senator and to repeal ALL 2409 pages of the law they didn't read before they voted. If they don't, we'll find somebody else to vote for. BUT Whatever you write will probably not be even read by your elected official. It will be semi-read by a 20-year-old intern and he will send you a form letter Didn't our forefathers fight a Revolution because they had no representation?

Virginia Beach will open on-line applications for FF in first week of January See VBgov.com.

Sometimes what you get or don't get is attributable to luck. Look at the Train crash. It could have gone many ways that are worse than that crash. but it didn't. Not saying you shouldn't train for the worse, just that as many times as poop occurs there are an equal number of times that the smoke clears and you see what could have happened.

If you are going to train, you have to train on what you have as a FD. If your first due is two guys in a pickup truck, that's what your scenario has to start with. Try using a control man to send in resources in the time frame that they should appear on-scene. In other words, start with the two in the pickup truck. If the next due is a mile behind an engine with four, start them in the evolution about a minute later. You have to make it as realistic as possible using the resources available. It's OK to use Phantom resources but you have to limit them to resources you actually have available to you. You can do things like "simulate a mutual aid Truck on scene and is venting the roof" then open the training building's roof hatch. But you cant call for an air drop if the closest aircraft is 500 miles away. Try it. Your people will get a more realistic training session and might actually like it. What's more, when they get to a fire, they know what they have available

Here's a question that fits this thread. When you do live fire training, do you 1. Train new or up and coming IC's along with your Chiefs? 2. Plan a surprise simulated Mayday to which the IC must react? (e.g. an inside officer at a given time calls a Mayday-collapse- members trapped) 3. Do you do this simulated Mayday before a FAST team arrives? (so that the 2-OUT and the on-scene personnel must be utilized) 4. Do you critique the events? Do you think you should?

If you give drunks money, they will buy beer. The city can cut out the middleman and buy beer at bulk discount. Also, every city has a cadre of young bull firefighters. All they think about is getting L........ Never mind...Bad Idea.

I don't know if I could kill that much time even if I double dosed valium. I mostly liked the milk crate...look in the L/R compartment oops, no milk crate; go to L/F here it is! Bring crate to a certain place in the street that he only knows why. I think it's used like a buoy to direct the attack (yes attack) line on the proper course to stretch. Slowly pull LDH , don't break it and don't pass it to the MPO. And on and on. IC should be saying WTF!!!! WTF!!!! No, he joins the slow attack. Did he return the second Due Engine? I Know he cancelled the Tuck enroute. WOW

Glad we are in agreement, 16fire5. Now let me ask about the 90 sec max you mentioned. That seems to me to be an awful long time to be working that outside line. I would picture maybe 30 sec at the most, watching the smoke's color and making sure you still have a vent. Could you comment on that? I think you are in agreement with me on this, too. Before anyone uses new tactic (any new tactic)on the fireground several things have to be in place. You have to be familiar with the tactic. That's the whole tactic, not the excerpts you chose to pick out. You have to know why you are deviating from the norm and what your tactic should be accomplishing, and what the fire looks like when things are going right or things are going wrong. For example, Opposing Streams is still a no-no. It is still a legitimate reason for the 2nd floor officer to swing a Halligan at your head because you pushed fire at him. There must also be fireground discipline and communications on every job you get. If you don't have that, you're better off staying in the firehouse. And a PS for the guys who want to throw the old out. VES is fairly new, so I guess you are allowed to use it, but remember it was an old guy who gave you that tidbit on door integrity. Stay safe