FireFighterNation

Do you have palm trees in your response area? If so, do you know how to perform a team-based tree rescue? Much has been written on the subject, but rescuers still find it a difficult incident type. Tom Pendley provides a step-by-step, role-by-role look at a team-based palm tree rescue operation.

Research on fire dynamics is getting the attention of firefighting professionals across the country, and opening a new dialogue about firefighting tactics. The mission hasn’t changed (incident priorities/strategy), but how we go about getting things done (tactics) is requiring new considerations. This month’s featured near-miss report excerpt describes a situation where fire dynamic factors and traditional behaviors nearly align to create a mayday.

Has your department preplanned the warehouses/storage facilities in your area? Due to their sheer size, these structures require a wide variety of resources and fully trained personnel. Greg Jakubowski offers many considerations and strategies for attacking a warehouse fire.

The ISO’s job is dynamic and complex. As such, effective ISOs have developed an incident scene management strategy involving checklists to divide their duties into manageable parts. Here, John Tippett goes through a sample checklist.

Do you know the basics when you arrive on scene of a working structure fire? They may be easy to understand, but they can also be easy to forget, especially when a "routine" fire suddenly becomes anything but. Chief Billy Goldfeder reviews some simple lessons taken from recent incidents that lead to a firefighter injury or fatality.