This month i sit down with Stephanie White. We discuss CBD in the fire service, the kitchen table, keeping a heathy shift and changing the culture by looking at the past.

We are firefighters, our job is to go into burning buildings and put fires out. It seems we have steered away from our past culture of being aggressive firefighters and morphed into a culture of safety. We need to steer the fire service back to the 70's and 80's and be the firefighters the public counts on us to be.

Our newest rookies are coming into this job ready to be aggressive, we must teach them and drill it into their heads, we are firefighters our job has inherent risk, and we accept that risk to get the job done. Teach them right make them firefighters.

Tactical Considerations for Garden Apartment Fires

One of the more complex fires we are faced with is fires in garden apartments. This month I welcome back Capt. Bobby Eckert of the Camden New Jersey Fire Department. Bobby and I dig deep into the subject.

Garden Apartments are in all areas of the country. Firefighters must be proactive and preplan these structures before the alarm is ever answered. Take advantage of running non fire calls in these buildings and get the layout of the complex and the individual apartment units. This preplan will pay dividends when you pull up to a job at 3am.

Bobby and I discuss:

• · Pulling long lines
• · Laddering the building
• · Apparatus placement
• · Command considerations
• · Building construction
• · Fire spread

Small fire can grow and spread quickly if engine and truck companies are not aggressive with their tactics.

This month I ask the questions, why are people reluctant to make decisions? How do we overcome the fear of making a decision on the fireground? what tools can we use to help people to make quick decisions with less than perfect information.
I enlist the help of Deputy Chief Shane Darwick. Shane is a longtime friend, mentor, and teacher. Shane can keep calm, filter out the external noise and distraction on chaotic emergency incident and instill command presence. Shane offers over 40 years of experiences in the fire service to answer my questions on the art of decision making.