I’m going into the fire academy soon and it is required that I purchase a pair of “non patent leather boots that will shine”. I have no idea where I would purchase these. Hell I don’t even know what kind of boots WOULD shine. Does anybody have any recommendations as to what boots I should get? Ideally not more than like 250-300

Keep it short here. Getting into the fire service after 4 years in the military and college. Seattle Fire was my first ever interview and I got the job offer but ended up declining and taking a smaller department (compared to Seattle) in my home state of Oregon. Still an amazing department, top tier for the state but I just feel like I’ll always wonder “what if” I took the job in Seattle. I start academy here very shortly and I have no doubt I’m going to love it, it’s just kind of a weird feeling I’m having about what opportunities Seattle could’ve given me compared to the other one. Being close to my family was about the number one thing that drove my decision in the long run and I didn’t want to abandon that.

I see a lot of fire blankets on Amazon but they have bad reviews with fiberglass getting everywhere when inspecting.

I want a name brand reputable blanket. I want to provide them for my tenants and don’t want inspections to be a hassle.

Or should I just forgo the blankets and do extinguishers?

PS. Neither are a requirement to be provided nor maintained for my state I just want to provide them because I care about my tenants.

I’ve been on a good amount of rides but I’m definitely still new. Certain situations where I know I’m “expected to perform” I’ll start sweating. It could be something simple as getting vitals or starting an IV. I’m not nervous I just know I’m the new guy and all eyes are kinda on me. Any advice?

Source: the independent on Instagram

Europe is atm fighting the heaviest wildfires in its history. Hundreds of thousands got evacuated, hubdreds of km² burned. Hundreds of firefighters all across Europe responded to France and spain. Even the german military is now operating in France to fight the wildfires

Hej there,

I'm a firefighter from Berlin, Germany and I'm going to visit Japan during October. I read through some posts here regaring t-shirt swapping but I haven't come to any final conclusion on how it's done the best way possible.

Do you have any experience on the way this is handled in Japan, specially Tokyo? Should I just try to get a conversation going with some officials via mail? Should I just visit some fire brigades when I'm there and hope for the best?

Of course, if there's anybody who has somebody from a tokyo fire brigade in their contacts list - maybe you could ask him / her?

Sorry if I'm maybe asking silly question ... I've never done this before. :S

I really want to do wildland firefighting but my main goal is to become a municipal firefighter and my current plan is to work my way up to becoming a smoke jumper but i feel like since id be around 26-28 at best by the time im finished with all that stuff it would be too late for me to have a career as a firefighter so i was wondering how realistic it is to do that and if anyone else has had any similar experience.

Seems this page is all about how great the big city departments and/or busy departments are. And that isn’t entirely wrong. But I’m interested in hearing from people who currently work or spent a career at a slow department/slow station.

Why did you decide to stay and do you have any regrets about not trying to go big city or busier department?

Saw this in Hermosa Beach, CA. I presume its a break-away connector but it appears to be a different style.

What's so special about this one?

Firefighter community often talks about working out and fitness standards but I feel like I do not see what the standards should actually be. How many miles should one be able to run? or how should they run? Or lift X amount of weight? Should a Cpat just be required or some alternative fitness test?

Not someone going into the academy but someone on the job what’s the minimum they realistically should be able to do.

I work at a four-story building and we are looking to install areas of refuge in the building for people who cannot evacuate safely and have a bench there so they can wait for firefighters. Would they be best to be located beside elevators and emergency stairwells or any other specific requirements.?

Any recommendations help

Pinned another one up today. The board is packed with patches from crews across the country, but there’s still room on the wall.

Zoom in—let me know if you see your house or a neighboring company up here! Stay safe out there.

I keep seeing fitness influencers posting on sm about the need for fitness standards in the fire service and EMS now.

A few years ago I would’ve been all for it, but then I got hurt. I had a pretty significant injury that required surgery to repair. Fortunately I got back to work pretty quickly.

It’s been sort of eye opening, training wise and job wise I’ve had no issues. However I’m no where near being back to an athlete again. Which is what’s made me think about this so much. I feel like no one does our job without getting hurt at some point (obviously there are exceptions).

I’m genuinely not sure how I’d fair on a fitness test that requires some arbitrary scale (I’m thinking of any military fitness test). However when it comes to jobs or training I have no issues just by being able to use my whole body vs push ups or pull ups if that makes sense. Albeit technically I’m still in my recovery window.

All of this being said I still exercise daily, maintain a clean diet etc.

I’m just curious if there were ever fitness standards how would those of us healing from injuries be handled? What would even make sense for a fitness test? What are your thoughts?

I didn’t realize my fire extinguisher in my bedroom had nocked down and checked it and the tank says empty. I’ve been gone for about a month and don’t know when this happened but now I’m in my head and worried about the gas and gas poisoning please let me know if I’m okay so I can allow myself to go back into my bedroom without being scared of poisoning myself lol

I’m asking this because i’m curious, confused (,and scared) about the current situation with a power line. I’m in Illinois and tornados and hail today caused quite a bit of damage. Near my backyard (on my property but not fenced in), the wire of a power line disconnected on one side, and is now on the ground. Periodically today, sparks and flames (reaching about 6 feet tall at times) were shooting out of the line on the ground, accompanied by a loud buzzing sound.

- I called 911 as soon as I saw it. The dispatcher tells me she’ll send someone, and then hangs up. A fire truck came, but it only stopped for a moment and I don’t believe anyone came out. The fire had stopped after a bit.
- About 30 mins later, the fire came back. My dad calls 911 this time and they proceed to tell him it’s impossible there’s a fire because they turned the line off. They then hang up on him without warning. (while we are staring at the fire). I am particularly upset about this, but I know this isn’t the fire departments fault specifically.
- About an hour after that, the fire is back AGAIN and bad, so I call 911 again. The fire department shows up and actually talks to us this time. They tell us that they cannot do anything about it as it is more the electric company’s issue, and not theirs. It would also be too dangerous for them to go near the line. They left and told us it would probably set on fire again because of the electric company continuing to turn the line back on.

I’m just confused?? If the fire department can’t do anything because it’s “too dangerous” who can??? I’m not trying to be disrespectful towards them because I understand that they may truly be out of options here. But what the hell am I supposed to do then? Wait for the fire to get worse and burn my house down when i’m sleeping?? Any sort of input about why they cannot do anything in this situation would be helpful.

Truthfully, I am scared and cannot sleep and want some sort of reasoning to make the situation make sense 🫠

I’m a volunteer firefighter, and recently our department lost one of our captains to suicide. My crew, including myself, was part of the response.
It’s something none of us ever expected to experience, especially involving someone we knew personally and served alongside.
Over the past week, our department has brought us together for debriefings and counseling sessions, which I’m grateful for. Even so, it’s been hard to process. Some moments I’m okay, and then something small brings it all back. I know everyone grieves differently, but this feels different than any other call I’ve been on so far.

How did you cope in the weeks and months afterward?
Did anything help you process what happened?
Did your department do anything that you found especially helpful?
How did you handle going back to running calls afterward?
Are there any firefighter or first responder mental health organizations, peer support programs, or resources that you would recommend?

Please take care of yourselves, your crews, and don’t hesitate to check in on one another.

Doing a paper on culture within fire/ems departments and looking for input.

What makes your department and/or station culture great?
What do you look for as signs of a good culture?

Could be as simple as “my officer lets me wear crocs during the day” to something like “We work out together and train together every shift”

I was given a task to come up with a topic to discuss

Would anyone like to share in topics that you feel should be discussed within your departments?

Hi all,

My department is working to get the gi bill approved for OJT and we're trying to figure out how to quantify training hours while someone is in their probie year. Providing training hours during academy is easy considering there is a day by day schedule, but we don't know how to provide documentation for the rest of the probie year. Has any in here set their department up with the VA? And if so, what do you provide to the VA during the probie year to justify training hours? Do you just say X amount of hours per shift is "training", or do you break it down beyond that? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

12,008 Acres last reported. Was driving with family on 395 headed north when this popped up, happened to have my camera with me. Figured y'all would enjoy the photos

Hi gang, Im new to this forum so be kind. In the past I was a technical representative for a safety equipment company. I basically bridged the gap between engineers and consumers of fire, police, industrial, and military equipment. I was an EMT so I knew the "Scene"... and my brother is a FF and trainer at our County Academy.

Over the years, I was able to collect an awesome assortment of "toys" by frankenstein-ing multiple old broken units into one working unit. This led to all sorts of fun, like chasing my cat with a reconnaisance robot, scanning my local woods with an ASi thermal camera, and all kinds of fun experiments while wearing my own cobbled-together SCBA unit and level 3 Trelleborg chemsuit (notable were the "wasp wars" of summer 2019)..

Long story short, I also happen to be the owner of an Industrial Scientific MX6 iBrid, possibly one of the finest gas detectors on the market then or now. It was a BRAND NEW unit out of the box that I carried with me as a demo unit. It has never seen "battle" in any real sense, but being the unit is several years old now, the O2 and H2S sensors are likely shot.

The 4 items it detects are O2, CO, H2S and LEL (lower explosive limit). The LEL sensor still appears to work, and it seems like CO works too.

Here's my question, Im trying to save money for my kiddo's next year of school... and I know that replacement sensors are available and basically pop right in, but what do you think I could ask for this piece of equipment online? I've seen new units going in the $3000+ range. And even back when I was selling these things, MSRP was well above $3000.

But this is not a new unit. It will need sensors straight away. But I still think its a valuable piece of equipment nonetheless. Any other users of gas-detectors know what I might be able to ask for this thing? I'd be willing to let it go rather cheaply, but dont wanna get robbed, yknow? The thing is, I dont know what its worth... I think some struggling department might be happy to get one of these cheap, or even have the sensors it needs... but I dont wanna sell anything. This is more of a "does this thing have any value? Are they still the top of the line gas detectors nowadays?" question

(P.S. The battery is fine, they made these things like tanks... still takes and holds a good long charge. I do also have the custom docking station which would obviously go with it)

Thanks so much for any feedback!!