| 05/09/2012

RALEIGH - This year marks the 125th anniversary of the North Carolina State Firemen's Association. Several special events and projects are being planned to celebrate this historic event during the Conference in August. You are invited to participate! Please send us any historic photos that you may have of your department. We're looking for fires, firehouses, personnel, apparatus - pretty much anything that illustrates how your department USED to look. If you have scanned digital photos, email them to graphics@southatlanticfirerescueexpo.com . Read More...

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| 05/02/2012

Chief Edward P. Brinson has been selected to serve as the Assistant Director of the North Carolina State Firemen’s Association. Chief Brinson is known to many of you and currently serves as the Chief of the Fairview Rural Fire Department located at 4501 Ten-Ten Road in Apex, NC. Read More...

Relevant Tags: brinson, carolina, rescue, ems, chief, assistant director, north carolina, fire service, carolina state, chief edward, firemen’s association, edward brinson

| 05/02/2012

Thirty fire service leaders and aspiring leaders from across North Carolina and South Carolina graduated from UNC Charlotte’s Fire and Rescue Management Institute in February, joining over 200 alumni who have completed the co-hort certificate program since 2006-2007. Students completed over 70 hours of leadership and management curriculum covering modules such as Leadership and Team-Building, Strategic Planning and Operations Management, Communication Skills & Public Relations, and Personnel Management. The 12-day curriculum, which is spread out over four months, is designed to prepare today and tomorrow’ fire and rescue administrators for th... Read More...

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| 04/24/2012

Join Firefighters from all around the country May 20-23, 2012 at Myrtle Beach, S.C. for the Never Forget Memorial Golf Outing. In May of 1992 The Alfred E. Ronaldson Spring Golf Classic started in Orange County, New York. It expanded and grew for 10 years and became the “World’s Largest Golf Outing.” May 2001 was the 10th and final year and over 1,500 golfers attended. The “Ronaldson” became the pride and joy of the FDNY. Each year it produced more stories and antics than we could list — in short it was fun! It was dubbed “The Woodstock of Golf.” This event wasn’t your country club outing. Sounds of Led Zeppelin filled the air along with the ... Read More...

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| 04/24/2012

The Charleston area is gearing up to host its second annual event, this time at the North Charleston Fire Museum and Tanger Outlet Center on May 18-19, 2012. Up to 200 firefighters will register to compete and another 300 family members are expected to attend. This increase is largely due to change in location, time of year, affordability of hotels/restaurants and additional promotional efforts. Read More...

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Ken Newell | 04/23/2012

While certainly exciting, the idea of starting a new construction project, and particularly one as complicated as a public safety facility, can often cause as much anxiety and tension as losing your path in a training maze. Large projects obviously demand a great deal of coordination, but the endless decision-making, detail planning and critical analysis that even a small project requires can easily overwhelm an unprepared department. ‘What do I do first?’ ‘How do we get from here to there?’ ‘How much will we have to spend?’ ‘How long will it take?’ ‘Who can I trust for good advice?’ Like the disorienting smoke of a maze, these questions and... Read More...

Relevant Tags: design, project, architect, property, new facility, public safety, obstacle stations, existing structures, new building, new station

Joe Woodall | 04/23/2012

Well it looks as though the days of poking fun at our donut eating law enforcement colleagues are over. Just in case you haven’t heard, a study commissioned by the National Volunteer Fire Council directed at examining obesity in the American fire service was recently released. The authors, Haddock, Poston and Jahnke (2011) brought forth some staggering news: “Rates of overweight and obese individuals in the fire service are higher than those found in the general public, ranging from 73 percent to 88 percent of firefighters.” As a retired firefighter (2003) and currently working as a community college fire protection program chair, my experie... Read More...

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David Greene | 04/23/2012

Training, education and experience — which is more important? The importance of one over the other is a topic of debate. Let’s attempt to pull apart the interwoven components and see which one we can live without. In a business as unforgiving as the fire service, training is essential for survival. Training is, according to Mr. Webster, “the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains.” Read More...

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| 04/23/2012

The Caldwell County Fire Rescue Association will be hosting the 2012 Fall Fire and Life Safety Festival to be held at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute on Oct. 6, 2012. The festival will encourage the citizens of Caldwell and surrounding counties to practice prevention activities in their daily lives to reduce the risk of death and injury related to preventable causes. Read More...

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Jonah Smith | 04/23/2012

During my tenure as a firefighter and officer, I have attended some great symposiums, conventions, and networked with firefighters from all around the world. This past August I was able to attend the International Association of Firefighters’ (IAFF) Redmond Symposium, a symposium held every other year to bring together the experts on health, safety and wellness. Read More...

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Collin Hawkes | 04/23/2012

I will never forget it, the rush of excitement and confusion when I heard the tones go off. About 15 minutes earlier I had received my first set of turnout gear. “Jump on the truck!” the lieutenant barked as I quickly climbed up. As we drove to the call I was amazed at my first time running emergency traffic in a fire truck. As we pulled on scene my lieutenant said, “If it’s burning that will be the hydrant we will be catching.” At that time I really had no idea what he was saying, but I knew I already loved firefighting. Read More...

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Dr. Gonzalo Fernandez and Dr. Lance Walker | 04/23/2012

Fitness for firefighters can be a controversial topic. As physicians we are often asked what the best “workout” is for a firefighter. The short answer is that there is no one workout that fits everyone’s needs. In this article we will discuss our philosophy about exercise and try to clear up some misconceptions about what it means to be fit. Read More...

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Ben Wilson | 04/23/2012

Due to recent global events, we are seeing a greater emphasis placed on properly training and equipping our fire stations and their personnel. This shift in how we view our community fire departments and their role is evident by the ARRA grants that were issued in 2009 to help build and grow the fire service sector. Like any and all industry, significant advances have been and continue to be made in the fields of equipment, technology, and training. These new advances should be a consideration when planning to design and build. Below we offer our opinion on some of the recent trends in fire station construction. Read More...

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Mike Legeros | 04/23/2012

Grab your buckets and get your team together for a firefighter’s competition in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, June 16. The games are part of a day-long public event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Raleigh Fire Department. Firefighters across the southeast are invited to compete. Each team is limited to four members. Full protective personal equipment will be required for some games. Planned contest events include a Bucket Brigade, with water thrown on a simulated rooftop; Command Post, with verbal instructions to blindfolded firefighters; Hose Coupling and Shoot, with two sections of hose to connect and charge; and Quick Dress, with... Read More...

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Mike Legeros | 04/23/2012

Contests between North Carolina’s firefighters are as old as many of the departments themselves. After the Civil War, newspapers reported the excursions of firemen from one city to another. In September 1869, for example, some 30 members of Raleigh’s Merchants Independent Fire Company were received by the Steam Fire Engine Company of New Bern. Inevitably, such visits included competitions between the visiting and home firefighters. In August 1882, the colored firefighters of Wilmington received Raleigh’s Victor Company. Among the activities was a “reel contest.” The prize was awarded for the best time for pulling a hand hose reel for 250 yar... Read More...

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