A firefighter has been killed in California on the Interstate. The Following is taken from The Secret List of Billy G:
The Secret List www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
We regret to advise you that a Cottonwood (Calif) Firefighter was struck and killed in the Line of Duty this morning. The incident occurred around 0600 on southbound Interstate 5 near the Shasta area. There were 3 separate crashes, originally, there was a solo spin out which both CHP and the Cottonwood Fire Protection District responded to. The weather was nasty, with hail and snow, although some lanes were plowed, the conditions made driving difficult and caused a second vehicle to lose control. After that second spin out, the driver of a black 2003 Chevy S10, Jered Shumaker, 31, tried to avoid running into yet another vehicle that had lost control. Shumaker rotated in a southwest direction and passed between (a parked CHP vehicle and the fire truck, 3 people were standing nearby, a CHP officer, a Firefighter and one of the passengers of an earlier wrecked vehicle, all were struck. All 3 victims were transported to Mercy Hospital where the Cottonwood firefighter was later pronounced dead. More to follow. RIP. Our condolences to all affected.
Take care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
Be Safe out there people. Protect yourself out there..........
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
The Reason We Should Be Safe
I know all of you all are different, and each of our reasons for choosing the job are different. However, most of us have the same reason for being safe, to go home the next day to your family. Although some of you may be young, everyone most certainly has a certain someone, group or even pet to go home to every morning after shift, or after each call.
Sure, we don't want our Fire Department to be on Billy G's site or on Statter 911's site being picked apart by Capt. Anonymous and Firefighter Keyboard Quarterback, but I know each of you wants to make it home to your "Family" whatever that may consist of. I have two crazy dogs, an incredible wife, and an jovial one year old that keeps my motivation to make it home everyday up. The smiles, kisses, or slobbery kisses I get every morning when I arrive home are enough to make anyone value family and the things that it brings (Including aggrevation). Also, my love for my family motivates me to ensure members of the crews I supervise get to have the same joy when they return home. I certainly aim each day to ensure I don't place them in any sort of situation that would prevent that homecoming.
As some of you know, I am a Relief Captain, meaning until I have enough seniority, I sub for Officers when they are off. This system allows me to learn alot, but it results in me working with many different crews as weeks go by. I still attempt to ensure I instill some of my values in the crews, but they don't always take to them.
As I said above, I love going home to family in the morning. This same love for my family will motivate me to train my crew (Once I finally get one) in a way that they take to. Too much drilling can kill morale and not enough can kill performance, so a happy balance is the only way to go and I hope to find that when I have a permanently assigned crew.
This same love for family, makes me want to make the fire service a better place, so that all of the brothers worldwide can go home everyday. By no means am I saying I'm God's gift to the fire service, because I am anything but. I am only saying that deep down what motivates me is the thought of my family's greeting when I get home. Sure who doesn't like driving fast, hearing the wail of the Q or fighting fire??? but in the same regard who doesn't love their family? (I'm sure we can all name 1 or more firemen who claims this at the firehouse). So, we all understand the Brotherhood of the fire service and why we need to look out for each other, but let's remember why we look out for each other........to go home after shift or after each call.
So today take the time to train for your family, not for you or your crew. Stay engaged everyday so that you can go home and get the hug from your kids or drink that beer with your buddies. Have a great shift and be safe out there.
Sure, we don't want our Fire Department to be on Billy G's site or on Statter 911's site being picked apart by Capt. Anonymous and Firefighter Keyboard Quarterback, but I know each of you wants to make it home to your "Family" whatever that may consist of. I have two crazy dogs, an incredible wife, and an jovial one year old that keeps my motivation to make it home everyday up. The smiles, kisses, or slobbery kisses I get every morning when I arrive home are enough to make anyone value family and the things that it brings (Including aggrevation). Also, my love for my family motivates me to ensure members of the crews I supervise get to have the same joy when they return home. I certainly aim each day to ensure I don't place them in any sort of situation that would prevent that homecoming.
As some of you know, I am a Relief Captain, meaning until I have enough seniority, I sub for Officers when they are off. This system allows me to learn alot, but it results in me working with many different crews as weeks go by. I still attempt to ensure I instill some of my values in the crews, but they don't always take to them.
As I said above, I love going home to family in the morning. This same love for my family will motivate me to train my crew (Once I finally get one) in a way that they take to. Too much drilling can kill morale and not enough can kill performance, so a happy balance is the only way to go and I hope to find that when I have a permanently assigned crew.
This same love for family, makes me want to make the fire service a better place, so that all of the brothers worldwide can go home everyday. By no means am I saying I'm God's gift to the fire service, because I am anything but. I am only saying that deep down what motivates me is the thought of my family's greeting when I get home. Sure who doesn't like driving fast, hearing the wail of the Q or fighting fire??? but in the same regard who doesn't love their family? (I'm sure we can all name 1 or more firemen who claims this at the firehouse). So, we all understand the Brotherhood of the fire service and why we need to look out for each other, but let's remember why we look out for each other........to go home after shift or after each call.
So today take the time to train for your family, not for you or your crew. Stay engaged everyday so that you can go home and get the hug from your kids or drink that beer with your buddies. Have a great shift and be safe out there.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Indiana LODD
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the McCutchanville FD. tragic accident, please wear your belts on every call...
From Firefighterclosecalls.com:
INDIANA FIREFIGHTER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY-APPARATUS CRASH
The Secret List www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
It is with deep regret that we advise of of the Line of Duty Death of Firefighter Jeremy Tighe, 18, of the McCutchanville VFD near Evansville, Indiana.
Along with FF Tighe, another FF was injured last evening after their apparatus was involved in a single vehicle crash. NOTE: FF Tighe was wearing his seat belt.
The Secret List www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
It is with deep regret that we advise of of the Line of Duty Death of Firefighter Jeremy Tighe, 18, of the McCutchanville VFD near Evansville, Indiana.
Along with FF Tighe, another FF was injured last evening after their apparatus was involved in a single vehicle crash. NOTE: FF Tighe was wearing his seat belt.
18-year-old FF Tighe died when the engine company he was a passenger ran off the road, partially overturned, very violently striking a utility pole. Lt. Brandon Cason, the driver, was not injured seriously in the crash. They were returning from a run when for a yet unknown reason their truck went off the side of the pavement around 2030 Hours. It occurred only about a half-mile from the McCutchanville station on North St. Joseph Avenue. The truck had responded to a request for a carbon monoxide check earlier in the evening, and the firefighters had called in available at 2001 hours. The preliminary investigation indicates that the truck left the roadway and onto the shoulder for unknown reasons.
FF Tighe had been on the department for about 18 months, and would have turned 19 years old today. FF Tighe is the second McCutchanville Firefighter to die in the past 12 months. In April, 27-year-old Nathan Kuehne was found dead in a hot tub at a friend's house on Evansville's East Side.
Our condolences to all affected. More details to follow.
FF Tighe had been on the department for about 18 months, and would have turned 19 years old today. FF Tighe is the second McCutchanville Firefighter to die in the past 12 months. In April, 27-year-old Nathan Kuehne was found dead in a hot tub at a friend's house on Evansville's East Side.
Our condolences to all affected. More details to follow.
Take Care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
The Secret List 2-23-12 / 0809 Hours
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mayday are you ready?
The question I ask you today is are you ready? Could you handle a mayday if one happened in your department today?
We get paid to be ready for everything, or at least that's what people expect. One problem we have is we can't be ready for everything. It is a challenge to keep our certifications up, conduct company level training, all while maintaining the fun of our job. Please watch the below video and make the theme of today making you and your crew Mayday Ready. Examine LUNAR, GRAB LIVES, and other Mayday related subjects.
There are numerous self survival presentations around so I won't duplicate any of those just yet. I learned about the GRAB LIVES Mnemonic while taking the IAFF Fireground Survival Awareness class online. Here is what it stands for:
G- Gauge -Examine your air
R- Radio- Call for help
A-Audible- Sound your PASS Device
B- Breathing-Control it
L- Low-Stay Low
I- Illuminate Turn on your light
V- Volume -Make Noise
E- Exit Find one
S- Shield Remove your regulator and Shield your airway (Last Resort)
Each of these elements are things that we should already know to do if we have an emergency inside of a burning building. However, this mnemonic allows you to carry out these in a sequential sensible order. Commit this to memory along with LUNAR to ensure you are mayday ready. If you are an officer go over your department's Mayday and RIT policy so you can save your guys if there is an emergency.
If you haven't taken the IAFF Fireground Survival Class online, shoot me an email, and I'll send you think link to it. It is a worthwhile class put together by some great leaders in the American fire service. Thanks for reading and sorry for the short post, but I'm a busy man this week and wanted to get you all something meaningful for this week.
Below is a good video on the subject:
We get paid to be ready for everything, or at least that's what people expect. One problem we have is we can't be ready for everything. It is a challenge to keep our certifications up, conduct company level training, all while maintaining the fun of our job. Please watch the below video and make the theme of today making you and your crew Mayday Ready. Examine LUNAR, GRAB LIVES, and other Mayday related subjects.
There are numerous self survival presentations around so I won't duplicate any of those just yet. I learned about the GRAB LIVES Mnemonic while taking the IAFF Fireground Survival Awareness class online. Here is what it stands for:
G- Gauge -Examine your air
R- Radio- Call for help
A-Audible- Sound your PASS Device
B- Breathing-Control it
L- Low-Stay Low
I- Illuminate Turn on your light
V- Volume -Make Noise
E- Exit Find one
S- Shield Remove your regulator and Shield your airway (Last Resort)
Each of these elements are things that we should already know to do if we have an emergency inside of a burning building. However, this mnemonic allows you to carry out these in a sequential sensible order. Commit this to memory along with LUNAR to ensure you are mayday ready. If you are an officer go over your department's Mayday and RIT policy so you can save your guys if there is an emergency.
If you haven't taken the IAFF Fireground Survival Class online, shoot me an email, and I'll send you think link to it. It is a worthwhile class put together by some great leaders in the American fire service. Thanks for reading and sorry for the short post, but I'm a busy man this week and wanted to get you all something meaningful for this week.
Below is a good video on the subject:
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