We have all seen it, and most of us have done what I snarkly refer to as The EMS Shuffle. Not only do we do it, we defend the practice as if it were our exclusive right as first responders to stroll toward an emergency,  or perceived emergency at our own pace, even if that […]

        My new Engine Co EMS column at Fire Engineering talks about directing traffic;   …There is no half-hearted way to direct traffic. If you make the decision to get involved, it is imperative that you are all in for the job at hand. People will not respond to a disinterested person […]

5 Star Amazon review for my new book, Rescue 911. Thank you Jackmac! This is a collection of stories from retired Providence, R.I. Fire Dept. Capt. Michael Morse. Morse served as an EMT/Firefighter before retiring in 2013. This is a great collection that brings to light the stressful and sometimes comic calls he has responded […]

The fire started in the kitchen, he told me, his mother and aunt had been drinking, and forgot about the pan of oil on the stovetop. It ignited, then before they could put it out the stove caught fire. It was an oil stove, he said, before they had natural gas. He was in the […]

Am I outraged by Donald Trump? No. Weinstein? Nope. The Clintons? Hell no. A bunch of football players taking a knee? Far from it. The number of Me Too’s on my Facebook feed? Not surprised or outraged. I save my outrage for the kids I’ve seen burned with cigarettes, raped by their babysitters, women beaten, […]

I stepped into The Warwick Public Library this morning, it’s where I do most of my writing for publication these days, and lo and behold, there it was, The Ramones, and me, sharing the spotlight. Who says dreams don’t come true! It’s 1977, I’m fifteen and inside The Living Room, a Downcity nightclub with a […]

I don’t know if people like me–people who are trained to respond and are confident in their ability to do so–see mass casualties differently than most. When I see images from the latest disaster, terrorist attack, or mass shooting flash across my screen, my eyes are drawn to the rescuers, not the victims. I focus […]

“Welcome to Providence,” my training officer said to us, sixty-four trainees all about to begin a career in the fire service. Some of us had experience, some did not. We were told to forget everything we knew or thought we knew about the vocation we had chosen, because now we were going to learn things […]

The best time to kneel down is when you are helping somebody up. Did a lot of kneeling during my career, damn proud of those moments. https://www.amazon.com/Rescue-911-Tales-First-Responder/dp/1682612864 photo credit Eric Norberg