My column at Fire Engineering is live, thanks for reading!   “We are all part of the human race; some days we seem to be winners, only to find ourselves behind the pack the next. One day I was serving people, the next I was saving them. But the greatest lesson I learned was that […]

She actually apologized for calling us. “I didn’t want to bother you, but I can’t stand the pain any longer.” Her home was meticulous, nestled on a quiet street in the Mount Pleasant section of the city, surrounded by beautiful yet modest homes that showed the pride of their owners. The city has a few […]

See this guy? I see him, don’t recognize him, never met him, sadly never will but I know him. I worked with him for twenty five years. He is us. I know he’s made of different stuff than most, that he shows up, and does the job, and takes care of his family and doesn’t […]

I was asked to speak at The Retired Teachers of Rhode Island’s annual meeting this year. I was worried about what to say, didn’t  think teachers and firefighters had all that much in common. My worries were unfounded, turns out we have the most important thing of all in common; the desire to help others. […]

I am busy developing new curriculum; rather than training and insisting firefighters become kind and sensitive to each other’s needs and emotions, I have devised a system that effectively alleviates bullying. It’s called Bully Back. 99.9% of the the insults bandied about the fiirehouse are simple ways of communicating that male dominated organizations have effectively […]

A beautiful woman struggled to breathe, sitting alone with only her memories in the middle of the night, waiting for help. At one time, she could do anything. Born in 1922, she had survived a lot of tough times: the Great Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement, marriage, family and all that goes […]

“Whoever said blood is thicker than water has never squeezed pressurized water through an old pump into three attack lines and a master stream, charged those lines on command, opened a straight stream inside a fully involved basement, knocked down a wall of fire, drained feeders on a freezing January night, packed a hosebed on […]

I thought of Albert when I came across this image, I wonder if he is still with us. 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 […]

It doesn’t  get more dramatic than a fully involved church fire. Firefighters on scene will tell the tale this seven alarm blaze for generations. If I were one of the fortunate that fought this fire I would probably carry on about how I saved Jesus. Thankfully, the firefighters that were actually there are much more […]

Michael Morse My grandson loves fire trucks. He’s two, and he’s obsessed. When he hears a siren in the distance, he is instantly alert, and he scans his environment for the source. If he could, he would find it, follow it, and be part of whatever it is that made the noise necessary. Kind of […]