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Blog
Checking in . . .
The first two days of the trip have been very informative. We got a chance to see the production facility at Task Force Tips and attended some great sessions today in the pre conference sessions. The tour of the facility was very impressive, learned alot about how the nozzles and appliances are made and what is coming new for 2010. The sessions I attended today covered scene sizeup and tactical decisions where we reviewed helmet cam footage from an Oklahoma Batt Chief on three different calls, going through the call and looking at the decisions that were made and the difficulties that they faced. This afternoon I attended a session on storage tank facility fires. Great review of application methods and tank construction features. Looking forward to the opening of the general sessions tomorrow and the opening of the trade fair floor later in the week.
by Heith Johannson, Lacome Fire Departent | 04/21
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Buffalo King . . .
Sunday night got initiated into the Buffalo Club and have since become TATONKA (Buffalo King) and will be walking around Indy for the rest of the week with a target on my back. 
 
Task Force Tips tour on Monday was good. Lots of neat stuff and hands on session. 
 
Casual day today, just did some touring and picture taking, registered for FDIC today so I will be ready for Wednesday morning bright and early.
by Jeff Beddome | 04/21
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On tour with Task Force Tips
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 – update

Its Brad Boddez from the Fire Within. I'm just writing a quick blog for the site about our tour at Task Force Tips in Valparaiso, Ind.

The tour started with TFT dividing us into three groups. Two groups went for a tour in the plant while the other had a practical hands-on session with some of their products. Everyone rotated through the three groups. The tour was very interesting and well planned. Our tour guides were very knowledgeable with all the stages of their production. This is a very professional organization and the tour was a very enjoyable one.

by Brad Bozzez, The Fire Within | 04/21
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Just like riding a bicycle . . .
Editor's note: Canada's The Fire Within and 30 firefighters are at FDIC in Indianapolis experiencing the HOT sessions, workshops and trade show. They're doing other stuff too, some of which you will read about in our The Fire Within / FDIC / Fire Fighting in Canada blog. Check in daily for updates from Indy and wish you were there!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The factory tour at Task Force Tips was amazing and very informative. After that, the group got on the bus for the three-hour drive to Indy. To pass the time, Chad recited all the lines to Top Gun which was really cool (no, not really). Thankfully, the bus was stocked with "refreshments" to dull the pain of listening to Chad.
by The Fire Within | 04/20
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Look out Indy . . .
April 19, 2010

Editor's note: Canada's The Fire Within and 30 firefighters are at FDIC in Indianapolis this week, touring manufacturing plants, experiencing the HOT sessions and workshops and enjoying the massive trade show. They're doing other stuff too, some of which you will read about in our The Fire Within / FDIC / Fire Fighting in Canada blog. Check in daily for updates from Indy.

The group includes: Heath Johannson and Cory Clark from Nova Chemicals Emergency Services; Mike Torscher, Bow Island Fire Department; Trevor Allan, High River Fire Department; Mike Melanson and Jeff Beddome from the Irricana Fire Department; Bob Hogarth and Daryl Friesen, Lacombe Fire Department; Brad Boddez, Morinville Fire Department; Henry Thornson, St. Paul Fire Department; Doug Reid, Jeff Karkut and Terry Desserre from the Strathmore Fire Department; Trent Wagner and Betty Thompson-Reeves from the Swan Hills Fire Department; Lindsey Gall and David Mohl from the Hanna Fire Department; Wayne Swinimer, Jamie Juteau and Scott Burgess from the Windsor Fire Department; Mac Debeaudrap, Cochrane Fire Department; Tom Eichhorn and Randy Schroeder from the Mayerthorpe Fire Department; Chad Sartison and Doug Eagleton, Priddis Fire Depatrment; Dave King, Vegreville Fire Department; Kevan Jess with Alberta Municipal Affairs; Terry Garrington, Lavington Fire Department, Ken Sheridan with the Norfolk County Fire & EMS and Duane (the honourary Canadian) from Manheim, Pa.

image001
 
 “I hate coach.” The Fire
Within’s Chad Sartison enjoys
the comfort of economy class
en route to Chicago.
 
 image004  
No bull. Some proud Canadian
firefighters enjoy the local
landmarks in Valparaiso, Ind.
 
The Fire Within has arrived in Valparaiso at the Task Force Tips factory! After the unending excitement of flying coach and then a bus ride from Chicago to Valparaiso, the group arrived intact at the hotel Sunday evening. There were only a few minor incidents on the way - SOMEONE (Brad) left his carry on behind on the first leg of the flight; we found out that you CANNOT, in fact, touch a flight attendant; and Trevor (High River FD) now knows that the world is NOT flat and airplanes DO exist.

WFR and Task Force Tips provided dinner and drinks and the rest of the group provided the entertainment, as usual. Our first American attendee, Duane (Manheim, PA) was knighted as an honourary Canadian. The ceremony was complete with a Canada hat with ear flaps and good old Canadian beer (one of these items was more welcome that the other).

Today the group attends the TFT factory tour and is then on the way to INDY! Much more to come . . . 

by The Fire Within | 04/19
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In the news . . .
Monday, April 19, 2010

With FDIC opening today in Indianapolis we’re looking forward to hearing from our bloggers with The Fire Within group of 30 Canadian firefighters attending the big show. The group includes firefighters and fire officers from B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia who will let us in on their, um, adventures – most of which are certain to be educational – and share their opinions and experiences. Stay tuned.

-

I almost choked on my tea Saturday morning when I flipped the page in the Globe and Mail and saw this headline on Christie Blatchford’s column: Who opposes sprinklers in nursing homes? Oddly, it’s the firefighters. (Note that the headline is different in the online version.)

The headline threw me for a loop given the Canada-wide push for sprinklers and, in particular, the efforts of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs and others to have older retirements homes retrofitted with sprinklers after a fatal fire in
Orillia, Ont., last year.
by Laura King | 04/19
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Think before you type
Thursday, April 16, 2010

You know those online forums, the ones on which firefighters (and hockey parents!) like to post anonymous comments about news stories or issues, or people? Well, as reporters and writers already know but some forum participants clearly don't, it’s really important to think before you type.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court said yesterday that internet anonymity shouldn't be a shield for legal actions and ordered a Halifax-based newspaper and Google Inc. to provide the identities of people who posted comments about Halifax Fire Chief Bill Mosher and Deputy Chief Stephen Thurber. The two are considering a defamation suit against people who posted the comments.

The comments were in a discussion forum hosted by The Coast and were related to stories about racism in the fire department.

Mosher and Thurber are considering a lawsuit against the author of emails sent through a Gmail account. You can read the whole story here.

So, as in kids hockey, the following rules apply: wait 24 hours before saying anything about an issue no matter how strongly you feel; don't say anything in an e-mail you wouldn't say face to face; and, the real moral of the story - stay away from online forums.

by Laura King | 04/15
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Flashpoint blog
April 14, 2010

Those who cannot learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana

Sometimes, usually not because of good news, I have the need to go back and recycle from my previous articles. In 2006 I wrote this review of two silo incidents in Ohio:

Firefighters from two neighbouring rural fire departments responded to a fire in an oxygen-limiting grain silo. As water was being applied into openings at the top of the silo by firefighters on aerial platforms, the silo exploded. The two firefighters on the platforms were killed. Is it reasonable to expect rural firefighters to know and understand the correct methods of fighting such a fire? Hell, yes, it is. It is incumbent on every fire department to identify the unique hazards in their response areas and to have a very good idea of what to do in the event of a response to those hazards. Volunteer or not, if there is a silo in your response area you had better know what to do if it catches on fire. Is this information hard to find? Hell, no, it ain’t. A NIOSH report on a similar incident in 1985 lays out exactly what the dangers are and what procedures to follow at silo fires. That incident resulted in the deaths of three firefighters. Any degree of community risk assessment and incident action planning would have prevented the 2003 re-occurrence.
by Peter Sells | 04/14
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