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Posts Tagged: Sc Tf1

Welcome To Hilton Head Island

The masses have converged on our department headquarters for the weekend. Read More »

We Try Harder

"Zero defects" is a pretty lofty goal, but in our business, zero defects may be the difference between life and death. Read More »

Where Were You That Night?

It was inevitable that something bad would happen, given what we know now. All we can do now is honor the lives of those who go before us, pray for the families and help them deal with this tragedy, and hope we all learn from the events that evening. Read More »

Report From Haiti

US&R teams from around the world are engaging missions in Haiti: New York TF 1, Florida TFs 1 and 2, Virginia 1, California 2, and Colorado 1 are working in country, as well as teams from Jamaica, Costa Rica, Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Luxemburg, Canada, Russia, Spain, China, France, Iceland, St. Domingo, Mexico, Netherlands, the UK and Colombia. Read More »

US&R in Haiti: Wishing vs. Planning

Every community must understand its vulnerabilities and the potential for disaster, and plan accordingly. The caveat to this is, that despite the presence of a written plan, you can have every contingency covered and discussed, if you don’t understand and practice the plan, it isn’t worth the paper it is written on. Read More »

Urban Search and Rescue – Rockbreaking 101

Since there seems to be a huge lean forward right now from people who want to know more about US&R, and since US&R is (and has been) one of my main projects for over twenty years, I figure I'll take the opportunity to point you all in some directions for information. Read More »

Vigilance and Haiti

It is imperative that we take this opportunity to recognize that these disasters also affect our own communities, and this is the time when increased education of your customers is important: what to do if something like this happens here, who will respond, what your capabilities are and how you plan to address your needs in a disaster. Read More »

Tribes

I've been pretty busy lately so I haven't been able to post.  Something about the end of summer, doing deliveries and computer stuff for my wife's company, doing the initial planning and contacts for our annual Down Syndrome Buddy Walk, and of course, g… Read More »

Who Is Building Your House?

[caption id="attachment_541" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Ken Bell at Chalmette BoO, Katrina 2005"][/caption] Ken Bell, a friend and the other Deputy Director of the South Carolina US&R Task Force, announced this week that he is retiring… Read More »

Why Yell?

I'm Mick, and I yell.  I think this is the part where you all are supposed to say, "Hi Mick."  Why do we yell?  I started to say, "I'm a yeller", but that doesn't sound right.  And I don't scream.  Screaming to me indicates panic or total loss of pe… Read More »

Star of Life Law Blog

I am encouraged by some of the blogs that are going on out there right now and I try to throw a link to the good ones over on the side over there (you know, over THERE, on your right).  A great one that popped up in the past few days has some serious me… Read More »

The Case for Credentialing – Those Who Can't Get In

My final group of people who are not happy with credentialing efforts are the "outsiders".  To me, they are the ones with the most logical and compelling concerns about credentialing.  Ironically, these people are often those already with some responsi… Read More »

The Case for Credentialing – Those Who Can't Get In

My final group of people who are not happy with credentialing efforts are the "outsiders".  To me, they are the ones with the most logical and compelling concerns about credentialing.  Ironically, these people are often those already with some responsi… Read More »

The Case for Credentialing – Answering Your Comments

I hate to break free in the middle of this series like this, but there were some comments made that I wanted to discuss.  Since one is on one post and the other is on another post, I felt the need to tie them together and talk really quickly to the issu… Read More »

The Argument for Credentialing – Moving On

Now that we have discussed the four major players in the argument against credentialing, lets talk about the argument for it. A credential is only as good as the standard by which it is issued.  The point of having a credential should be to identify an… Read More »

The Case for Credentialing – Opportunists and Profiteers

[caption id="attachment_464" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="SC-TF1 in Chalmette, LA during Katrina ops."][/caption] And then, there are the profiteers.  My intent with Firehouse Zen is not to use it as a place to vent, but as a place to enlight… Read More »

Sometimes Treasure Is Right Under Our Nose

We have multiple sources of expertise within our organizations that people would kill to have; wouldn't it be a shame not to recognize that? Read More »

The Value of Education

As Jamie Thompson over at The Kitchen Table points out, getting an education is an investment in your future. Yes, there are things that need cutting back in departments, but the training budget should be one of the last to go. As a chief officer in you… Read More »

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