The Fire Brief is a blog by a retired Battalion Chief from a combination, suburban Fire and Rescue agency in Virginia. The Fire Brief is an idea I had that I never had the time to put together, until COVID Lock Down of 2020! With my part-time teaching jobs on hold, I jumped right in. Please remember, just as any career in public safety, this site is a work in progress.

The Fire Brief is created with the station/shift officer in mind and is designed to be brief and to the point. I hope it can be used by any fire service leader as a source of information that leads to in-station learning and crew development.

Each daily post will begin with a brief message, typically in the following pattern:

On Mondays it will be The Question(s) of the Week. These questions are pulled from the various posts and should make for good “dinner table talk”. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be inspirational quotes regarding leadership and teamwork. Dad Joke Friday will end the admin work week on a lighter note. Since I enjoyed cooking for my crews on weekends, Saturdays will have a recipe or cooking tip to try. Sundays are often a time for winding down and reading, I will briefly review a book I’ve read.

The rest of each post will include standard topics:

Some notable LODD’s that happened on the given date. I am a firm believer in looking to the past for lessons learned as we prepare for the future. This is especially true when reviewing the NIOSH LODD reports. We owe it to the men and women who have paid the ultimate price to learn from their tragedies and honor them by doing what we can to prevent similar tragedies from happening to us and our crews.

Next will be Major Incidents. I hope the various historical fires and disasters lead to answers to questions such as “What would we do if something similar happened here?”; “Do we have similar structures/occupancies in our area?”; “What would be the short and long term affects on our agency and/or community?”.

The daily Training suggestions are based on the recommendations from the NIOSH LODD reports for the day. Each day will also have a link to the day’s 6 Minutes for Safety brief published by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

And finally, since I really enjoy History, each post will end with a historical event, also included as a conversation starter.