FE Volume 163 Issue 7

FERRARA FIRE APPARATUS, INC. sponsored the 2010 Brotherhood Ride. Beginning in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 1 and ending in Houston, Texas, on April 10, the ride covered more than 850 miles. The Brotherhood Ride is a group of firefighters, law enforcement officers, and emergency medical personnel that first formed to honor the nine fallen firefighters of the Charleston (SC) Fire Department who died in the line of duty on June 18, 2007. Each year, the Brotherhood Ride honors newly-fallen firefighters with a bike ride from Florida to the fallens’ hometown, providing emotional and financial support to family and friends of the fallen. The 2010 Brotherhood Ride was dedicated to two Houston firefighters, Captain James Harlow and Firefighter Damion Hobbs, who died while responding to an early morning house fire on April 12, 2009.

All departments—fire or emergency medical services or career, volunteer, or combination—experience a constant and continuous challenge with young or new officers. These officers can set the tone for the organization and can have positive and negative impacts within the department. We must realize, accept, and understand this challenge to allow departments not only to maintain themselves but also to grow and develop.

In the fire service, there has always been much emphasis on fireground size-up. We have been educated, trained on, and practiced proper size-up techniques through the course of our individual fire careers. When many in the fire service hear the word “size-up,” they automatically think of the fireground size-up—i.e., “Engine 1 is on the scene of a two-story wood-framed residence with heavy black smoke showing from the alpha side second floor.” This is what is referred to as the “windshield” size-up that is communicated by the initial arriving unit, but is there more to size-up than this?

Congratulations, you have just been pro-moted to battalion chief! One of the things you will learn very quickly is that your assigned personnel can be the best or the worst part of your job, depending on how they are performing.