Weekend Reading Assignment – June 8 2013

A fresh attempt on a variation of the old (and short-lived) “Weekend Update” posts. This regular post will forgo the random photos and viral videos to recap only articles and training videos posted on the Facebook page throughout the week(often captioned as “today’s reading assignment”), as well as some that I may have missed. As my original articles are less frequent, and may be published elsewhere, I want to continue to use this site to share the work of others. With that in mind, you may share your own work here. Article, rant, photo, poem, drawing, or other…send it in.

Here’s your weekend reading assignment:

1. Don’t Kill Yourself – Christopher Brennan, Fire Service Warrior
   An honest and timely article from Chris on a topic that is all too common in our community, yet is often avoided in discussion: suicide. Read it, and if you know someone who is in a dark place, talk to them…starting with those three, most important words.
2. Close the Door! Were You Born in a Barn? –  Ed Hartin, CFBT-US.com
   “Coming and going as a little kid, I frequently would forget to close the door to the house and my mother would say; close the door! Were you born in a barn? What does this have to do with firefighting operations? As it turns out, it has significant impact!”
3. Throwing Ladders – Jason Jefferies, Fire Service Warrior
   “A good training program should consist of progressive learning so that as a task is learned and then mastered, the difficulty is increased.  We cannot expect a firefighter to see a technique that is new to them and expect perfection in performance right out of the gate.”
4. Sick Days – Mark vonAppen, Fully Involved
   “The old days are gone.  If we wish for the past, worry for a future that might not happen, the present goes by and we don’t live the days that are right in front of us.”
5. What Research Tells Us about the Modern Fireground – Steve Kerber and Timothy E. Sendelbach, UL
   “Applying water to the fire as quickly as possible—regardless of where it is emitting from—can make conditions in the entire structure better.”
6. Finally, two things in the wake of the Houston LODD’s –
   A post on the Fire Service Warrior Facebook page had this to say:

   Risk does not recognize rank. Collapse does not recognize rank. Fire does not recognize rank. Heart attacks don’t recognize rank.

   There is no experience required to access information, no prerequisites to get in the gym. If there is a fire engine in your station you have all the equipment you need to drill. It just takes the will to do and the soul to dare.

   Stop waiting for someone else to take care of you, to show you, to prepare you.

   Your life is your responsibility and has been since the day you were born. The lives of those you serve are your responsibility and have been since your first day in uniform.

   Enough with the dependance, avoidance and laziness. Pride and ownership isn’t a book, it is an internal drive, a different standard and most importantly it is hard work. Dig in and start now.

   You answer to yourself and your duty. The critics will not be there for you at the moment of truth so why let them influence the outcome. We have lost enough this year.

   Put down your phone right now or log off the computer and go to the bay, the gym or the book shelf. When the voice from the lazy boy asks “What are you doing? Don’t you know it is the weekend?”

   Just tell them “unfortunately it is a weekend that too many are missing and I choose not to be one of them.”

7. Secondly, the following WOD was posted in honor of the fallen in Houston:

   The Houston Hero WOD

   Captain Matthew Renaud, Station 51
   Engineer Robert Bebee, Station 51
   Firefighter Robert Garner, Station 68
   Firefighter Anne Sullivan, Station 68

   1 mile run
   68 Push-Ups
   68 KB swings
   51 Sit-ups
   51 Burpees
   1 mile run

   Many Brothers and Sisters have posted times for the workout over the past week. I completed it on Wednesday with a time of 37:04. Denver area firefighters organized a fundraiser workout at Crossfit Ken Caryl in Littleton, CO this morning. Knock it out and show your work here or on the FSW Facebook page.

   Remember the fallen.

-Pete