I just rode by a house that was ravaged by fire early Sunday morning. It was obvious that the fire had started on the front porch or in the vicinity of the front porch. Fire investigators have determined that the fire started in a flowerpot, on the front porch, from an improperly discarded cigarette. In this fire, the occupants were displaced, but no one lost their life. Why do I call this a common cause? In Chesterfield County alone, there have been three house fires   – in the recent past that I know of – that were caused by improperly…

On May 16, our fire service family lost a man who was a friend to every person that he met. Retired firefighter George Decker was just that person. George worked on A-shift at Stations 14, 3, 8, and 12 for the majority of his career. George was a humble, humorous, and hard-working guy. To look at George, you would not expect to find that he was college educated; he could also figure numbers in his head faster than anyone I knew. He was also a good carpenter. After his death, many firefighters began to post memories of George on Facebook.…

How many of you think about an escape plan, in the place where you are staying while on vacation? We are staying in a place that firefighters once called a taxpayer, a business on the first floor with living space above it. This is a three-story condominium, where you enter and go straight up a set of stairs. The living space is on the second and third floors. The second floor has a family room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two full baths, while the third floor has a bedroom with a full bath. It looks like this condo sits in…

You may have remembered me sharing statements that used to be on the walls of fire stations, during my career. Risk a lot to save a life Risk little to save little Risk nothing to save nothing I am writing this article to the firefighters that read my column, in response to the Pineville volunteer firefighter that was killed Saturday evening. Units were dispatched to a strip mall on fire in Pineville N.C., near Charlotte. From news reports, it appears that the fire originated in the golf shop. I know very few details about this fire, except for the fact…

Most of us have seen or heard about the horrific, single-vehicle accident that happened in Hanover a few days ago. Every person in the vehicle was either injured or killed, when the vehicle left the road and struck a tree. Investigators believe that alcohol was a factor in this accident. When I saw the pictures of the tree, I was able to immediately draw a conclusion about this accident. The amount of bark that had been stripped from the tree told me that it was a high-speed impact, with little or no braking. You may say how can you draw…

I am sitting here watching Wheel Of Fortune, if you wonder how I came up with this title. The subject of this article has nothing to do with a TV show, but everything to do with what you are doing to position yourself for that job that you are seeking. I ran into a friend today, who was telling me about a job that he is doing for the fire department and the journey that it took for him to get there. Fire department jobs, from entry level to top-level positions, are few in number and sought by many. The…

I have just finished reading the news reports of a fire that occurred in Roanoke County, back in mid-March. The fire occurred in the middle of the night. Four adults and four children occupied the home. Two of the adults and two of the children were visiting from out of town. The end result was that six people escaped, while two of the children perished. The six that survived were transported to the hospital and one adult female was recently released, after suffering major burns. I could not find where investigators had determined a cause, other than accidental, and I…

I attended a retiree luncheon the other day and got into a conversation with one of the most respected truck lieutenants that I ever had the privilege of working with. We were talking about the retired firefighters that have had to deal with varying types of cancer. My thought was that my generation of firefighters would be the last of the high cancer numbers. My reason for saying this is that, though we had improved fireground safety, our practices, after we returned to the station, needed improvement. Some examples were sitting our bunker pants beside our beds, right after returning…

It is bad enough to suffer a kitchen fire, with most caused by unattended cooking. The problem is exacerbated when a person gets burned, attempting to remove the burning pot or pan from the kitchen, or from the stove to the sink. The statistics have not gone down, if anything, they have gone up, where kitchen fires are concerned. In other words, 3.7 out of every 10 residential fires occur in the kitchen. I write a lot about possibility and probability. The possibility of a fire occurring in your home is always present. The probability of a fire in your…

Before I start, my prayers go out to the people in Brussels. As we were returning from a popular vacation spot in this country, we saw images of the bombing attack of the airport in Brussels, Belgium, while sitting in an Arby’s. I am not a military strategist; I say that because I am not an expert on this issue. I have heard terminology used during my fire service career, as well as by watching the same news stations that you may watch. Airports, like many other locations around the world, would be considered a soft target for someone to…