DONT ADVERTISE ON MYSPACE

I am not one to complain but MySpace Sucks to advertise on when you have a limited budget. Sure...the $10,000 campaigns work fine, but what about the small guys?

I ran a 1 week campaign (cost-per-click). My ad got shown 12,000 times total.
Sounds great, right?

Here is the kicker....
Day 1 - 2000 times
Day 2 - 2000 times
Day 3 - 0 times
Day 4 - 0 times
Day 5 - 8000 times

I had 0 clicks originally. This was back in January. Now yesterday, I got a $4 charge from MySpace from 'clicks' that occurred back in January. WTF! Seriously? That late on charging? On top of it....MySpace didn't show any clicks until March? And even stranger....the last day my ad runs, I get over 8000 views when the previous 4 days I got only 2000 or none.

So now, I have to pay $4 for something that I think is bullshit.

All I am saying.....the original bill showed 0 clicks. 2 months later, suddenly 4 clicks appear?

What happened to 92.3 K-Rock Radio

Anyone realize that driving home around 5pm, 92.3 is commercial free Z100 type music????
What happened?

I personally dont like it.
I mean....it is great that it is commercial free and all, but we have z100 to hear that type of music.

It was crazy when I 1st heard it...I put on 92.3 (thinking it is k-rock) and before I even realized....Britney Spears' Circus was playing. I was like....."WTF. I thought I changed the channel." I put back on 92.3, and yup...Britney Spears' Circus was playing. I started laughing thinking....what happened? But it has been this way for almost a week now.

I think they should go back to rock music at least.

Yea...just my opinion...Thoughts?

Contests

We are hosting contests Now! I am so excited to be getting large enough finally where we can start providing our members with free gifts by doing simple things!
Our membership base keeps growing, and it is so exciting to watch!

Make sure you check our site to see how you can win!

Become a Featured Member

Every 2 weeks, Firefighting Tactics will be choosing a member who we feel has helped made FirefightingTactics.com a stronger and better community!

Members who qualify for this achievement are those who show enthusiasm towards this site: Post Blogs, Add Photos, Add Videos, Post Forums, Create Groups, and Inviting friends to join using our "Invite" tool.
Featured members will automatically be placed here with their photo linked to their personal page!

Thanks to those who help make this site a success!
Good Luck!

Fla. firefighters honored for water rescue

By Jerome Burdi
The Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — With 6- to 8-foot waves crashing on them, Fire-Rescue workers pushed through the inlet to save people whose boat had capsized.

For their bravery in rescuing three people that Memorial Day weekend, the firefighters — Capt. Todd Stewart, Donnie Horn and Tomas Martin — received their department's 2008 Firefighter of the Year Award.

The men surveyed the inlet earlier that day, May 26, and hoped there wouldn't be any calls.

"We said, 'If we get a call today, we're not going to go out,'" Martin said.

The police have a boat better equipped for rescues in rough waters than the Fire-Rescue Department's 28-foot rigid-hull inflatable.

But, as firefighters say, instinct took over.

"When the call comes down, you just go," Horn said.

They were sitting down to a steak dinner when the call came.

Boater Juan Ras, 48, of Plantation, took his 32-foot boat out on the clear, windy day but decided the waves were too strong and tried to head back, police said. That's when another wave came smashing in, flipping the boat and sending six people without life vests, including a pregnant woman, into the ocean. They were about 100 yards south of the inlet. To keep the Fire-Rescue boat from capsizing, Horn pushed the boat into oncoming waves.

"I wanted to keep the wind and waves hitting my bow," he said, fearing a sideswiping wave would leave the rescuers in need of a rescue. When they got to the capsized boat, Ras and two women were hanging on a boat-tube. While taking in water, the Fire-Rescue workers pulled all three into their boat, including the pregnant woman.

"They were hysterical, they were crying," Martin said.

The women, Ana Balcazar, who was pregnant, and Orfa Coral, 57, both of Oakland Park, were taken to the hospital but survived. They could not be reached to comment Saturday, despite attempts by phone.

Of the other three on the capsized boat: one person had made it to shore with the help of a personal watercraft rider, and a private boat rescued two others.

Boca Raton Fire-Rescue spokesman Frank Correggio said the agency trains for water rescues but doesn't often get calls for them.


Copyright 2009 South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Earthquake Occurs in New Jersey

Pica confirmed with USGS that an earthquake shook homes throughout New Jersey at 10:35pm Monday, February 2nd. The quake was minor and could only be felt within quiet homes.

As of now, no damage has been noted.

Earthquakes are rare in New Jersey but have caused severe damage in the past.

New symposium aims to raise PPE awareness

By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor

Photo Emergencyphoto.com

CHARLOTTE, NC — Take a look at any fire department's budget these days, and you'll see how much PPE has developed in recent years.

Improvements in design and technology mean turnout gear has become a major investment – and with that comes a greater awareness of its importance, both in selection and maintenance.

This trend has led to the creation of the Fire Service PPE Symposium, with the inaugural event taking place in Charlotte, NC, in March.

It aims to bring together leaders from the fire service, manufacturing and industry to provide attendees with the knowledge needed to properly select and maintain PPE.

Robert Tutterow, vice-president of the Fire Industry Equipment Research Organization, which is organizing the event, said it will enable the fire service to meet and discuss issues with component manufacturers, end product manufacturers, testers, researchers, and other firefighters.

"There's nothing like getting a group of people together who are really interested in a subject and allowing them to network," he said.

"So much information and ideas can come out of something like this."

Replicate success

Tutterow said he hopes the symposium can replicate the success of the Fire Department Safety Officers Association's annual Apparatus Specification & Vehicle Maintenance Symposium, which is now in its 21st year.

"That event brings together a lot of people responsible for speccing out and purchasing apparatus, and we want to give people the information needed to do that for PPE," he said.

"I think what it's done is put together a core grass-roots knowledge base out there in the field."

While the fire service has always given apparatus heavy focus, Tutterow said, it is only relatively recently that PPE has gained similar levels.

"Focus on PPE has grown over time, especially since the mid-1990s," he said. "I think people started to realize there was a big need to take care of PPE, especially as it is a significant part of a fire department's budget today.

"The price of PPE has also soared since then. It's become a substantial investment for a fire department ."

Task force
In preparing for the symposium, Tutterow, a health and safety officer at the Charlotte Fire Department, helped to put a task force together to identify the main issues that needed to be addressed.

Among the many topics to be discussed at the event are the selection, care, and maintenance of turnout gear, SCBA and CBRN PPE; electronics and PPE; testing; visibility and limitations of PPE; and legal issues related to NFPA non-compliance.

"We wanted to cover as much as we can in this first symposium," Tutterow said.

"We want people to take as much knowledge away with them as possible, not just the selection of PPE but also the entire aspects of PPE, everything you need to consider about it."

Tutterow said one of the biggest gaps in knowledge among the fire service generally relates to the care and maintenance of PPE, as outlined in NFPA 1851.

"Awareness is growing but there''s still a huge void out there," he said. "It's something departments have not typically budgeted for, which compounds the problem."

• The Fire PPE Symposium takes place March 9-11 at the Omni Charlotte Hotel. For more details, go to Fireppesymposium.com.

Investigations continue into Texas training LODDs

By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor
Photo Justin Baker/News- Journal

KILGORE, Texas — NIOSH investigators and E-One representatives will travel to Texas next week as part of a probe into the deaths of two firefighters. Staff from the federal agency will arrive in Kilgore Tuesday along with an engineer from the fire truck manufacturer.

Kyle Perkins and Cory Galloway fell to their deaths from the roof of an eight-story building during training Sunday.

The E-One ladder truck that was being used at the time of the accident had only been in operation for about two months.

It remained parked by Kilgore College, where the incident happened, until Wednesday, when insurance company investigators arrived.

Kilgore Operations Chief Dennis Gage said the cause of the accident was still not known.

"We hadn't had the ladder truck for very long and we were doing some training on it, with firefighters getting on and of off the roof," he said.

"We don't know exactly what happened, but somehow the two firefighters fell off."

Following the tragedy, the department had a critical incident stress management team come in from Tyler to debrief the firefighters who had been on duty Sunday.

"The shift that had been on duty on the day of the accident have not had to come back, and will not return until Tuesday," Gage said,

"It's been pretty tough on everybody but we all trying to stick together."

A funeral services for Firefighter Perkins takes place Thursday at Kilgore College's Dodson Auditorium at 4 p.m., while a service for Firefighter Galloway scheduled at the First Baptist Church of Van at 1 p.m. the following day.

Firefighter Perkins had been with the department since 2004, while Firefighter Galloway joined last January.

An E-One spokeswoman said they had no comment at this time on the investigation.

Great News for FirefightingTactics.com

We have reached a milestone today and I would like to thank all of you for your support! Today marks the 1 month anniversary of FirefightingTactics.com and at the same time, we reached our 100^th member.

Our goal for 2009 is to grow and expand our reach. We already have members from all over the nation as well as overseas. With the help of our members, we can turn FirefightingTactics.com into one of the most used, and most viewed social networking sites on the internet today.

With 25% of our members being Captains, Assistant Chiefs and Chiefs, this will become a platform for ways to schedule mutual aid events, discuss strategy & tactics with surrounding communities and recommend new equipment. The sky is the limit.

To aid us in our mission to grow, I ask you to keep spreading the word!

Thank you,

James Bessemer

Founder - FirefightingTactics.com

Great News for FirefightingTactics.com

We have reached a milestone today and I would like to thank all of you for your support! Today marks the 1 month anniversary of FirefightingTactics.com and at the same time, we reached our 100^th member.

Our goal for 2009 is to grow and expand our reach. We already have members from all over the nation as well as overseas. With the help of our members, we can turn FirefightingTactics.com into one of the most used, and most viewed social networking sites on the internet today.

With 25% of our members being Captains, Assistant Chiefs and Chiefs, this will become a platform for ways to schedule mutual aid events, discuss strategy & tactics with surrounding communities and recommend new equipment. The sky is the limit.

To aid us in our mission to grow, I ask you to keep spreading the word!

Thank you,

James Bessemer

Founder - FirefightingTactics.com

Impacts of Winter Weather – Part 1

Regardless of where you rest your helmet, winter has its own impacts for your areas. Pre-planning for these will allow your team to be better prepared when the station alarms go off.

Winter operations can be broken down into a few categories: personal gear preparation, procedures to protect personnel, and vehicle and scene operations. Over the past decade, the United States has seen ever increasingly significant winter storms, impacting the ability of emergency services to respond to massive areas of damage.

Winter presents itself in multiple weather patterns: lower temperatures, precipitation changes and shorter daylight hours. Significant amounts of snow bring obvious impacts, while overcast skies can also cause challenges when trying to read the presence of smoke on the horizon if the fire is in the beginning stages.

Heating systems
Colder weather results in increased use of heating systems and all the increased fire impacts associated with them: space heaters, fireplaces, and heating systems whether forced hot air, electric or passive systems. Don't forget that solar heating is becoming more prevalent for primary heating sources so you should take the time to research those structures in your area that have solar heat and find out how they are impacted by significant winter storms.

In addition, remember that exposure to cold weather is just as stressful to the body as hot weather if not worse. The body must keep itself warm and it performs this by burning fuel. That fuel can be glucose or if that is low, it will burn body fat through lipolysis. If the body is unable to generate sufficient heat with glucose, it will start generating more heat through muscle shivering.

This will in turn both increase body heat and burn more glucose. Cold environmental air is generally low in humidity and the body is forced to both warm itself up and humidify it at the same time. The body is normally somewhat more dehydrated during winter months as compared to the summer. All of the above actions will reduce the body's ability to work at peak performance for long periods of time, so you should be prepared for the fact that physical endurance in cold weather operations will be reduced.

Counter assault
So how do we counter the assault that Mother Nature and our body design brings? First, make sure you and your personnel have the appropriate cold weather gear for your area. Layers of clothing should be worn to allow for adding or removal based on the work load or increased cold impacts. Socks that are suited to keep your feet warm for long periods of time should be warn under your bunker boots. And have an extra pair of the same type to help keep your feet dry.

Spare structural firefighting gloves and a spare pair of work gloves in case one pair gets wet are also recommended. On nighttime responses, wear underclothing when responding at night, which should consist of cotton underwear when possible – should you get caught in a high heat event, you don't want to be caught wearing shrink wrap.

It goes without saying that wearing personal protective gear and wearing it properly is vital throughout the year – but in winter it can offer additional benefits, providing a significant amount of warmth by itself.

Water repellent
Make sure your bunker boots/station boots are water repellent. If they need some repair or reconditioning, do it before the snow flies. If your personnel wear cold weather gear for EMS calls that are not bunker gear, ensure that gear is water repellent as well. And don't forget to inspect your foot gear to ensure you have good traction. As someone who was found lying on the ground during an extrication, you may injure yourself or others if you cant keep your traction – though I saved the extrication tool from damage anyway!

It's a good idea to carry your spare socks, gloves and hats with you in a small duffel bag so it's always to hand when you need it. During this time of year, it's certainly worth dressing as if you will be outside for a long time when responding on calls. Chances are it will happen.

We need to ensure that our primary responsibility is to protect our crews. .Increasing the number of personnel on a fire scene enables crews to be rotated, keeping them warm. Rehab during cold weather should be pre-planned to cover the ability to keep personnel warm. Do you call in buses with heating systems for rehab or do you have a local occupancy that will allow you to set up rehab? Include rest and the ability to rehydrate with the establishment of the rehab area. Most critical, a spot to warm up must be a minimum. Ensure rehab has the ability to monitor personnel for hypothermia, hypoglycemia and frostbite.

If our outer shell of protection has the ability to absorb water, it will freeze. In addition, anything we sweat onto or into can freeze, too. This will impact how rapidly an individual looses body heat versus dry clothing.

Equipment impacts
Cold weather significantly impacts the equipment we use. Cold air from our SCBAs could freeze our first or second stage pressure reducers, while SCBA facepiece exhalation valves may also freeze. Pay attention to what your gear is doing. If it appears that a number of SCBAs are starting to freeze up, do we need to consider a tactical switch from interior operations to exterior?

I know from personal experience that the best place to be on a structure fire in the winter is interior, near the heat. Remember that going from a high-heat environment to a rehab or overhaul situation creates drastic changes to atmospheric conditions and may start to freeze gear that has water/perspiration soaked into it.

Our ability to keep ourselves and our personnel ready to perform in a cold weather environment starts with our ability to be proactive. We can ensure personnel are prepared physically and mentally, and equipped with the proper gear to allow them to operate effectively on incident scenes in cold weather.

Train them ahead of time to anticipate cold weather impacts from a physical point of view and to expect that cold weather firefighting is a different ball game compared to fighting fires in a warm environment. Remind them to have the warm weather gear -- let them know it is acceptable to wear the gear when the weather requires it. Remember also that Incident Commanders need to stay warm as well. That may mean them commanding from inside a vehicle instead of standing at the rear of the command car.

Article is from Michael Lee of FireRescue1.com. Michael Lee has 25 years experience in pre-hospital paramedic experience and about 20 years experience in the fire service. He started as a FF/Paramedic and worked up through the ranks, including training officer, to his current position as battalion chief at Cunningham Fire Dept in Colorado. He is currently filling the role of safety officer for FEMA USAR Colorado Task Force One and has military service in the U.S. Navy.

NY response to emergency landing has heroic results

Associated Press

NEW YORK — As the US Airways plane hit the frigid waters of the Hudson River, emergency crews were already headed to the scene. And the swift, dramatic response had an amazing result: All the 155 people aboard were pulled to safety.

Commuter ferries also sprang into action from New York and New Jersey, and their crews encountered freezing, panicked passengers, some of whom let out cheers when the boats arrived.

"We had to pull an elderly woman out of a raft in a sling. She was crying. ... People were panicking. They said, 'Hurry up, hurry up,'" said Vincent Lombardi, captain of the first boat to get to the plane, the Thomas Jefferson. "We gave them the jackets off our backs."

The fire department in New York got the first emergency call at 3:31 p.m. and was on the scene in less than five minutes. NY Waterway ferries shuttling passengers to and from New Jersey deployed within moments.

In total, 14 vessels responded to the scene, with crews trained to respond to people overboard.

Across the river, Weehawken, N.J., police, firefighters and emergency medical crews boarded ferries awaiting rush hour and headed to the plane, minutes after the pilot heroically guided the jet into the water after the engine failed.

The ferries pulled up slowly to avoid washing passengers off the plane with the wake. Some passengers were already standing on the wing as Lombardi came alongside the sinking plane, which was moving swiftly down the river. Other passengers were in inflatable rafts.

Lombardi's crew rescued 56 passengers.

Brittany Catanzaro, captain of the Thomas Kean, pulled 24 people aboard with her crew.

Meanwhile, detectives John McKenna and James Coll, members of an elite emergency police team, commandeered a sightseeing ferry at 42nd Street and headed to scene.

As the vessel arrived at the sinking fuselage, Sgt. Michael McGuinness and Detective Sean Mulcahy tied ropes around themselves that were also tied to their colleagues. They stayed on board as McKenna and Coll entered the plane to rescue four other passengers still inside.

Firefighters responded by boat and collected other passengers. They also anchored the plane with ropes to keep it from sinking or drifting away with the current.

High above, divers Michael Delaney and Robert Rodriguez of the New York Police Department dropped from a helicopter into the water. Fom the air, Delaney said, "it all looked very orderly. The plane's crew appeared to do a great job."

Both divers spotted a woman in the water, hanging onto the side of a ferry boat and "frightened out of her mind," Rodriguez said. "She's very lethargic."

"I see panic out of this woman," Rodriguez said. "She's very cold, so she's unable to climb up."

The two pulled another female passenger from the water as other passengers sat calmly on the plane's flotation devices, waiting to board the ferries clustered nearby.

Both divers climbed onto the wing and entered the plane and confirmed everyone was off.

One victim suffered two broken legs, a paramedic said, but there were no other reports of serious injuries. Fire officials said at least half the people on board were evaluated for hypothermia, bruises and other minor injuries.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson heaped praise on the rescue effort.

"They train for these kinds of emergencies, and you saw it in action," Bloomberg said. "Because of their fast brave work, we think that contributed to the fact that it looks like everybody is safe."

Paterson said it was a miracle.

"I think that in simplicity, this is really a potential tragedy that may have become one of the most spectacular days in the history of New York City's agencies," he said.

Welcome

Thank you for viewing my blog.

Please take a moment and help us grow even more in 2009 by inviting your firefighting and rescue buds to FirefightingTactics.com! With hundreds of photos and many videos, FirefightingTactics.com will continue to help you and your department determine proper Tactics to use on the fire grounds. "Today's Plan is Tomorrow's Action!" Stay safe in 2009!