Wally Pieczynski

He grew up near the Seneca Hose firehouse, a typical wide-eyed “run to the curb” kid, constantly drawn to the wail of the fire sirens as they passed by.  Today, Wally Pieczynski an assistant chief at that very house in West Seneca, NY, as well as an active instructor and now- a Firefighter Storyteller!

Join Tiger Schmittendorf’s “Firefighter Storytellers” Wednesday night at 9pm ET on Firefighter Netcast as Wally shares his story of growing up in the fire service and his special connections to the history and photos of some of the most famous names in the fire service. You’ll have the opportunity to join in the conversation in this special event as the Netcast comes live from the Firemen’s Memorial Exhibit Center of Western NY.

Firefighter Netcast offers you this interview with Art “Chief Reason” Goodrich on “The Voice of Reason” With Steven Pasquale of Rescue Me and Rob Schnepp

Art Goodrich posted about this interview here: http://chiefreasonart.com/2010/09/01/…

ChiefReasonArt – http://chiefreasonart.com

You can listen to the podcast the usual way (the player at the top of this post). Or, you can enjoy Firefighter Netcast’s first videocast of this event below as seen on youtube.

This was intended to be a live recap of what went on at Fire Rescue International. Due to more technical difficulties, we were unable to accomplish that task. Instead, we were honored to have Dave Statter on the show along with his beautiful wife Hillary Howard.

In the beginning of the audio, you will also hear from Willie Wines Jr.

Dave Statter brings you Fire Hero Radio.

This episode is a discussion with Woodstock (IL) Fire/Rescue Chief Ralph Webster and Mike Brooks who works for CNN Headline news. Mike is a retired DC Detective.

FireHero Radio from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation: Richard Gist discusses NFFF’s Behavioral Health initiative; A talk with NFFF Director of Fire Programs Victor Stagnaro.

Recorded by Firefighter Netcast at Fire Rescue International.

The direct show link is here live at 9pm EST

Other than you and your water, there is no other piece of equipment on your fire apparatus that has more impact on the conditions in your fire than the fan.

So what makes the positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) fan both so helpful and yet, potentially deadly?

Here’s a video from YouTube showing how badly things can go when PPV is used incorrectly.  As you watch, see if you can identify the point of air entry into the structure as well as the point of air egress.

What are your views on the use of PPV on your fires?

Join in with your comments, questions, and criticisms as Firefighter NetCast presents The Voice of Reason with  Art “ChiefReason” Goodrich on Tuesday, August 24^th as we discuss the use of PPV fans on the fireground.

Art’s featured guest will be Chief John Kriska of www.kriskafiretraining.com.

Chief Kriska has presented training in many venues, including the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference (FDIC) at Indianapolis, IN. His classes have included Tactics and Strategy, Hose Streams, Live Burns, Management Training, Company Officer, SCBAs and Positive Pressure Ventilation.

Tune in, settle in and call in as we discuss Positive Pressure Ventilation/Positive Pressure Attack on FirefighterNetcast Presents The Voice of Reason with Chief John Kriska on Tuesday, August 24^th at 9PM ET.

Remember, if you can’t join us live, you’ll find all of our programming available for download at our website, or at iTunes.

Firefighter NetCast-

It’s not your Daddy’s fire service radio show podcast!

On Thursday, July 29th The Voice of Reason featured special guest Shawn Longerich, Executive Director for the Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition (CPTC) and can be found on the world wide web at www.FireSmoke.org. The mission of the CPTC is to “focus the required attention and resources on the issues, the CPTC aims to increase awareness about the risk of fire smoke cyanide exposure as it relates to Awareness, Prevention, Protection, Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment”.

The discussion included many things we don’t think about after the fire is put out. Shawn helps us explore the poisons in what we commonly call “smoke”. The discussion talks about many chemicals that are found in smoke that are deadly and why we should put more effort into not breathing them in during and after the fire is put out.

Check out Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum on Firefighter NetCast.com this Thursday night August 19th at 9pm ET with a live online radio call-in show addressing the most current issues affecting the Fire Service.

The direct show link is here. Live at 9pm EST

This month Christopher Naum’s guests include Battalion Chief Matt Tobia with the Anne Arundel County, MD Fire Department, a metropolitan combination Fire / Rescue / EMS agency in Suburban Baltimore, MD and Battalion Chief Greg W. Collier, Mount Laurel Fire Department, NJ and NFFF/EGH Region II Advocate discussing  the emerging and prevailing issues related to situational awareness on the fireground and incident scene and its relationship to firefighter safety or operational integrity.  The show is titled; “We Have a Situation; Are you Aware?”

Go to www.FirefighterNetCast.com to listen and participate live, with a national and international audience of firefighters, officers and commanders from rural heartlands of Oklahoma to the suburbs of Chicago and the urban streets of DC. Or download the program later in the week for later use. Check out the premiere show with featured guests Chief Billy Hayes (DCFD) and Chief Doug Cline (High Point FD, NC).  Also, if you haven’t taken the time, check out the latest on the FireEMS Blogs Community at CommandSafety.com and TheCompanyOfficer.com. Taking it to the Streets is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and Fire Fighter NetCast.com Production.

B/C Matthew Tobia, Anne Arundel County (MD) Fire Department

Matthew Tobiais a Battalion Chief with the Anne Arundel County, MD Fire Department, a metropolitan combination Fire / Rescue / EMS agency in Suburban Baltimore, MD. With over 19 years of diverse experience, B/C is currently working as the Chief of Training at the Department’s Training and Research Division.

B/C Tobia holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Maryland and is a nationally certified Fire Officer IV and Instructor II. He teaches extensively throughout the United States, and is an Adjunct Instructor at the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy. He has served on curriculum development teams at the Maryland Fire Rescue Institute for Fire Officer certification programs, and has also been actively involved in program development at the Pennsylvania Fire Academy for Rapid Intervention, Fire Fighter Survival, and Trench Rescue. Chief Tobia also writes for several national publications.

Matt is active in supporting the families of fallen firefighters, serving as the Department Honor

Guard Commander, and is the family escort coordinator at

Battalion Chief Greg W. Collier, Mount Laurel Fire Department, NJ

the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend. In addition, Chief Tobia is a counselor at the Mid Atlantic Burn Camp for children.

On August 3rd, we recorded a live netcast with two wives of firefighters. The topics included many things like what is it like to be married to a firefighter, how do they deal with their husbands being away for days at a time, and how is it coping with emotions their husbands might bring home from the job.

The show was a lot of fun to do and we enjoyed the opposing point of view that doesn’t get told very often.

Our guests:

Shari Simpson

Shari Simpson

Shari runs the blog Two in, Two Out (http://2in2outblog.com).

She is the mother of 3 boys and an aspiring photographer, small business owner, college graduate, and most of all a Firefighter’s Wife. Her husband is a career firefighter in Illinois.

She really enjoys blogging and finding ways to help out at the local fire departments.

Her blog was recently picked up and moved over to the FireEMSBlogs.com platform and is the only “Firefighter’s Wife” type of blog on there.

Jenna Hatfield

Jenna Hatfield

Jenna runs the blog Stop Drop and Blog (http://stopdropandblog.com/).

She is married to a career firefighter in Ohio and enjoys blogging about many things. She is a freelance writer and editor and moonlights as a newspaper photographer. She has two sons.

We have enjoyed reading Jenna’s blog for quite a while now. She blogs about a lot of other stuff than just being a firefighter’s wife.