Hear That? The Tweet Sound of Engine Company Officer Advice

A lot of engine company knowledge under 140 characters

One common hurdle some of us find in writing and reading is that the attention span of the younger firefighter is short, thanks in some part to technology. Your message has to be enticing enough to capture attention and short enough to avoid the scrolling down and “Eh, I ain’t got time to read all this; I’ll read it later.”

Twitter helps because it is brief, but the trick is knowing how to make brief valuable. Below are just a few valuable tweets for the engine boss from this bird in Harlem. Join the flock.

Advice For The Engine Officer Going defensive requires setting up for success too. Lay strong supply lines that support and maximize streams

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 15, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Be mindful of potential bog downs on your advance like zig zag hallways, bump outs, and off track room entries

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 14, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer If the fire is unseen and you are traveling down a hallway check the doors as you move forward. No Surprises!

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 12, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Advance while flowing water. Increase your flows so that your target flow is attained even with minor kinks!

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 11, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Be aware hose on a landing and a door opening over it while being charged can happen if you’re not watching!

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 8, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Kinks are often caused when the advance is out of sync. Nozzle and back up advance together reduces flow kinks

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 2, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Well hole stretches save on hose and allow for multiple lines in the same staircase but they take practice too

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) July 1, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Gates, fences,etc, must all be neutralized in order to accomplish the stretch. Worry about arrival not damage!

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) June 20, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Let your water follow the fire. Wherever fire may have extended find its path and get your stream in there too

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) June 16, 2014

Advice For The Engine Officer Spot the weakness and repair it. If it’s a certain type of stretch figure out how to do it better. Leadership!

— Ray McCormack (@LtRayMack) May 20, 2014

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Bill Carey is the online public safety news and blog manager with PennWell Public Safety, or more specifically FireRescue Magazine/FirefighterNation.com, JEMS.com, LawOfficer.com and FireEMSBlogs.com. Bill started in the fire service, as a third generation firefighter in 1986, on the eastern shore of Maryland and then continued after moving to Prince George’s County. He served as a volunteer sergeant and lieutenant at Hyattsville. Bill’s writing has been on Firehouse.com, Fire Engineering, FireRescue Magazine, FirefighterNation.com, the Jones and Bartlett 2010 edition of “Fire Officer: Principles and Practice”, The Secret List and Tinhelmet.com. His recent writing on firefighter behavioral health has been nominated for 2014 Neal Award for Best Subject-Related Series.