What do you think the 2011 Firefighting is going to be? Trained and confident? Or tentative and fearful?

I suppose Christmas and the few days after might have been just another day, another day alive or dieing, struggling. Rest in peace old timer, you are no rat no more.

44 puts holiday on hold to stretch in at a first due fire.

From box to three alarms in 10 minutes, Chelsea firefighters take in a Christmas Eve worker.

“I was just trying to stick with my officer, Lt. Matt Camara,” he said. “I was listening to him and doing everything he told me to do. He is a great officer, so I didn’t have to do anything except listen to him and do what he said and stay close.”

What stood out in the Captain’s story was the things that went right, and the potential for things to go so wrong. The first due companies arrived on scene to find nothing showing. These words alone often cause us to drop our guard, to become complacent.

An aggressive push makes for a successful rescue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Fire in Bronx 7th floor apartment jumped three floors.

“Every new ventilation opening provides a new flow path to the fire and vice versa. This could create very dangerous conditions when there is a ventilation limited fire.”

“They made an aggressive interior attack on the home and were hindered by pack rat conditions. – They made an initial search and rescue, a primary search and rescue, and were unable to find any way inside.”