Special Operations

Here you will find the names of most of the top Fire/EMS smart phone applications (Apps) as shared by the readers on the Fire Critic Facebook page. Most are found on either your iphone or Android marketplaces. All you have to do is use the terms below to search for them on your phone.

Check out this video about a brand new technology being developed by Tanagram Inc. They are developing Headmounted display (HMD) Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Yeah, I know...what the hell does that mean? Watch the video!

The difference between us and them was that we did it in honor of them. We did it without an airpack, without fear, without trepidation. We did it to help others never forget.

Who better to explain what happened and expose the GOP leaders who continue to utilize 9/11 to seem compassionate all the while not giving a damn about the first responders who worked at Ground Zero than Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Even if this is Political humor, the humor is typically not to far from the truth. The House bill passed at 268 to 160 (17 Republicans voting for the bill and 157 against). Only 3 Democrats voted against the House Bill. The Senate bill failed. The vote was 57-42, short of the 60 votes in favor needed to proceed under Senate rules.

What if there was something on the fireground killing firefighters that you cannot see, you cannot feel, you cannot smell, and you cannot hear. What if I told that that it could increase your chances of a heart attack and/or stroke even up to 72 hours AFTER you leave the fireground AND your exposure to it happens after MOST of the danger on the fireground is over. What if I told you that it can kill you immediately.

As for learning how to actually extinguish fire, simulators don't seem to be a reasonable trade off. Even after hours of classroom to learn fire behavior, building construction, reading smoke, extinguishing agents, hose and appliances, water streams, and all that other stuff I feel that actual firefighting in the very least a Class B burn building is necessary to effectively teach what it is like to put out a house fire....and I mean a hot and smoky class b burn building with plenty of fire.

The Monterey Fire Department responded to a residential fire at a 3 unit apartment building at 698 Spencer Street on 11/12/10 at 11:29 a.m. Mutual aid was provided by the Pebble Beach Fire Department, Pacific Grove FD, Seaside Fire Department, Monterey Peninsula Fire Department, and Monterey County Regional Fire. The Monterey Police Department assisted with traffic control, and Americal Medical Response and the Red Cross also responded to the incident. Video by Ryan Whitty for FDNNTV.com.

This weeks Monday Morning Shoutout goes to the newly designed and revamped Traditions Training Blog. The blog has been around, but they decided to move the discussion to their facebook page. Now they are back with a vengeance! The Traditions Training Blog is hosted on the FireEMSBlogs.com platform and is a part of the larger web site TraditionsTraining.com.

At this point in time, Virginia Task Force 1 has two teams operating in Haiti assisting with rescue operations following the 7.0 earthquake. USA-1 is the original heavy response team of 72 members which arrived in Haiti on the 13th. USA-2 Medium is the 36-42 member team which arrived in Haiti this morning (15th). Virginia Task Force 2 has one team of 80 members which should have arrived in Haiti last night or this morning.