Seven Minutes and 150 Feet Nearly one year ago, February 26, 2013, two young Navy divers died during a reckless and unnecessary certification dive in frigid 150 feet deep water at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.  Their deaths were attributable to inadequate leadership, poor procedures and lack of risk assessment. Just four weeks earlier a […]

  Workin' It The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, will hold a news conference this afternoon detailing a long running scheme involving retired police and firefighters fraudulently receiving Social Security Disability Benefits for mental health problems, many based on 9/11. The Times reports that the operation actually dates from 1988 and involves over a hundred officers […]

I got to know them, if just a bit, and was honored to be tagging along. They are a class act.

The rest is history though the lessons are widely applicable to firefighting and should not be lost:

  Fire Service Leaders with Nothing to Say On Christmas Eve, four Webster, New York, firefighters were shot and two killed when a paroled felon with a prior murder conviction set them up.  It’s more accurate to say they were executed with premeditated precision.  Arson was used as the pretext for drawing them into the […]

In Nassau, It’s Body Armor Optional Earlier I wrote about the killing of Officer Lopez during a traffic stop last week.  He was not wearing a vest, which seemed odd–it still does. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano is quoted in Lawofficer as saying, “Nassau does not have a mandatory bullet-proof vest policy,  it’s up to […]

His lack of personal protection seems inexplicable given his experience and training, especially as a firefighter.

  343 One of my union local officers posted a piece on Facebook the other day reporting that a Florida elected official, Janet Long, was quoted as saying that firefighters, “have really taken advantage of 9/11 and what happened then and capitalized on it and the emotion” among other things. Ms. Long is going where […]

Yesterday’s blog post at IAFF online by Rich Duffy trumpets a “must read” article in a “prestigious, professional online magazine” by author John Steadman concerning the fatal fire at the former Deutsche Bank building which was under demolition at the time of the incident. First, employing “J’accuse”, a reference to the 19th century Dreyfuss affair in […]

Friendly Fire? ATF Agent John Capano was shot and killed in Seaford, Long island, on New Year’s Eve when he intervened in a robbery at a pharmacy. Agent Capano was in the pharmacy picking up a prescription when the assailant, who has a record of prior robberies, demanded money and medication. He followed the robber, […]