In chronological order

This was a fire started by lightning in brevard county Florida and burned throughout the night and is still slightly burning throughout flash spots and dry conditions in south brevard county

So me and my wife moved into a home built in the 80s back in April that came with a pellet stove from 2007 that's placed in the living room. Last night it was pretty cold (we live far up north) and we decided it's a good time to test drive the stove before winter.

It was properly checked by me (followed the manual) before I started it and the chimney sweeper did his inspection last month but for some unknown reason huge amounts of warm smoke starts pouring out of the hopper lid after ten minutes, while the integrated computer beeps and turns off all functions.

My immediate reaction was that we were moments away from a backfire so I didn't dare to open the lid and give it more oxygen. I pulled out the power to it and grabbed the phone and called 911 while getting ready with the extinguisher.

The firefighters show up within minutes and starts dismantling the stove and unloads all of the pellets. Luckily the temperature didn't reach high enough to cause a backfire according to the firefighters with the FLIR - it would have died out on its own. Instead it was simply some sort of technical malfunction (booked a technician checking it out next week).

Now in hindsight it feels like shit wasting their time. A friend of mine also told me these pellet stoves are actually really safe, and it's almost impossible for a backfire to occur on these models with a screw like auger.

Got window decals from the union in the academy a few weeks ago. Saw some of the other recruits putting them in their windshields. Feeling hesitant about doing so as I’ve heard it should be earned first. What are your thoughts?

I was on shift the other day and long story short the reliving shift was getting grilled by a captain for having a shotty job on cleaning a hose on the cross lay when they had a fire recently. But during this talk that I was listening too the captain had made a note that other departments won’t put up with this, he then told a story about a guy who works on a neighboring dept. This department is an old style aggressive department which also comes with the challenges of the old salty fireman. But anyway he was telling us that a guy was on shift, and this man had time there (think like 3 years?) but was low man for this turn, he had forgot to make the coffee in the morning for the shift, oh well shit happens. The guys grilled him for it. Hard. He then made the coffee, but the old salty guys on shift then preceded to dump it out in front of him and told him to make it again, he did, they dumped it out again. Then told him to make it again, in which he did, they dumped it again, he made another and they finally didn’t dump it again.

But this whole story was absurd to me, I haven’t been in the fire service very long and I’m a younger guy so I know there’s levels of shit that one has to eat to make it around. But a guy with 3 years on getting treated that bad like shit? I wanted opinions from guys from guys that have been around longer or haven’t, I wanna see both sides on what you fellas think.

HI! So I'm writing a book. And I originally planned for two of the characters to be paramedics, but the story is pointing to firefighters. There is going to be a fatality during this scene of a key minor character, but not one of the firefighters. I know a bit about the 2 in 2 out standard, but I don't know how it would apply realistically to my fictional situation.

What happens if the 2 that are inside need to separate? Does one (or both) of the out team go inside? Do they not separate even if there is a clear need for 2 directions of search?

FF1 and FF2 are the IN team, FF3 and FF4 are the OUT team. IN team goes into a commercial office & warehouse building with an active fire in the office area. IN team finds V1, unhurt, and V2, hurt and semi-ambulatory, hiding in one of the offices. IN team hears noise from further down the hall, closer to the fire, potentially V3. Obviously the V1 and V2 need to be escorted out and obviously the noise needs to be investigated.

How would this situation be handled? Who goes where?

How would IN team communicate with OUT team about what is going on? Is it a bullet point kind of thing, or constant stream of information?

What kind of noise would be distinctive enough to be noticeable through your gear and the sounds of the fire?

Thank you. Thank you for being brave enough to do what you do everyday to keep your communities safe.

Should I put in some extra stuff for the rest of the team as well or is that too soon?

So i come from a military background and I know how stupid some policies can be. Our department has a few i can think of but I wanted to here from the community, what is your departments dumbest/strangest legitimate policy?

When you're a rookie, starting probation on shift 1, your department already has expectations. That's a given (I hope)

My question is; Did you (or would you) show up with your own plan on top of that?

If you could go back, or if you were mentoring a new rookie, what would you tell him to focus on during his down time on the first 10 shifts?

Examples might be:

• Memorizing locations of all equipment and how to use it.
• Learning the major streets in your first due, to give directions if asked.

What would your "Perfect" 10 look like?

I am 17 and will graduate in 2 years. I have never been the smartest and don't think I am gonna go to university, so I decided I might as well do something useful for society and become a firefighter. I always admired them. But of course I need to ask about the salary. I know firefighters can earn good money from extra shifts. So can you please tell me in what country do you live and are you happy with your income. Thank you in advance!

So, I am about to finish recruit school for FF1 at my volunteer department. It’s been an awesome journey and I’ve learned a ton, made me realize that this is what I want to do in life. While our department is 100% volunteer, we run about 1000 calls a year and the standards are high; the department is well respected in our area.

Throughout our recruit class, we’ve had the option to go on shift at our stations, albeit being limited with what you’re allowed to do. I have only done a few shifts at the beginning, mainly because I’ve been focused on studying/training and finishing the recruit class, of course along with other life responsibilities.

Now that I am graduating in a few weeks, I have begun to feel pretty anxious about actually doing it knowing I’ll have the full responsibilities of a firefighter. I have done well in the class, but I feel like there’s so many little things I am not confident in or that won’t translate from my training. I’ll also say that the culture in our department is great, everyone is nice and really wants to see you succeed. I’m not exactly sure what I’m asking for, but does anyone have any advice or been in a similar position?

Hate to sound silly but I’m thinking of becoming a ff however I’m deathly afraid of needles. I’ve passed out many times getting shots and can’t even watch movies that have them. Something I’m working to get over, but is it a deal breaker if I don’t become %100 comfortable around them? Thx

Daytime vs night time

Hi guys,

I need an outdoor smoke dettector/ alarm. Most google recommemdations are indoor ones. Can you recommend me something for outside of the house?

The louder the better! I want to buy the loudest smoke dettector available on the market. Thank you!

I have recently done two ride alongs with the Clovis Fire Department and I’ve really enjoyed the experiences. The people are so nice and of course the vehicles are badass. My absolute favorite is the Pierce Quantum aerial platform truck (i hope I got that correct lol). I’ve ridden in the International squad truck and one of the many Ford ambulances. Big thanks to the Clovis Fire Department for letting me experience what I did.

I was talking with a couple firefighters recently and something that stuck with me was how much time they spend outside of calls just wrangling reports, training logs, vehicle checks and scheduling across a bunch of different systems. Some even said it feels like they’re using 90s-era software bolted together.

For those of you in the field... what’s the part of the admin/software side of the job that eats up the most time or drives you the most nuts? Is it incident reports, equipment checks, scheduling or something else entirely?

Would love to hear what resonates or even what doesn’t since I know every department works a little differently.

(if you want to skip the news report at the start go to 0:12)

In the morning of August 20, 2025, the guilin municipal fire and rescue department reported people stranded on an "island" formed due to flooding(idk how to explain this but basically they went to this place connected by ground, it suddenly rained heavily and they got cut off from leaving the place).

Since the area near the location the people were stranded had lower water levels, it was hard to directly access via the firefighter's inflatble boat; they decided to go to an island nearby and walked in the middle of the rapids to reach the stranded people, giving them life jackets and then walking back to their inflatable boat.

It seems that when you pull on the regulator hose sideways near the valve, it causes air to start leaking through the regulator as if you are purging the system. 6 out of 6 packs we have tested this on including a brand new RIT pack do this. Is it a feature or a bug? Anyone have any experience with this on Scott packs?

Like if a candle lit my curtains on fire or a cigarette igniting dry grass - surely it would just disappear no?

I think they a extremely useful

The department I'm with is very proactive about making sure our bunker gear and associated equipment is properly cleaned after a fire call. We don't clean our radios and I'm wondering if this is a safety issue. I take my radio home and often pet my dog once I get there, so I'm a little concerned that I could be brining unwanted chemicals into the home.

Hey all, I’m a new driver/operator and I’ve got a question I can’t find a straight answer to. We’re running a 2013 Pierce 105’ rear-mount quint (Quantum chassis).

The way it was explained to me: if the stabilizer pins aren’t in and a hydraulic line gets cut, the jacks would basically collapse and the ladder would come down like a pile of Legos.

Now, I’m not arguing the pins—obviously they’re there for a reason and I’ll always use them. My question is more out of curiosity/nerdiness:

If the hydraulic lines were somehow severed, would the stabilizers really just drop? I would think the system has some sort of check valves or mechanical locks to keep the cylinders from just bleeding out and dumping the rig. I’ve dug through our 800-page manual and haven’t been able to find anything that spells it out.

I know every manufacturer and year might be a little different, but do these systems generally have redundant safety features beyond just the pins? I’m just trying to wrap my head around the engineering side and sound less like a rookie when it comes up again.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s got experience with Pierce aerials or just ladder trucks in general.

Thanks in advance—appreciate the knowledge.

So I’m stopping by a lodd funeral to pay my respects to the family and the company. I don’t have a Class A or Class B uniform. But I have my duty uniform which is just a blue company Shirt and blue cargo pants/shorts. Would that be appropriate to wear?

Hey everyone, this may be a very stupid question, and it may even vary department to department, But in metro areas, Is it common for firefighters to have to do ambulance rotations? Or is that not a thing at all? I’m asking as someone looking at getting into this career field, and could have swore I saw on a website for a local metro fire dept that they require new hires to rotate between the roles. Thanks in advance!