I determined that the fire chief was using the private ambulance response time instead of a fire company/fire chief response time for their annual performance report to the mayor and town council.

The fire department is no longer staffed for the mission it actually performs. It is an all-hazards, high-acuity, medically dominant enterprise being resourced by a formula built for structural fir…

Emergency Medical Services is undergoing one of the most significant periods of transformation in its history. Workforce shortages, rising operating costs, reimbursement challenges, increasing clin…

In my back-on-the-job dreams, a feeling returned that I was an integral part of something bigger, something important in a group that makes a difference in the community. I felt calm, competent, an…

Many of these transitions promise lower costs to the municipality. Once the ambulance service is provided, the reality is that the fire department or municipality used unrealistic or naive financia…

My experience on the job and as a consultant is that while the formal fire department may have a specific way or philosophy of doing things, each fire station creates its own version of “the fire d…

Spent part of the weekend grading undergraduate research papers. Since we are rubric-driven, my grading methodology is partially mechanical. 30% of their grade is based on collecting 15 appropriate…

After 18 years, the Meta AI said I was too young to have a FaceBook page. Introducing the Company Commander DayBook

This week’s ask: 1) Is there a newer ambulance replacement guideline than Dan Fellow’s April 2016 EMS World article?

This Week’s Asks: 1) Has ambulance staffing gotten easier in 2025 than it was in 2020? 2) What ia driving caregiver turnover today: workload (hours), work conditions, or pay? 3) Has the opioi…

1) Is there a newer video showing telecommunicator providing dispatcher CPR, using a tiered response protocol, to replace the 2018 Pitt County NC example? 2) Is there research looking at the impact…

This week’s asks: 1) Is there a breakdown by percentage, number of ambulances, or employees of EMS Service by agency (fire department, private for profit, municipal, community owned, hospital, or p…

I am asking for your help with some of the content. If you could review what I have and, if appropriate, share a better or more up-to-date resource.

Reason points out that failure is an inevitable result of human systems—we are all fallible. Countermeasures are based on the idea that “we cannot change the human condition, but we can change the conditions under which humans work.”

As Los Angeles rebuilds, what type of community engineering (roads, building codes, landscaping, and fire breaks) and brush fire abatement will they implement to reduce the fire spread risk and the cost of fire department preparation?

Matt Zavadsky: “For patient safety, community safety, this is something that is a zero-failure option, and if you fail to secure your vehicle, you can go work somewhere else. Period.”

Chief McAniff said: “The goal of the first arriving engine is to advance an attack line and gain control of the interior stairs.”

Fire department emergency ambulance services struggle with EMS staffing, ambulance workload, and response time. I revisit two cities where I did a deep dive long ago and consider why their wicked problems have returned. What is a “Wicked Problem”?…

The Company Commander Facebook page has posted articles about a Los Angeles City Fire Department Captain making $598,532 and a Fire Department of New York electrician making $291,563 in 2021. Some readers feel that posting these articles “attack” the…

It seems like 2019 was a decade ago as we lurch towards a post-pandemic existence. Looking at three emergent situations. These situations provide opportunities and challenges for the front-line emergency service officer. FIRE DEPARTMENT AS A SOCIAL…