As you may know, Rescue Digest is located in Western Connecticut, just a few minutes away from the town of Newtown. While Rescue Digest consists of only two regular staff, many of our contributors are emergency responders who live or work in and around Sandy Hook, one literally next door to where the incident took place.

GOAL: To ensure that members of your organization understand that everything they do affects your organization’s Public Image. Public Image is Public Sentiment, Public Sentiment is Public Support, and Public Support affects your ability to operate, regardless of your organization’s status as a public or private entity. Everything You Do In Uniform or With Your Vehicle Says… (What’s Message?) You ...

Firefighters Problem:  Embracing the age old joke, embracing who we are as firefighters, and maybe embracing the damn cat, too.   Back in November I remember slugging into a couch to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade with my son. My favorite three year old was fascinated and loved watching the balloons and floats come down the road.  (Mostly because he ...

Fire Code for 1st Responders   The fire of today is not your grandmother’s fire. Furnishings today contain so much foam and other plastics that the BTU release is much greater than a fire 30-50 years ago. In addition, what hazards do newer construction products and methods present for all first responders arriving at a burning or damaged building?

Goal:  To find Conference Scholarships & Savings Opportunities for Emergency Services   Emergency Services Conferences are a great place to network, attend educational lectures and workshops, and see what new products are available on the market.  They’re a fun place to gather with people in your field, and serve as a mini vacation from the day-to-day.  The conference fees, travel and lodging ...

The top five public safety tips your community needs to know.

  SCHOOL LOCKDOWN DRILL CONSIDERATIONS* Problem: First Responders aren’t always privy to school’s lockdown policies *Editor’s Note: This article was readied for publication immediately prior to the recent school shooting incident in Ohio. The article was not written in response to or  meant in any way to critique the incident or the men and women who responded to the call. ...

  Emergency Services Fitness: Get Fit to Save Lives   Goal:  To ensure your safety and ability to perform your job in emergency services: a physically taxing profession.   Although we’re in the profession of protecting and helping the public, we too often neglect ourselves and our bodies. In order to provide the services we’re sworn to provide to the ...

The Easiest Way to be a Life Saver Goal: To recognize the opportunities that arise in emergency services to provide true care for others, especially when it seems like a waste of your training and expertise to do so. “You often help your patients the most when you think you’re doing the least.”  This advice was given to me as ...

Volunteering From Local to Global: How to Take your Emergency Services Training on the Road Goal:  To apply your Emergency Services Training and experience to help people, volunteering in different locations around the world. Last year I had the amazing pleasure of travelling to the Zulu Natal in South Africa.  On the way there I spent one day and one ...