Cooking Safety Begins With Me Not Cooking
It goes without saying that the best way to maintain safety in a kitchen is to keep me out. But I said it anyway, and as it happens, the theme of this year’s […]
Tag: fire department
A Fractured History Of Firefighting
On this 100th anniversary of Nation Fire Prevention Week, I thought I’d take a quick look at the history of firefighting. You might want to brace yourself, we’ll be moving fast. Fire was discovered by […]
A Great Day For a Grass Fire
Sunday was a great day for a grass fire. No, not that kind of grass, although wildland fires can make your day go to pot. It’s that time of year. People get cabin fever, and […]
Pay For a Pumper at Naughty Bingo
So here’s the scenario: You want to support your local volunteer fire department, so you go to their fund-raising bingo night. And it’s your lucky day! You get the B-12, and the I-C, and the […]
Where’s the Fire?
Two weeks ago, I wrote a tale about my mother-in-law needing to move to assisted living because the fire department had been called one too many times when she left things on the stove. I […]
Pining Away Over Smoke
It’s not workable to wear air packs at wildland fires, but you can usually stay out of the worst of the smoke if you’re careful. I wasn’t. Sunday we responded to a fire that burned […]
Great Fires Aren’t Good
This column did get printed in time for Fire Prevention Week—it’s just late getting online. But really, shouldn’t something like this be all year round? Meanwhile, the new publisher has allowed me to write a […]
Bleeding Fire Engine Red
The editor of the newspapers I work for asked me for a fire service related article for our Fire Prevention Week insert last week, and this is what I came up with: It’s […]
A Novel Solution To Saving Camp
SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK There I was, happily whacking away at the keyboard, working on a story that poked a little fun at the space opera genre, when they tried to shut down my […]
Bobbing For Fire
SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK After three decades as a volunteer firefighter, I … hurt. A lot, especially when it’s cold. Recently I’ve been seen wearing a sling, to let my arm heal after I […]