German aerial ladder manufacturer METZ has introduced new type of 32 meters Aerial ladder.

Technology behind it, is already known PLC  with few improvements, especially in 25 % faster movement of aerial ladder.

Rosenbauer design from Panther is seen also in this Aerial ladder.

Few exclusive pictures you can see on our friends Jan Ole web site:
Difference between American and European Aerial ladders is always interesting theme…

(Pictures of METZ Aerial Ladder from http://www.drehleiter.info are taken in my home town in Germany: Rastatt :)  )

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Hello to all the firefighters (and other readers) of this brand new blog. It is great to see the World of Fire/EMS Service collaborate with the Blogoshpere once again. I am honored to be incorporated in this blog and to offer the view from Roanoke, Virginia and across the U.S. I look forward to reading what other authors on this site have to offer and I hope that I can live up to your expectations.

Let me offer a little snipet about myself. My name is Rhett Fleitz, I am a Lieutenant (Engineer) in the City of Roanoke, Virginia. I work for the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department and I have been here for almost 8 years. Our Department has approximately 280 uniformed Firefighers. Some are EMTs, and some are Paramedics. Our City has a population of around 100,000. Roanoke is located in Southwestern Virginia.

I began “blogging” with a site designed around my department. You can view it at www.RoanokeFire.com. The blog has been online for almost two years. Recently, I began a State Fire/EMS news site (VAFireNews.com). This site is designed as a News site for the State of Virginia. I have began writing for the site, which has offered a little bit of a change from blog posting.

If you want to learn more about my department you can visit our IAFF Local site (Local 1132).

Enough about me and my Department. I hope to get some more articles written and posted soon.

Feel free to email me with any questions or ideas for posts at FireFleitz@adelphia.net.

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Constant cutting of funds for firefighting is happening everywhere. What can we as firefighters do? Better P.R. or some sort of political pressure?

Firefighters from small Croatian city Mursko Sredisce had a idea-they decided to participate in local elections for city Council. Results of elections came as a surprise, they won just one of seven places in City council, but coalition of parties which form government on national level did not get in this City council. Local media are screaming: «Firefighters better then Government» or «Local voluntary fire department stronger then Croatian government»  :)
Off course, this is not first time that firefighters play some role in politic. Firefighters from Slovenia also participated in local election, US firefighters are always participating in election meetings and I am sure in other countries is the same.

Is that future of firefighting, what will happen if «We» lose elections-no more funds for firefighters..

Hope not…

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Firefighters have a natural interest, amongst others, in equipment used by their peers other countries. I’ll take this opportunity to kick off a series with a presentation of a standard firefighting vehicle here in Germany, called LF16/12.

LF16/12, 2005

This particular engine is stationed at a nearby fire department. There is a foto set on flickr as well as a walkaround on video (in German).
Read more…

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In year 2006, Republic of Croatia nominated two firemen for training on the Fire and Rescue Academy Malaysia (FRAM). These year FRAM accepted both candidates from Republic Of Croatia, Dario Gauš Assistant Commander in the Rijeka Fire Brigade City and Siniša Jembrih, Fire Officer in the Zagreb Fire Brigade.

Firefighter’s training center presents the hot problem of Croatian Fire Service. Besides individual possibilities of single Fire Brigade, there is no central firefighter’s training center in which would accompany world trends and on whose cognitions periodically would spend continuous theoretical and the practical instruction for member of the firefighting formation.

Firemen are, after they finish school for fireman, let loose to work conditions of the Brigade where they work. Established laws and sub legal acts do not envisage, and what is more important, neither does not oblige the employer on the system so called whole life educations. Existence of the firefighting training center on the states level and setting obligations of the periodic training session would solve this problem, especially keeping in mind that such solution is normal practice around the world.

To such requirement in addition goes also the fact that every segment of man surroundings every day promotes new technologies and new understandings. The only way that fireman can give the quality answer to the situation is daily accompanying world trends and promoting Fire Service consistently with new cognitions.

Therefore, does not wonder trying to use every occasion for the abroad training , which would as aim have the exchange of experiences and acquiring new cognitions on the basis to improve the complete work in firefighting formations of Republic Of Croatia.
Read more…

Reports | 1 Comment »

The idea for Fire Blog was born in September, during my visit in Zagreb, Croatia. Sinisa and I thought it might be a good idea to start a project similar to Feuerwehr Weblog, but on an international scale.

After all, many of us are now on the internet - there are plenty of cross-border personal connections in the firefighting community, yet there is no single medium aiming to satisfy our natural curiosity about what is happening elsewhere.
Therefore, this Blog is primarily aimed at establishing an international platform where we can exchange knowledge, ideas, or tactics, to name a few possibilities. It would be great to find a few authors from different parts of the world willing to contribute to make Fire Blog a hub for the international firefighting community.

For example, I’ll be writing about news from Germany, but also about our equipment and tactics. So if you feel like you are willing to contribute, please feel welcome to contact me at irakli (at) feuerwehr-weblog.de. This will be fun :)

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Sinisa Jembrih, Zagreb, Croatia
(zagreb-fire-brigade (et) net.hr)

Sinisa is firefighter in Zagreb fire department, Croatia. He is writing about firefighting on few web sites and for Croatian firefighter magazine. Aerial ladder safety training, international cooperation, rope rescue, fire stuff collecting (fire patches, t shirts, helmets..) and hot fire training are his special interest in firefighting. In “free time” from firefighting, he enjoys caving, mountaineering and photography.

Irakli West, Munich, Germany
(irakli @ feuerwehr-weblog.de)

Irakli holds the Danish nationality, and is a resident of Haar, Germany, an outskirt town of Munich, home of the Oktoberfest. He is a member of both the Munich and Haar Volunteer Fire Departments.He also initiated Feuerwehr Weblog, by now the most successful online magazine about firefighting in Germany.

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