By Dean Guccione - April 17, 2019

There is no question that we now live in the age of instant gratification, and part of that gratification is instantly seeing what’s going on in the world, what’s going on with our families and friends by seeing it all on the various social media platforms.

This brings me to what I want you to think about today, not only as a Company Officer candidate, but in your current position as a firefighter, firefighter/paramedic, or driver/engineer/chauffer.

Since we live in a world of Samsung Galaxy and iPhone cameras, and when the crowd gathers at an emergency scene, citizens are instantly sharing LIVE, what the fire service is doing, both well, and not so well for everyone to see.       

It used to be one thing that citizens would video tape or take pictures of firefighters on the emergency scene, but now their video cameras are directly connected Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitter, Instagram, and many...

By Dean Guccione - March 18, 2019 

As I moved up the ladder within the Beverly Hills Fire Department, one of the leadership principles that I employed, almost on a daily basis, was the principle of empowerment.

As a company officer, and as a chief officer, I quickly learned that the more we empower those we lead, the better the results will be and the more buy-in we’ll have from the line personnel. And that, plain and simple, builds trust between the line and management.

The fire service is made up of immensely talented people. One of the key strengths firefighters possess is the ability to figure things out and the ability to solve complex problems.

You give a firefighter a problem or assignment or task, and let them have free rein to figure it out and solve, you’ll see results that you only could have imagined.

This takes critical thought and analysis of the information presented, whether whole or incomplete, and then making a series of decisions that will affect...

By Dean Guccione - February 10, 2019                                           Photo by Daniel Jasina

Whether you’re a firefighter, engineer, company officer, or chief officer, the thought of a Mayday occurring on an incident is terrifying at the very least, and the last thing you want to happen is to find yourself in a situation where you need to call for a Mayday. And, as the incident commander, the last thing you want is to have to manage a Mayday.

If you are preparing for your Company Officer Assessment Center exam, these statistics and factors will help you prepare when you're not only asked to manage the initial phase of an incident, but when you're asked to describe, in detail, your considerations and actions when assigned as the RIC/RIT Group Supervisor.

I’m hoping that the factors and statistics listed in this article will help you, as a firefighter,...

By Dean Guccione -  January 3, 2019

In this blog post, Chief Dean Guccione discusses the lessons learned when a routine vehicle fire goes wrong. These lessons are geared towards the Company Officer candidate, however, there are lessons that can be learned for firefighters, Company Officers, and Chief Officers. 

By Dean Guccione - December 20, 2018

As you prepare for your Lieutenant or Captain’s promotional exam, there is a good chance you may face an Active Shooter simulation or discussion problem in the tactical portion of your exam, similar to what we saw in Santa Fe, Texas yesterday.

And I want you to be ready.

Or, if you don’t have a tactical situational problem, you may be asked in your interview about your department’s policy regarding active shooter incidents.

And again, I want you to be ready.

There are a couple of areas I want you to think about, as you not only train on active shooter incidents in your department, but also as you’re preparing for your promotional exam.

Those two areas are - Situational Awareness and Haz-Mat.

Situational Awareness

I want you to always be thinking about situational awareness in active shooter incidents because these types of incidents are fluid and are constantly moving until the shooter is either killed or taken into...

By Dean Guccione - December 19, 2018

I wanted to pass along some info that I read in Fire Engineering magazine this past week, that talks about transitional fire attack. The story was written by Chief P.J. Norwood and Captain Nick J. Salameh, who are Fire Engineering Magazine contributors.

This is more of a summary of portions of the article, but it’s valuable information for you to know, not only as a firefighter, but especially as a potential Company Officer.

And, if you’re department hasn’t begun to train on, or implement some form of Transitional Fire Attack, it is certainly something for your department to consider. 

Also, you will have more influence enacting changes in tactical operations of this magnitude, once you become a Company Officer.

When I began my career with the Beverly Hills Fire Department, we only had two ways that we approached a structure fire; offensive with interior fire attack until the fire was extinguished or we were...