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Articles by Anthony Avillo
Rethinking Fire Service Metrics: Measuring Saves, Not Just Losses
Fire departments have traditionally measured outcomes by what was lost: civilian deaths, injuries, and property damage. But what happens when departments start measuring what firefighters saved? In this episode, hosts Jim Duffy and Anthony Avillo talk with David Rhodes about the shift toward positive fire service metrics, including firefighter rescues, lives saved, property protected, and the financial value of fire department operations.
Back to the Basics: One Department’s Approach to Training
Captain Jim Collins and Lieutenant Sean Hogan from the Everett (MA) Fire Department join hosts Jim Duffy and Anthony Avillo for this episode of Fireground Strategies. Collins and Hogan discuss how five Metro‑Boston departments built a low‑cost, high‑impact training program focused on the concept of “Back to the Basics.” They share details about their leased-warehouse evolution and a first-due commercial officer station.
The Similarities Between Parenthood and the Fire Service
Following Fargo's purchase of a seven-acre training site, hosts Craig Nelson, Jeff Wallin, and Chris Rasmussen discuss what an “ultimate” fire training center would include. They cover practical design priorities and the advantages, including cost-saving opportunities, of a rail spur. They also discuss open hazmat and railcar training opportunities.
Breaking Down the ‘W’ for Extreme Weather Tactics
On this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy break down the ‘W’ from John Norman’s “COAL WAS WEALTH” size‑up acronym and translate it into practical tactics for extreme heat, storms, and flash flooding.
What Does It Mean to Be a Pump Operator?
On this episode of The Larry Conley Show, Larry and Dave Conley discuss personal leadership, digital spam, taking time to recharge, and the importance of setting boundaries. 3 min read Fire Department LeadershipPodcastsDavid ConleyThe Larry Conley Show How are affinity groups changing the face of the fire service? This episode of Women in Fire tackles mentorship, navigating the profession, and misconceptions surrounding affinity groups.
Humpday Hangout: CRR and Public Education
Hosts Jeff Wallin, Craig Nelson, and Chris Rasmussen welcome Eric Rosoff, executive manager of the Career Survival Group, to discuss how AI and other nonoperational behaviors are ending firefighter careers. 1 min read FirefightingPodcastsartificial intelligenceTailboard Talk Hosts Rick Lasky and John Salka recap this year's FDIC, practical seasonal changes, and the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11 on this episode of The Command Post.
Practical Advice and Training Methods from Two Jersey Guys
On this episode of Fireground Strategies, guests Bobby Moran and John Lewis join the conversation. They discuss tactics, leadership, and the ever-evolving fire service. The panel members trace their careers from volunteer beginnings and the Bergen County (NJ) Fire Academy to chief roles. They talk incident command, county-level resource coordination, utility response, gas-safety outreach, staffing shortages, and the decline in volunteers.
Fireground Strategies at FDIC 2026
In this episode, Anthony Avillo welcomes guests Walter Lewis, Mickey Tofexis, and Dennis Reilly to talk about command and other street operations, including the command school they run. The FDIC Podcast Studio is brought to you by Firehouse Subs. What Does the Domino Effect Look Like on the Fireground? Fire Chiefs on Navigating Change and Culture in New Departments Leadership and Legacy in Volunteer and Career Firefighting Fireground Leadership: Making a Difference at Every Career Stage
ISFSI: Talking Training at FDIC 2026
Aaron Fields of Nozzle Forward joins host Steve Shaw to discuss ways to cut through the hype in modern fire service training and leadership on this episode of Perspectives on Leadership.
FDIC 2026 Preview: Classes, Symposiums, and the Anniversary of 9/11
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy speak with Jack Murphy about their upcoming FDIC classes, classroom offerings, and the 25th anniversary of 9/11. They break down what’s new for FDIC, the ins-and-outs of opening ceremonies, hands-on evolutions, and commemorations of 9/11. They also explore responding to high-rise “superblocks,” practical preincident building intelligence, and street-level recon.
What Does the Domino Effect Look Like on the Fireground?
Small decisions add up to big effects. And they matter. In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy talk “dominoes” and how tragedies on the fireground are never the result of just one decision. When the dominoes tumble, they add up. The episode opens with a sobering statistic: More than 350 civilians have already been lost to residential fires this year. The discussion moves from strategy to the human side of the job.
Fire Chiefs on Navigating Change and Culture in New Departments
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy talk about journeys transitioning into leadership roles within new fire departments. They welcome guests Jim Trzaski, chief of the Middletown South (CT) Fire District, and Jim Buck, chief of the Wallingford (CT) Fire Department. During their discussion, the guests reveal the realities of stepping into established cultures, managing both operational and political challenges, and earning trust from seasoned personnel.
Leadership and Legacy in Volunteer and Career Firefighting
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy reflect on the challenges and rewards of a firefighting career spanning decades, from the first day as a volunteer to leading large, regional departments. They discuss motivation, mentorship, and the importance of remembering your roots, while stressing the role of company officers in nurturing growth and morale.
Fireground Leadership: Making a Difference at Every Career Stage
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, seasoned firefighters and officers explore how to make a meaningful impact throughout a firefighting career—from probies learning the basics, to seasoned company officers balancing tactics and leadership, to chief officers shaping strategy and department culture. They emphasize humility, continuous learning, and the importance of mentorship. They also highlight practical skills probies must master, such as getting familiar with tools and team integration.
Fireground Strategies: Exterior versus Interior Size-Up: A Matter of Perception
In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about the strategic considerations of size-up. This excerpt discusses how size-up is a matter of perception as each person on the fireground has a different point of view. Officers working inside the fire building and exposures must be mindful of the fact that there are generally two fireground perception vantage points: those on the interior and those on the exterior.
Fireground Strategies: Talking Size-Up
In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about the strategic considerations of size-up. This excerpt discusses how size-up informs all decision making on the fireground.
Fireground Strategies: The RIT Response
In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about accountability, the criticality of the rapid intervention team (RIT), and the importance of the RIT-Assist Team (RAT). The RIT response a crucial response regarding firefighter safety. At the very least, the RIT, also known as the rapid intervention crew, firefighter assist and search team, or whatever they are calling them this week, should respond upon confirmation of a working fire. Second alarm RITs are not acceptable.
Fireground Strategies: Lessons from Baseball to the Blaze
In this edition of Fireground Strategies, Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy dive into the complexities of decision making under pressure by drawing parallels between baseball managing and incident command during fires. Using recent Yankees playoff controversies as a starting point, they explore how incident commanders must balance instinct, analytics, and experience when making critical calls on the fireground.
Fireground Strategies: The Point of Entry Rule of Thumb
In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about the importance of following the point of entry rule of thumb to keep firefighters as safe as possible.
Fireground Strategies: Integrating Technology to the Size-Up Game
In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about how you can use technology to accomplish ongoing size-up on an incident. Technology has made information retrieval a part of the fireground. Utilization of drones, computers, and even cell phones can better inform command during all phases of the operation.
Fire Officer Responsibility: Keeping Your Boss Informed
Failure to keep your boss informed could have tremendous consequences, and the heavy weight of those consequences can end up right in your lap, especially if you are a company officer. No matter what your rank, you have the responsibility of ensuring your superior is aware of any issue that comes across your radar and should be moved up the chain of command. Basically, if something happens under your watch, I expect you to handle it at your level, if you can.
Remembering 9/11 and Recognizing Dominoes on the Fireground
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy mark the 24th anniversary of 9/11 by honoring the heroes and victims—firefighters, police, and everyday citizens—who stood strong during one of the darkest days in U.S. history. They explore the ongoing physical and emotional toll on responders and emphasize the importance of keeping the memory of September 11, 2001, alive for new generations.
Full Contact Leadership: Who Is Leading Your Department?
LEADERSHIP STYLES can be many and varied. Some styles, such as autocratic, democratic, participative, and laissez-faire, work in some situations but not in others. A good mix of styles can be likened to an inventory of tools in a toolbox. When to use which style is the mark of experience, competence, and an understanding of the situation at hand. Leadership types are different. They are characterized by how officers carry themselves—or not.
Anthony Avillo on Fireground Strategies, Fourth Edition
In this episode of In the Books, host and Fire Engineering Editor in Chief David Rodes sits down with Chief Anthony Avillo, North Hudson (NJ) Regional Fire and Rescue legend and author of the bestselling Fireground Strategies. Covering over three decades of frontline experience and fire service education, Avillo shares insights from his career.
Heat, Hydration, and the Human Factor
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Jim Duffy and Anthony Avillo cover the critical challenges firefighters face battling extreme heat. They explore how scorching temperatures and high humidity impact operational effectiveness and safety, emphasizing the strain on cardiovascular health, hydration needs, and the importance of strict rehab policies on the fireground. Candid insights reveal the human factors—ego, emotion, and physical fitness—that influence decision making under stress.
Division Supervisors, Training, and Fire Dynamics
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, Battalion Chief Patrick Wirkus of the Elizabeth (NJ) Fire Department shares practical strategies for improving fireground command through effective division supervision. Drawing on 13 years of frontline experience and his family’s firefighting legacy, Wirkus discusses how decentralizing command at larger incidents enhances communication, reduces span of control, and improves firefighter safety.
Fireground Strategies: Managing the Crowds: Freelance Prevention
In Fireground Strategies, Edition 4, Anthony Avillo writes about the challenges of maintaining control over incident personnel, especially when managing additional alarms. Freelancing is a top-down creation; it does not just happen—it is permitted. Freelancing is a failure of leadership across the entire department, starting with the chief of department. Maintaining control over the personnel on scene should be established before the response.
Fireground Strategies: Arrival Reports
The arrival report is the first deliberate activity directed at bringing structure and control to a situation that is presently unstructured and uncontrolled. The arrival report is the first report aimed at coordinating the fireground in the initial phases of the operation. The arrival report, given by the first officer on the scene, usually a company commander, is size-up information in the form of a standardized report to dispatch and the responding companies.
Fireground Strategies: Personnel Considerations in Additional Alarm Requests
Resources—better to be looking at them than looking for them.—Tom Gavin In Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition, Anthony Avillo writes about the staffing considerations an IC needs to take into account to maintain operational equilibrium when requesting additional alarms. Your tactical reserve is the extra personnel you have staged at the command post (CP) when you have reached operational equilibrium, which is not to be confused with incident stabilization.
Fireground Strategies: Additional Alarm Requests and Considerations
The following is an excerpt from my book, Fireground Strategies, 4th Edition. This excerpt addresses what an incident commander must consider before requesting additional alarms. The request for additional alarms may be made during the arrival report or in the initial progress report, or both. Generally, only second alarms are requested during the arrival report while greater alarms are usually requested during the initial progress report and subsequent progress reports.
Fireground Strategies: Addressing Cancer Risks and Precautions
Guest Creston Ludlow discusses the pressing issue of firefighter cancer risks, reflecting on his extensive experience in the fire service. He highlights the alarming increase in cancer cases among firefighters, previously thought to be a retiree issue, and emphasizes the need for awareness, education, and tangible action to mitigate these risks.
The Strategic Transition
THE SOUND of air horns and radio transmissions initiating the transition from an offensive strategy (interior control) to a defensive strategy (exterior control) is not the sound of defeat. It is an indication of a deliberate strategic maneuver designed to limit damage to the smallest area possible. Master stream operations used in a defensive manner are a strategic tool in the arsenal of the incident commander (IC). When conditions dictate, it is the best choice of action.
FDIC 2025: Fireground Strategies
If you could have dinner at FDIC with one person—living or deceased, real or fictional, fire service related or not—who would it be and why?
Fireground Strategies: Navigating Fireground Dynamics
In this episode of Fireground Strategies, hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy discuss critical fireground strategies, reflecting on the evolution of firefighting tactics and the importance of camaraderie among firefighters. They talk about the historical context of St. Patrick’s origins while seamlessly transitioning into the announcement of the fourth edition of Fireground Strategies, emphasizing the need for continuous learning in the field.
Drawn by Fire: Groomed on the Gridiron
“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.” – Vince Lombardi. Recently, my good friend Paul Combs had asked me to write an article for Fire Engineering that he would do an accompanying cartoon for. I originally wrote part of this piece for a local paper over 20 years ago.
FDIC 2025 Preview: Fireground Strategies: Strategic Decision Making
Instructor: Anthony Avillo, Deputy Chief (ret.) / Deputy Fire Marshal – Director, North Hudson Regional (NJ) Fire & Rescue/Monmouth County (NJ) Fire Academy This presentation will cover the decisions that need to be made regarding fire scene strategy determination based on the arrival and/or forecasted conditions. Strategy selection considerations, strategy modification cues, and offensive-to-defensive/defensive to offensive strategic transition will be discussed.
Fireground Strategies: Fall Hazards in Low Visibility
The Command Post: Size-Up and the 360 Rick Lasky and John Salka discuss size-up and the 360. They discuss the critical observations made and the important results that come from performing these tasks.
Full Contact Leadership: Managing Change in the Fire Service
BY EDWARD FLOOD AND ANTHONY AVILLO The only constant in the fire, rescue, and emergency services is change. Fire is a physical phenomenon. The laws of physics have not changed. However, time, social tides, evolving technologies, hazard profiles, and population migration and densities are some of the forces that demand that fire, rescue, and emergency services continually evolve and change to meet the service needs and expectations of the populations served.
Fireground Strategies: The FE Advisory Board
Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy talk about the Fire Engineering Advisory Board and what the board has been working on. They delve into FDIC, how to make your submission the best it can be, and other ways to contribute to the community. • Fireground Strategies and Other Stuff from the Streets: Rusty Ricker • Fireground Strategies: The Culture in The Fire Service
Fireground Strategies and Other Stuff from the Streets: Rusty Ricker
Jim Duffy and Anthony Avillo speak with Rusty Rocker, the president of the New England F.O.O.L.S. organization. They discuss his career, the history of the New England F.O.O.L.S., and what they do to promote training for the fire service. Brought to you by TenCate Protective Fabrics and LogRX. • Fireground Strategies: The Culture in The Fire Service • Fireground Strategies (and Other Stuff from the Streets)
Fireground Strategies: The Culture in The Fire Service
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Dennis Rubin Products - Fire Engineering Books
Dennis L. Rubin was first appointed as a fire chief in December 1996. Chief Rubin’s experience in fire and rescue service spans more than 30 years: he has served as a line firefighter, company officer, command level officer, and fire chief in several major US cities. In 1994, Rubin served as the president of the State Fire Chiefs Association of Virginia. Rubin was the host fire chief for the 1999 Southeastern Fire Chiefs Association conference held in Dothan, Alabama.
Tim Olk Products - Fire Engineering Books
A photographer for nearly 40 years, Olk was a paid-on-call firefighters for Northbrook Prospect Heights, IL, and Northfield, IL. He is also the photo unit photographer for Boone County, IL, Fire District 2 and Des Plaines, IL, Fire Department. Olk travels all over the greater Chicago area capturing scenes and incidents like the many shared in this book Dozens of his photos have been featured in Fire Engineering and Fire Rescue magazines.
John Salka Products - Fire Engineering Books
Battalion Chief John Salka (ret.) is a 40-plus year veteran of the fire service. He served with the FDNY for over 33 years, the last 15 years a battalion chief in the 18th Battalion in the Bronx. Chief Salka received the FDIC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. He has presented and lectured at FDIC International where he received the 2001 FDIC Training Achievement Award for his "Get Out Alive" firefighter survival training program.
Rick Lasky Products - Fire Engineering Books
Chief (ret.) Rick Lasky, a 40-year veteran of the fire service, served as chief of the Lewisville (TX) Fire Department for 12 years. Chief Lasky followed in his father’s footsteps, beginning his career as a firefighter in the suburbs on the southwest side of Chicago, and has been a line firefighter, firefighter-paramedic, company grade officer, training officer, and command-level officer.
W. Edward Buchanan Jr.
W. Edward Buchanan Jr. has been involved with the fire service since 1982 and currently is a Division Chief with the Hanover County (VA) Fire & EMS, assigned to the Training & Quality Assurance Division. He is the former Program Coordinator for the Hanover County Fire Academy, providing fire, EMS and technical rescue training to a department of more than 600 personnel.
Gamaliel Baer Products - Fire Engineering Books
Gamaliel Baer is a firefighter/EMT and special operator for Howard County (MD) Fire and Rescue. He currently serves as a U.S. Coast Guard Reserve officer and is a volunteer for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. He is credentialed by the Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) as a Chief Training Officer (CTO), and by the American College of Exercise (ACE) as a certified health coach and a certified personal trainer.
Top Trending Reads of the Month: Fall's Must-Read Books
Welcome to our latest blog post, where we dive into the literary world to bring you top trending reads of the month! Whether you're a dedicated firefighter, a fire service leader, or simply someone with an unwavering passion for the fire service and emergency response, we have handpicked a selection of books that are sure to ignite your curiosity and expand your knowledge.
John Norman Products - Fire Engineering Books
Deputy Assistant Chief John Norman is a veteran of more than 40 years in the fire service, with a wide range of experience. He has fought fires in rural, suburban, and urban settings. Now retired, Norman was Chief of Special Operations with the New York Fire Department from 2001 to 2007. Until that time, as a Battalion Chief, he had been assigned to the 16th Battalion in Harlem.
Mixed-Use Occupancy Issues
By Anthony Avillo Mixed-use occupancies were intended to house multiple families above a commercial occupancy. Some jurisdictions call these taxpayers. No matter what they are called, they combine the heavy fire load of a commercial occupancy on the ground floor (and maybe the cellar) with the severe life hazard of a multiple dwelling on the upper floors. Preplanning, district familiarization, and a solid on-scene size-up should guide your actions.
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