by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 19, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Fred R. LaPoint | Fire Chief Paramedic, Stronach Township Fire DepartmentBEFORE THE ORDER COMES — PART 1 OF 8SHARE THIS. IT COSTS NOTHING, AND IT MIGHT COST SOMEONE EVERYTHING NOT TO.Every part of this series will be collected in one folder you can download, print, or...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 18, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
July 18, 2026The smoke came into the Upper Peninsula Wednesday night and was over West Michigan by Thursday morning. Air quality index over 500 in spots. Grand Rapids skyline gone.Anybody who’s been in this business more than a few years has fielded the same question...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 17, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
A reader asked me a question this week that I wish more people would ask: what about the cattle? What about the animals in all this smoke? Is the danger over when the smoke clears? Her instinct was that it had to be just as hard on them — she just didn’t know. And...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 17, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
By Fred R. LaPoint, Fire ChiefEvery firefighter learns early that fire is not your enemy. That surprises people outside the service, so let me say it plainly for the folks reading this who’ve never pulled a line: fire is a tool and a force, older than any of us, and...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 16, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
BEHIND THE ALARMStraight Talk from the Fire ServiceFifty years on the fireground teaches your nose things. When I walked outside yesterday and this morning, I didn’t need an app to tell me what I was breathing. It smells exactly like the perimeter of a working fire or...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 6, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
By Fred R. LaPoint • Fire Chief, Stronach Township Fire Department • Team Rubicon Disaster ResponderAs I write this, the Aspen Acres Fire southwest of Pueblo, Colorado has grown to roughly 87,000 acres — the eighth-largest wildfire in that state’s history — and it has...
