by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 5, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Image Credit to FirenuzzleA fellow firefighter page, FireNuzzle, put out a post this week that stopped me cold with how simple and how true it was. It answered a question the public asks at nearly every fire: “Why did the fire truck run out of water?”The honest answer...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 4, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
A reader sent me a slick web page ad post the other day. They found it on Facebook. It was dressed up like a news article — retired RV service writer, a heartbreaking story, a countdown timer, and a plug-in gadget that would supposedly save your life for three easy...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 2, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Last night I was on the couch listening to the scanner app on my phone running, doing what I’ve done for more years than I care to count now — tracking traffic across different states and several Michigan counties, half out of habit and half because it’s just who I...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jul 1, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
By Chief Paramedic Fred R. LaPoint — Stronach Township Fire DepartmentI’ve spent more than fifty years around fire — structural firefighting, paramedicine, and disaster response with Team Rubicon across well over three dozen deployments here and abroad. I know the...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jun 2, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
By Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief & Paramedic, Stronach Township Fire Department | June 2026I have spent over 50 years in emergency services. I have seen fire do things that people swore were impossible in their community. And right now, as I write this, the...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | May 3, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Some people choose public service. Some of us were never given the chance to choose anything else.The group photo in this piece was taken April 2014 — my first Team Rubicon deployment. Operation Silversides, Muskegon, MI. Bill Rushford, center with that smile, passed...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Apr 23, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Northern Michigan is under a “Use Extreme Caution” advisory from the Huron‑Manistee National Forests. Burn permits are suspended across much of the Lower Peninsula. And the fine fuels are drying by the hour. That isn’t a contradiction — it’s the pattern every fire...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Mar 24, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
I may be slow, but I’m not stupid. I watched the videos from LaGuardia. I listened to the air traffic control audio. And what I saw was exactly what any firefighter, Coastie, or responder would recognize immediately: a crew responding to a legitimate emergency, moving...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Mar 8, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
In forty-plus years of fire and EMS, I’ve stood downwind of structure fires, chemical spills, tanker rollovers, and industrial accidents. I know what a petroleum fire plume smells like, what it does to the people breathing it, and what it leaves behind in the soil and...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Feb 1, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Firefighters may retire, but the mindset, the instincts, and the bond forged in the heat, the smoke, and the darkness never fade. This is what remains long after the last call.Firefighters may hang up their gear. They may retire. They may leave the station for the...
