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...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jan 28, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
Yesterday, our fire department assisted a neighboring agency on a tragic crash on M‑55 in Manistee County, MI. Snow was blowing sideways, visibility was collapsing, and traffic had to be rerouted around the scene. While standing in that intersection, watching vehicle...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Jan 22, 2026 | Behind The Alarm
The southern United States is staring down a dangerous ice storm with the potential to knock out power for days, cripple travel, and expose millions to life‑threatening cold. Most people in this region aren’t built—or equipped—for prolonged freezing rain and grid...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Dec 24, 2025 | Behind The Alarm
By Fire Chief Fred R. LaPointI’m going to tell you something that nobody wants to say out loud this time of year: for some of us, the holidays are the hardest damn days of the year.If you’re reading this in a fire station, a police locker room, an EMS bay, or a...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Dec 16, 2025 | Behind The Alarm
Photo Credit: Chris FranckowiakOn December 14th, two snowmobilers broke through the ice on a lake just south of us in Mason County, Michigan. Neither survived. Sadly, two families will have empty chairs this Christmas.I’ve been in the fire service for over 49 years....
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Nov 25, 2025 | Behind The Alarm
Dangers of Turkey FryersThanksgiving is coming up fast, and maybe this is the year you’ve decided to join the deep-fried turkey club. You’ve tasted one before—crispy skin, juicy meat, done in a fraction of the time—but you’ve never made one yourself. As this year’s...
by Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic | Nov 16, 2025 | Behind The Alarm
By Fire Chief Fred R. LaPointTwo fires. Twelve days. One family in Meridian Township, Michigan, is learning the hard way that the devices we welcome into our homes and vehicles carry dangers most people don’t understand until it’s too late.The first fire started in...
