One hundred fifty-five years ago tonight, a lumber town of about 1,700 people in northeast Wisconsin went to bed with smoke in the air. Nobody thought much of it. The woods around Peshtigo had been smoldering for weeks, and by October of 1871 the smell of burning timber was as […]
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The Peshtigo Fire: What America’s Deadliest Wildfire Still Teaches
The Peshtigo Fire: What America’s Deadliest Wildfire Still Teaches Wildland Firefighters On the same night that the Great Chicago Fire lit up the headlines, a far deadlier fire was erasing a Wisconsin lumber town and sixteen communities around it. Most people have never heard of it. But if you carry […]
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The Worcester Cold Storage Fire: The Night the Fire Service Learned When to Stop
The Worcester Cold Storage Fire: The Night the Fire Service Learned When to Stop Every firefighter carries a few fires they never rode to. Fires that happened to someone else, in another city, maybe before they were born — but that live in the back of the rig anyway, in […]
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The Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire: The Night That Rewrote How We Fight Fire
The Charleston Sofa Super Store Fire: The Night That Rewrote How We Fight Fire On the evening of June 18, 2007, nine firefighters walked into a burning furniture store in Charleston, South Carolina, and never walked out. It was the deadliest single loss of American firefighters since September 11, 2001. […]
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CPAT 2026 Changes: What’s New and How to Train for It
CPAT 2026 Changes: What’s New and How to Train for It If you’re testing this year, listen up. The IAFF rolled out a set of CPAT addendums that took effect January 1, 2026. None of them change the eight events or the clock. But a few of them change how […]
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The 24/48 Side Hustle: 5 Businesses Built for Shift Work
The 24/48 schedule is one of the most underrated parts of this job. Work a day, get two off. Over a month, that’s roughly 20 days you’re not at the station. Plenty of firefighters spend that time fishing or catching up on sleep. Plenty of others spend it building a […]
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