It’s so easy to lose yourself, becoming buried in the BS of our daily lives, trying to climb some imaginary ladder of success not even knowing where that might lead. ____ Who’s definition of success are you even climbing towards? What if that ideological epitome of success that society has engrained in us is […]

We are experiencing a time of great turmoil right now; destruction, chaos and pain. It’s exhausting and overwhelming. But it is also an opportunity. Because the possibility exists for the inconsequential, the small and mundane desires that no longer serve us, to be swept aside as deep, consequential energies rise to the surface.   Questions […]

“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca I have believed for a long time that the hardest thing firefighters do is get up every morning and go to work, never knowing what the day might throw at us. To face that uncertainty is the one truly brave thing we […]

“There are things that upset us. That’s not quite what we’re talking about here, though. I’m thinking rather about those images or words or ideas that drop like trapdoors beneath us, throwing us out of our safe, sane world into a place much more dark and less welcoming. Our hearts skip a ratatat drumbeat in […]

Triple F–A Manifesto   Manifest discipline emotionally, professionally, morally and intellectually. Let your discipline be revealed in the way you dress, speak, walk, work, and comport yourself with co-workers and the public. Develop attention to detail. Start small and work up. Take pride in the little things. Kick ass on the big things.   Embrace compassion […]

    Every hero doesn’t go do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over and over. And they have the persistence and they stick to it.  * No matter how much technology has evolved, it comes back to human will, human chutzpah, human resilience.  –Matthew McConaughey discussing Interstellar in Time.   […]

The women of Miami Dade Fire Rescue are on a roll. This October Flight Medic Susana Oatmeyer performed an open water hoist in Florida Bay to retrieve a victim from a capsized boat; Rescue Diver Brandy Paternoster and Sal Hernandez rescued a truck driver trapped in a canal; and TRT Firefighter Maggie Castro placed 1st […]

It’s Sunday morning in Dade County, Florida. I’m working on Engine 66 and so far, before noon, we’ve run on a woman suffering from delirium tremens due to alcohol withdrawal, a “male having a breakdown”, threatening to kill himself and his wife, and a sweet 93 year old lady born in 1921. So much for […]

I am not a parade kind of person.  I find peace and solitude far more appealing, (which does not explain my choice of careers, I know!) yet I wanted to find a place where Triple F’s Fabulous Female Firefighters could come together from across the country and have a chance to meet in person. Somewhere […]

Triple F is a mindset.  An attitude.  It’s a determination to forge our mind, body, and spirit into an indomitable flame. Indomitable means “impossible to subdue or defeat” and flame is pure energy and light, so I find indomitable flame an inspiring metaphor for human potential.  To become this indomitable flame means taking the path less […]