I never thought myself a blogger, but I was convinced by some that indeed some of my diatribes on the Parenting Club message forums are blogs-in-forum anyway. The only difference between a web log and a forum position statement is that I don’t have to defend my position to anyone. In other words, I can write what comes into my head and read or not read any comments from others as I see fit. Oh, the power! So I’ve decided to name it Red Embers. Corny as the name is, I have a blog account on another blog-place with that same name, but I’ve never written anything there, but it is my hope that as I write here, some of what moves me to write will be read and accepted.

 

Red Embers isn’t going to remove me from the Parenting Club Forums. I’m still going to give of myself as I have in the past. I have written on fire safety and family life in those forums for more than four years. Now Rod and Dee Dee have given me a place into which I can collect those thoughts and advice, and hopefully I will gain a readership from PC and elsewhere. It’s not that I think I’m the end all and be all of fire and safety knowledge… There’s plenty of that out there coming from smarter people than me. But I think I can offer some unique perspectives, since much of what I do professionally involves single family homes and inspections in those places. I see a lot of things that most people in my field don’t get an opportunity look at and be scared about. Most fire inspectors ply their trade in business uses and in multiple family dwellings where there are written rules that everyone must follow. The fact is that most civilian fire fatalities occur in one and two family dwellings. Even sadder is the fact that many of those fatalities are children.

 

I also spent 10 years as a full-time, paid EMT, and some of what I’ll bring to the blog-sphere will relate to my experiences working with families in that capacity. Moms and dads of all ages fear for the safety of their children. Hopefully I’ll be able to lean upon my experience as a father of over 23 years and a first responder for almost 30, and put into words and advice some of the topics that all parents are concerned about.

 

I have so many ideas, but as of now I don’t know where this will lead me. Hopefully we’ll all be pleasantly surprised. While I’ve read and am a member of many fire service related web sites and forums, I rarely participate in them. I prefer instead to spend my free time in non-fire related pursuits like Parenting Club. It’s not that I don’t have anything of value to add to the professional sites, it’s just that after spending eight hours of every day in service, I much enjoy the diversion that places like PC provide. The last time I looked, there wasn’t anyone doing just what Red Embers will do. That is to provide timely, professional fire and general safety advice to parents and families.

 

I have committed to this service, and hope that the readers will get something out of what I have to say. I know that I’ll never be short topics – I’ve already got a growing list. I will try not to make my writing too dry, and I’ll do my best to provide useful and topical links within my blog. I hope everyone looks forward to this as much as I do.