Tag Archives: AHJ Perspective

Adios, Adieu and Aloha George Lucas had a most interesting screen crawl as he prepared his audience for Star Wars. His statement “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” is easily recognizable as part of the movie’s introduction.1 The film was an overnight success, especially in establishing …

This is not a rhetorical question. Is America still burning? If we go back as early as the 1947 Fire Conference sponsored by President Harry Truman, you can see that fire loss has taken a terrible toll on the economy of our community and our nation. Well within the experience …

Finger Pointing 101 Well, it happened again! A major fire struck a high-rise building, resulting in fatalities to civilians and injuries to firefighters. Who is to blame? Some wanted to blame the fire service because the building was lacking built-in fire protection equipment. Others wanted to blame the building for …

Whenever we want to emphasize the significance of a particular event, we often refer to it as being “off the charts.” Usually this means that whatever we are looking at is statistically significant and produces compulsive evidence that is worthy of consideration. Most often, you think of things being off …

It is an easy enough phrase to repeat; our thoughts and prayers go out to… In the aftermath of many disasters, there is an armada of people who want to express this sentiment. And, for the record, it is entirely appropriate. For sure, our thoughts and prayers should go out …

“Truth or Consequences” was originally a television show in the early 1950s. On that show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly. The way the show went, if the contestant could not complete the “truth” portion, there would be a “consequence.” They were usually required to …

It is easy to get enamored with words. After all, words have been used to inspire and motivate people since the dawn of time. However, there is one problem with words. If they are not backed up by action, they are useless. Actions always speak louder than words. However, words …

They say that people who live in glass houses should never get involved in a rock throwing contest. On the other hand, if you do live in a glass house, you should take certain precautions like removing all the loose rubble from the outside so that malcontents cannot do damage. …

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, there is a line that reads, “Water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink; water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” If we were to write an epic poem about fighting fires in high-rise buildings, we might change the rhyme to read, “Water, water somewhere, and we need …