Skip to content

Fire Service Instruction with Eric Makowski

Straight talk on fire service instruction

Latest Posts
Gallery
About

Photos from the training grounds: live-fire ARFF training, crash truck operations, hose teams, and the drills that build confident firefighters. Click any photo to see it full size.

Two firefighters in full PPE and SCBA flowing a handline at the aircraft trainer's wing engine

Water spray and a rainbow over the tail engine of the aircraft fire trainer with mountains behind

Mobile aircraft fire trainer set up on the ramp at dawn

Instructor running past fuel pan fires behind a curtain of water spray

Instructor leaping over a burning fuel pan beside the aircraft fire trainer

Hose team with an instructor attacking a nose and fuselage fire on the aircraft trainer at night

Hose team attacking a fuselage fire on the aircraft trainer at sunset with an ambulance standing by

High-reach turret blanketing the aircraft fire trainer in foam

Firefighter in SCBA flowing a handline on fire at the aircraft trainer's cabin door at night

Electric ARFF truck with its high-reach extendable turret positioned over the aircraft fire trainer

ARFF crash truck roof turret flowing over a wing and fuel spill fire on the aircraft trainer

Two ARFF trucks flowing turrets toward the aircraft trainer wing with a rainbow in the spray

ARFF truck turret flowing water over the aircraft fire trainer and forming a rainbow

Line of ARFF crash trucks staged on the ramp behind a mobile aircraft fire trainer and fuel pans

Two ARFF crash trucks parked in a fire station bay

ARFF truck flowing its bumper turret beside a second crash truck near the aircraft fire trainer

Fuel pan fire burning beside a mobile aircraft fire trainer at dusk

Elevated view of a fully involved aircraft fire trainer at night with hose teams staged nearby

Engine fire and running fuel fire on a mobile aircraft fire trainer at night with crews standing by

Firefighters raising ground ladders to a concrete training tower

Firefighter with a hand tool in dark smoke during a search drill

Firefighter coming head-first down a ladder in a bailout drill

Flames rolling out of a fire behavior prop with a firefighter on air beside it

Fighter jet model on display outside a building

Concrete fire training tower against a blue sky

Fuel fire burning beside an aircraft trainer with ARFF trucks behind

Firefighters stabilizing an overturned vehicle during an extrication drill

Instructor running a tabletop emergency exercise on an airport model

Tabletop exercise board laid out with an aircraft incident scenario

Steel aircraft fire trainer with engine props

Steel aircraft fire trainer on the training ground

Firefighter working a rope system at the base of a training tower

Plywood boxes built as fuel packages for a live-fire training prop

Marine Corps jet on static display

Instructor helping a firefighter on a training tower ladder

Instructor flowing a hose stream on a burning aircraft trainer

Hose teams attacking an aircraft fire trainer

Firefighter being helped into a red Level A hazmat suit

Firefighters on air working through a hazmat decontamination pool

Crew working through a hazmat decontamination line

Hazmat decontamination corridor set up outside a fire station

Graduation certificates and challenge coins laid out on a red table

Flames and heavy orange smoke inside a fire trainer

Small neighborhood fire station building in Japan

Firefighter climbing out a tower window onto a ladder during a bailout drill

Firefighters advancing in zero-visibility smoke

Firefighters climbing a training tower ladder with SCBA

Hose teams attacking a large fuel fire beside an aircraft trainer at night

Hose team pushing back a running fuel spill fire at night

Hose team approaching an aircraft trainer with a ground fuel fire at night

Firefighters advancing into a burning aircraft trainer at dusk

Firefighters staying low under a fireball in a flashover trainer

Firefighters on air advancing a hose line on their knees in heavy smoke

Firefighters kneeling in an aircraft trainer doorway under flames

Firefighter in silhouette watching flames roll across a burn room ceiling

Firefighter flowing a hose stream onto an aircraft engine fire at night

Firefighter directing a hose stream at a burning engine prop at night

Firefighter with a hose line under rolling flames inside an aircraft cabin trainer

Fire growing up the wall of a burn room during live-fire training

Burning ceiling material fallen into a room during a training burn

ARFF crash truck at night with fire reflected in the windshield

Responder at an ammonia nurse tank venting vapor during a hazmat drill

Ammonia nurse tank releasing a vapor cloud during a leak drill

Fully involved house in the snow during an acquired structure burn

Hose stream on a house fire with heavy black smoke during an acquired structure burn

Two hose teams attacking a fuel spill fire at an aircraft trainer

Hose team attacking an aircraft fire at night

Hose stream hitting fire inside an aircraft fuselage trainer

Firefighters working in heavy smoke on aircraft stairs

Firefighters on SCBA making an interior attack in a fire trainer

Firefighters advancing a hose line on an aircraft fire at night

Firefighters climbing aircraft stairs during an interior attack drill

Firefighter on air entering an aircraft door with fire inside

ARFF truck boom flowing agent onto a fire at dusk

Crews staged on an ARFF training ground during a burn at dusk

Flames rolling inside an ARFF interior fire trainer

ARFF crash truck with high-reach extendable turret beside an aircraft fire trainer

Aircraft wing fire prop with pan fire beside a hangar

Aircraft wing fire over a foam blanket at night

Flames from an aircraft engine fire prop at dusk

Fire and smoke inside an aircraft cabin fire trainer

Large fuel pan fire burning during live-fire training

Instructor working on an aircraft engine fire prop at a live-fire training site

Fire Service Instruction with Eric Makowski

Practical lessons on teaching, training, and leading in the fire service. A new post every morning from a 29-year fire service veteran.

Explore

Latest posts
Gallery
About Eric

© 2026 Eric Makowski · Stay safe, and train like it matters.

Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...

Email (Required)

Name (Required)

Website

Subscribe Subscribed

Fire Service Instruction with Eric Makowski

Have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Fire Service Instruction with Eric Makowski
Copy shortlink View post in Reader
Manage subscriptions Sign up Log in
Report this content
Collapse this bar