• Watch the trailer for Firestorm (above), a documentary that follows the Los Angeles Fire Department, which handles all of LA’s emergency medical services. (Happy Medic)
• Remember the heroes during National Police Week May 9-15. (Positive LEO)
• The Paramedic’s Diary gets a shout out in The Times. Congrats! (The Paramedic’s Diary)
• For many, it’s not all about saving lives. (Medic 999)
• Rubber boots vs. leather: A review of Black Diamonds X2 Boot. (The Fire Critic)
• Successfully removing sex offenders from online social networks: Is it really possible? (Slam Dunks)
• Nothings worse than being called dead last in court. (Thoughts from Behind the Badge)
• Radio no more: Pandora takes over talk radio on the commute. (Notes from Mosquito Hill)
• Motorcop gets a new web address. (If You Got Stopped, You Deserved It)

• New York police save Times Square from a car bomb. (Positive LEO)
• Get ready for the first UK CoEMS tweet up! (Medic 999)
• What’s more thrilling? Computer shopping or chasing the bad guys? (Behind the Blue Line)
• Why concealed carry is right for Europe. (Crime File News)
• Two drunk men take an ambulance for a joy ride. (EMS Daily News)
• If you love iPhone apps, why not try building your own? (Everyday EMS Tips)
• Love tooting your own horn? Here comes EMS Week 2010! (Life Under the Lights)
• Time for comfort: Tactical gear for casual Fridays. (Police Magazine)
• Ah, you can never get enough of CPR class videos. (Notes from Mosquito Hill)
• Jay scopes some Dragon Leather Works holsters. (Marooned)
• A man is accused of stealing dozens of fire hydrants. Dogs everywhere scowl. (Slam Dunks)
• First Due Blog Carnival’s second edition is all about influential fire reports. (Backstep Firefighter)

Lion Apparel, a clothing manufacturer for fire and rescue, law enforcement and military, has launched a social media site that combines blogging with aggregate content from  Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

The new site called Lion Connects focuses on providing tips to firefighters and rescue personnel from how to care for a firefighter turnout to how to put together a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident ensemble. The site arranges its posts by “Fire and Rescue,” “Law Enforcement,” “People” and “News.”

Additionally, Lion Connects prompts visitors to sign up to be considered for a Lion trial group, where departments test and give input on the latest gear.

Not familiar with Lion Apparel? The family-owned business has been around for more than a century—and after all that time, it’s still family owned. If that’s not a major feat, then we don’t know what is. During those 100 years, Lion Apparel has grown into an international company becoming the largest supplier protective clothing for firefighters.

The video below features Lion Apparel CEO and fourth-generation family owner Steve Schwartz, who explains what Lion Connects is all about.

• VIDEO: Dash cam footage from a deadly Kansas City shootout, aptly described by Johnny Law as “some scary sh**.” (The Johnny Law Chronicles)
• Law enforcement and LinkedIn: The most underused executive social network wants you. (Cops 2.0)
• Police Magazine cover story “Watch What You Post” looks at officers pushing the social networking envelope. (Police Magazine)
• Proof that it IS possible to eat healthy on the road. (Everyday EMS Tips)
• Fellow bloggers take note: The EMS Guide to Anonymous Blogging. (Gomerville)
• So, riding a bike with headphones isn’t illegal? Motorcop tells it like it is. (If You Got Stopped… You Deserved It)
• What’s the difference between prairie snow and West Coast snow? (Behind the Blue Line)
• Find out what the final verdict is on Magnum Elite Force 8.0 Boots. (A Day in the Life of an Ambulance Driver)
• Chief Reason Art gets a new fire truck. Share the experience (and the meaning behind it). (Chief Reason Art)
• Medic Three takes a stab at his coworkers, or colleagues, rather. (Medic Three)

You might recall that we recently published the top 101 military Twitter accounts on our sister blog over at MilitaryBoots.com. We were about to go through blood, sweat and tears again to dig up the best of the best in fire/EMS on the microblogging site, until we discovered The Fire Critic has already done all the work for us. (Thanks, Rhett!!)

In September, The Fire Critic posted what was, in his opinion, the top 100 fire/EMS Twitter accounts. Even more recently, he harnessed the power of WeFollow.com, a site that organizes and quantifies the Twitterverse, and posted a list of the most influential fire/EMS Twitter users.

We’ve decided to pick out five that immediately caught our eye, and share some stats on these folks.

Who: @PedroParamedic

Location: Your Town

Bio: Big City Paramedic with a weakness for big dogs, fast bikes and blond waitresses

Following: 123

Followers: 180

Listed: 8

Style: Blunt — in a good way!

Sweetest tweets: “After today I will have super human swine flu immunity- or I’ll catch it and die. 12:27 AM Oct 28th from web”

“A call so F’ed up the PATIENT told the crew how to fix the mess they made- while being video taped by a news crew on 1 of the busiest… 8:43 PM Oct 30th from web”

***

Who: @FireMom

Location: iPhone: 40.194931,-75.089241

Bio: Writing about the family side of fire life. Freelance writer & editor. Part-time photographer.

Following: 2,341

Followers: 2,323

Listed: 33

Style: Warm and cheery.

Sweetest tweet: “My iPhone ringtone is now the Peanuts theme song. So much win! 26 minutes ago from web”

“Warning, if you write a blog post about ‘berries,’ you will get acai berry diet spam. Just learned they’re POKEBERRIES! http://bit.ly/4yckFJ about 2 hours ago from bit.ly”

***

Who: @geekymedic

Location: Vail, Colorado

Bio: Paramedic Geek..Need I say More

Following: 421

Followers: 206

Listed: 28

Style: Short and sweet.

Sweetest tweet: “Sweet 420 followers hehehe.10:22 PM Nov 4th from web”

“On the phone with my bromance @setla 5:19 PM Oct 31st from web”

***

Who: @TinaFightsFire

Location: Boiling Springs, SC

Bio: I am a wife to 1, mom to 3, friend to several, have a passion for the fire service. I promote & teach fire/life safety!

Following: 2,028

Followers: 1,869

Listed: 37

Style: Friendly and informative.

Sweetest tweet: “I am outta class (THANK GOD) & soon will be celebrating @nemofightsfire ’s birthday a day early w/all the kids at his parents house 2night!!”

“Let me just say there is NO neat way to eat a sub sandwich. And u can throw out trying 2 look pretty or even normal while doing so! 11:39 AM Nov 4th from UberTwitter”

***

Who: @daniel_911

Location: Porter, TX, USA

Bio: Christ follower, fire dept dispatcher, web designer

Following: 197

Followers: 300

Listed: 7

Style: Sports fan meets technophile.

Sweetest tweet: “I like how someone already updated wikipedia to show the Yankees as World Champions! 10:49 PM Nov 4th from Tweetie”

“sack lunch again at work today, this is becoming a more common occurance 3:47 PM Sep 6th from SimplyTweet”