How We Research, Review,
and Correct Content

Who Writes This Stuff

All content on this site is written, edited, or reviewed by Captain Brian Williams, a 25-year career firefighter currently serving with the Kansas City Kansas Fire Department. Brian holds Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Technical Rescue, and USAR certifications, and has been on the job since 2001. You can read the full founder story on the about page.

Where guest contributors appear, their credentials are stated up front. We do not accept sponsored content, paid product placements, or ghostwritten material from vendors.

How We Use AI

We use large language models as a drafting and research tool, the same way a lot of modern writers use them. No article is published just because an AI produced a draft. Every piece published on StruckBox is reviewed by a human firefighter with domain expertise before it goes live, and the published version reflects that editorial judgment.

Our practice follows Google's current published guidance on AI-assisted content: quality comes from the finished work, not the tool used to draft it. If AI assistance ever changes the substance of a claim in a way we think a reader should know about, we will say so inline.

How We Cite Standards

Firefighter and EMS training material references a lot of published standards. We cite national bodies like NFPA, IFSTA, USFA, NIOSH, AHA, and NREMT because they apply everywhere in the country. We do not cite one state's protocols or one department's SOGs as if they are national rules, because they are not.

NFPA standards are periodically revised. NFPA completed a large consolidation of fire service professional qualification standards in 2024, combining many of the older 1001, 1002, 1021, 1035, and 1041 standards into the new 1010, 1020, 1030, 1035, and 1041 structure. Where our content references legacy standard numbers, we are describing content that is still technically accurate under the current consolidated standard, but the document number itself may have changed. If you are pulling a citation for a certification test, always verify against the current NFPA edition your AHJ uses.

If you spot a citation that points to an outdated edition or a superseded standard number, please flag it and we will update it.

Editorial Process

• 1.Topic is selected based on what firefighters actually ask about. We prioritize decisions that happen on the fireground, at the testing center, and in the firehouse.
• 2.Research pulls from named national standards, textbook authorities (IFSTA Essentials, Delmar/Cengage titles), and line-of-duty reports (NIOSH F-series).
• 3.A working draft is produced, often with AI assistance, then rewritten against real-world fireground experience.
• 4.Brian reviews every piece before publication. Technical accuracy, tone, and scope are all on him.
• 5.Published pieces have a byline, a publish date, and a last-reviewed date. Updates are noted when substantive.

Corrections & Updates

If we get something wrong, we fix it. Minor typos and formatting errors are corrected silently. Substantive changes (a factual error, an outdated citation, a revised recommendation) are corrected and noted at the bottom of the article with a short correction note and the date of the update.

See something wrong? Email brian@struckbox.com or reach out through our contact page. We read every message.

What This Site Is Not

StruckBox is training and educational content. It is not a replacement for your department's SOGs, your state's protocols, your medical director's standing orders, or your officer's direct order on scene. Where we disagree with a local practice, we follow national standards. Where your local AHJ has binding authority, follow the local authority.

We are not affiliated with any government agency, fire department, or emergency medical service. We are an independent training platform built by working firefighters.