John Salka

Battalion Chief John Salka (ret.) is a veteran of the fire service of more than 40 years. He served with the FDNY for 33 years, the last 15 as a battalion chief in the 18th Battalion in the Bronx. Chief Salka received the FDIC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. He has presented and lectured at FDIC International, where he received the 2001 FDIC Training Achievement Award for his Get Out Alive firefighter survival training program. He is a New York State certified fire instructor and lectures...See more

Battalion Chief John Salka (ret.) is a veteran of the fire service of more than 40 years. He served with the FDNY for 33 years, the last 15 as a battalion chief in the 18th Battalion in the Bronx. Chief Salka received the FDIC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. He has presented and lectured at FDIC International, where he received the 2001 FDIC Training Achievement Award for his Get Out Alive firefighter survival training program. He is a New York State certified fire instructor and lectures nationally. He served as the co-lead instructor for the H.O.T. Firefighter Safety and Survival program at FDIC for more than ten years and is a cohost of the podcasts "The Command Post" heard on FireEngineering.com and "Old School" heard on iTunes. He is the author of the best-selling books First In�, Last Out: Leadership Lessons from the New York Fire Department and The Engine Company, published by Fire Engineering Books & Videos. He writes the monthly back page column "The Fire Scene" in Firehouse magazine. He has also written for Fire Engineering, Size-Up, and the FDNY training magazine WNYF. Chief Salka has served as a volunteer firefighter throughout his entire fire service career. See less