In some ways, stories are like Russian dolls; each contains a smaller story inside. Often, these smaller stories go untold.
The November issue of FIRE CHIEF featured a story about Frisco, Texas, Fire Chief Mack Borchardt and a new safety village geared mostly for children. It is a good story for any department that is considering building a safety village.
But there’s another story inside; it’s one of change. And inside that story, there’s a story of lack of change.
Borchard is a lifelong resident of Frisco. His high school graduating class was fewer than 40 students. In 1970 the city had less than 2,000 residents. By 1990, the population had crested 6,000. In 2000, it was just shy of 34,000. In three years, it will likely reach 120,000, and that number is expected to more than double by 2020. Borchardt has been at the fire department’s helm during the city’s explosive growth. Frisco is building about one new fire station every two years.
As Borchardt led me on a tour of Frisco’s central station, we walked through the locker room for turnout gear. All the gear was clean and hung on shiny racks — except for one set of gear that still was dirty from the previous night’s fire. I don’t know Borchardt very well, but my gut tells me that firefighter won’t leave behind dirty gear again.
Charleston (S.C.) Mayor Joseph Riley hired fire service experts to form a task force to evaluate that city’s fire department after nine firefighters died in a June 18 furniture store fire. The report is the first of three and reads like a grocery listed of recommended changes. I met with firefighters who told me that about 30% of the department’s firefighters buy their gear own because what’s provided is in poor repair or does not fit. Other sources have told me the CFD is stuck in the past. The happenings in Charleston have been some of the most talked about in the fire service. So much so in fact, that a recent letter to FIRE CHIEF asked people to stop bashing the department and let it heal.
It is not my intent to gather up an armload of rocks and take my place in line at the Rusty Thomas stoning. Nor is it my intent to chisel a pedestal where Borchard may reside. I haven’t the qualifications to do either.
But, if the fire service is to grow and improve, the public dialogue about Charleston must continue. And it must be driven home that one of the more important lessons to come of the tragedy in South Carolina is the need for constant evaluation and change.
Change and evaluation are hard and scary. Taking that hard, long, honest look in the mirror often reveals things we prefer not to see. It is easier, and sometimes better for our mental health, to see ourselves through rose-colored glasses. Change requires us to move from the place where we feel most comfortable into the unknown. And things like laziness and flat-out stubbornness serve as barriers to change. Even in a job where there is nothing at risk, say that of a magazine editor, self-evaluation and change are necessary, yet difficult. (I still harbor the private, unrealistic hope that the Internet as a publishing medium is just a fad.)
And not all change is for the better, even when it comes from a trusted expert. Consider that Isaac Newton was convinced that not only was gravity real, but alchemy was as well. Both ideas had to be evaluated and pursued; it is a function that lets us humans grow and survive.
In Charleston, Thomas and Rileyare vowing change in tradegy’s wake. In Frisco, Borchard has changed with his changing community and managed to keep a step ahead of tragedy. Yes, luck may be a factor in both cases. But preparation goes a long way to determining one’s luck.
So it is my hope that the story resting inside the Charleston story is one of fire chiefs everywhere re-evaluating and changing.
