Story Hour
It had been a long, hard winter, but finally Chicago has spring fever. Temperatures have reached the 70s five days in a row. It’s the perfect weather to sit outside with a good book.
In my February FIRE CHIEF editorial, I suggested that fire chiefs form a book club similar to the Marine Corp Commandant’s Reading List. This month at FireChief.com, we launched that book club with a dozen books recommended by several chiefs. And this week, a book recommended by Garry Briese, now director of FEMA Region VIII, makes the list.
Briese suggested The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. While the book sounds totally impractical, it has excellent tips for dealing with mushrooming e-mails, endless meetings and time-wasting phone calls. Is it possible to manage these things? Yes, and that’s just the first third of the book. While a four-hour workweek isn‘t practical, I‘d be happy with just a 40-hour workweek and Ferriss‘ ideas could make that happen.
Through a strange coincidence in my hometown, I heard about another book.
Dayna Hilton‘s parents moved from Pennsylvania, where her father was a volunteer firefighter, to my hometown 10 years ago. Following in her dad‘s footsteps, Hilton later became a volunteer firefighter for the Johnson County Rural Fire District #1, Clarksville, Ark. In 2002 she became the department’s fire and life-safety educator.
Hilton‘s teaching took an interesting turn when she and her family adopted a dalmatian named Sparkles. The dog proved to be an enthusiastic attraction for Hilton‘s safety classes. Hilton and Sparkles appear on PBS Kids Sprout, a 24-hour TV station for preschoolers, and follow Fireman Sam‘s episodes with fire and life-safety tips for children.
“When I take out her red vest, Sparkles gets really excited,” said Hilton. “That‘s when I decided to write about what a typical day is like for Sparkles.”
Working with IFSTA to make sure the book was accurate and appropriate for youngsters, the 28-page, soft-cover book took Hilton 18 months to write and publish. With Sparkles as the focus, the book teaches fire and life-safety tips. Hilton and Sparkles recently appeared in Washington, D.C., and at FDIC in Indianapolis.
While Hilton’s book isn‘t a leadership book for our chiefs‘ book club, I certainly would recommend it for your fire and life-safety education program for primary school children.
Meanwhile, check out the Fire Chief Book Club and suggest additional titles. The list is connected to Amazon.com for quick, easy ordering.
When you whittle down your hours, you‘ll have more time to read.
April 25th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Dayna Hilton! A great woman doing great things children and fire safety.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I just found this great fire safety site on the PBS KIDS Sprout web site with Hilton and Sparkles. Check it out! http://www.sproutonline.com/sprout/Originals/FireSafety.aspx
May 8th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Let me recommend a new paperback just out by Lee Iacocca The title is Where have all the leaders gone? I just finished it and its a great book.
Leave a Comment