Last weekend, the International Code Council overwhelmingly passed a residential fire sprinkler requirement for all new one- and two-family homes and townhouses. After talking to voting members of the building code body, it struck me that code proposal RB64 is like finding out you‘re having a baby — while it‘s a victory, the delivery is still a ways off.

Ronny J. Coleman, president of the IRC Fire Sprinkler Coalition, has fought for residential sprinklers for more than 35 years. He is pleased that the code passed with 73.4% of the vote. He is proud of his peers‘ hard work. But he‘s aware that the work toward implementation of this code is just beginning.

“The very first thing that I want to say loud and clear is that this particular decision, as a result of this process, is not the final decision,” Coleman said. “It‘s part of the process of building bridges. We have to focus on local and state governments, corporations and fire departments. We need to work together right now. What‘s really important is the idea of bridge-building aspects of this partnership and it‘s very, very critical what happens in the next 18 months.”

The coalition, an association of more than 100 fire service and building code officials and safety organizations representing 45 states, took the lead and unified support for this issue in the past 18 months. The sprinkler mandate will first appear in the 2009 International Residential Code, which will be published by the end of the year. Forty-six states use the IRC to regulate new home construction.

“We spent a lot of time building our coalition,” Coleman said. “It‘s not just fire; it‘s building relationships with citizens and special-interest groups that are interested in life safety.

What does Coleman want fire chiefs to do now?

“I would ask fire chiefs, ‘What kind of working relationships do you have with the building and sprinkler industries?’” he said. “It‘s something you need to be working on right now. Now is the time for discipline, professionalism and tact.”

Coleman said the fire service and other parties involved need to spend the next 18 months to become better prepared to implement the code in their communities.

Another attendee at the hearing in Minneapolis was Vickie Pritchett, project manager for First Team USA. “It’s now time for fire chiefs to educate themselves and their community and then to lead community leaders in understanding the importance of this code change,” she said.

Pritchett predicted that opponents will lobby for leaders to “exempt out” the sprinkler requirement. “It will then be up to the fire chief and their team to educate the policy-makers as to why that is not a smart thing nor the right thing to do,” she said.

Pritchett said the task at hand is to develop a resource kit to help fire chiefs soundly present their case for residential sprinklers.

Coleman believes there was another victory for the fire service in the vote last weekend. “What this really does is establish the need for the American fire service to be continuously included in the codes developed,” he said. “If it had happened 40 years ago, we probably would have different fire problems today.”

The coming cycle will be full of discomfort and labor pains. But brought to a successful end, countless children will be given life.

“[It] hardened my resolve that we will be prepared to overcome anything handed to the fire service in the future.”

I said this in the September issue of FIRE CHIEF in a story discussing the seven years since the attacks of 9/11, but I never expected my statement to be tested so soon.

Sunday, Sept. 14, started with clear skies and mild temperatures. Forecasters predicted rain for later that day, with 3 to 6 inches accumulating over the next three days — the outcome of Hurricane Ike spreading into the Ohio Valley. While we‘ve been through tornadoes, floods, winter storms and even an occasional earth tremor, this storm brought nine hours of sustained 75-mph winds with gusts to 85 mph. It seemed that instead of just rain, we were at the confluence of two massive weather fronts, including the remnants of Hurricane Ike that developed into these damaging winds equivalent to a category-one hurricane.

While we did not suffer near the devastation of Galveston or Houston, Texas, the wind left six dead (including the daughter and son-in-law of longtime friend Chief Don Bennett of the Fairfield Fire Department) and 720,000 residences or commercial businesses without power — nearly 90% of the nearly two million residents of the greater Cincinnati area were in a blackout.

Our department mobilized and we handled nearly 90 fire and EMS calls in the first 10-hour period. These included several major incidents, one being a structure fire in a neighboring community that injured two firefighters and was started when a transformer pole snapped and fell into the building. Throughout the week our call volume continued well above norm. While the power company struggled to get a handle on the outages, we dealt with the human side of the issues.

Firefighters, themselves with damaged homes, remained on the job helping others in need. Some folks just needed to be told how to cope. Some seniors needed refrigeration or refills for their prescriptions. Transports to hospital emergency rooms soared. All needed to deal with the damage, the fallen wires and trees, getting around a huge number of blocked roads and remembering how to drive when there were no traffic signals.

The pluses and minuses will lead to more planning and preparation. The pluses included that emergency generators worked so that operations and communications continued seamlessly, and the early set up of an EOC coordinated the work of fire, police and public works in handling the emergency details. The minuses included the power company, that had been recently purchased by an out of state company, changed their game plan early on and e-mailed the changes to all fire and police responders — only we didn‘t have e-mail up to receive them.

This week, as power is being restored to the area and things begin to get back to normal, I can look at the diligence and determination of the fire service not letting this storm get the best of us. We handled not only our own extraordinary call volume, but were able to assist four of our neighboring communities on five major fires, two in which recreational vehicles parked close to the homes, possibly to power home appliances, caught fire and quickly developed into structure fires.

Once again, whether in Texas, Ohio or elsewhere, the fire service was up to the challenge and answered the call. Once again, we showed our resolve.

On Sept. 21, the fire service did what it does best — help people. Residents’ and firefighters’ lives were saved at the International Code Council hearings on the International Residential Code. “The firefighters came up to me after the vote and said thank you for inspiring us to help you,” said Amy Acton, executive director of The Phoenix Society. These were firefighters speaking to a burn survivor.

The fire service accomplished a lot during these hearings on the building and fire codes. We made strides in honor of our fallen firefighters, especially those from Charleston, S.C., because the 2009 International Fire Code will require fire sprinklers in new and existing furniture stores. There will be no testimony in future code hearings from people like Karen Mann, who lost her daughter, Lauren, in a Ocean Isle, N.C., fire because all new homes after Jan. 1, 2011, will have fire sprinklers installed.

In an emotional meeting prior to the actual hearing, Mann said how Lauren‘s father was ashamed because he said he would “always protect” his daughter and yet he was not able to do that on Oct. 28, 2007. She went on to say that she could have installed fire sprinklers in the house where Lauren died for less than cost of the flowers at her funeral.

We made a difference through the codes process to save lives in the future.

Fire service professionals, building officials, fire survivors, and fire victims from across the country came together to speak against the ICC Residential Committee‘s action. Yes, it got a little confusing because the fire service had to overturn the committee’s action. This is sad because the committee could have used all the information to make an informed decision about the minimum code requirements but didn‘t. Therefore, we had to use emotion and a lot of passion to overcome the inability of the committee. It seems like this is common practice of ICC committees. Yet it may be the fire service‘s fault because not enough of its people got involved earlier.

But it also may be that the homebuilders’ influence was too great, and a few building officials don‘t realize who they work for or why we inspect houses anyway. There‘s something wrong when a building official gets up and says the residents should have a choice, the public isn‘t demanding fire sprinklers, and the like. What is really sad is when the building officials say this after Mann, other burn survivors, Acton and Dr. Bill Mohr testified on behalf of the people who didn‘t have a choice.

That was the part of the testimony that really angered me. They say residents should have a choice, after they just argued for safety glazing on glass. I didn‘t see any residents arguing for safety glass or what type of coating is used on plastic forms. There weren‘t any residents in Minneapolis arguing for changes in the plumbing code. The residents are our customers and we have to act in the best interest of them and our firefighters. We should not act in someone‘s best financial interest.

Despite this, many life-saving changes were made and many building officials and fire service officials worked together to make this happen. We will have to continue our partnership and find ways to enhance those relationships. It is time to step up our educational efforts to the residents. Our responsibility for life safety has never been greater. We can fulfill our obligation to our communities and work together to provide policy makers with factual information to adopt the latest versions of building and fire codes.

It will take us all working together to ensure that the latest versions of the codes are adopted in our states and local communities. We must work to build partnerships to create an understanding so our elected officials will adopt codes without amending any of these life safety features out of the code. Let us all remember our commitment to saving lives and property.

Progress has been made and the fire service made a difference. Get involved in the codes process with both the International Code Council and the National Fire Protection Association. Fire chiefs truly committed to saving lives and property will ensure that they and their departments are members of both organizations and allow their personnel to participate in the process. These codes are intended to enhance safety for residents and firefighters. Do your part. Make a difference.

Every incident and every response offers new lessons learned. As Hurricane Ike narrowed its path toward the Gulf coast last week, task force units and response teams from across the country packed up and drove in while the locals drove out.

Ike’s arrival was no surprise. Anybody with a television or radio heard the hurricane was approaching almost a week in advance. Residents had time to play “What if?” and decide whether to evacuate or stockpile food and water. Hourly weather reports narrowed the path of the wily storm‘s target.

The storm passed, and out-of-state response teams returned home. Soon, after-action reports will offer lessons learned for improvements before the next call out. Already Louisiana State Fire Marshal B. “Butch” Browning has offered insight on two areas: pre-hurricane communications and care of incoming response teams.

A former fire chief, Browning became state fire marshal five months ago and immediately assessed the fire departments in the state — volunteer, combination and career — and their experiences with Katrina.

“During Katrina, the 200 fire marshal deputies had no pre-plan function emergency plans,” Browning said. “This time we changed that and our deputies were assembled into response teams to provide medical and rescue and assistance to firefighters in local communities.”

Three days before Hurricane Ike, Browning assigned 60 deputies to touch base with every local fire chief and preparedness director in what they anticipated would be the affected parishes.

“We did it for three reasons: first, to establish a line of communication; second, re-remind them of the process to request state assets, and third, to let them know we were going to be there before, during and after the storm to check on them,” he said. “It built the confidence that if they needed state assistance, they knew somebody was carrying the responsibility for the fire service to get what they needed.”

Based on input from those departments, the state fire marshal‘s office determined it needed 450 firefighters — 200 firefighters to backfill the big cities and the remaining to support volunteer and combination departments. Browning advised fire departments to move their equipment from low-lying areas. “I think we maybe lost only one or two pieces of apparatus, mainly because of response,” he said.

Browning sent an Emergency Management Assistance Compact request for an incident management team from New York City. In addition, 200 New York firefighters and 260 Illinois task force members with equipment responded.

“We deployed about 80% of those firefighters within a day and a half of their arrival,” Browning said. “There wasn‘t a single request that we didn‘t fill with in-state or out-of-state firefighters within hours of request.”

Browning also committed to improving the care and feeding of incoming response units. As with any disaster, blocked roads, downed power lines and flooding prevented food and water from reaching some of the incoming response teams. While the incoming units are prepared to self-sustain for 72 hours, time spent for re-assignments and deployment holds can eat through their provisions quickly.

Browning gave a lot of credit to the local fire chiefs that communicated with the fire marshal‘s emergency operations center.

“Fire chiefs know what they need to do,” he said. “What fire chiefs need is someone on the state level who can give them the resources when they need them and as quickly as they can and that‘s exactly what this fire marshal‘s office has done.”

One of the most important votes in fire and firefighter safety will be held next week. Everyone’s participation is needed.

The fire service must participate with full force in the International Code Council’s code-development process. We must take the long-overdue historical measure and revise the 2009 edition of the International Residential Code to require residential fire sprinkler systems in all new homes at the ICC final action hearing in Minneapolis on Sept. 21.

The residential fire sprinkler requirement is on the hearing’s agenda as proposal RB-64. In the ICC process, anyone can debate the merits of a proposed code change, but only the government members (fire and building officials) can vote. It is of utmost importance for the fire service members of the ICC to attend this final action hearing. Every single vote is important; to pass, this recommendation will require support by a two-thirds majority of the voting governmental members present at the meeting.

All of the major fire service organizations in our country made history by pledging their full support for the movement to require residential fire sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. In its resolution dated Feb. 14, the International Association of Fire Chiefs declared its support for requiring residential fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings and town homes.

Under the proactive leadership of U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade, the USFA clearly stated its stance on this issue in its USFA Position Paper–Residential Fire Sprinklers:

“It is the position of the U.S. Fire Administration that all citizens should be protected against death, injury, and property loss resulting from fire in their residence. All homes should be equipped with both smoke alarms and automatic fire sprinklers, and all families should have and practice an emergency escape plan. The USFA fully supports all efforts to reduce the tragic toll of fire losses in this nation, including the proposed change to the International Residential Code that would require automatic sprinklers in all new residential construction.”

And during its annual conference in Las Vegas in August, the International Association of Fire Fighters voted in favor of Resolution 16 in support of the residential fire sprinklers. The IAFF recognizes the importance of residential fire sprinkler systems in protecting our communities across the land and our own firefighters.

The National Fire Protection Association’s “Fire Loss in the United States During 2006” reports that “with home fire deaths still accounting for 2,580 fire deaths or 80% of all civilian deaths, fire safety initiatives targeted at the home remain the key to any reductions in the overall fire death toll.” Similarly, the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition claims that “installing both smoke alarms and a fire sprinkler system reduces the risk of death in a fire home by 82% relative to having neither.”

The fire service indeed knows where and on what we should be focusing our efforts. We see the target and we have both the know-how and readily available life-saving technologies, such as smoke alarms and residential fire sprinkler systems. But while 96% of homes have smoke detectors installed in them, only 2% have residential fire sprinkler systems installed.

What is holding us back? Why aren’t there residential fire sprinkler systems in all newly constructed homes? Why don‘t we put all our support behind installing such life-saving technology in all our new houses nationwide?

Installation of the residential fire sprinkler systems in all of the new homes may not have an impact on the fire losses in the more than 100 million existing homes throughout the country. But it would definitely have a long-term positive impact on the more than 1 million new homes constructed every year. And if we don‘t address this problem now, it will be in these new homes where we will be fighting the fires of tomorrow, and where we will be collecting our future fire fatalities and loss statistics.

Change will only come about through mass participation in the established process. By participating in the ICC final action hearing next week in Minneapolis, we in the fire service will have a unique opportunity to take a monumental step in addressing the root of the fire problem in our country, the home fires. To succeed, we must face the opposition with full force. It is time for the fire service to stand up and be accounted for.

The ICC hearing will begin Sept. 20, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The agenda can be downloaded here.

It‘s too early to be certain, but FCC Chairman Kevin Martin‘s statements last week regarding an expected vote later this month on auction rules for the D Block sure smelled like a classic good-news/bad-news scenario for public safety entities counting on the auction to deliver wireless broadband to first responders.

The good news: Martin outlined an auction strategy greatly enhances the likelihood that commercial wireless operators will bid on the 10 MHz of spectrum in a manner that the FCC will deem a success — a much-needed victory after no qualifying bids were placed on the D Block earlier this year.

The bad news: Under the new FCC proposal, a successful D Block could result in a wireless broadband network for public safety that fails to provide coverage in about 97% of the geographic area of the United States.

That‘s because the new proposal requires only that 50% of the U.S. population be served by composite of regional operator for the FCC to declare the auction a success and award licenses to the high bidders in those regions that solicit offers. And, based on the latest census information, slightly more than 50% of the U.S. population live in the nation‘s 40 most-populous metropolitan areas, which combine to cover about 3% of the United States‘ land mass.

For public safety officials hoping that a successful D Block auction would lead to a nationwide wireless network for first responders, such news probably is disappointing. But the fact that the FCC is expected to approve the plan at its Sept. 25 meeting is a reflection of the commission‘s need to get this spectrum auctioned and have at least the beginning of a broadband network for public safety built.

Mind you, even under the previous rules — requiring 99.3% population coverage — critics noted that this would not have been a truly nationwide network, as vast areas west of the Mississippi River would not have been part of the coverage map. However, the new proposal could result in a coverage map that no longer blankets the continental United States east of the Mississippi.

In a press conference a week ago, Martin said the FCC would be conducting “almost three auctions” for the D Block simultaneously. One auction would present the spectrum as it was earlier this year, as a nationwide swath available for a minimum bid of $750 million, or almost half the reserve price for the D Block in the previous auction.

Of course, economics dictate that saving a few hundred million in upfront spectrum costs likely won‘t be enough to offset the projected $20 billion needed to deploy a nationwide broadband wireless network. As a result, most industry observers doubt that there will be any nationwide bids, although the FCC and the Public Safety Spectrum Trust both have expressed their preference for such a bidder.

Thankfully, the FCC has conceived of an alternate method to find a private partner. Concurrent with the nationwide D Block auction, there will be two auctions in which the spectrum will be divided into 58 regional licenses. To ensure technological uniformity across the network, bidders can submit their offers in either the WiMAX auction or the LTE auction.

If there is not a nationwide bidder, the FCC will award licenses and deem the auction a success if either of the technology-based regional auctions covers at least 50% of the U.S. population. If both the WiMAX auction and the LTE auction reach the 50% coverage threshold, the technology that provides more coverage will be declared the technology standard for the shared network — even if the consolidated bid amount for the other technology is greater.

As mentioned before, covering 50% of the population may not mean that a great deal of geographic area would have wireless broadband for public safety. However, this setup should be much more attractive to commercial carriers trying to sell the notion of participating in this unprecedented joint venture to potential investors at a time when the capital markets are tight, so there‘s a legitimate chance that carriers might be enticed to cover more than 50%.

Meanwhile, after the initial auction is complete and either WiMAX or LTE is chosen as the network technology, the FCC is going to do something unique. If some regions are unclaimed, it will lower the reserve price on those regions by half and offer them again to bidders willing to provide coverage in the chosen technology.

Another item that should appeal to commercial carriers is that the buildout period would be extended from 10 years to 15 years. Other buildout details — such as hardening requirement for site — that will greatly impact the economic viability of the network are still to be decided.

Only time will tell whether this approach will allow the public-private partnership to strike that delicate balance of being economically viable for the commercial partner and fulfilling public safety‘s needs. But Martin and the FCC deserve to be applauded for devising a multitiered approach to the auction that provides about as much flexibility as possible in an effort to attract commercial bidders.

To me, September always feels more like the start of a new year than does January. Schools are back in session and fall conferences are scheduled. Typically this “new year” starts out slow for the fire service and ramps up in October with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Weekend and Fire Prevention Week activities. This year is a little different, however.

Right now, hurricane season is in full swing. FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces from Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and Florida are pre-positioned for Hurricane Ike‘s arrival in Texas. Illinois‘ MABAS resources also have been deployed to secondary positions.

Last month, the U.S. Fire Administration offered fire and emergency response agencies a new special report, “Fire Department Preparedness for Extreme Weather Emergencies and Natural Disasters.” According to USFA spokesman Tom Olshanski, the report includes lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, Pennsylvania storms and flood incidents.

The report offers fire departments a comprehensive guideline on staffing assessments, notification and callouts, accommodations and food, and support from other public service agencies. The report offers case studies on blizzards, power outages, earthquakes, hurricanes and more. The report is good example of the USFA‘s efforts to assist and educate fire and emergency services on disaster preparations.

And speaking of preparations, this September is the fifth National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security‘s Ready Campaign.

Admittedly, National Preparedness Month is not quite a Hallmark holiday, marked like the Halloween decorations you’ll soon be seeing. But why not campaign to convince Americans to take responsibility to prepare for disasters — natural or otherwise? We urge residents to check smoke alarm batteries during Fire Prevention Week or when they change their clocks. It‘s definitely time to expand that effort and urge people to prepare for other possible disasters.

A couple months ago, I gave a talk to a local women‘s organization about disaster preparedness for senior citizens. Many of the members are seniors or care for aging parents. I shared that my daughter made sure that her grandmother has a bag near her door with a list of things to take with her in the event of a disaster or emergency evacuation. The list includes eyeglasses, medications and her wallet with insurance cards and identification. I also distributed a brochure from Ready.gov that is designed to help senior citizens prepare for a disaster or emergency evacuation.

Natural disasters are going to happen, naturally. Doesn‘t it make sense to be prepared? News reports said the evacuation plans for Galveston and New Orleans went well recently. Fire departments have a responsibility to be prepared, but also to educate their communities to work with them.

It‘s sort of like educating the consumers.

My dentist always can tell when he hits a nerve — he has to put the drill down and pry me off the ceiling. A similar phenomenon happens in the world of journalism. When we write columns that hit a nerve, our e-mail boxes get inundated with reader responses. This is a good thing. Thoughtful responses from readers help to further educate us — and other readers — and help to keep us on our toes.

Readers offered many thoughtful responses to a column I wrote recently on the alleged problems digital radios are having in high-noise environments such as those found on the fireground. Evidence is mounting that digital radios are unable to distinguish between a firefighter‘s voice and background noise in some circumstances, leading to garbled transmissions that could put firefighters at greater risk. This obviously is reason for concern, but I had cautioned against the knee-jerk reaction of abandoning digital systems, that offer some performance advantages over analog, such as greater spectral efficiency and a stronger signal at the edge of the coverage area.

We shared many of these responses last week and today we share more. They have been edited for length.

“Performance advantages? Can you name any as they relate to the fire service? It‘s almost like you’re saying ‘other than intelligibility, digital radios work great.‘ Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln? In most cases, fire went digital because they were dragged along with police that wanted digital encryption. Contrary to what you read in all of the ads, digital isn‘t better because it‘s digital. Digital is better when it offers the customer something they need. When they don‘t need it, there‘s nothing wrong with analog. The industry needs to stop selling the customers something they don‘t want or need. Fireground radios should go digital right after the hydrants go digital.”

“There is no place for digital on the fireground. None. Not now, not ever. There are NO advantages to digital. None. We have enough trouble with good radio training, good practice, experienced people, and excellent equipment with analog, but we have coping mechanisms to deal with it. Introducing digital will get people killed. It already has, or has contributed to deaths, if even incidentally. Please be aware that we are not Luddites, and we are not opposed to new technologies. But we are opposed to any new technology that introduces problems rather than solves them. We do not have a problem with fireground communications in the analog world. That is the point. We do not need a solution. To be driven to digital by the market is to put us in danger.”

“I participated with NIST in helping to review and provide input to the language included into this report that did identify that using any radio, not just digital, may require a different location or position to be used, in a high-noise environment. Our experience on this issue is that radio use and tactical positions cannot always be selected to optimize the best voice quality. There are many times, as in an enclosed room or near a saw, in which a “mayday” or other information has to be sent from the position the radio is available in. Training is always important in how to properly use a radio, but even with this knowledge, the best tactical positions are not always an option.”

“I’ve been listening to handheld and land mobile radios for 50 years and today‘s digital cell phones and digital (P25) radios sound like crap. To suggest some training will fix what is inherently poor audio quality due to the low sampling rate is just silly. When I first heard a P25 radio demonstrated and read the technical specifications, I expected the emergency services users to shoot it down because they were so hard to understand. That hasn‘t happened, and I still don’t understand why not. Perhaps, as is so often the case, it will take a major loss of life due to radios that can‘t be understood for a groundswell of

resistance to develop. I pray it‘s none of my guys and gals that prove the point.”

“I agree training in proper use is important, but training should not be asked to make up for real technical problems that have technical solutions. Humans have a tendency to speak louder and louder to get their point across or when they are excited and stressed. In a typical radio, it is possible, when full of adrenalin, to reach the compression ceiling where the signal is loud but heavily clipped and garbled. Unfortunately, many digital radios suffer from this problem more than their analog cousins.”

“I have been working in communications for over 30 years, and the shoving of digital radios down the user‘s throat is the last straw. All too often, the manufacturers do not listen to the users before they release a product. If the users have ideas, they might show up in later product. As far as more training to be better users — suffice it to say that the tool should be almost idiot-proof. When you are facing the devil, you don‘t want to have to think, ‘I have to hold the radio in just the right place to make myself heard.‘”

Again, thanks to everyone who weighed in. We appreciate the feedback and love the fact we have such a passionate and engaged readership.

This week will see another Sept. 11. The day before will be the 10th and the day after the 12th. However, seven years ago, Sept. 11 became a date seared into the memory of every American.

Everyone remembers where they were on Sept. 11, 2001. For the North American fire service, however, it is more than just a memory. In 2006, Shreveport, La., Fire Chief Brian Crawford described that day as a turning point for the fire service, everything before and after the “B.C. and A.D.”

What has changed in the fire service since that fateful day? We ask this question every year, not just to remember the FDNY firefighters who died trying to save thousands of people, but to look at the changes and progress of a once very traditional fire service.

In FIRE CHIEF’s September issue, Editor Rick Markley asked several of editorial advisory board members about the changes within their departments since 2001. Their answers are proof that 200-plus years of fire service tradition does not impede growth in emergency response.

I’ve seen two areas in particular that have evolved in the aftermath of Sept. 11: agency integration and increased health awareness.

On March 1, 2004, then–DHS Secretary Tom Ridge approved the use of the National Incident Management System. NIMS produced a document of standards and systems developed to integrate emergency response practices into a comprehensive national framework. While there‘s still a long way to go to standardize procedures and protocols across the country — terminology for one thing — a great deal of progress has been made since NIMS was first introduced four years ago.

It was shocking to hear how outdated the federal government‘s inter-communication system really was in late 2001. Federal, state, county and local agencies were compelled to address their lack of interoperability with radios, computers, cell and satellite phones, back-up systems, and even the third-tier use of ham radios.

FEMA recently released their communications strategy plan and a focus on response and recovery programs using the National Response Framework (formerly the National Response Plan) to include non-governmental organizations (Red Cross, Salvation Armies, etc.) Yet, seven years later, many firefighters still cannot communicate with each other on the fireground.

Sept. 11 also heightened awareness of firefighter and rescue workers health issues. According to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, more than 360 Ground Zero workers have died. Of those deaths, 154 had final cause of deaths determinations, 80 of which were deemed cancer.

Research made possible by FIRE Grants is revealing multiple medical issues related to firefighting, including exposure to asbestos and lead. Now there also is acknowledgement and treatment for mental health issues and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The biggest lesson from Sept. 11, 2001, is that anything is possible anywhere. “What if?” has raised fire departments’ awareness of their own preparedness.

Sept. 11. We will never forget.

Once again I am going to draw a parallel between what is happening in the military with what should be happening in the fire service. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently made an unprecedented decision earlier this year to request the resignations of both the secretary of the Air Force and the Air Force chief of staff simultaneously, removing both the highest civilian and military officer from the Air Force hierarchy in one swift and decisive move.

In n an article entitled “In Praise of Mavericks” in the July issue of the Armed Forces Journal, retired Marine Col. Michael D. Wyly reported on a recent follow-on speech that Gates made to the students of the Air War College. In it, the Secretary called for a different type of military officer. “The Armed Forces will need principled, creative, reform-minded leaders who want to do something, not be somebody,” Gates said. His speech also praised one of the most controversial leaders in Air Force history Col. John Boyd, who throughout his career was labeled the maverick of the U.S. Air Force.

Boyd is best remembered for his theory of the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act), which is an integral part of fighter pilot tactics and has been adapted within the fire service’s Incident Command System. Boyd‘s unconventional thinking saved countless fighter pilots from the Korean War to the present.

The British Navy has a very concise saying, that “The Best Officers Come with Warning Labels.” The “best” are dedicated to excellence in their chosen profession with a goal to better the service, not necessarily to further their career. In light of the issues we have with firefighter safety, perhaps the fire service can use more of these types of officers to help solve our problems.

Problem-solving and experimentation should be an integral part of any officer‘s development. At the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, students were encouraged to experiment “above the water line” to avoid sinking the department. Above the water line didn‘t mean these students had a blank check, but rather it meant that as long as their experimentation wouldn‘t scuttle the project or deplete too many resources, it could be beneficial in finding new solutions to existing problems. This could include adapting solutions from private industry; combining best practices into a hybrid solution; or pursuing original ideas. It seems logical that given the continuing issues surrounding firefighter safety including “Close Calls”, that perhaps it will take officers using these unconventional methods to break the cycle of firefighter injuries and deaths.

Both peers and firefighters may tag chiefs and officers who perform this type of experimentation with “warning labels” of their own. These “warning labels” may challenge the status quo, but officers allowed the freedom to experiment look at things differently and may adopt methods from other disciplines to solve some of our complex fire service issues.

I believe that the saying “The Best Officers Come with Warning Labels” is true. The bottom line is having a “warning label” may not be such a bad thing and could help provide the cultural breakthrough we need to improve.