Happy Halloween! While ghosts and goblins mingle with pint-sized Supermen and Cinderellas, it’s a good time to go through my notebook and offer you an assortment of tricks or treats.

Feedback. Since the Charleston sofa store fire that killed nine firefighters in June 2007, the Insurance Services Office has reached out to several national fire service organizations. In an attempt to update its Public Protection Classification program, ISO is “embarking on a project to review and, if warranted, update the content of the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule.” Consequently, ISO is looking for your feedback on the scope and feasibility of possible revisions.

According to its Web site, the list of items being considered are fairly broad and include more references to NFPA standards. ISO also lists reviewing recognition of residential fire sprinklers, using GIS, and eliminating the current ISO equipment inventory and replacing it with equipment listed in NFPA 1901.

Keep in mind that ISO is a $4 billion private-sector company that makes about $50 million in revenue from communities and the fire service by selling the information they have obtained from them to insurance companies. Charleston’s ISO 1 rating was certainly called into question many times during and since the investigations.

ISO has reached out to the Center for Public Safety Excellence and its Commission on Fire Accreditation International and the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Hopefully, ISO will upgrade its classification program and perhaps someday, even give credit for Class A foam and CAFS (as it does in Texas).

Scary. At the recent Fire & Emergency Manufacturers & Services Association meeting in Tucson, Ariz., Deputy Chief Ed Nied and University of Arizona’s Dr. Kelly Reynolds talked about their research on infectious diseases in fire departments.

The number-one source of bacteria in a fire station was the couch; next was the television remote control. Both Nied and Reynolds encouraged firefighters to use hand sanitizers (without skin-drying alcohol) for themselves and disinfectants to clean surfaces. “If it doesn’t say disinfectant, it is not going to kill germs,” said Reynolds. They also said to remove carpets from stations.

For cleaning fire stations and equipment, Reynolds recommended downloading the EPA’s Registered Products Effective Against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus faecalis or faecium.

Help. A local training officer is looking for a copy of the American Heat video tape on the Bryson Street fire in Philadelphia that killed three firefighters. The officer has been on a quest to find a copy of the tape for a class he is teaching. The Fire Emergency Television Network promised him a tape, but closed its doors for good earlier this month. If someone has a copy to share, please send me an e-mail.

Question. We’re looking for volunteer fire departments’ experiences with building fire stations on small budgets, less than $100,000. Send me an e-mail

Consider. Motivational business speaker Scott Deming talked about branding at the recent FEMSA/FAMA annual meeting. Deming said every company has a brand, but also each individual has a brand. It was an amazing presentation about customer service, relationships and trust.

“As I’m getting older, I’m learning that life can change in the blink of an eye,” Deming said to conclude his presentation. “The past is over for all of us. The future is promised to none of us. All we get is this one [life]. Let’s make this one an experience no one will ever forget.”

Have some fun this Halloween. Be safe and go for the chocolate!

By Alex Cohilas

At 2:15 a.m. on March 2, 2007, Clayton County (Ga.) Fire Department Medic Four, an ALS ambulance staffed by Paramedic/Sgt. Darcy Blow and Firefighter/EMT LaQuinn Walker, was dispatched to a routine sick call. After assessing the patient, the unit reported to dispatch that it was transporting one female patient to Crawford Long Hospital, some 20 miles away. The dispatcher acknowledged the transmission, entered the time and made a mental note that Medic Four would be reporting arrival in about 15 minutes. Then, this came over the radio:

“Medic Four to Dispatch! We have been involved in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on I-75 in the city of Atlanta near Turner Field. The ambulance has overturned and we’re injured. Send help!”

Shift Supervisor/Capt. Bill Lowe was startled from his sleep around 3 a.m., hearing screams over the department’s EMS channel. Since the location was inside Atlanta, Clayton County’s 911 dispatch center alerted Atlanta police and fire and Grady Memorial EMS that firefighters were in trouble. Three of Clayton County’s four on-duty fire shift supervisors and two Clayton County ALS ambulances also responded to the location seven miles inside Atlanta city limits.

As Lowe drove at high speed to the accident scene, Medic Four’s crew kept trying to broadcast updates, but the signal was too garbled to understand. Clayton County’s 911 Center announced, “Atlanta police is on the scene reporting one fatality.” As Lowe approached the accident scene, an Atlanta police officer was directing all northbound I-75 traffic to exit the interstate before the accident scene. Lowe’s marked fire department Crown Victoria with emergency lights activated was allowed to approach the scene.

All five traffic lanes were covered in debris, and a full-size SUV was destroyed and resting against the median wall. Medic Four was overturned and resting on its passenger side as a dozen police officers, firefighters and paramedics worked at the back door trying to remove the injured firefighters and their patient. As Lowe approached the back of the ambulance, he could hear Blow yell, “Captain, we’re ok! We’re trying to get our patient extricated from the wreckage.”

Medic Four’s two firefighters and their original patient were extricated from the overturned ambulance. Grady EMS took responsibility for treating and continuing the transport of Medic Four’s original patient who had suffered serious injuries from the collision. Firefighter Blow and Walker both sustained bruises and lacerations from the accident and were transported by Clayton County Medic One to the hospital. The wrong-way driver was dead on the scene and trapped in his SUV.

I serve the dual-roles as both county fire chief and county emergency management director. I was the on-call executive staff chief. In Clayton County, the executive staff chiefs rotate being available for consultation if the four on-duty shift supervisors (two battalion chiefs and two captains) encounter unusual or serious issues. Whenever the phone rings late at night or early in the morning, it’s rarely good news.

As I was given an initial briefing, I started mentally organizing my actions. I feared for the health and safety of the firefighters. I was standing on the emergency room ambulance ramp, with others firefighters, when the ambulance arrived. After the doctor had completed his initial exam and I was satisfied that their medical needs were being met, I left the hospital to assess the accident scene. The two injured firefighters would be treated and released after a few hours of observation.

My initial view of the accident scene left me aghast at the devastation. The police’s lead accident-reconstruction expert’s initial findings were that Medic Four’s firefighters were completely clear of any fault in the accident. The investigator their lives were probably saved because they both had their seat belts on. The firefighter riding in the patient compartment providing patient care was most fortunate. The only warning he got was hearing his partner scream and then the ambulance rolled onto its right side and slammed onto the pavement. The patient remained strapped to the ambulance stretcher with a five-point restraint harness and the stretcher remained bolted to the ambulance frame.

The Clayton County Fire Department has a mandatory seat belt usage policy. Officers are responsible to ensure that all personnel are seated and belted before the apparatus can move. Furthermore, as an element of the department’s continuous quality improvement committee, all ambulance stretcher straps were recently upgraded to a five-point restraint harness system to provide patients more protection. Clearly the emphasis on seat belt use and driver awareness saved the lives of both firefighters and their patient.

Medic Four’s close call was discussed in Clayton’s 13 fire stations over the next few weeks, and firefighters went to the county’s impound lot to view the damage to the ambulance first-hand. There was much discussion of just how lucky the department was not to lose fellow firefighters.

In the aftermath of the accident, every Clayton County Fire Department employee, sworn and civilian, signed the National Fire Service Seat Belt Pledge. The pledge was created by Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO, CFO, a program specialist at the National Fire Academy, to honor the memory of Amarillo (Texas) Firefighter Brian Hunton, who died in 2005 when he fell from a responding fire apparatus. One of the long-term goals established by Clark is have all firefighters wear their seatbelts every time they occupy a vehicle — both on or off duty.

The National Fire Service Seat Belt Pledge is a simple statement that offers an opportunity to save firefighters’ lives: “I pledge to wear my seat belt whenever I am riding in a fire department vehicle. I further pledge to insure that all my brother and sister firefighters riding with me wear their seatbelts. I am making this pledge willingly; to honor Brian Hunton, my brother firefighter, because wearing seatbelts is the right thing to do.”

Download pledge forms here. The lives of two Clayton County firefighters were saved because they took a moment to buckle up on the morning of March 2, 2007.

Alex Cohilas is fire chief and emergency management director for Clayton County, Ga., where he has worked for 31 years. Prior to his appointment as fire chief, he served as the president of the department’s largest employee organization for 10 years. Additionally, he was an investigator with one of the southeast’s most prominent law firms specializing in public administration law. Cohilas is a National Fire Service Staff and Command graduate, and a frequent author of fire service management topics.

Capt. Bill Lowe and Deputy Chief Jeff Hood, both with Clayton County Fire Department, contributed to this blog.

The economy is on everybody’s mind these days, and it was apparent earlier this month at the annual meeting of the Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association and the Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association. Every year is a new battle for federal funds, with $565 million is appropriated for 2009 FIRE Grants and $210 million for SAFER Grants. And with the new ‘b’ word (billions) flying around Washington, D.C., will future dollars be even harder to come by?

Congressional Fire Services Institute Executive Director Bill Webb posed a series of questions to FAMA/FEMSA members. These questions, according to Webb, are ones Congressional leaders and their staffers frequently ask, ones that both industry manufacturers and emergency responders need to be prepared to answer.

1. How would you define the role of today’s fire and emergency services?
   
2. What information do you have that illustrates the success of the FIRE Act?
   
3. Why the need for greater federal support?
   

How would you respond if a Congressional leader asked you these questions?

The FEMSA/FAMA meeting also featured a buyers’ roundtable moderated by retired Chief Dennis Compton. Manufacturers and distributors had the opportunity to ask panelists questions about purchasing practices from an assortment of departments from New Jersey to California and Ontario to Texas.

Jeff Piechura, chief of the Northwest Fire District in Arizona, told the attendees that, “Fire districts have a different problem with the economy. Foreclosures mean people don’t pay taxes.” He is predicting a $3 million decrease in his department’s budget because of foreclosures in his district.

Asst. Chief Don Frazeur, of the Los Angeles City Fire Department, said his department’s fiscal year is July to June, and the mayor asked for a $50 million dollar budget reduction by scrapping one full year of apparatus funding.

Bill Bjerke, physical resources supervisor for Peoria, Ariz., said that building permits have dropped off and there are a lot of open positions in the department that have not been filled. “We’re trying to cut back to our core services,” he said. “[We’re] going back to a more simple truck, much more durable and less maintenance.”

Fort Worth (Texas) Fire Department Capt. Homer Robertson told the meeting attendees, “Everyone of our products in our department has one of your faces attached to it. Relationships are very important in our department.”

Each panel member gave a final comment to end the roundtable. Robertson told the manufacturers, “The theme of trying to keep it simple is important. To have my business you don’t have to have something new each year. When you find something that works, you don’t have to change it just to change. Keeping it simple is pretty good thing for us today.”

Compton pointed out that although panel members agreed that committees do the research on specification and purchases, “Four out of six panelists stated their fire chief has the final say in a purchase.” Compton also told attendees, “You’ve got to produce reliable products. There’s only one way to build relationships and that’s to build mutual trust. Relationships are critical, and building trust and respect should be [your] passions.”

By Dennis Compton

For much of the country, the current economic environment has resulted in decreased revenue at all levels of government, including local fire departments. This puts elected officials, administrators and fire chiefs in very difficult decision-making dilemmas. Fire departments aren’t immune budget reductions. Still, elected officials are sensitive to reducing the levels of public safety in the eyes of their constituents.

Although in some of the hardest hit areas in the nation, stations are being closed and firefighter positions eliminated, in most cases, fire chiefs are being instructed to identify “non-essential” line services that can be reduced, as well as staff support areas where savings can be realized. This always puts important services such as training, fire prevention, fire and life-safety education, maintenance, clerical support, and the like in jeopardy — and this is difficult for all involved. It can result in anxiety and reduced morale throughout the organization.

How we communicate with decision-makers about our programs and services in good times can impact decisions they make in times of fiscal difficulty. Also, the manner in which we conduct ourselves within our organizations can have a significant positive or negative impact on the programs we’re responsible for. As an example, fire and life safety public education is one of the major line fire department services provided to the public — and it should always be communicated and represented as such. It is a long-term ongoing component of our public safety infrastructure and it saves lives and property. People are given information and taught skills and behaviors that will prevent fires and other life-threatening emergencies. Without delivering this program effectively, the level of public safety is reduced.

We know this to be true, but do we communicate it accurately and regularly to policy-makers during good times? Do we invite policy-makers to participate in events designed to bring public recognition to these programs? Do we develop and conduct fire and life safety programs in a way that brings ownership and credit to policy-makers, opinion leaders, and the general membership of the fire department? Do we always conduct ourselves in a way that brings credibility and a sense of pride to the programs we are responsible for, or do programs get a bad rap within the organization because of inappropriate conduct by the person(s) responsible for them? We don’t usually control the final budget decisions made during difficult financial times, but we can do things during good times to make those decisions as difficult and painful as possible for the decision-makers because of their positive relationship with the programs and with the people responsible for delivering them.

When budgets are being reduced in fire departments it is difficult for the entire organization. We do all we can to justify not reducing our service levels and resources. It is painful and stressful to dismantle portions of programs we have pride in…and even more painful to see co-workers be reassigned or lose their jobs. Whether you’re the fire chief or a public educator caught-up in this, it’s very difficult to look beyond what is happening today and begin envisioning a better situation when the fiscal climate turns around, but that’s what we have to do — as soon as we can.

The bad times I’ve been responsible for managing through have never been a one-year problem. They are usually at least three years in duration. Experts say this current downturn could last up to five years. This reality helped me be more strategic in the reductions we made the first, second, and third years. It also helped others feel that the ship (although in difficulty) still had a rudder and a direction…and that is absolutely critical.

Bad financial times can also lead to a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness because there’s no money to buy, enhance, build, or add much of anything that’s not critical. To prevent these organizational (and personal) doldrums, this can be an opportunity to strengthen the organization internally. Revising standard operating procedures that are outdated, improving training, enhancing internal communications and relations, fine-tuning programs, and even beginning to plan better overall can get attention that in good times they may not get. None of these cost very much money, if any.

The idea is to keep yourself and the people you’re responsible for moving forward. Stay as positive, productive and healthy as possible for your own benefit, for the benefit of others in the organization, and for the effectiveness of the mission. It might even help to refocus yourself a little more towards the aspects of your work and personal life that you have more control over and that tend to bring you joy.

There isn’t a magic bullet to get us through stressful, hurtful, and challenging times. From the standpoint of budget reductions, a few helpful concepts include:

• Take full advantage of good financial times because they set the stage for decisions made in difficult financial times.
  
• Do the best you can to represent the needs you have for resources to carry-out and support your programs.
  
• Always be on the lookout for alternative revenue sources, including enterprise funds where appropriate.
  
• Never forget how important you are to the safety of your community. As fire and life-safety educators, you add knowledge, change behavior, and help individuals act out their roles as members of society in preventing harm to themselves and others.
  

Chief Dennis Compton is a well-known speaker and the author of several books including When In Doubt, Lead!, Mental Aspects of Performance for Firefighters and Fire Officers, as well as many other articles and publications. He is also the co-editor of the current edition of the ICMA’s textbook, Managing Fire and Rescue Services. Compton served as the fire chief in Mesa, Ariz., for five years and as assistant fire chief in Phoenix, where he served for 27 years. He is currently the chairman of the Home Safety Council board of directors and of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation board of directors and serves in leadership positions with several other national fire service organizations.

By Larry Rude

Each and every one of us in the fire service has the opportunity to make a difference in a very special way. On Sept. 21, code officials from the fire and building services came together in Minneapolis to make history. Almost 2,200 gathered to vote on a series of building and fire codes requiring sprinklers in newly constructed one- and two-family homes.

As a chief officer, I have been beating my drum across the country for years, explaining to people how fire sprinklers save lives. These words have been met with mixed response. Some say, “Show me the proof.” Others say, “It is too darned expensive to put fire sprinklers in a home. Builders can’t afford it and the customer will never pay the price.” I even hear, “What about the water damage? My insurance company will never pay to replace everything lost by water damage.”

Hollywood has done more to suppress the existence of home sprinkler systems then any one single industry. I sat in my living room last week and watched one of those action-packed movies. The hero, while trying to get away from his captors and save the heroine, inadvertently set off every sprinkler in the entire building. I am sure you have seen this movie and shook your head as I did. My neighbor and his wife were watching with me, and he jumped up and asked, “Is that going to happen to my house when the sprinklers go off?”

Thanks a lot, John McLane!

After three more cocktails and about an hour of explanation on fire suppression systems, my neighbor went home happy and feeling safe.

We, as fire chiefs, are also code officials. Fifty states across the county have adopted the International Family of Codes. This organization produces 15 codes designed to provide safety in our built environment. Most of you are familiar with the International Building and Fire Code, but you may not know about the International Residential Code, the International Plumbing Code, the International Mechanical Code, or many others.

Chiefs and firefighters have an opportunity that many never experience, nor even understand — and that is the ability to change or even modify existing codes, as well as add new codes to these documents. It is a shame we in the fire service are not taking more advantage of this tremendous democratic process. This process is making a difference by improving safety for everyone, including firefighters.

As a young firefighter, I didn’t truly understand the reasoning behind company-level fire inspection. All I knew was that it allowed us into the building to get a lay of the land. Fortunately I didn’t just follow directions without understanding, but asked questions. My chief, who was very involved and instrumental in the code process, took me under his wing. Now, many years later, I am testifying before industry, members of congress and code officials from every corner of the US, maintaining safety in our built environment. I find myself sharing the same views given to me with young officers and firefighters as they ask the same question, “why?”

All fire service members, including chief officers, must take a look at these opportunities and get involved with the ICC. We must be involved if we want our voices heard. Building officials have been doing this for years. As a chief, I speak about succession planning and what will happen when we old dogs leave the fire service. Well my friends, it is happening today faster than you may realize. I know of a number of fire departments that are doing away with their company level inspections. Some have cut out fire prevention activities and turned the fire code enforcement over to someone else. How do we in the fire service educate our people to take our place if we do not give them the tools and opportunities? There is no better place to develop leadership skills and prepare for executive positions than in the code development process.

Are you a Fire Chief that feels fire prevention is at the bottom of your budget line item account, and the first program that will be cut when money gets tight? Unfortunately, most of us do not keep statistics that show how many fires, deaths or injuries we have prevented just by adopting codes and standards.

Thirty years ago, I heard firefighters say, “I did not take this job to be an EMT.” Times have changed, and fire firevention and code enforcement is just another leadership path we can share with our upcoming leaders. It is all about choices for the future. If you do not make the choice, other code officials will make it for you. I cannot emphasize this strongly enough — the building and fire codes protect our members and we must stay active and participate in the code development process, and not just on single issues.

We would not ask our dentist to tune up our car or our doctor to design our fire station. So why would we let industry develop our fire codes? What legacies will you leaving behind? You have the ability to make a difference, when opportunity knocks you either listen or let it pass by. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

Lawrence A. Rude is currently deputy fire chief with Maple Valley (Wash.) Fire & Life Safety. Rude started his fire service career in 1976 and has been a professional firefighter since 1981. Graduating from the University of Central Missouri, Rude has continued his education receiving additional degrees to include holding the Executive Fire Officer Certification from the National Fire Academy. He is currently a board member of the Safe Building Coordinating Council, a founding member of the Washington State Association of Fire Marshals chapter of ICC, a member of the International Fire Chiefs Association and the King County Fire Chiefs’ representative on the King County Technical Permit Review Committee. He has been a nationally active member of the International Code Council since its inception.

When our daughters were young and the family had to make a big decision, we’d get two glass jars and a bag of beans. Each jar represented the pros and cons of a decision. The simple process gave each member of the family a chance to weigh in, highlighted multiple viewpoints and allowed discussion of the ramifications of a major decision, as it sometimes involved a household move.

The jar concept was revived last week during the presidential debate. My daughter pulled out two glasses and a bag of almonds, one glass for John McCain and one glass for Barack Obama. Each time a candidate made a verifiable fact or positive remark, she put an almond in the appropriate glass. While it was an amusing way to watch the debate, it was another way for truly undecided voters to weigh the pros and cons of each candidate.

This is an interesting election year. Each party has a minority running for one of the nation’s top two positions. Each party has a seasoned senator running for a top office. And each party has a longtime, active member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus in the race.

McCain is the only still-serving senator who founded the caucus in 1987. He also was the first member of Congress to hold a hearing on the FIRE Act.

Sen. Joe Biden replaced a retired member of the caucus in 2001. Biden is known to stop and chat to uniformed fire chiefs in the senate halls.

I’ve met both McCain and Biden at receptions before the annual Congressional Fire Services Institute dinners. Both senators are warm, engaging individuals. Biden is my favorite political speaker during the long evening of political speeches and he is an avid, ardent supporter of the Delaware fire service representatives in Washington, D.C. And McCain has an excellent memory and has a quick sense of humor.

Each senator has a running mate that pales in experience, but maybe that’s a good thing.

While I won’t endorse a candidate here, I do know that on Jan. 20, the incoming president will begin to appoint new directors to government agencies. Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison and the U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade will be officially out of jobs. Hopefully, for the fire and emergency services, both the current FEMA and the USFA leaders will be replaced with former fire chiefs.

The USFA has been without a deputy fire administrator since Charlie Dickinson retired this summer. Rumor has it that a new deputy fire administrator — a career civil servant position — will be appointed by January.

After the election, write the president-elect and suggest that Cade remain as an interim administrator until a new fire administrator can be appointed. Whether Cade is reappointed or not, it’s imperative to have an administrator who has had prior experience in fire and emergency services.

Check your calendar and make sure you vote either absentee, in advance or on Nov. 4. Whomever you decide to vote for, decide to vote. Every bean counts.

I wonder how many chiefs actually read the reports on line-of-duty deaths or pay particular attention to the lessons learned from each fatality. If they do, how many chiefs themselves into believing that the unthinkable will never happen to them or their department?

I‘ve tried to pay close attention to several studies that have similarities with occupancies in my own area. The most recent of these is the Charleston report, issued just three months ago. But in my travels, I continue to see some of the same mistakes occurring over and over again at fire and emergency scenes.

Charleston‘s communications issues, especially in missing the multiple maydays, reinforced the need for command to operate in an environment that is free from the distractions on the fire ground and allows the IC to concentrate on the progress of the incident while evaluating the strategy and tactics being employed. I marvel at how many in command fail to use a vehicle even if it‘s just the closest engine company to run the incident. Worse yet is they continue to use portable radios from various locations on the fire ground while wearing nothing to distinguish themselves from other arriving officers. This practice is compounded when sufficient progress isn‘t being made and command tries to simultaneously work at the task level.

The Charleston report clearly indicated the failure of not having a single person in command who was attentive to monitoring the radio traffic. This lax greatly contributed to missing the maydays that in part lead to the firefighter fatalities. The problem remains that this situation is almost identical to multiple firefighter fatalities that occurred in Chesapeake, Va., and Patterson, N.J., 10 to 20 years ago. When will we get the message?

The Charleston report also re-enforced the value of a 360° walk around any structure, and the need to limit how far a crew should stretch into a big-box unsprinklered building without clear multiple exits. It emphasized that with drop ceilings it is imperative that ceiling panels be popped every few feet to check for overhead fire extension. Adopting these practices has already paid dividends to officers around the country, but many more still have paid attention to these lessons.

In one instance here in Wyoming, the initial company officer arriving at the scene of what appeared to be a smoky, heavily involved kitchen fire extending into the living room grabbed the thermal imaging camera and used it during a walk around. That brief reconnaissance made him aware that the main body of fire was in the basement, and that he was seeing the fire extending through the partially collapsed floors of each room. His tactics changed and he decided on alternate ways to attack the basement fire without endangering his crew on the weakened floors.

The bottom line is what are we learning from these tragedies? What will it take to get chiefs to alter their “business as usual” mentality; to become role models for safety to their firefighters which includes the chief wearing full PPE; to have adequate and enforceable SOG‘s and to get back to the basics of incident command. Until we heed these lessons, we have doomed more firefighters to similar tragic fates.

“No more taxes” is a great political mantra, but where else will the money for fire departments come from? In this struggling economy, volunteer and combination departments will need creative solutions beyond fund-raising efforts or FIRE Grants for equipment and maintenance costs.

During the recent Station Style Design Award judging, the panel had a lively discussion over a couple of training centers that were submitted in the Shared Facilities category. Many fire departments have found that sharing their facilities, particularly training centers, results in more funding and ultimately yields more bang for the buck.

One such facility is The Woodlands (Texas) Emergency Training Center, which offers a comprehensive, multi-disciplined and coordinated approach to training for all-risk hazards. “We cater to The Woodlands, but also our region,” said Fire Chief Alan Benson. “We have coordinated emergency management and also work with law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Lone Star College.”

Center managers also found a unique funding opportunity. The training center recently hosted managers and dealers from Sperian, a manufacturer of eye protection, SCBA and other protective gear for emergency responders, for one day of live-fire training. The company paid to use the facility.

“We have a bunch of people [who] are not firefighters,” said Bill Sokol, vice president of strategic marketing for the Sperian Respiratory Group. “Top management people, members of our executive committees, vice presidents — people who support the job at various levels.”

The goal of the hands-on training was to better understand the fire service profession. Sokol said Sperian‘s brand philosophy is to design around the person first and then to the standard. “It‘s hard to understand what [firefighting is] like, so it‘s a unique way to better understand how our gear and our customers work together,” he said.

The Woodlands training personnel set-up work stations for the Sperian teams. Sokol participated in bedroom, kitchen and car fire simulations. The training center also offered a hazmat station and a 5-story rappelling rig.

Sokol said the experience was valuable from a team-building and understanding perspective, and Sperian plans to visit the facility again. “This experience validates the input of what firefighters were telling me” Sokol said. “I now understand why knobs and snaps need to be big when you are wearing 50 pounds of gear and fire is blowing over your head.”

I‘m not sure this is an area that departments could consider for a revenue source, but it does offer other non-monetary benefits — better understanding between emergency responders and product development.

The future demands beyond thinking outside the box. There are no more boxes, no lines to color inside. There’s only finding new resources for mutual benefit.

For years I’ve held Habitat for Humanity in the highest esteem. In fact, if powers that be at FIRE CHIEF magazine were to call me to the corner office, hand me a pink slip and show me the door, Habitat for Humanity would be among the first to get my résumé.

For those unfamiliar with Habitat, it is an international charitable organization that uses donated money and materials to build housing for the poor. Those receiving the houses in the United States are required to make a $500 down payment, pay a monthly mortgage and donate 300 to 500 hours of work to help build their house and houses for others. The group’s mission is to eliminate homelessness and poverty housing. They’ve built about a quarter of a million homes around the world since 1976.

Disliking Habitat is akin to disliking puppies. I take no pleasure in scolding puppies.

But last month, just before the International Code Council was preparing to vote on adding a requirement that all one- and two-family homes and townhomes be equipped with fire sprinklers, Habitat for Humanity joined the National Association of Home Builders in formally arguing against the new rule.

It was kind of like coming home to find that your puppy had piddled on your best rug or chewed through a favorite shoe.

In a press release, Elizabeth Blake, Habitat’s senior vice president of advocacy, government affairs and legal, said, “Mandating fire sprinklers fails to recognize [affiliates’] varying needs, and runs the risk of requiring something that may be impractical for some of our partner families…. Each home we don’t build due to an added and unjustified regulatory requirement such as this can leave yet another family in substandard housing.”

So I asked Habitat officials, “What’s up?” I wanted to know how many homes they’ve not built because of regulatory burdens. I wanted them to show me proof that sprinklers caused damage by accidentally discharging or bursting in cold climates. I wanted to know why they came out in opposition and if they plan to carry that fight to the local level. Habitat officials didn’t respond by press time (if they respond later, I’ll update this posting).

According to Habitat’s Web site, the average cost to build one of its houses in the United States is $60,000. The National Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition estimates that a sprinkler system adds 1% to 1.5% to the cost of a new home. Even at 2%, that only adds $120 to the cost of a Habitat home. At those costs, they could build 500 homes with sprinkler systems before costs halted the building of one home. Because Habitat is able to build on the cheap, that percentage may be skewed.

In Austin, Texas, there are about 75 Habitat homes with sprinkler systems. The material and labor costs for a 1,000-square-foot home there is $500, meaning you could add sprinklers to 120 homes for the cost to build one home.

NAHB objected on the grounds that in colder climates, pipes could freeze; that it would be impractical in areas with low water supply; and that accidental discharge would cause damage to the home and its contents.

For 15 years, the city of Scottsdale, Ariz., has had a fire sprinkler requirement on its books. According to Fire Marshal, Jim Ford, about half of the city’s homes now have sprinklers. He estimates that 13 lives and $20 million in property damage have been saved during that time. He also says that the average property loss during the last three years for houses equipped with sprinklers was a bit more than $2,000. The average loss for homes without sprinklers was around $45,000. In Habitat for Humanity terms, that means the cost of a new home is equal to 1.5 house fires without sprinklers and 30 house fires with sprinklers. As for the scarcity of water argument, the average annual rainfall in Scottsdale is 7.74 inches; St. Louis records that much in two months.

And those much closer to the situation than I also find Habitat’s position vexing. Jeff Shapiro, executive director of International Residential Code Fire Sprinkler Coalition, tells me that Habitat for Humanity International had previously taken the position of taking no position on this issue. They had, he says, left it up to their local affiliates to weigh in as they saw fit. Habitat had even sent a representative to testify at the Minneapolis hearing.

Shapiro says there was no evidence presented at the IRC hearing showing damage from accidental sprinkler discharge. He also says that they are being used in places like Alaska. As with any technology, sprinklers have their problems. Systems that use antifreeze in cold climates require careful engineering and maintenance. But with greater demand will come greater innovation, Shapiro says.

It is foolish to assume people can be protected against all unexpected events, even their own mistakes. Yet, protective measures with a low cost threshold and a high return cannot be ignored. Mandatory seatbelts in new vehicles did not put the price of cars out of buyer’s range or bankrupt auto manufacturers. Nor will requiring fire sprinklers run home builders out of business or keep Habitat from its mission. Fire sprinklers, like seatbelts, will greatly reduce the damage these tragic events cause.

Habitat for Humanity International isn’t an excitable young pup with bladder-control issues. It’s more like a good and loyal dog that misbehaved.

It is truly a shame that Habitat for Humanity with its outstanding moral mission has come down on the wrong moral side of this issue. For the sake of its reputation, and more importantly for those it works to help, Habitat for Humanity needs to reverse its position on fire sprinklers.

Late last month in Minneapolis, the fire service and its industry partners secured final confirmation of changes to the International Residential Code that will provide communities with mandates for the installation of automatic fire sprinklers in new one- and two-family dwellings. After years of active opposition from home-builders, lackluster support from the sprinkler industry, and ambivalence in many quarters of the fire service, this milestone represents the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.

Who would have imagined that such a long-sought change in fundamental life-safety requirements would come just as the housing sector in some markets around the country is in a freefall? How will the prospect of a worldwide economic crisis affect efforts to implement the new fire sprinkler requirements?

While home builders decried fire sprinklers suggesting they would render housing unaffordable, housing markets in most parts of the country surged ahead at a pace hardly seen before. While home values ballooned, new home prices soared higher than many families could afford. These conditions coincided with rising costs of energy to heat and cool homes, questionable lending practices, and lax (perhaps non-existent) regulatory oversight.

The deep and damaging recession that many homeowners fear may already have begun. Just as we have seen the crisis influence the politics around the race for president, we can be sure that it will affect the local politics surrounding the adoption of the residential code and its new fire sprinkler requirement.

Communities that already have an oversupply of housing or home values less than the mortgages held by their owners will be reluctant to adopt new requirements while homes sit vacant and more families become homeless. That should neither come as a surprise nor cause much concern, since very little building subject to the new code will occur until conditions ease significantly.

In communities that have blessedly avoided such calamities, lack of access to or the high cost of credit will make it difficult for homeowners or their builders to justify any costs they could otherwise avoid. They will have no trouble finding political support to keep costs low and restore housing affordability and price stability.

Neither firefighters nor the communities they serve will want to see economic conditions curtail the level of fire service. In some communities though, the costs of providing these services, like the costs of housing, have become unsustainable. When a community can afford neither housing nor its fire department, which do you think it will work harder to keep?

Firefighters can do little to make fire sprinklers more economical or attractive to homeowners. They can make sure people do not have to choose between fire sprinklers and their fire service by recognizing that fire sprinkler requirements reduce demand for fire services. Fire chiefs who want their communities to adopt the new fire sprinkler requirements must look for ways to change their departments‘ structures, improve systems and reduce costs to help communities recoup these investments.