Act Local, Think Global
Ten years ago, I was asked to join the U.S. branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers, but I told then-president Bill Peterson that I didn’t feel qualified to join, as I’m not an engineer.
Peterson argued that I could still join because the organization isn’t for “fire engineers” as the term means in the United States; the term has a much broader definition overseas. In fact, the organization is open to anyone involved in the fire service.
“The organization basically means the “fire service” as we know it here in the U.S,” Bill Kehoe, the IFE’s current membership chairman, later told me. “Anybody with an interest in the fire service in the United States can join the IFE. We have people who are members of the U.S. branch of the IFE who are in every category from firefighter to city manager and everything in between.”
The IFE is based in Britain but serves as a global network for fire service personnel and industry professionals. After I was accepted as an associate member, I was given a world-view of the fire service with access to news, reports and networks of progressive-minded people.
Kehoe is passionate about the getting the U.S. fire service to learn how fire brigades and agencies in other countries work toward fire prevention and suppression and to see what challenges departments face around the world.
The IFE’s U.S. Branch applied for and was awarded a DHS Fire Prevention and Safety Grant in 2008 to organize Vision 20/20 a steering committee tasked with developing a comprehensive national strategic agenda for fire loss prevention. One of the Vision 20/20 subcommittees has created a short survey to determine where the U.S. fire service currently stands on issues of fire prevention and firefighter recruit training.
“We will analyze the data from the survey and we’ll use that information to begin developing a fire prevention, risk management, and fire loss reduction training program,” Kehoe said. “The one I’m specifically working on is to re-introduce fire prevention to the U.S. fire service and get them to adopt it versus the traditional ‘putting the wet stuff on the red stuff.’”
“If we can prevent the fire, we can save lives, firefighters wouldn’t get hurt and everybody wins,” he added.
The next meeting of the IFE U.S. Branch will be held in conjunction Fire-Rescue International next month in Dallas. The featured speaker will be Chris Gannon, a former British firefighter turned international fire consultant.
“I saw his photo and article last August in Fire Chief and thought that’s who we want to bring to the U.S. fire service,” Kehoe said. “Gannon will talk about how other departments around the world operate and it should be interesting.”
For more details about IFE or the meeting in Dallas, e-mail Kehoe.
