Wilson (N.C.) Fire/Rescue always is on the cutting edge of new technology, being an early adopter of GIS, GPS and mapping systems. With a visionary leader like Chief Don Oliver, the department was bound to be progressive.

In early 2006, the department found a unique opportunity. A 1,024-square-foot duplex on a 60-foot by 60-foot lot adjacent to the department headquarters had become available for purchase. Oliver discussed with his staff the options and how the property might best be used. They decided to convert the property into a community fire and life-safety center.

In 2007, Wilson Fire/Rescue secured an Assistance to Firefighters Grant for $184,000 to develop the Fire & Life-Safety Adventure House. Local donations totaling in excess of $35,000 — nearly double the required 10% local match required by the FIRE Grant — helped the department build a state-of-the art-facility focused on public education for the city and the greater Wilson area.

“Located directly across from the Wilson Boys & Girls Club, the vision is to produce a facility that will address many of the cutting-edge life safety issues that impact our citizens and community,” Oliver said. “We predict that this state-of-the-art facility will draw many visiting groups from throughout eastern North Carolina with the innovative educational packages which we will present.”

The Fire & Life Safety Adventure House http://wilsonnc.org/departments/firerescue officially opens next week.

The new public-education center is designed to cater to its multi-national community, with printed and spoken word available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Arabic.

“We’ve converted everything to those languages — printed word and sound,” Oliver said. “We have developed eight learning stations so that kids can learn at their own speed.”

The city of Wilson has 13 schools, and the fire department has scheduled time for each second-grade class — 53 in all — to spend time in the center.

The handicap accessible center features individual rooms including bedrooms, a kitchen including a stairwell set up with hazards (toys) on the stairs.

“The kids learn the dangers of tripping on items left on the stairs,” Oliver said. “Each group that we take through the building has an opportunity to learn about not only fire, but safety issues in the home.”

Oliver saw another benefit to this facility recently when 35 members of the local homebuilders’ association toured the facility.

“We [set off] the sprinkler booth off, brought the builders into the fire station, fed them dinner and took them throughout the new life safety center,” Oliver said. “The national homebuilders are against residential sprinklers, but we found a new understanding among this group when we explained how we could work together.”

Recently, I attended an 80-hour instructor course for my instructor position at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. I’ve been a fire service instructor since 1986 and have been fortunate to teach many topics in many locations across this great country, but I learned a great deal from this program, for which success is based on preparation and delivery of a 50-minute class presentation.

Though the Instructor Training Course is listed in the course catalog as an 80-hour class — there’s a week in between the first and second week to work on your presentation — students put in those 80 hours and another 40 plus during the off week. The presentation has to come from a narrative outline that provides the details for every word you want to speak, activity you want to conduct, and questions you want to pose to your students, in this case, the rest of the class. The goal is to produce a teaching outline that any qualified instructor could use to present the class and have the students receive a consistent “product.”

Facilitators Tim Melton and Melissa Pittman, who are members of the GPSTC Instructional Services Division, run a tight ship and earned the course its reputation as the premiere instructor training course in the state. The first day of class, Tim delivered a remark that had a huge affect on me and my cohorts and really let us know what he and Melissa expected.

He introduced us to the acronym HBO/HSO: Help a Brother Out/Help a Sister Out. Tim told us that those terms would take on meaning and significance as we went along and he was absolutely right. He meant supporting each other as we learned and that concept manifested itself in many ways:

• During our two-minute impromptu presentation from a range of topics that “arrived” to you when you caught the small soccer ball that was tossed to you while you were at the front of the class.


• During our practice deliveries of the five-minute introduction section of our individual presentations in front of our colleagues who then provided critical analysis of your work for improvements.


• During the dress rehearsals of the full 50-minute presentation where fellow students held up flash cards showing how much time you still had to finish on time! And when they asked impromptu questions to slow you down because you were going too fast with your delivery.


• During the actual presentation, the full delivery of your presentation that absolutely had to fall between 45 and 55 minutes.

Since my successful completion of that course — the hardest class I’ve ever been in, including the sixth grade with Sister Loretta — I’ve notice several things while delivering training programs. Many of my student populations at GPSTC include a broad cross-section of knowledge and experience — firefighters just starting their careers learning alongside experienced company officers and chief officers. Sometimes those more experienced folks speak up and actively participate in classroom discussion and sometimes they don’t.

When they do, everyone in the class has an opportunity to learn, including me; their silence is a missed opportunity for all of us. I have a term for that meaningful participate: they’re actively present. Actively present means that a student is not only there to listen and learn, but to actively engage in group activities, ask pertinent questions — which are probably in the minds of the less-experienced students, they just don’t know it — and add relevant personal experiences to supplement those of the instructor. Actively present students enrich the learning experience for everyone including the instructor: Help a Brother Out, Help a Sister Out.

Many training programs use post-course student evaluations to assess the student’s attitudes and opinions about the training that they just completed; such evaluations are required for all classes conducted at GPSTC. I provide the student evaluations to my students at the beginning of each class and encourage them to not only fill out the “check” boxes, but also to use the space provided for written comments to record their thoughts as we progress through the course. Many students — new and old alike — don’t take advantage of this as another opportunity to be actively present. These surveys are an excellent opportunity to provide feedback to instructors and training program managers so that they can keeping doing the good things and make improvements where needed: another example of HBO/HSO.

Next time you’re in a training class or educational program, think about how actively present you are during your time in the classroom or on the drill ground. Help a Brother Out, Help a Sister Out

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!

“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.

My wife, Diana, and I recently returned from a two-week vacation in Norway and Denmark. Whenever we travel, I like to stop and talk shop with firefighters whenever possible. During this trip, we had the opportunity to visit fire stations in Honnigsvag, Trondheim, Geiranger, Bergen and Stavanger. Three of these departments had career firefighters, while two relied solely on volunteers. With the exception of the equipment and apparatus manufacturers, the friendly atmosphere is no different than stopping in at a fire station in Wilmington, Fresno or Wyoming.

There is never a time when I don‘t learn something. For example, at the main station in Stavanger there is a beautifully restored 1935 Pierce open-cab engine sitting in the center bay of the apparatus floor. The engine survived the World War II and along with a post-war truck manufactured by the White Truck Company provided much of the fire protection for the city for close to 30 years. The Pierce remains the pride of the department and it is used for parades and special events. Unfortunately all that remains of the White unit are the front grill and a few photos on display in the department‘s museum.

What these visits prove is that firefighters are part of a “family” that is quickly becoming international. This year, more and more international travelers are visiting the United States on vacation and a good percentage will be firefighters and their families. With very few exceptions wherever we have traveled, we have been warmly welcomed at any fire station and treated not as stranger, but as friends. We need to be prepared to do the same if these guests visit our fire stations. There is value even in this brief international exchange.

Firefighting issues and problems are universal, and hearing a different approach to problem solving may give us some ideas to try in our own department. One such concept is air management. While we have only begun the discussion of how this fits into our accountability system, our Scandinavian and European counterparts have been tracking individual air usage for years. They record the SCBA pressure of every firefighter entering a hazardous environment, and rely on the company officer to keep the accountability sector informed of the lowest crew pressure each time they communicate with their sector officer or incident commander.

Firefighters are firefighters no matter what city, town or village they protect. Keep the welcome mat out for them. They are as eager to learn from us as we should be eager to learn from them. Wherever you go, whether to another country or another part of your state, spend some time with your fellow firefighters. Enjoy the conversation, share your knowledge when it is appropriate, network so you can call upon this expertise again, and take back at least one new idea to try on your own.

This week I visited the largest air show in England. The Farnborough Air Show is held every other year, alternating with the Paris Air Show, and it attracts some 250,000 military members, aviation professionals and enthusiasts who want a look at current and future innovations.

One such innovation is the 600-passenger AirBus A380. Currently only a handful of airports can handle loading and unloading the aircraft. But as I watched it circle above the field, I couldn’t help but think about the magnitude of a potential disaster with a plane this large.

After watching the planes, I did what comes natural for me: I wandered over to a couple fire trucks parked outside the exhibit halls.

The Hampshire Fire & Rescue Services provides emergency services for the Farnborough show. In case of an emergency, the Hampshire fire brigade is responsibile for the exhibition area and the airport‘s own emergency service is responsible for the Category 10 airfield, according Hampshire Fire Safety Engineer Phil Yarney.

“We don‘t attend calls outside the fence line,” said Yarney, an 18-year veteran of the fire brigade.

Hampshire adds only four reserve fire trucks and staff, including two small brush trucks, to cover the show. They also have a couple ambulances on standby, including a new, silver paramedic BMW. Fortunately calls aren‘t that frequent once the show opens.

“The previous week is all about inspecting the site, the electrical capabilities and to keep the risk and management down during construction weeks before the show begins,” said Yarney. “Because of the sensitivities of the area, it‘s a low-risk and low-volume event for us.”

One thing that impressed me at the show was its focus on environmently friendly airplanes. Displays for reduced emissions, fuel savings and lighter-weight plane bodies covered the exhibit halls.

How long until the emergency service industry starts to look at alternative fuel sources and lighter, more durable materials? How long until it accepts products that don’t affect food supply or the environment and that make use of recyclable materials? My money says these products already are in the works, and the fire and emergency services should be ready to embrace them.

Another item that caught my eye was a dual-helmet system. The design has an adjustable headband and retractable goggles for all Level-1 operations except for building-entry firefighting. A protective shell for firefighting fits over the top of the rescue helmet and is fitted with a retractable face shield and ear protection. Unfortunately, NFPA standards restrict the use of this particular helmet in the United States, according to one of the sales reps.

Aviation virtual-training software was another highlight at the show. American defense company Raytheon demonstrated its unmanned aerial vehicles with technology based on X-Box and Nintendo games. The company hired game developers to create virtual cockpits that use joysticks and control pads. Raytheon representatives said the gaming techniques are much quicker than traditional keyboards.

I‘ve seen several really good examples of similar technology here in the United States. High Voltage Software Systems devloped a state-of-the-art training program for incident commanders that challenges critical decision-making skills. Compelling Technologies also developed an incident command training system for company officers.

And UAVs already are making an impact here in the United States. In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger credited an unmanned NASA aircraft with helping save a town from wildfire, calling the plane “one of the most exciting new weapons in our firefighting arsenal.”

The plane, an adaption of the Predator military drone, can stay in the air for more than 20 hours. It uses an infrared imagery system to identify hot spots and transmit that information.

The air show reminded me that Interschutz 2010 is on the horizon. Interschutz is the largest fire and emergency show in the world, bringing together the global fire service once every five years.

Imagine the possibilities and save your pennies!

Every fire department with railroad tracks within its jurisdiction or mutual aid response area needs to be fully aware of what hazards are being transported on those tracks. According to rail authorities, there are even more reasons to be prepared if a fire department has a rail yard with tank cars and tanker trucks within its territory.

Railroad tank cars frequently carry hazardous materials that are categorized as toxic by inhalation, or TIH. These chemicals, including chlorine and anhydrous ammonia could have disastrous affects on first responders and surrounding communities if leaked or spilled by accident or terrorist attack.

The Dow Chemical Co. and Union Pacific Railroad are working together to improve community awareness and preparedness along chemical transportation routes. Initially, Dow implemented the Responsible Care Community Awareness and Emergency Response program for communities where it has manufacturing plants. Subsequently, Dow teamed with the Union Pacific Railroad to sponsor Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response, or TRANSCAER, Training Tours. The tours offer emergency responders free, hands-on training about railroad hazards and safety protocols.

This is the third year that TRANSCAER has offered the one-day sessions along its key transportation routes. The tour began in April in Alexandria, La., and ended the first week of May west of Chicago.

According to Mike Stephenson, emergency services and security leader for Dow’s New Jersey properties, the TRANSCAER team stopped in 10 communities along the route and trained more than 560 community emergency responders.

“It‘s part of our continuing commitment to reach out to the first responders and get them well prepared for better response and safety of the community,” he said.

The training tour is made up of 10 rail cars, each with a specific purpose. Two railcars are set up as classrooms, while several others offer hands-on equipment training, hazmat training and advanced interactive emergency response drills.

When the TRANSCAER train arrives in a rail yard, local participants are separated into five different modules. The basic tank car module demonstrates how emergency responders can identify and resolve slow leaks with ordinary tools. An empty chlorine tank car is available for closer inspection. A third module focuses on how to respond to TIH events and flammable gases. The fourth module puts attendees on a flat car fitted with several samples of protective housings found atop tank cars. Instructors demonstrate how to deal with common water and air leaks. The fifth module deals with tanker-truck emergencies that can be found in rail yards.

Stephenson said that each of the instructors on this train also is an emergency responder who is on call 24/7 in the event of a railroad incident. “These instructors are the same faces that firefighters are going to see responding to their call,” he said.

Several other railroads offer similar training, check out TRANSCAER for other training opportunities.

“Welcome to wherever you are. This is your life, you made it this far.”

Bon Jovi‘s “Welcome to Wherever You Are” was one of six songs featured in a graduation video for Fairfax County (Va.) Fire & Rescue Department’s 122nd Recruit School, and its words poignantly matched the 1,000 photos of the recruits’ 22 weeks at the training academy. The 24 members of the graduating class made it through exercises in suppression, extrication, emergency medical care, rappelling, confined space and more.

The class included four Asians, six women and five Hispanics, matching the diverse community they will serve throughout Fairfax County. As the graduation’s keynote speaker, I asked how many of the recruits had family members in the fire service. Only two recruits raised their hands. I had anticipated a higher number of next-generation firefighters.

Looking at this graduating class, I was both jealous and awe-struck and filled with high expectations.

I was jealous because when I was younger I wanted to be a firefighter — or at least I wanted to drive a fire truck and operate the pump. (I didn‘t do well as a radio dispatcher because I got too involved to keep track of who was calling and who was where on scene.)

I was in awe because of how adaptable they would have to be to keep up with changing roles of fire and emergency services, with fire calls going down, with EMS calls going up, with new bio-chem challenges, and with an emerging shift toward prevention and preparedness.

They are entering a fire service where legal liabilities and officer retirements are putting new emphasis on training and safety officers. Public safety educators will need to embrace new topics such as codes, residential sprinklers and preparedness, but their reach will expand to educating local governments and baby bloomers — yes, I said “bloomers” because that generation’s retirement is changing the landscape of employment.

I expect that these new firefighters will deal with these challenges, but I cautioned them against another. Cell phone cameras, video, Internet and Web logs will follow them on and off duty and provide on-demand coverage of their actions. Follow the rules. There is no off-duty for a firefighter or emergency medical responder.

Probationary Firefighter Karl Goza received the award for academic excellence at the end of the ceremony. “We [among the class] were mechanics and government contractors,” he said in accepting his award. “We have found out that being a firefighter is a commitment. It’s committing ourselves day in and day out. Being a firefighter requires courage … and this courage will help us to continue.”

As Bon Jovi sang “you‘re exactly where you’re supposed to be,” it summed up this batch of probationary firefighters.

Be safe, now and forever.

This week, five young men and one young woman in my department completed their preliminary training and were certified as firefighters by the State of Ohio. They are justly proud of their accomplishment and eager to put their skills to good use. They may still be probationary firefighters, but I watched them start to be accepted and assimilated into their company‘s operations under the direction of a seasoned lieutenant. This got me to reflect on how much they had left to learn, how much they had to learn from first-hand experience, and how much I had learned from those who took the time to teach me.

I had two uncles and a brother who preceded me in the fire service and my dad was an accomplished fire protection engineer. Growing up around them, I heard the good, the bad and the ugly of everything from fire codes and building construction to the lack of leadership in the fire department. (Does any of this sound familiar today?) My Uncle Frank, a respected truck company officer, decided that he saw something worthwhile in me and even as a teenager would spend time discussing what it took to be a good firefighter. He taught me the responsibility to pass on my experience to younger firefighters so they wouldn‘t make the same mistakes and learn as he liked to say the “hard way.”

Throughout my career, other firefighters took the time to help me learn from their experience. I remember an officer on a routine run involving home heating oil telling me to always look for the “white ghost,” a vapor cloud indicating incomplete combustion from an oil-burning furnace that sometimes resulted in an explosion. It was several years later as a lieutenant that I experienced the “ghost” and knew it was time for my crew to vacate the basement, await ventilation and avoid a potentially disastrous explosion. Not too long ago, a similar situation caught a fire crew unaware and literally blew the house off its foundation while they were inside, seriously injuring several of them.

Often I wondered if we ever will get to the point when we can download our experiences and upload them into a young firefighter, much like we move a memory stick from one computer to another. Until then, it’s up to us to find a way to do more than train our new firefighters, a way to teach them from our experiences. How are you mentoring your new firefighters? Is there more to it than just training?

Earlier this year, Chesterfield Fire & EMS responded to an early morning blaze in the Village of Ettrick, an unincorporated area southern end of Chesterfield County, Va. The 1.5-story single-family dwelling on Totty Street was practically outside the backdoor of Fire Station #12, home to Engine and Truck 12. Though those units were on scene within minutes, the 6:30 a.m. fire already had an advantageous head start. Intense smoke and heat from the fire claimed the lives of two young children, and a third child suffered burns and smoke inhalation. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a multiple-fatality fire in Chesterfield County; in the early 1980s four children lost their lives in another early morning fire in a single-family dwelling. This fire prompted me to think about the stuff that firefighters do every day to help make Chesterfield County a safer place to live.

Working smoke detectors in family dwellings are the real deal. One big factor in my not being able to readily recall the last multiple-fatality fire is the great work that we’ve done in pushing the installation of smoke detectors and ensuring that they work. We put them up for free, we hand out batteries for free, and we check them for free while on other calls for service. Many firefighters can recall stories that either begin or end with, “if not for the smoke detector going off.” Unfortunately, there were no smoke detectors in the dwelling on Totty Street.

The challenge today is to ensure that immigrant populations get the smoke-detector message. We must work to ensure that there are working smoke detectors in every family dwelling that we go into. This is going to require a different strategy because of the language barriers. We‘re working to establish working relationships with existing community groups like churches and social service agencies that already have connection with these new populations to get our message out. Many of these folks are on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, their housing is in poor condition, and that housing is more densely populated.

Fire company in-service training scenarios aren‘t make-believe. Green Bay Packers coaching legend Vince Lombardi once said, “perfect practice, makes perfect.” Every officer that I’ve ever known who has had responsibility for developing in-service training has tried to provide realistic scenarios that challenge firefighters to “practice well so we can play well.” Each of the fire companies in our combination system — we have three platoons of 22 engine companies and five truck companies, approximately 600 career and volunteer personnel — receives a full day of in-service training three times per year. Many of our in-service scenarios over the past couple years have featured a burned-out stairwell or a fire-threatened stairwell as a critical factor. The house on Totty Street had stairwell that was completely burnt out, denying access to second floor via the stairwell.

We are a fire & EMS department. Like many of our colleagues across the country, about 70% of our calls for service involve EMS. Of the remaining 30%, many are calls for a wide range of services having little connection to structural firefighting. In the words of Gordon Graham, noted speaker and subject matter expert in the area of organizational risk reduction, fighting fire has become a low-frequency, high-risk activity for our department and many like us. Therefore, we must continually be prepared, regardless of where we are stationed, to engage in the physically and emotionally charged atmosphere of firefighting where lives are on the line. Our “first name” is still Fire.