Almost 10 years ago, Harvey Eisner and Jeff Barrington asked if I would write the monthly Fire Politics column in Firehouse® Magazine. Our wonderful friend, the late Hal Bruno, had been ill and they needed someone to fill in for him. Other than a brief time when Hal tried to return to the column, I have written it every month since 2004. It has been an honor and I have been humbled by the opportunity it has afforded me.
Jeff and Harvey gave me the latitude to explore politics from a very broad perspective, reaching far beyond simply writing about legislation, policy, elections and other common political subjects. They encouraged me to explore the subject of politics from a perspective that reached into almost every aspect of the fire and emergency services. The reality is that politics is so much a part of what goes on at the local, state and national levels of decision-making – it impacts the ability of the fire service to be (and remain) successful – and that is what I’ve tried to weave through the column each month.
Timeless issues
In looking back through what I’ve written about during these 10 years, I see many issues that are timeless and still on our radar screen. Following are just a few of these ongoing political and functional issues:
• It is imperative that leaders in fire departments and our national organizations re-double efforts to increase the installation of home fire sprinklers in the fire and life safety equation – at least in new construction. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), with the continued work of the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition (HFSC), is leading the way on this, but stronger industry and political support are critical to the success of their missions. This, along with a stronger overall commitment to prevention and public education, represents huge investments in the long-term future of the safety of the public and the safety of firefighters as well.
• It’s been said that firefighters don’t die politically, but I think sometimes they can. Politics is always a part of policy, and policy finds its way into fire department training and response criteria every day. Continuing efforts across political lines – inside and outside the fire service – to strengthen standards, regulations, procedures and best practices relating to staffing, deployment, equipment, firefighter safety and survival and other related issues is critical.
At the same time, the fire and emergency services must take a strong leadership role in systemic change and innovation that will make us more effective and efficient, while also making the public and firefighters safer. Recent research and science are on the side of fire departments on much of this, but we need to understand the research and science, and use it, to guide a wide range of decisions.
• Maintaining federal support for the fire and emergency services must be a leadership and political priority. This includes federal grant programs such as the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) programs, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), along with the National Fire Academy (NFA), support for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) as well as other areas. These programs (for the most part) represent key federal investments in fire departments and fire service members, and will require the collective political efforts of all the major national fire service organizations to sustain.
• Continuing to respect and support the role of the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI) in the political process is critical to future legislative and policy successes in so many areas. Through the collective efforts of the CFSI National Advisory Committee (NAC), and the leadership and hands-on work of the CFSI staff, the fire and emergency services community needs and positions are represented on myriad issues literally every month – of every year. All members of the fire and emergency services benefit from the work of the CFSI and should, in some way, help support this organization.
• Strategic and operational planning, along with the use of data to drive decisions, is becoming a requirement in gaining the support of elected officials and other policy-makers. Not often considered a political issue, this management and leadership reality is driving decision-making in the political environment. The fire and emergency services must do a much better job of data management in order to represent the need for funding and other types of support.
• Positive and productive fire department labor/management relationships are so important to the future of the fire and emergency services. On any given day, there are more than enough outside political and management challenges to keep fire chiefs and union presidents busy. Many of them become much more difficult to address when there is almost constant friction between management and labor inside the fire department. There are models available to help fire departments make progress on this issue, if the leaders involved actually want to.
More work to be done
As I said, these are just a few that are not only front and center now, but are ongoing in nature. I didn’t even mention issues relating to the future of fire service-based EMS, reducing firefighter injuries and line-of-duty deaths, incorporating more political science subject matter in the development of future leaders in fire departments, attacks on firefighter compensation and pensions, public image concerns, and etc., etc., etc. All of these – every issue I’ve mentioned in this column – are impacted significantly by politics.
I’m not going away, but it is time for me to allow someone else to have the opportunity I’ve had – through this monthly Firehouse® column – to visit with you about this vast subject of politics and the way it impacts the fire and emergency services community in very important ways.
Thank you again to Jeff and Harvey, thank you to those who have followed the column, and take care.
