Firehouse Expo 2019 Offers New Classes and EMS Offerings
New classes, in-depth preconference sessions and special EMS offerings highlight Firehouse Expo 2019, which will be held Oct. 8–12 in Nashville TN.
This year’s conference will include over 100 educational sessions, including several sessions being presented for the first time in Nashville.
New classes for 2019 include:
Crucial Moments – Critical Decisions
Jeff Banman, Former firefighter/US Army Ranger/CIA Counterterrorism Operator
First-Due Tactics for the Urban Fire Boss
Sean Eagan, Captain, Buffalo, NY, FD
Modern Firefighting Hoods: Pros and Cons
Richard Kesler, Researcher, Illinois Fire Service Institute
The Dangers Lurking Below
Robert Moran, Fire Chief, Brewster, MA, Fire Rescue
John Lewis, Lieutenant (ret.), Passaic, NJ, FD
Firehouse Expo 2019 will feature several preconference sessions, including “East & West Coasts: Different Tactics, Same Fire Dynamics,” a class co-presented by Capt. Chad Christensen of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Deputy Chief Frank Leeb of the FDNY.
Firehouse Expo is also excited to offer an expanded number of sessions focused on fire service roles in EMS, with sessions focused on EMS updates and skills, fire-based EMS and fireground EMS best practices.
Don’t miss the ever-popular hands-on training classes. These sessions are designed to take the lessons you read in the magazine, online or learn in conference sessions, and apply them in real-life, hands-on scenarios.
Firehouse Expo will provide you the skills needed the next time you are dispatched to an emergency!
To learn more and to register, visit FirehouseExpo.com.
NFPA Names Brickey Educator of the Year
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has named Barry Brickey, public education and information officer for the Kingsport, TN, Fire Department and voice of Sparky the Fire Dog, as the 2019 Fire and Life Safety Educator of the Year.
“Fire safety education is critical to saving lives and reducing loss from fire,” said Lorraine Carli, vice president of Outreach and Advocacy for NFPA. “Barry’s commitment and passion for sharing safety messages is a tremendous service to his community and a model for others.”
Brickey is being awarded a $1,000 honorarium, travel to NFPA Conference & Expo in San Antonio, TX, in June, and an engraved Sparky statuette. The Kingsport Fire Department will receive a $1,000 donation to support public education activities.
To elevate awareness in the city’s elementary schools, Brickey has been using NFPA’s Learn Not to Burn preschool program since 2006 and NFPA’s Remembering When program for older adults since 2010. In 2006, he developed a billboard campaign themed with Fire Prevention Week slogans and home fire sprinkler messaging. The Kingsport Fire Department partnered with the state fire marshal’s office for a smoke alarm billboard in October 2018.
In 2011, Brickey won a national contest to become the voice of Sparky for NFPA’s “Sparky the Runaway Robot” and to celebrate Sparky’s 60th birthday. For the Fire Prevention Week that year, Brickey participated in a national radio media tour as the voice of Sparky.
Brickey was the recipient of the 2006 Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office Fire Educator of the Year Award and the 2018 Tennessee Public Fire Educators Association Bruce Womack Fire Educator of the Year award.
For more information, visit nfpa.org.
Line-of-Duty Deaths
3 U.S. firefighters recently died in the line of duty. One death was health-related, one was the result of a helicopter crash and one was the result of an ambulance crash nearly a decade ago. This edition of Firehouse is dedicated to these firefighters.
FIREFIGHTER MICHAEL BERNSTEIN, 46, of the Philadelphia Fire department, died on March 20. Bernstein suffered a medical emergency while on-duty at Engine 78 at Philadelphia International Airport. He was transported to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital where he passed away. The nature and cause of fatal injury are still to be determined.
CAPT. DANIEL LAIRD, 41, of the U.S. National Forest Service–Tahoe National Forest, died on March 27. While conducting aerial ignition operations on a prescribed burn in the Sam Houston National Forest in Texas, Laird’s helicopter went down. He passed away from the injuries he sustained in the crash. Other crewmembers sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC JAMES “WOODY” WOODMAN, 55, of the West Haven, CT, Fire Department, died on March 29. Woodman was a member of Recruit Class #15 at the Connecticut State Fire Academy. Only two days after being out of the academy, on Oct. 5, 1999, Woodman was part of an ambulance crew transporting a child to the Yale-New Haven Hospital. As they neared the hospital, the ambulance was broadsided by a bus and rolled over multiple times. Woodman sustained a traumatic brain injury that resulted in his living in a long-term care facility until his death. The child who was being transported and other crewmembers of the ambulance were seriously injured but have all made complete recoveries.
