CTEX 2024 promises to deliver many new names and topics to the Riverside Convention Center in February, including TV host and chef Robert Irvine and London Fire Brigade (LFB) Fire Chief/Commissioner Dany Cotton (Ret.). The event takes place Feb. 25–March 3 in Riverside, CA.
Irvine, who is a world-class chef (not chief), will conclude the first day of CTEX on Feb. 26, as he talks about leadership lessons from the kitchen and his work as a philanthropist. Irvine will share his story and how he uses his life’s lessons to turn dying restaurants into thriving businesses in his show, “Restaurant: Impossible.” After the session, Irvine will be available to talk about cooking, recipes and sharing inspiration for breaking bread in the firehouse and about the Robert Irvine Foundation, which helps emergency responders and military veterans through food, cooking and health.
Cotton will detail the response to the tragic Grenfell Tower fire that claimed at least 70 lives in 2017. She will detail the response and the short- and long-term effects of the response on the members of the LFB. Cotton also will share stories from her 32-year career—she was the United Kingdom's Fire Station Officer—and talk about leadership.
Hands-on training
Several hands-on training classes will be offered, including the three-day Fire Control 3: Structural Firefighting course, which will dig into fire dynamics, structural fire behavior and fire attack methods during live fire conditions. The class also is used to develop future fire instructors’ knowledge base of fireground physics and fire science.
Preregistration is required to participate.
Arson report writing
Scott Kuhlman, who is the first vice president of the California Conference of Arson Investigators, and Justin Russell of Orange County Fire Authority/Irvine, CA, Police Department will present “Objective Arson Report Writing: Collaborating with Law Enforcement and Navigating Bias.” The session will provide an in-depth look at incident report writing. The program is designed to prepare firefighters/investigators with the skills that they need to produce documentation that withstands legal scrutiny and provides impartial findings while working with law enforcement for arson fires.
Fire Explorers
CTEX 2024 kicks off with a Fire Explorer Muster on Sunday, Feb. 25, bringing Explorer Posts from across California to Riverside. The day will be spent showcasing skills in a competitive and learning environment, presenting new methods, and allowing the explorers to connect with others from all over, to create a bigger sense of camaraderie. The day will reinforce the fire service family to the next generation.
Participating Explorer Posts are required to sign up on the CTEX 2024 website.
Other opportunities
Additional topics that will be presented at CTEX 2024 include best practices for recruitment and retention; improving firefighter training; firefighter cancer prevention; keys to successful mentoring programs; and a Leadership, Equity, Diversity & Service roundtable discussion.
Registration and the full conference lineup are available at ctex.csfa.net.
