During the Firehouse Expo 2017 opening ceremonies, Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Tim Sendelbach delivered a tribute to “America’s Fire Chief,” Alan V. Brunacini, who passed away on Oct. 15. Brunacini was a mentor to Sendelbach, who described Brunacini’s many contributions to the fire service.
Sendelbach spoke of how Brunacini introduced so many critical concepts to the fire service. From NFPA 1500 and 1710 to Blue Card, fire command and hazard zones, Brunacini’s fingerprints are all over some of the most vital elements of safety and progress in the profession.
“Chief Brunacini introduced us to three phrases: ‘Risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little, risk nothing for what is already lost,'” Sendelbach reminded. “He introduced the word ‘calculated manner.’ Chief Brunacini never advocated being a passive firefighter; he advocated being a smart, risk-oriented firefighter.”
Sendelbach said everything Brunacini did was in the interest of firefighter safety, referencing a chart of firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs). “When Chief Brunacini took the helm, there were nearly 175 firefighters losing their life every single year in this proud profession,” Sendelbach said. “As he indoctrinated us to new ways of organizing the fireground, accounting for people, those numbers continued to diminish.”
Sendelbach also described Brunacini’s endorsement of two simple words—“be nice”—that characterized his focus on the customer, whom he named “Mrs. Smith.”
“Mrs. Smith lives on. Not a soul in this room has ever met Mrs. Smith, but we know her and our responsibility to her because of Alan V. Brunacini,” Sendelbach said, adding, “If we take care of the customer, she will take care of us. We owe that to Chief Brunacini.”
Sendelbach said Brunacini once shared with him that he would travel the country, sharing words of wisdom, and at every location, firefighters would come up to him and say they had never heard this information before, underscoring the idea that we must continue to work to get the message out; there will always be a new crop of firefighters who need the information and guidance.
Recalling Brunacini’s signature casual style of instruction, Sendelbach brought a chair to the stage and sat in it while speaking about the chief’s amazing ability to deliver information at a level that every firefighter could understand, and always in such a humble manner.
With the backdrop of an empty chair sitting in front of a wall of the flags of fallen firefighters, Sendelbach thanked Chief Brunacini for answering the call of duty for more than 50 years. Several longtime Firehouse contributors then placed items of significance on the table—a folded flag from Billy Goldfeder, a Hawaiian shirt from Dr. Harry Carter, a lei from Barry Furey, a copy of Brunacini’s book Customer Service from Paul Hashagen, a pack of #2 pencils by Ron Moore, and a set of 3 x 5 index cards from John Salka.
The empty chair was positioned facing the wall of flags, representing that there is still work to do to reduce the number of firefighter LODDs—a mission Brunacini took very seriously and one on which he had a significant impact.
“Job well done,” Sendelbach said. “We’ll take it from here.”
Firehouse Expo 2017 is dedicated to Chief Alan V. Brunacini.
