ATLANTA, Ga.-- United States Fire Administrator Gregory Cade kicked off Fire Rescue International in this steamy city this morning with a call for increased preparedness and a commitment to saving lives.
"On any given night, we are exposed to differing opinions by the experts," Cade told the crowd of hundreds. He said we live in a culture where it's easy to find differences between one another.
And it's the same in the fire service, where Cade said things as trivial as engine color or serious as number of line of duty deaths can separate one department from another.
But those differences don't mean much when it comes to keeping firefighters safe.
As an example, he pointed to supposed differences between firefighters of today and firefighters half a century ago.
"Do we fight fire the same way we did 50 years ago? Of course the answer is 'No.' Do fires destroy property and lives the same way they did 50 years ago? Unfortunately the answer is 'Yes.'
"I now stand before this great leadership body and ask you to support our similarities."
Cade said firefighters are unified by their commitment to safety - for each other and for community members.
And that commitment, he said, is something the fire service needs to recognize and celebrate.
"Remember the similarities of all firefighters," he said, "we are all committed to firefighter well-being."
He urged firefighters to take that dedication a step further, with a commitment to preparedness.
Cade said the fire service is on pace to loose 120 firefighters this year. So far, there have already been 84 line of duty deaths.
"That's 84 sons, 84 daughters, 85 firefighters," Cade said. "We have got to do something. From this point forward, everyone goes home."
He urged conference attendees to commit to a prepared fire service and to a prepared nation. As such, members of the fire service should work together to improve the PSOB Hometown Heroes grants, offer continued commitment to programs such as Everyone Goes Home and get the word out about mandatory residential sprinkler systems in U.S. homes. He also called for more progress in implementing NIMS and incident and unified command training.
Join me," he said "in making safety paramount."
Excellence Awards
IAFC First Vice President Steve Westermann along with IAFC President Jim Harnes and Jim Tidwell from the International Code Council presented the first Excellence in Fire & Life Award.
Azarang (Ozzie) Mirkhah, Fire Protection Engineer (FPE) for the City of Las Vegas Department of Fire & Rescue and a Firehouse.com Contributing Editor , received the award for his research and ongoing communications efforts on behalf of the 1947 President's Conference on Fire Prevention.
The 2007 Fire Service Award for Excellence was also awarded as the seven nominees were presented on stage. The award is cosponsored by the IAFC and U.S. Safety Fire Technologies, recognizing innovation and achievement of programs that help reduce the loss of life and property from fire and other emergencies.
Departments nominated for the award hailed from Copperas Cover, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Melbourne, Australia; North Richland Hills, Texas; Orange County, Fla.Tuscaloosa, Ala. and Wilson, N.C.
One interesting nominee was the Metropolitan Fire & Emergency Services Board of Melbourne, that applied artwork having significant cultural meaning to the Aboriginal and Vietnamese communities to the sides of primary-response pumpers.
Orange County won the award for their Wellness Program that was founded in 2002 in part of help from Fire Act Grant funds. The program, along with annual physicals and medical monitoring, has reduced workers??? compensation claims and costs by 63 percent for the department, according to the IAFC.
Motivating Firefighters
Tom Bay, a motivational speaker who also is a member of IAFC, served as the keynote speaker for the opening ceremonies. Bay used his personal experiences and his own brand of humor to relate with the members of the fire service in attendance.
"Fire has always been one of the highest rated professions in the U.S. ??? But since 9/11, the bar was moved way up" by the public, he said.
He also spoke about "clean" and "dirty" motives and how firefighting should be something you do for others and not for your own personal gain.
Bay urged those in attendance: "Don't let your ego eat your brain."
