When Montgomery County, Maryland Fire Administrator Gordon Aoyagi spoke to a packed room Wednesday at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, he reminded the crowd that a little more than a year ago a sniper was running around killing people and citizens were scared. They called upon public officials to protect them and to find the culprits. So why then, were the citizens not outraged over the recent 26 fire-related deaths that also struck so close to them, Aoyagi asked.
It was this question that was the impetus for bringing together over 100 fire service leaders from Maryland, D.C. and Virginia and representatives of other fire service groups such as the IAFF, IAFC, NFPA, USFA, and the Red Cross. It was the possibility that on an annual basis, a record number of fire deaths would be set in Maryland.
Recognizing this, it was determined the mission of the four-hour meeting was to brainstorm "Challenges and Solutions" to somehow create a culture of safety and preparedness. And so moderator Wayne Powell of the U.S. Fire Administration moved around the room with a microphone asking each person to throw out problem solving ideas.
Maryland State Fire Marshal Bill Barnard said 2003 provided the third-lowest state total of deaths ever, 71. But it was in line to more than double this year. "We should be mad as hell," he said.
U.S. Fire Administrator R. David Paulison noted that nationally, more people die annually in fires than died in the World Trade Center disaster. "But where is the public outcry about these deaths?" he asked. "Often, fire is a big media event. But the truth is a fire is a failure. Something had gone wrong."
Dr. John Hall, NFPA VP, said he heard over and over again that departments need to do more of what they have been doing and what they know works. Public education was the repeated solution, along with department involvement in the community.
Monitoring at-risk citizens. Reaching out to second-language communities. More participation with fire prevention education in the school systems. These and many of the dozens of other efforts performed daily by firefighters, were mentioned over and over by the attendees. And there was more than one hint that firehouse personnel need to get out of the firehouse more often to do these things.
As Powell heard it, it was changing the focus somewhat. One participant informally polled the audience on how many fire prevention officers each department had and generally got single digit responses. Powell noted this was perhaps part of the answer: to engage those involved in suppression to fully focus at the same time in fire prevention. "How many firefighters do you have? That is how many fire prevention members you have," Powell said.
Asked if talking about fire prevention to this group was like preaching to the choir, Paulison said that simply gathering all these people together had created a great deal of media attention. Many of the Baltimore/D.C. media outlets covered the meeting. "It shows me that doing even this much is doing the right thing," he said. "Getting the fire service and the media together is getting the message out."
