It has been an amazing year so far. I have traveled far and wide covering the American fire service for Firehouse® Magazine. Teaching in Seattle and riding on one of their fireboats. Attending meetings in Phoenix. Visiting the Las Vegas Fire Department, District of Columbia Fire & Rescue Department, St. Petersburg, FL, Fire Department and San Francisco, Los Angeles and one of the Los Angeles County USAR teams. Attending meetings in Baltimore, Indianapolis and Connecticut. Interviewing the first-due incident commander from the Worcester tragedy. Visiting two apparatus factories, one of which is building a piece of apparatus I ordered for my fire department last year.
Most recently, I spent several days in Los Alamos, NM, where I interviewed members of the fire department for the story on the Cerro Grande Fire (see page 42). Based on the East Coast and being so far removed from the normal wildland fire, it was remarkable for me to see the damage and extensive problems that confront wildland managers, firefighters and residents. During a helicopter ride over the burned area, I came to understand how difficult the wildland mitigation and firefighting can be.
I am truly amazed that in the past few months, I have been able to see the site of the Worcester tragedy, tour the fire-ravaged Ybor City section of Tampa, FL (see page 84) and travel to New Mexico to cover the Los Alamos story. I feel privileged to be able to visit with the firefighters who fought these fires and to share their experiences with the American fire service.
I always found that when I was a fire lieutenant or captain, I learned more than as a firefighter because I went inside most buildings instead of standing fast outside. When I became chief, the experience gained was multiplied even more. I got a first-hand look at every incident. As we began using the incident command system, my place as incident commander was outside directing. I didn't want to do a firefighter's job and I didn't want them taking my IC position.
I stepped down as fire chief a few months ago after 12 years. I had always said I would never run against my officers. A few weeks ago, we had a fire in the attic of the police station adjacent to our firehouse. The fire was burning 100 years of paper records. I eventually wound up on the line. I put on my hood and SCBA, and opened up. Ventilation was the order of the day. The roof was opened by power saws in conjunction with positive-pressure ventilation. The fire was knocked down and overhaul eventually took several days. The fire will probably cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars, most for building cleanup.
During most of my term as chief, I asked for a sprinkler system in the firehouse. This was to protect the borough's multimillion-dollar investment in apparatus and equipment. We're still waiting - but the lawn sprinkler system was working fine that morning.
It's a tough sell. The same goes for Los Alamos. Firefighters told me that the most important thing is to sell the public on having defensible space around their property. After the fire, it is too late.
