A Little Europe North of the Border

This was a two stop trip....I was able to combine a couple of stops into a single trip.  First off was the Detroit area where I was the speaker for a meeting of the Southeast Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs.  I haven't been to the Detroit area for quite a while.  Like many of us, my impression has been colored by what I see on TV - in particular, all of the media about the financial disaster in the city of Detroit.  It was great to see that Detroit is Detroit and the surrounding communities are doing just fine, thank you very much.  Communities are recovering from the economic downturn and the fire service in the area is doing great!  It was good to see old friends and make some new ones at the meeting.  The neatest thing was that there were four IAFC Presidents in the room at the same time!  It was a reminder for me of the great chief officers who have gone before me in this position.

Four IAFC Presidents together in one place!  (L-R) Chief Richard Marinucci, Chief Bill Metcalf, Chief Jim Halsey, and Chief Jim Harmes.  Good friends and great chief officers!

From Detroit, I move on to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada for a meeting of the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA).  CSAA is an organization that represents companies in the alarm business (fire, burglary, etc).  If you or your business has an alarm that is monitored by an alarm company, this is the organization that represents that business.  Each year, CSAA invites the President and Chief Staff Officer of the IAFC, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriff's Association (NSA) and a few other public safety-related associations to come to their annual conference for a series of meetings about common issues.  The big issue that we have been working with CSAA to try to fix is what have come to be called 'nuisance' alarms.  Those are alarms that indicate there is a fire, but when we arrive we find either a sensor malfunction, a system error, or something else that doesn't require us to be there.  As an example of the scope of the problem, a major US fire department studied 10,000 recent commercial alarms and found that only 2 out of those 10,000 actually had a problem that required assistance from the fire department.  That's a lot of unnecessary emergency responses!  In any case, there were a number of very good conversations about this and other issues.  And it was also good to get the chance to meet my counterparts from the IACP and the NSA.

Quebec City was beautiful.  My first time there.  I was told that it was a little taste of Europe in Canada and that was a perfect description.  We stayed in the Old City at the Chateau Frontenac - a historic hotel that is much photographed.  It was built in 1893 for a World's Fair.  In 1943 it was the site of a historic meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt in build-up to World War 2.  It is generally recognized as one of the most photographed hotels in the world because of the way it dominates the skyline of the city.  If it looks like the Banff Hotel, its' because it was built at about the same time and by the same company.

The Old City is built on the cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River and is all narrow cobblestone streets with little shops, restaurants, and pubs.  In between meetings, we did a lot of just wandering around.  It was a treat to visit and I highly recommend it if you have the chance.  Oh....in case you don't know.....they speak French there.  The good news is that everyone was very friendly and as soon as they figured out that you didn't speak French, they switched to perfect English - cab drivers, hotel staff, wait-persons in restaurants, etc.  Well.....except for the cab driver who took me to the airport.....but we found a way to communicate ;-).

Home now for a whole week before I head out again.  Looking forward to seeing my bride!