It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

What a blur!  This past 8 days has been a whirlwind of activity and it illustrates one of the fascinating aspects of this job as President of the IAFC.  Forget the travel and hotel rooms – I promise that’s not fun.  But the variety of activities and issues and people and organizations that I’ve had the opportunity to work with is incredible.

Let’s see…..today is Wednesday…..I started last Tuesday by flying from San Diego to Washington’s Dulles Airport to that I would be in position for meetings at the IAFC offices on Wednesday and Thursday.  A calm day of flying with everything on time.

First on the agenda last Wednesday morning was filming a video.  The IAFC operates the FirefighterNear Miss Reporting System.  We developed it from scratch with federal grant funding.  It includes a website where firefighters from across the profession can anonymously post ‘near miss’ stories….accounts of things that went badly and what was learned from them.  The reports are reviewed and vetted by a group of firefighting experts and then are turned into training resources so that we can all learn from the near misses experienced by others.  The system is modeled after one used in the aviation industry and our system has been applauded as a model system.  Near Miss had it’s own near miss this past year when the federal grant funding ran out.  We pulled together an interim survival plan and we’re getting ready to roll out a new and reinvigorated system in January.  I got to film a piece of video that will be used to announce and promote the rollout.

The rest of Wednesday and Thursday morning were spent in a meeting of the IAFC Executive Committee.  The EC is comprised of the President, Past President, 1^st Vice President, 2^nd Vice President, Treasurer, and Director at Large.  We act as the Finance Committee for the IAFC and also serve as a filter/sounding board for staff.  The association business continues to be challenging, from an economic perspective and much of our discussion was about the adjustments/changes we need to make to keep the IAFC healthy and productive.  On Thursday afternoon, we met with the full IAFC Board by web/teleconference.  Following the Thursday meeting, several of us made a dash to the airport to fly to Tampa for the next step in the trip.

Friday through Monday morning found me in Clearwater Beach, FL at the Symposium in the Sun – an annual educational conference put on by the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS).  VCOS is a special interest group within the IAFC focused on the unique needs of fire service leaders who lead volunteer departments and departments that are a combination of paid and volunteer.  The conference has turned into the premier educational event for volunteer and combination chiefs – this year more than 500 attended the meeting.  Educational sessions were packed from morning until late at night.  It was enjoyable to participate in the conference.  I also spent quite a bit of time in IAFC-related business meetings.  While it was in a beautiful spot and the weather was terrific, I really didn’t get outside much!  This part of the trip ended with breakfast with my wife, Dotty’s, brother and then it was off to the airport for the next stage of the trip. The rest of Monday was spent traveling to Charlotte, NC.

On Tuesday morning, I got to visit the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center in Richburg, SC – about an hour south of Charlotte. 

The center was created by the insurance industry to provide a laboratory to do science that will help reduce losses in our communities.  The lab tests roofing material, simulates hailstorms, and has a huge chamber where an almost full-size house can be placed in front of a giant wind tunnel to simulate hurricane/tornado force winds.  The chamber can also create an ember storm that simulates what happens in a wildland fire.  It is an amazing place doing outstanding science about how buildings can be made safer.  We traveled to IBHS because there is a bill in Congress to provide incentives for states to adopt safer building and fire codes.  4 members of Congress and the SC Governor came to the center for a tour and a demonstration, followed by a roundtable discussion by industry experts (that was my role) about how important building and fire codes are to public safety (and to reducing loss in catastrophic events).    We got to watch a simulated wildland fire ember storm that nearly burned the test house down and then got to have a great discussion with the members of Congress.  We will have to see how it goes when the bill comes up.  There is a lot of resistance to the government telling people what to do!  Following the tour, demonstration, and roundtable, another mad dash back to the airport to fly back to Washington, DC for one more meeting.

Wildland Fire Ember Storm Simulation in IBHS Test Chamber

Today, I spent the morning that the American PetroleumInstitute (API) headquarters in Washington, DC at the first meeting of the API/Association of Pipeline Operators Emergency Response Advisory Board.  The liquid pipeline industry is creating the advisory board to help them improve safety in communities where pipelines move petroleum products through the country.  It was a fascinating first meeting with lots of brainstorming and discussion about how we can help the fire service – especially in rural America – be better prepared to respond when bad things happen with petroleum pipelines.

So……eight days……4 cities…..9 flights….4 hotels….and meetings that covered everything from video filming to budgets to leading volunteer departments to research on safer building construction to encouraging adoption of model fire codes to preparing the fire service for pipeline emergencies.  A fascinating trip that will provide food for discussion and thought for many days to come.

Of course the best news is that I’m now on the way home after being gone far too long!  I am truly blessed to have a loving and supportive wife…and a great team back at the North County Fire Protection District.  I couldn’t do any of this without their help and support.