Institution of Fire Engineers and John Jay College of Criminal Justice to hold first conference at FDIC; issue call for papers
The Institution of Fire Engineers (United States of America Branch) and the Department of Public Management, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, have issued a call for papers for their First International Conference on Fire Service Deployment Analysis to be held March 19 and 20, 1999, at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Deadline for receipt of papers is December 21, 1998.
The conference is designed especially for chief officers and individuals actively engaged in or considering deployment-related projects in their departments. These projects may include station movements, new units, community fire risk assessment, and assessment of the impact these changes will have on the department`s ability to provide services.
Among those invited to participate in the conference are the International Association of Fire Chief`s Commission on Fire Accreditation International, a member of the RAND study project team; the ISO (Insurance Services Office); vendors; researchers; and fire departments from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The Organizing Committee will consider papers on siting, closure, staffing, rotation, or assignment of fire service personnel and appliances to fire stations from the disciplines of fire engineering, risk analysis, location science, public administration, and urban planning. Papers presenting risk-cost solutions and state-of-the-art analytic techniques for achieving optimum deployment solutions will be given highest consideration.
Case studies examining past, present, and proposed fire service deployment strategies; historical retrospectives examining the effectiveness of fire service deployment standards; and presentations or demonstrations of geographic information systems, computer programs, and other technologies for planning or evaluating fire service deployment will also be considered.
Contacts for the conference are Dr. Charles R. Jennings, AIFireE; John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY); 445 West 59 Street; New York, NY 10019; (212) 237-8834; e-mail: cjenning@faculty.jjay.cuny.edu and Peter Hodge; Conference Coordinator, Fire Department Instructors Conference; Park 80 West, Plaza 2, 7th Floor; Saddle Brook, NJ 07663; e-mail: peterh@pennwell.com.
NVFC opposes separate NFPA 1200 standards for career and volunteer fire personnel
The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has appealed the decision of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standards Council and the Board of Directors to create separate deployment standards for career and volunteer firefighters.
The NVFC has maintained that deployment standards should be guided locally by those who are able to assess the capabilities and the needs of the community. However, the NVFC says, if a national deployment standard must be created, the NVFC believes the standards should provide a process through which the locality can evaluate its level of service. The standard should not be based on career vs. volunteer.
The NVFC also believes the current decision by the Standards Council does not represent the best interest of the fire service. Personnel from all levels of the fire service–from national organizations to management to grassroots firefighters–have opposed this delineation, it notes.
