During his keynote “Adapt and Act!” at the FDIC Opening Ceremony on Thursday, Florissant Valley (MO) Fire Protection District Chief Jason Hoevelmann said:
“A lack of adaptability and action are the enemy of success. They are the seeds that lead to us becoming complacent and demonstrating a lack of commitment to doing whatever it takes to ensure we meet our fire service mission and citizens’ mission and expectations.
“The ‘saves’ we are witnessing every day in this country are products of that kind of adaptive consideration and action along with preparation, work, and effort. They are the result of study, education, and training. They happen because most don’t and won’t do the seemingly small things. These are the hard things and they are mundane … over … and over … again but so important!
“Those saves are not accidental, and they are not the result of luck—-they result from many moments of taking your own time to come to conferences like FDIC to learn, doing one more set and rep when we’re all tired, hot, and sweaty. Not settling for easy, fast, or being ‘just okay.’
“Those rescued citizens were blessed with firefighters and officers who put in the work, understood and managed the risks, and were willing to adapt and act, even when it wasn’t familiar or comfortable. The basics ingrained in those heroes provided the foundation for the extraordinary when it presented itself.
“Our lives and careers are full of choices. We get to choose how prepared we are. We get to choose to get out of the chair to do work for improvement. We get to choose to read, study, and learn. We must choose action! We cannot accept comfortable inaction!
“We MUST understand that if we are genuinely here for THEM, we must truly be here for THEM.
“To do that, we must adapt to these ever-changing environments and ask the public what they expect of us to truly serve and protect. We don’t decide what is worthy of our efforts. ALL calls for assistance are worthy of our best, even if they differ from what we dreamed this job would be.
“For some, that takes some adaptability and humility.
“Our fires will come. Our rescues will come. But the community’s needs go much further than that, and we must adapt and act to ensure we are their protectors.
“Many of you in this room have adapted and acted for years to be able to attend FDIC, using your own vacation and personal time because your organization does not provide paid time off for training and development. Take what you learn here and be innovative, suggest ideas, practice new things, and relearn old things.
“Sometimes, adapting and acting is very difficult and not popular.
“We are the protectors, the warriors, the last hope for those in their most desperate moments. Action is the only choice–purposeful, meaningful, urgent action.”
