In his Opening Ceremony remarks “You Say You Want a Revolution” to a standing-room-only crowd on Wednesday, April 17, FDIC Education Director/Fire Engineering Editor in Chief David Rhodes said:
“To effect real change, it takes more than sensationalism and popularity within like-minded people. Yes, a revolution is needed in many areas within the fire service, but it will never be successful as a skirmish.
“JPRs need updating, implementing new research and tactics. There are materials out there that can make our gear better and safer. There are better ways to design and layout apparatus for functionality.
“Our revolution must be strategic. The revolutionaries must play chess and checkers at the same time: Learn the system, infiltrate, and play the established game to make and have a serious impact and influence. This does not require you to sacrifice any of your principles or stop your training. It only requires you to change strategy.
“We need you revolution-seeking firefighters to swarm the NFPA committees, we need you on local and regional committees that establish policy, and most importantly we need you to get promoted so you can have greater influence within your own organizations.
“Is it more productive to violate a standard or change the standard to what it needs to be? Do we just want to sell more hats and stickers than the other person or rewrite and influence and guide the entire industry?
“We need the NFPA to invest in the fire service. Fund firefighters’ participation and make sure committees recruit firefighters who actually have their boots on the ground delivering service. There needs to be equal representation and collaboration between administrators and operators.
“Firefighters have the responsibility to seek out involvement, but the institutions have an obligation to make it easier for them to do so. You have to go out and recruit, inform, and inspire people to want to be a part of the process.
“It’s easy to beat up on leadership. Being the fire chief or leader in any organization is tough. What part of this job do we have common ground on? We revolutionaries need to identify someone who can be the new Bruno. Someone who has their ear on the ground listening to the revolutionaries but is well accepted within the current establishments and institutions and can help create evolution.
“If you are out there, please grab the bull by the horns and let’s go!
“Let’s lead the revolution to not accept that we need to wear our structural fire gear and SCBA designed for IDLH environments to do construction demolition overhaul after we have worked our butts off for 2 hours in 75 pounds of gear that is now wet and weighs 100 pounds. Let’s build the right tools for the job.
“Let’s tear down burned-out buildings or turn them over to a private company that has the right equipment to do construction demolition work so we can go decon and get back in service for the next emergency.
“Let’s get the latest research into the curriculum and JPRs. Let’s develop policy that allows us mechanisms to remove victims in the first 4 minutes.
“The fire service needs YOU, the revolutionaries, to move us forward. We need your passion, we need your street cred, we need your knowledge, we need your energy, we need your influence, and we desperately need your leadership.”
