EDITOR’S OPINION
THEY’RE HEEEERE….
The ’90s, that is. We’ve been talking for years that the ’90s will be the time for the fire service to prepare for the 21st century. (See “America Still Burning,” Fire Engineering, March 1988.) We’ve been speaking of that future decade as though it were a myth. Well, it’s here.
We have made some significant strides in assembling tools to solve what we perceive as fire service problems. The ability to work nationally from within the government is in place—in the arms of the Fire Services Caucus. Our ability to speak of our needs with one voice is not!
The strategic goals to pursue are all listed in the America Still Burning report. I’d like to take this space to make a “wish list” of some tactics that should be in place to support those strategies.
When will someone decide what a fire truck is supposed to look like?
What is the absolute minimum number of firefighters that should arrive at an occupied structure fire on each piece of equipment—and still be effective and safe?
Where is the money to fund “state-of-the-art” legislation that we are told is good for the fire service?
What are the functions that a volunteer fire service fulfills within its community? Can the service find a means to reward its membership and solve its recruitment and retention problems? And will the community realize that whatever the cost, it’s cheap?
Can we enhance effective but sometimes top-heavy incident command systems to account tor the firefighter, his needs, and his functions? He knows that you can’t command that the fire be out.
What is the role of our unions? Is it the welfare of its membership or simply to say no to management?
Can we evolve a common ground of respect and language so the national membership of the fire service can speak with each other with the same voice?
Mandatory training is an excellent concept, but can it be made flexible so America’s firefighters can log training time without sitting in classrooms at a tremendous cost in both time and dollars?
Who will be running the fire service? The chiefs? The organizations? The legal profession?
Can the fire service organizations increase membership so they are truly representative of the group for which they speak?
Can the building of America be a triumvirate so that the architectural and construction engineers work hand-in-hand with life safety personnel from the point of excavation? In the 21st century we should make the word “retrofit” archaic.
Will we ever be able to market ourselves in a language that the purse-string holders will understand?
To use the words of John Granito,“The future must be better off for our presence and we, as a professional service, must be better off in it. We will then be able to leap ahead with a win-win situation.”
