Large Departments With Large Resources Will Benefit All
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The Editor’s Opinion Page
In September, at Miami Beach, the International Association of Fire Chiefs will hold its 107th annual conference which in itself is a tribute to the association. There are few organizations of any kind in this country which have lasted so long, and with such continuous growth.
The first meeting of the association, initially called the National Association of Fire Engineers, was held in Baltimore, Md., and as one chief engineer put it, “with the view of congregating the chiefs and heads of department for a free discussion of all matters pertaining to the welfare of the several fire organizations of the country.” He favored an interchange of opinion, and thought that “much good would be derived in discussing the question of how best to contend against fires.” In effect, he stated a policy for the association that holds to this day.
This Baltimore conference was held at a time when what might be called the modern fire service had just started—with the increasing use of the steam fire engine and cotton rubber-lined hose. Understandably, the attendees at this conference came from the larger cities and metropolitan areas of the country. At that time (and still today) these larger fire departments had the resources, lacking in smaller departments, to resolve their problems. Some problems, not many, were unique to the big departments. But once solved, the solutions could be passed down and adapted to any city, regardless of size. In effect, bigness subsidized smallness at a considerable savings in time, resources and money for the little departments.
As the years went by, the smaller departments began to outnumber the larger by far. But the problems of the larger departments seemed to increase exponentially. And in 1964 a separate committee—the Metro Chiefs—was formed, oddly enough from almost the same population groups that started the National Association of Fire Engineers.
At the most recent annual meeting of the Metro Chiefs in Tucson, Ariz., items under discussion included the emergency medical service, hazardous materials incidents, women in the fire service and inter-city exchange for fire service personnel. Not one of these items appeared on the agenda of 1873; in fact, they were unheard of in those simpler times.
So, once again, the big city chiefs are in the forefront of the fire service, providing solutions not only for their own departments but for all communities in the country. As the minutes of this last Metro Chiefs meeting state, “The Metropolitan Fire Chiefs have resources unavailable to other departments to develop solutions (to fire service problems).”
So let’s see that they have the cooperation and acceptance of all concerned, particularly those who will benefit from their solutions—and at no cost.
