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Part 19
by Mark Cotter
I had a great time at the 2008 Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in April--five full days of new ideas, new friends, and a new perspective on the job we do. If you've never attended an FDIC, the opportunities for professional growth, camaraderie, and the exchange of ideas are almost overwhelming. As in previous years' shows, there were more sessions worth attending than time to do so.
Since I was scheduled to present the classroom session "Fire Service Myths" (more on that in later columns), on Friday (the last day), I took the opportunity to be a student earlier in the week. I spent my evenings in an uneven mix of socializing and preparing for my presentation. The latter required most of my attention, especially since I would be facing an audience that included firefighters experience and training levels that made me look like a rookie in comparison. That pressure kept me in my room most nights (really!).
As mentioned above, choosing a session to attend was a real challenge. The first two days (Monday and Tuesday) offered Hands-On Training (HOT) classes and one- and two-day seminars. Despite the temptation to perform firefighting tasks and learn at the same time, I took the less physically strenuous way out and went for the classroom sessions. Still, deciding whether to learn new things, or refresh knowledge I already had (or thought I had) presented a serious dilemma. Any choice would offer guidance from instructors with new perspectives, years of experience, and a wealth of knowledge, so at least there would be no real "wrong" choices.
In the end, I decided to spend two days with the Brunacinis (Alan, retired fire chief and living fire service legend; son John, retired captain; and son Nick, deputy chief; all from the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department), who presented "Fireground Logic: Rules of Engagement." As a young fire chief, I credited the text Fire Command (written by Alan Brunacini several decades ago) as the source of practical knowledge that gave me the competence and confidence to lead my company in extinguishing fires more efficiently. I remarked to him that his name should be on a plaque on some buildings that we saved with the help of his book. He responded that there would also need to be a lot of plaques on empty lots he helped create as he accumulated his experience.
What followed was two days--broken only by the occasional break and two massive buffet lunches--of ideas, experiences, challenges, and warnings, all of which we participants felt inspired to carry back and share with our respective departments. When a cabbie asked one night what the FDIC was about, I told him it was like taking golf lessons from Tiger Woods. Although the workshop I attended was not a private lesson, my own questions and input were as valued as much as those of the other 20 or so participants. Together we pondered and addressed both general fire service problems, as well as those posed by students that related to their own unique settings.
The crowds at FDIC were enormous, but since virtually everyone there was a firefighter, it seemed like you were at a huge family reunion. Besides repeatedly meeting up with attendees from my own and neighboring departments, usually by chance, I also made the acquaintance of several new friends. Riding on the bus shuttle from my hotel to the convention center the first night, I met a Connecticut firefighter who was attending a Truck Company seminar to obtain information about which type of aerial his town should purchase.
A Utah firefighter I met had signed up for a 16-hour HOT class on the practical applications of National Fire Protection Association 1403, Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions. He planned to apply that knowledge to a training opportunity his department had received--a neighborhood of abandoned homes slated for demolition for an urban renewal project. I encountered each of these fellow attendees later in the week on the exhibit floor. Both remarked that after attending their classes, they felt armed with knowledge that would assist their respective departments immediately on their return home.
On a personal note, in an "it's a small world" sort of way, a fellow attendee of the Rules of Engagement workshop was a longtime friend from New Jersey, Tom Aurnhammer. He migrated west from our East Coast birthplace to find a firefighter job in New Mexico. Almost 30 years later, after retiring as fire chief in Farmington, New Mexico, he now works as a deputy chief just over the state line in Ignacio, Colorado. And here we were at FDIC, sitting one behind the other, soaking up the knowledge offered by the Brunacinis and friends.
As I mentioned before, I was a featured speaker at this year's FDIC and also a student. However, the two roles were actually quite difficult to separate. In fact, one thing that kept me working continually on my presentation was the constant accumulation of additional information that I felt compelled to include. One particular workshop discussion actually became the underlying theme of my lecture. Validation of an idea by someone like Alan Brunacini is both inspiring and intimidating, but I ran with it.
The audiences at FDIC are probably some of the best and the toughest of any fire service training venue. Many are chief officers and instructors, so their questions can be quite challenging and their post-session comments are clear and accurate about any shortcomings. That feedback, though, is what makes FDIC such a sought-after gig for instructors seeking to hone new ideas and approaches. I certainly got my wish in that regard.
Most of the comments about my session were complimentary ("Great info," "Well done; good research," and my favorite, "Well worth the trip from Washington State"). But some were less so ("Too much rambling" and "Sexy title, but not very satisfying" [ouch!]). After my ego recovered somewhat, I found the most valuable feedback were from respondents with specific suggestions ("Speak a little slower" [remember, I'm originally from New Jersey], and "Bad colors on PowerPoint; hard to read").
The biggest complaint about my talk regarded excessive time spent reviewing the principles of research and my heavy use of statistics. I was explaining the methods of proving or disproving a "myth," but, really, what was I thinking? Also, I used firefighter LODDs as a launching point to discuss a variety of fire service misconceptions and misdirections, but the result was a talk with too narrow a focus, given its title. Still, if I ever get a chance to speak on the same subject again, I'll do a much better job—that's the real value of such feedback.
Five days and nights in Indianapolis left me a better-informed firefighter with more friends than when I arrived, and a humbler instructor with more material for training and columns than I will probably be able to use in a year. Those rewards are what FDIC's all about.
Mark Cotter joined the fire service more than 30 years ago, and is currently a volunteer firefighter/EMT-B with the Salisbury (MD) Fire Department. Previously, he served with departments in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as an EMT-paramedic, emergency services consultant, and fire chief. You can reach him at markjcotter@comcast.net.
