The Metropolitan “Metro” Fire Chiefs Association, a section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) held its 2010 annual conference in Memphis, Tennessee, May 14-20. More than 100 Metro chiefs from Canada, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States attended the conference and elected the section’s 2010-2011 officers and board members.
The new officers are:
· Chief Gregory Frederick of the Louisville, Kentucky Division of Fire, president
· Chief Jim Kay of the Hamilton, Ontario Emergency Services Department, vice president
· Chief Ned Pettus, Jr., of the Columbus, Ohio Division of Fire, secretary
· Chief Steven Dean of the Mobile, Alabama Fire and Rescue Department, treasurer
The new board members are:
· Chief G. Keith Bryant of the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Fire Department, board member
· Chief (retired) William “Bill” McCammon of the Alameda County Fire Department, Alameda County, California, senior board member
· Chief Larry Few of the Fulton County, Georgia Fire & Rescue Department, alternate board member
· Chief Robert “Bob” Hendricks of the Lexington, Kentucky Division of Fire & Emergency Services, immediate past president
The Metro Chiefs bestowed the following 2010 Metro Awards:
· Chief William “Bill” Stewart of the Toronto, Ontario Fire Services Department was named Fire Chief of the Year
· Kelvin Cochran, administrator of the United States Fire Administration and former chief of the Shreveport, Louisiana and Atlanta, Georgia Fire Departments received the Lifetime Achievement Award
· Glenn Gaines, deputy administrator of the United States Fire Administration and former chief of the Fairfax County, Virginia Fire Department received the President’s Award of Distinction
U.S. Fire Administrator Kelvin Cochran, NFPA President & CEO Jim Shannon, IAFC Executive Director Mark Light, IAFC President Jeff Johnson, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger, and Chief John Bonney, president of the Chief Fire Officers Association of the United Kingdom addressed the chiefs. A comprehensive education program included presentations ranging from the Minneapolis Interstate 35 Bridge Collapse, to Changes in Fire Apparatus Design to Operations in the Dutch and UK Fire Services, to EMS (emergency medical services), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), UL (Underwriters Laboratories) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) updates. The chiefs also passed resolutions expressing unanimous support for numerous initiatives, such as the NFPA Fire Sprinkler Initiative and Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition, the National Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation and the Public Safety Spectrum Trust/D-Block broadband issue.
Congratulations to Chief/Director Alvin Benson and the entire Memphis Fire Department for hosting an outstanding conference.
The 2011 Metro conference will be hosted by Chief Jon Hannan and the Charlotte Fire Department, Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference will be May 14-19.
The Metropolitan Fire Chiefs (Metro) Association brings together fire chiefs from large metropolitan fire departments to share information and focus on major issues effecting policy changes in the U.S. and abroad. Its members belong to the IAFC and NFPA and are the fire chiefs of jurisdictions with minimum staffing of 400 fully paid career firefighters.
