Two Innovations Planned For ISFSI Fall Conference
The development of better protective gear for fire fighters and the effectiveness of the initial National Fire Academy courses will be among the subjects discussed at the fall conference of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors.
The conference to be held at the Holiday Inn Downtown in Sioux Falls, S. Dak., from Thursday, September 28 to Sunday, October 1, will include two innovations designed to develop greater membership participation in the program. An “idea fair” on Friday afternoon will offer ISFSI members an opportunity to display training aids they have developed. The intent is to make available to everyone the ideas that instructors in many fire departments have used to make training aids at little or no cost.
The ISFSI members also will all have an opportunity to be selected to present one of the six mini-talks scheduled for Saturday morning. There is a 7 1/2minute limit on the talks, which will be selected by the program committee.
Five film showings
What might be called Theater-Five is another innovation for the fall conference. From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, four or five films on fire fighting, fire prevention and emergency medical service subjects will be shown in each of five rooms. Each film has a scheduled starting time so conference participants can go to one or several rooms to see films that are most interesting to them.
A report on the progress of Project Fires, a federally funded effort to develop a new concept of protective gear for fire fighters, will be made by Louis J. Amabili, ISFSI president and director of the Delaware State Fire School. Speaking in the same area of interest, Ron La Rue, general manager of the Ziamatic Corporation, will discuss fire Fighter protective safety.
Now that the first batch of courses developed by the National Fire Academy is being presented throughout the country, evaluations of these courses will be offered by ISFSI members. Chief John Liebson of Crested Butte, Colo., will comment on the pesticides fire and spill control course, and Deputy Chief Harold Mamarian of Westport, Conn., will discuss the labor-management relations course. John Smith, a senior instructor at the Delaware State Fire School, will comment on the management overview course, and Robert Carter, executive director of the Virginia Office of Fire Service Training, will evaluate the fire/arson investigation course. The education methodology I course will be reviewed by Warren E. Stevens, training coordinator for the Rockville, Md., Fire Department, and speakers yet to be selected will comment on the arson detection and national fire incident reporting system courses.
Certification status
Progress the National Professional Qualifications Board is making in launching its pilot test of certification procedures will be discussed by John W. Hoglund, a member of the board and director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute.
Edward H. McCormack, ISFSI secretary, will report on the society’s public fire safety education project that is developing under an NFPCA contract.
In addition to other talks at general sessions, there will be workshops on Thursday and Saturday afternoons conducted by state, municipal, volunteer, college and industrial instructor sections of the ISFSI and the state training directors section. Cold weather problems, testing of aerial equipment, implementation of NFPA Standard 1001 for fire fighter qualifications, application of water, and dust explosions are among the topics that will be discussed at the many workshop sessions.