US Senate on Fire January 2020

There are 100 US Senators, two from each State. They have been on TV recently doing their unique constitutional job. May people have been paying attention to his historical activity. 

In January 2020 home fires killed 236 people. Only a few people know this story; the firefighters who responded, the family who lost loved ones, the neighbors, and the community. There were only five states with no reported home fire death.

Six states had the most home fire deaths: Alabama 16, New York 15, Michigan 14, Kentucky 12, Washington 11, and Pennsylvania 11.  I wonder if the US Senators for these states know they lead the nation in home fire deaths in January 2020.

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/civilian-fatalities/incident/reportMap

“I Don’t Want My Ears Burned” Fire Command July 1976 Guest Editorial

If there is one thing common to all fire departments in the world, it must be “bull sessions” between emergencies. During a recent session, I was defending the importance of an academic education for the firefighter. Needless to say, I was alone in my opinion. The majority argued, “You don’t need a college degree to ride on the back step.” I countered with, “If we become more educated, maybe we’ll kill fewer firefighters.”

The next statement I heard frightened me: “Firefighters have to get killed; it’s part of the job.”

Do Fire Service personnel believe that being injured or killed is part of the job? Maybe we do, because the number of casualties keeps rising. Our military background may be partly to blame. In every battle there is an acceptable casualty level. What is the Fire Service’s acceptable casualty level?

That which a society or group accepts is what it is likely to get. Polio became unacceptable; today it is almost non-existent. The commercial airline industry decided in the beginning that zero accidents would be the only acceptable level. That’s why air travel is so safe. The Fire Service will stop being the most hazardous occupation only when we, its members, want it to.

Zero casualties won’t come easily. We must become our own toughest critics. Every time an accident occurs we must determine who or what is at fault.  No one easily admits that he made a mistake, but that’s how we learn.

Most of us have had our ears burned at least once.  Why?

Does your  helmet have ear flaps?Were you taught to pull your ear flaps down? Did you forget to pull your ear flaps down? Did the ear flaps fail to protect you? Why were you so close to the fire? Firefighters get burned; it’s part of the job.

If your answer is the last one, your ears will get burned again.  Whether it is your ears getting burned, or another fire fighter getting killed, it is some­ one or something’s fault, not just a part of the job.

I know what some readers of this column will be thinking: “If you can’t take it, Clark, you should get out of the Service.” This attitude is one reason that we are Number One in hazardous occupations. As a member of the “new breed”, I think zero is the only acceptable level of casualties.

This idea evolved during a “bull session”. Maybe my whole theory is “bull”.  I hope not.

Farewell to the National Fire Academy

“I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. There is an adage which says that, ‘Nothing can be destroyed except by fire.’ We strive to preserve from destruction the wealth of the world which is the product of the industry of men, necessary for the comfort of both the rich and the poor. We are defenders from fires of the art which has beautified the world, the product of the genius of men and the means of refinement of mankind. But, above all, our proudest endeavor is to save lives of men—the work of God Himself. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even at the supreme sacrifice. Such considerations may not strike the average mind, but they are sufficient to fill to the limit our ambition in life and to make us serve the general purpose of human society.”

—Chief Edward F. Croker, FDNY, circa 1910

           AFTER 44 YEARS of service, this I believe. As a member of the fire-service discipline, what I know and what I do not know has life-and-death consequences for me and others. Therefore, a fire service calling demands my highest level of professionalism.

           Our proudest moment is when we accept the fact that fire prevention, smoke alarms, and fire sprinklers will save more lives and property from fire than we ever will.

           Our noblest deeds of daring are measured by having the courage to do each task one hundred percent correctly one hundred percent of the time, especially when others around us are not, because lives are at stake.

           Our supreme success is achieved when there is no injury, or death, or loss from fire.

           As firefighters we honor the past because many people and events have put us here today; we celebrate the precious present because we have accomplished much and tomorrow belongs to no one; and we believe in the future because that is where we will spend the rest of our lives serving the people and achieving our purpose.

           Thank God for firefighters. Thank you God for letting me be a firefighter. Class dismissed.

ONE is the loneliest number                                                                                                         

            I am the only smoke alarm in the licensed 24-hour daycare. I’m in the attic. Tonight a fire will start in a frayed electrical cord downstairs.  Everyone will be asleep; I’m too far away to detect the smoke. 

            Five children will die, firefighters can’t save them. The state inspector did not check me or say more were needed.  I don’t know if the families who bring their children here have smoke alarms in their homes.  I don’t remember any firefighters coming here to check on me.

            Tomorrow, like many times before, the headline will read

Not Enough Smoke Alarms…Children Killed

Dissertation Advisor to:

Lindsay Judah, DPA (ABD) 2019 Valdosta State University, GA. Proposal “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Programs in the Fire Service: An Examination of Their Effectiveness  and Challenges in Implementation.” (Committee Member)

Michael Donahue, Ph.D. 2019 Oklahoma State University, OK  “Fire Prevention Service Provisions Within A New Age Of Local Government Retrenchment.” (Committee Member)

Carey Waddell, Ed.D. 2019 Grand Canyon University, AZ  “United States Air Force Officers’ Leadership Style as a Predictor of Group Potency.”(Committee Member)

Matthew W. Colpitts, Ed.D 2018 Fielding Graduate University, CA“Emergency Management and preparedness at higher education institutions: Differences in perceptions of senior student affairs officers and local emergency managers.” (Committee Member)

Carl M. DeCarlo, Ed.D. 2017 Benedictine University, IL. “Higher education and the fire service a changing relationship: A phenomenology study exploring factors that influence the integration of the National Professional Development Model into fire science associate degree programs.” (Committee Director)

Marion F. Blackwell, Jr. Ph.D. 2017 Oklahoma State University OK, “Center for Public Safety Excellence are there positive outcomes for the community?” (Committee Member)

Candace Ashby, PhD 2014 University of Phoenix, AZ, “Phenomenological study of Battalion Chiefs leadership development” (Committee Member)

Demond Simmons, DPA, 2013, Golden Gate University, CA, “Firefighter resistance to Change: Examination of the Oakland Fire Department” (Committee Member)

Robert L. Ditch, Ed.D. 2012, Walden University, Florida “An analysis of factors which influence the pursuit of higher education by metropolitan firefighters in Virginia” (Committee Member)          

Gerri Penney, Ph.D. 2010 Florida Atlantic University “The chief executive fire officers strategic thinking capabilities and its relationship with technological device usage”   (Committee Member)

Larry A. Porter, Ph.D. 2009 George Washington University, Wash., DC  “Defense support of civilian authority (DSCA):  What emergency managers need to know” (Defense Committee Member)

 John Moschella, Ed.D. 2008 Cambridge College, Massachusetts “Comparison of   graduate education for the fire service internationally” (Committee Member)

Sara Tarr, Ph.D. 2007 Syracuse University, New York   “Description and evaluation of     current fire service training materials development” (Committee Member)

Ronald T. Wakeham, DPA 2003 Nova Southeastern University, Florida “An investigation into fire department mentoring practices and their impact on career outcomes of chief executive fire officers” (Committee Chair)

H. Michael Drumm, DPA 2002 Nova Southeastern University, Florid “The ethical and moral development differences of municipal department heads based on the Defining Issues Test” (Committee Member)

Joseph V. Saitta, Ed.D. 1998 Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia “Determining the administrative support and professional development needs of contract instructors at a civilian federal training agency” (Advisor)

David H. Hoover, Ph.D. 1993 Union Institute Graduate College, Ohio “Preparing fire officers for administrative responsibility:  A project demonstrating excellence” (Advisor)

Elizabeth McLaughlin, Sc.D. 1984 Johns Hopkins University, Maryland “Smoke detector legislation its effect on owner occupied homes” (Advisor)

First sentences in I Can’t Save You But I’ll Die Trying. The American Fire Culture.

“To understand the art of firefighting, you have to understand physics, fire behavior, and human behavior.”  Captain Raul A. Angulo Ladder Company 6 Seattle Fire Department

“Dr. Clark’s confrontational approach to line-of-duty deaths in the fire service is eye-opening.” Duane Hughes Chief of Training, Columbus Fire and Rescue in Mississippi

“Throughout the history of the U.S. Fire Service, many giants have challenged the way we thought and operated, and drug us kicking and screaming toward progress.” Brent Batla Deputy Chief, MS EFO CFO, Burleson Fire Department, in Texas

“Burt Clark has dedicated his professional life to teaching firefighters and working to reduce line-of-duty deaths.”  Lauren A. Johnson Section Chief, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Coordinator, Dallas Fire-Rescue Department

Dedicated to the American fire service, a noble calling and Carolyn Smith-Clark, a fire service leader in her own right, my wife, lover, friend, and soul mate who taught me how to love and be loved by children, grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

“THE ART OF fighting fires has long been a topic of many accomplished authors.” Arlene Zang, FF/P, proud mother of Captain Robin Broxterman, Colerain Township, OhioLODD 04/04/08

AT MY FIRST FIRE I almost killed another firefighter.

DO YOU KNOW there are 1.1 million firefighters and 32,000 fire departments in the United States of America?

IF THERE IS one thing common to all fire departments in the world, it must be bull sessions between emergencies.

FIREFIGHTING IS dangerous.

DO YOU AGREE or disagree with this statement?

COULD YOUR FIRE department lose nine firefighters in a building fire tonight?

WHEN I WAS a rookie fireman in 1970 at the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department Company 33, Prince George’s County Fire Department in Maryland, an old-timer (he was thirty-five, I was twenty) told me, “The next call you go on may be the biggest fire in your career, so you must be ready.”

THE 2012 INTERNATIONAL Fire/EMS Safety & Health Week theme is “Rules you can live by.”

I HAVE NEVER BEEN in the military.

IN 2013, ASSISTANT professors at the University of Idaho and Harvard and the incoming president of the IAFC agree with my 1976 editorial that firefighters getting killed is not part of the job.

FIRE SERVICE IS different from other disciplines because of the risk to individuals, society, and firefighters at work.

PHILOSOPHERS DON’T THINK or write about firefighters, and very few firefighters think or write about philosophy.

SHAKESPEARE AND TATTLETALE are not usually combined in a title but these two concepts represent the dilemma I faced.

ONLY FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT of firefighters wear their seatbelts.

“I DON’T NEED TO wear my seatbelt because no firefighter I know has ever been killed because they didn’t wear their seatbelt.” Anonymous firefighter.

IF YOU DO not wear your seatbelt when riding on the fire truck, if you do not make your partner put his or her seatbelt on, if you drive the fire truck and all passengers are not buckled up, if you are the officer and you do not enforce the seatbelt policy, if you are a chief officer and do not hold your company officers accountable, if you are the fire chief and you know that you do not have a one hundred percent compliance one hundred percent of the time with your seatbelt policy—you killed Firefighter Brian Hunton.

TWELVE FIREFIGHTERS HAVE died in the line of duty since January 2007, in crashes without having their seatbelt on.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” CHARLES DICKENS–A Tale of Two Cities, 1859

WHAT DID THE princess, the governor, and the firefighter have in common?

DO YOU REMEMBER the twelve seatbelt deaths from 2007?

IT IS FIREFIGHTER Safety Week.

THE STORY OF four leaders from the State of North Carolina; the Waterbury, Connecticut, Fire Department; the Chief of the New York City Fire Department; and a West Point cadet will be presented in this article.

THIS ARTICLE IS an apology to a pair of state firefighters and fire chiefs associations; it will describe a significant learning experience I had.

THE 2013 INTERNATIONAL Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week focused on behavioral health.

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY must be the most frightening three words that can be heard over the fire ground radio.

I HOPE YOU WILL never need to call Mayday for yourself or any other firefighter.

YOU HAVE PROBABLY participated in some type of rapid intervention team or “Saving Our Own” training, and your SOPs may have some directions on a Mayday.

THANKS TO THE cooperation of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, the Maryland Fire Rescue Institute, and the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, the firefighte Mayday concepts presented by Clark (2001, 2003) and Clark, Auch, & Angulo (2002, 2003) were put to the test and passed with high marks.

UNFORTUNATELY, MOST PEOPLE only become aware of fire when tragedy strikes.

TWELVE YEARS AGO I walked into a fire station and my fire-service career began.

WHICH FIRE DEPARTMENTS are among the top in the country?

ACCORDING TO THE American Psychological Association, “Educational and psychological testing represents one of the most important contributions of behavioral science to our society . . . the proper use of well‑constructed and validated tests provides a better basis for making some important decisions about individuals and programs than would otherwise be available.”  American Psychological Association, Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (Washington: American Psychological Association,1985), 1.

ALL OF US have benefited from the work of the twenty fire-service legends that most shaped our discipline in the twentieth century.

THIS IS A QUESTION I have been asking myself for thirty- three years, and I’m still challenged to be completely honest.

I HAVE HEARD THE mantra “Train the way you fight—fight the way you train” from day one in the fire service.

“A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth.” Wikipedia

IN 1977 DISTRICT of Columbia Fire Chief Burton Johnson invited the citizens of the city to visit any fire station to learn all they needed to know about smoke detectors.

WHEN WAS THE last time you taught someone to “Feel the door; if it’s hot, don’t open it?”

AS A FIRE CHIEF, you represent the pinnacle of fire-service professionalism, but your five bugles are only as strong as the higher-education infrastructure that supports them.

WHAT READING AND writing skill levels do fire chiefs need to attain?

EACH YEAR, A mere handful of Executive Fire Officer Program students at the National Fire Academy receive the Outstanding Research Award.

THE IDEA THAT the fire service needs to be studied, practiced, and researched at the doctoral level is not new.

THE CONCEPTS OF doctoral education and firefighter arenot usually connected in the same thought by anyone inthe fire service, higher educationor society in general.

PROFESSOR FRANK BRANNIGAN’S contribution to the education of the fire service as related to building construction doctrine is profound, legendary, and one of a kind.

TWENTY‑NINE YEARS and twenty days ago, I had the privilege and honor to be in your seat.

SEE THE LIGHT.

“I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman.” Chief Edward F. Croker, FDNY, circa 1910

“I know I speak for al of the firefighters I have worked with, who were primarily committed to ensuring life was protected.” Dennis Smith founder, Firehouse Magazine, bestselling author, Report for Engine Co. 82

“By showing us the culture and personal side of safety behavior this book can be an important guide to leaders, managers, and ordinary citizens.” Edgar H. Schein, Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

Mattie Hammond was my maternal Great Grandmother, she called me Burtie. In the 1930’s Mattie’s home burned everyone escaped, including my 7 year old mother Janice. You can read one of Mattie’s poems in my book on page 302. Professor Nancy Funk from Penn State University and the National Fire Academy wrote the forward to the collection of poems by M. E. Hammond titled A Feather, I will publish it in 2019. MEH cover draft

FOREWORD                                     A Feather, Poetry by M.E Hammond

Some write poetry from the heart full of passion; others script from reality those day-to-day drudgeries that enter to make life a challenge.  Mrs. Mattie E. Hammond, physically attentive to nature and needing a creative outlet, reminiscences about the expiring days and what tomorrow might bring before her death at 90.

Mrs. Hammond notices the common, yet continuing elements of life such as the environment, holidays, and particularly her family.  She wistfully remembers summers near the Jersey shore and how the school holidays brought happiness to her children and others.  Blue jays, robins, squirrels, a turtle, and even a mouse fill her with awe and curiosity as to how they enjoy life with unquestionable reserve and joyfulness a human would not bother to note.  A tree’s bark is brought to life as it quarrels with its leaves and reminds the reader that its unflinching devotion is more precious than a transitory relationship.  Summer is most appreciated than cold, snowy winter.  However, Christmas and the New Year are enjoyable aspects brought to the forefront before she looks forward to the sounds and fragrances of spring.

Such enrapture with what could be labeled as “common” has been credited to Emily Dickinson and other poets.  However, Mattie E. Hammond recognizes not only God in referring to Noah’s endurance with the Flood, but relates subtly His Hand on all aspects of “our precious land,” down to the mischievous donkey and a “baby” fish caught and returned to its “safe” place before the treacherous sea.

Appreciation for her five children and their twenty plus offspring, she categorizes in “The Sunday Dinner at Ethel and Burt’s” the sumptuous offering each brings and advised Burt and Ethel to judiciously enjoy the coming time of retirement.  Who else in her reclining days would rock in solitude and contemplation the timelessness of friends?

The reader concludes these 56 poems with a renewed outlook on several aspects of life never before considered.  This woman’s emotional pleasures and observations of what she loved will reverberate off the printed pages and into one’s memories.  Just as Grandma Moses painted people and scenes she knew best, so this great-grandmother poeticized the days she experienced.  Who cannot judge as artistic the undisguised emotion of decades ago?

With forced rhyme, inconsistent and disputed rhythm, and devoid of punctuation could MEH’s work have been foreshadowing the poetry of the 21^st-Century a century before?

Nancy Funk, Professor

Penn State University

The Story of two Helmets.                                 B. A. Clark November 9, 2018

Two old leather fire helmets, from the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department, came into my position when an old house was cleaned out. The Kentland VFD is where my fire service career began in 1970. I did not know what to do with the artifacts; I couldn’t sell them that would not be honorable. They just hung on the wall in my study.

At the 2018 Executive Fire Officer Graduate Symposium in Emmitsburg MD, the Friday not social event was held at the Ott House. Food, beverage, and camaraderie are plentiful; along with a silent auction to raise money for the EFO Section of the IAFC. The item that made the most money was a special commemorative Executive Fire Officer helmet. Now I knew what to do with my two helmets.

I donate a portion of the royalties from my book “I Can’t Save You, But I’ll Die Trying. The American Fire Culture.”  to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network and the National Fire Heritage Center, but it is never enough. My selection of these two organizations is personal.  I had the honor to be the project officer that lead the original government study, on the feasibly and need for creating an archive for preserving our documented fire service history, that created the NFHC.  The first phone call I made after being diagnosed with prostate cancer was to the FCSN 800 number.

I asked Billy Scearce, Jr. Fire Captain Danville, VA, EFO Graduate, and Custom Helmet Artist to make two helmets to raise money for FCSN the NFHS, incorporating my book cover and the organization loges into the art.  When I what to pay Billy he decide to split the cost with me.

As an added attraction President Ron Colman NFHC signed their helmet and President Bryan Frieders FCSN signed their helmet, it was my honor to sign each.

All involved in this project hope it raises money for these two important and valuable American Fire Culture organizations.