CPSE Supplement
CPSE Supplement
Standards of Cover: Ensuring
Community Expectations
BY THOMAS FAGAN, FO
WHAT IS YOUR COMMUNITY getting from the fire depart- ment? Does it know, really?
Some departments operate based on a
perception of service quality, which may
not necessarily be validated. The “risk”
to lives and property and its association
with resources available has histori-
cally been on the shoulders of the fire
chief. Unlike a business owner, the fire
chief may not be in control of his or her
budget. In our industry, the community
is the owner and customer. The level of
service a department provides is relative
to capital limitations authorized by the
provide an answer when the unthink-
able occurs, which means we know
instinctively that what we do is not a
matter of if but when.
The unthinkable to the community is,
in most cases, the predictable to us. If you
don’t believe me, look at your agency’s
last annual report. Was it any surprise
to you that structure fires occurred in
your jurisdiction at a rate similar to the
year prior? Were you shocked to find that
low-acuity medicals increased in your
jurisdiction? And, in some cases, was it
really earth-shattering that yet another
community that was built in the urban interface was overrun by a massive wildfire?
We need to reimagine what duty,
courage, and commitment mean to
those we serve. Before you break out in
hives at the thought of carrying a code
book, please know this. The National
Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) studies have proven that it takes
one heck of a fire department to respond
to a modern building with modern furnishings to intercede prior to flashover.
Yet, despite our collective realization
of these facts, we continue to solve the
problem by applying “Plan A” harder.
The time has come for us to fix this.
How do we do this? Quite simply by focusing on the risk our citizens face rather
than the incidents to which we respond.
Study your community diligently and
with the same sense of duty, courage,
and commitment with which we tackle
our response work. Please understand
unequivocally that I am not proposing
shifting every front line firefighter to the
fire prevention bureau of your organi-
zation. Quite the opposite. I am simply
challenging the fire service to change
its value system. It is our culture that
rewards valor, even when we make stupid
decisions, based on an event occurring.
Unfortunately, and subconsciously, that
means we intrinsically value an event to
occur over our customer ever getting in a
tough spot in the first place.
But what if we actually took our role
seriously to protect the community
beyond the scope of response and
shifted to risk reduction as the primary
value of our community? This idea isn’t
new. The National Fire Academy was
established on the very concept when
America Burning was published. Yet, we
continue to repeat the same self-centered pattern at the cost of increasing
our response capabilities alone.
The bottom line is: Know your risk—
and not the Chicken Little version but
the Gordon Graham version. The sage of
risk reduction in our industry got it right:
Predictable is preventable. But we need
to stop limiting that thinking to just
ourselves when we hear this. We need
to expand this idea to the communities
we are sworn to protect. Start by valuing
risk reduction, then build a comprehensive solution to address that risk.
Each community is different, so
adapt. But whatever you do, for once,
don’t just do something (respond) and
stand there (assess). Do a 360 of your
community before the emergency ever
reaches your PSAP. Be a responsible
leader in public safety. That very term
implies that we are duty bound to keep
our communities safe. Do this with the
same passion you invest in your primary
search techniques as you do in partner-
ing with your homeless shelter to direct
individuals to social services. Put the
same energy into your company inspec-
tion as you do into your technical rescue
training drill. Get out of your comfort
zone and know that the community will
always need us. This is not an exis-
tential crisis; it’s a lack of situational
awareness on our part. We’re experts at
situational awareness; use this strate-
gically and communitywide, not just on
a call-by-call basis. And finally, change
your attitude from reaction to proaction.
Bad things will always happen, but we
already know that. It’s time we stopped
reacting to our community’s crises
and get involved in being proactive by
implementing a system built on compre-
hensive risk reduction. And that starts
by honestly understanding the poten-
tial risk in our community and then
proactively mitigating that risk through
assessment and intervention.
I’ll leave you with this: The father of
the American fire service, Benjamin
Franklin, said that “an investment in
knowledge pays the best interest.” It’s
time we invested in using our knowledge
based on being proactive. The citizens
we serve deserve this act of fundamental
courage. It’s time to get to work.
HOLGER DURRE, CFO, is the
deputy chief for Boulder (CO)
Fire-Rescue. He has a master’s
degree in public dministration and
is a designated Chief Fire Officer
(CFO) through the Commission on
Professional Credentialing (CPC).
