The Right Standard for the New Century
From the March-April 2001 issue of the International Fire Fighter

Months of strategic planning and a lot of hard work by the International and many of our affiliates will come to a conclusion on May 16 when the proposed 1710 standard on fire department deployment and operations comes up for a final vote at the NFPA Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

IAFF members from every corner of our two nations are expected to converge on the NFPA meeting in one of the largest mobilizations in our Union's history to vote on what will prove to be the most important advance in fire fighter staffing, safety, and effectiveness for decades to come.

At this juncture, NFPA 1710 is the most important item on our Union's agenda because it will have a direct and immediate impact on your health, your safety, and your ability to do your job. With your help and the full support of the IAFF Executive Board, we have devoted the necessary time, energy and resources to this critically important project.

If all goes well, and I expect it will, the NFPA delegates will approve this standard that will for the first time give you, your fire departments and your citizens a comprehensive benchmark to evaluate the deployment, staffing, response times and overall operations of your department.

Let's face it; a fire department is nothing more than an icon or a social club if it doesn't meet the needs of the population it serves. In too many communities, the safety of citizens and fire fighters is put in jeopardy every time the alarm sounds because departments refuse to properly staff their apparatus.

At many structure fires today, a mere handful of our members are run ragged trying to do a job that really requires 15 or 20 fire fighters. All too often, the community feels safe when in fact the local fire department is woefully understaffed and, unfortunately, faces serious challenges in mounting an effective or safe response to a fire or other emergency.

But the citizens don't know any better because they see plenty of apparatus surrounding the fire ground even though there may be just three, two or even one fire fighter on each of those rigs. This is our profession's dirty little secret.

Those of you who must work under these dangerous conditions understand the truth, but often your honor, your commitment to service, and the very real threat of management retribution keep you silent. Local public officials also understand the truth. Unfortunately for you and the citizens they represent, they would rather plead ignorance and keep the public in the dark.

We see it every day when the bureaucrats and the bean counters who govern our communities ignore our calls for adequate fire department staffing. It is a simple case of money over morality, where they are more interested in the almighty bottom line than the safety of their citizens and fire fighters.

Quite frankly, too many government officials don't give a damn about the work you do or the sacrifices you are expected to make and accept as part of the job. At a time when the demands on you and our brothers and sisters across the U.S. and Canada have never been greater, today's fire departments are expected to do much more with much less.

Every day at IAFF headquarters, we hear new horror stories from the field. Fire fighters killed or injured because 2-in/2-out wasn't practiced. Fire fighters forced to perform search and rescue alone, with no back up. Local governments stretching staffing so thin that fire fighters are incapable of providing any kind of effective response to an incident.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is NFPA 1710.

I hope every IAFF member has read this document, and if you haven't, you should. It is the culmination of more than six years of hard work. For the first time, we will have a comprehensive standard that covers every aspect governing the effectiveness and performance of a career fire department. It is a standard that will help fire departments strive to provide the best possible fire and emergency protection to the citizens they serve. And it is the best way for us to help make our dangerous profession safer for current and future generations of fire fighters across the United States and Canada.

The IAFF is not alone in its mission to win 1710, although it will take our might, our muscle and our will to make sure it passes in May.

The fact that the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Association of State Fire Marshals have joined the IAFF in endorsing 1710 testifies to the need for this standard. Editorials and columns endorsing 1710 also have appeared in Fire Engineering magazine, the NFPA Journal, the ICHIEF's On Scene newsletter, Firehouse magazine, Fire Chief magazine, and other fire service publications.

It is heartening to know that for the first time the nation's major career fire service organizations are united in their support for a comprehensive standard that will help protect the public and you. They, too, understand that the right number of fire fighters means a more effective and more efficient fire department and fewer fire fighter injuries.

We do face some strong opposition to the standard, and it comes primarily from those organizations representing municipal officials like the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the International City Management Association, the National Association of Counties, and related groups. Their opposition comes as no surprise, but their arguments and their rhetoric ring hollow.

In a new twist that crosses the ethical line, some municipal organizations have gone so far as to recommend that local municipal officials and fire commissioners attempt to coerce their fire chiefs into voting against the 1710 standard at the May NFPA meeting. This is a cheap shot that places some fire chiefs between a rock and a hard place.

These local government officials and their national organizations need to understand that fire fighting is like fighting a war. Just like the military, fire departments need to maintain a strong force and the necessary resources at all times to be prepared for emergencies.

Tens of billions of dollars are spent each year on training and other activities to ensure the United States maintains a strong military that is prepared to respond when needed. Yet, wars and other armed conflicts requiring their services are infrequent, and few of the personnel in our nation's military ever see combat. Should the role of our military be diminished because we haven't been involved in a two-theater war in more than half a century? Of course not.

Few people quibble with the resources devoted to our national defense and for good reason. I suggest that the fire service is no different.

Part of the problem is that many municipal officials don't even understand the full extent of the tremendous responsibility placed on their own fire fighters, or the incredible additional training required to prepare fire fighters to handle the increasingly varied and complex incidents they handle today.

Local government officials need to look beyond their tunnel vision and understand the similarities in needs and service between the fire service and the military. We are both armies ready for battle--the military on the international front and the fire service on the domestic front.

As for the small minority of fire chiefs who are breaking with ICHIEFS to oppose 1710, I can only suggest that they are out of touch with reality and in conflict with their peers. I cannot understand why any fire chief would oppose a standard that he or she could use to help them justify the resources that their department needs to get the job done.

How can any fire chief oppose a standard that will help them to better protect the public and the fire fighters under their command? Where is their allegiance, where is their commitment to public safety and fire fighter safety, and how can they oppose 1710 in good conscience?

With the passage of NFPA 1710, local and county government officials will no longer be able to hide behind smoke and mirrors and create misleading perceptions about the true state of their fire departments.

Your local unions and progressive fire chiefs will have a new weapon to help us fight for effective and safe staffing, strong fire fighter health and safety programs, adequate training, and overall fire department operations aimed at getting our job done safely and efficiently.

So, it is on to Anaheim and I look forward to joining with those of you who are NFPA members in passing the fire service standard of the century--bbecause it is the right thing to do.

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