June FireRescue Leadership Skills

That Noise You Hear  …  It’s the sound of opportunity knocking—will you open the door?

By Chief Marc Revere

There’s a fable about a lumberjack who was purported to be the best in the land and had won numerous competitions. The edge of his axe blade was honed to perfection; the tried and true methods he used were passed down from his father and his father before him. He was in the prime of his life and his strength, but he never changed his techniques or invested in new technology. One day, a lanky youngster challenged him to a tree-felling competition. The lumberjack laughed and took the bet. They squared off, facing their respective stand of trees, and the starter yelled, “Ready, set, go!” at which point the kid drop-started his chainsaw. The lumberjack dropped his axe and with a look of bewilderment on his face, exclaimed, “What’s that noise?!”

Are there people in your organization who are like that lumberjack—professionally limited by their resistance to change, confined to their comfort zone? Such people don’t appreciate the benefits of lifelong learning. They fail to understand the concept of “accept, adapt and accelerate—or atrophy.” Like the lumberjack, they fail to even realize that atrophy has already set in.

As we look ahead to the IAFC’s Fire-Rescue International (FRI) conference in August, we should keep in mind two fundamental rules of success: Attitude and curiosity trump résumé, and tenacity in the pursuit of learning and achievement will always eclipse intelligence.

Training Is an Investment
Many of us are facing unprecedented economic upheaval; most of us have been asked to cut our training budgets. However, we must remember economic downturns are not new and are cyclical in nature. When I’ve worked for cities where I’ve been asked to cut our training budget, my response is always that I will find other ways to make cuts; training is the last account I’ll cut. As long as we have one member working in high-risk operations, we must train.

Training is not discretionary in the fire service; it’s mandatory! As fire chief or training officer, if there’s one battle worth fighting, training is it. We know our firefighters will give us their last full measure of devotion; we owe it to them to advocate for their needs with the same tenacity.

The reason for this conviction is that technology is transforming at such a rate (research, skills development, education) that it demands we grow with it. Maintaining the status quo for a while, waiting for the economy to get better so you can fund your training programs or send a member to a conference, only means you’re losing ground—and potential lives, including our own.

Let’s look at the investment of attending FRI. Say, for example, your cost for travel, registration and lodging is $1,000. This equates to $2.79 dollars per day out of your agency’s annual budget—less than a cup of coffee a day.

Now let’s look at the return on investment. What if you attended a rapid intervention team (RIT) class that exposed your agency’s limitations in rescue breathing, given your current generation of SCBA? Then immediately after the class, you walk over to an SCBA vendor (in the same building) to discuss enhancements to your current equipment, or to research alternates.

In military terms, your attendance becomes a “force multiplier” that has a direct impact on firefighter safety and community risk reduction and, I would venture to say, is in perfect alignment with your mission statement. The benefits of attending FRI expand beyond that which we can immediately see and comprehend, but your agency, the citizens you serve and your members are better off as a result.

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Marc Revere is the fire chief of the Novato Fire Protection District, an Internationally Accredited Agency in Marin County, Calif. Chief Revere’s 33-year fire service career includes more than 17 years as a chief and fire officer. He has completed executive education at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and holds a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Redlands. Chief Revere is a certified Chief Fire Officer and an Executive Fire Officer graduate and serves as one of 12 members representing the Professional Development Committee for the IAFC.

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