On Thursday, August 5, at the FDIC International 2021 Opening Ceremony Day 2, FDIC Education Director Bobby Halton spoke on “Courage, Truth, and Virtue”:

“The world needs heroes. We all need heroes. A friend of mine once said that firefighters don’t need to be Superman. He was partly wrong. Sometimes we do need to be Superman or Superwoman or, more correctly, we need to be that archetype, that perfect model of what a firefighter represents to the world.

“As firefighters, we were taught early on that there are basically six core values which are indisputably essential to being a firefighter: Commitment, Courage, Discipline, Respect for others, Integrity, and Loyalty. In order to have the ability to live up to any one of those values, there is one value that is indispensable. There is one upon which all the others depend: Courage.

“Aristotle said, ‘Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.’

“This morning, for our purposes, we can think of courage in two settings–physical courage, which is also often called bravery, and moral courage, which is sometimes defined as character. As firefighters, we routinely show tremendous physical courage. It is unquestionably a fundamental reality of our day-to-day work. We do not fear fighting fire, we do not fear taking risks physically.

“As firefighters, we are brave, courageous. When we are fighting fire, we know the risks, we know the dangers, but we are not fearful of them. They are deadly but they are not evil.

“Moral courage is when one is willing to risk the threat of evil imposed upon them by others for expressing the truth, or opposing an orthodoxy, a set of beliefs by which they cannot abide. Moral courage can also be when one refuses to deny that which one holds as truth. Moral courage in that case would be when one refuses to lie to avoid punishment. Moral courage involves taking a risk and surviving physically but perhaps not socially, politically, or financially. Moral courage involves being able to take a stand albeit unpopular or one that contradicts those with power.

“Superman’s tagline is interesting regarding moral courage. The archetype of Superman stood for truth, justice, and the American way.

“We have all experienced seeing things that others are doing that we thought were out of place or even wrong but later turned out to be right or true. Think of Andy Fredericks when he started saying. It was heresy and they would not stand for it. But now we know Andy was right. Everyone does. Flowing water on smoke or not flowing water on smoke was subjective and context dependent. Now we get it, gas cooling all of it. But not then. Then it was not mainstream. If we had had Twitter in the ’90s, it would have been a bloodbath. The attacks on Andy would have been epic.

“Within us all is a tremendous capacity for good and a tremendous capacity for evil. The ultimate sign of outstanding character, true character, is to be able to suppress the evil and elevate the good. We would like to think that we are all virtuous, that we are all always on the side of the good, of the right, that we are crusaders for truth, justice, and the American way.

“The public, society, does think its firefighters are crusaders for truth, justice, and the American way. The society that we work for, the American public, expects us to be the moral equivalent of Superman. But the reality is, most folks are not crusaders. They just want to be left alone.

“It is

A 32-year-old man accused of trying to set a local Safeway supermarket on fire is being held in Thurston County jail in lieu of $40,000 bail. Lacey police arrested Robert Scott Brewer early Monday morning outside the Safeway at 4700 Yelm Highway SE. Brewer attended his preliminary appearance in Superior Court Monday afternoon and prosecutors charged him with first-degree arson on Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 8/5/2021 1:15:35 PM - SOURCE: Centralia Chronicle

Captain (Ret.) Michael M. Dugan of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) is the recipient of the 2020-2021 Tom Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was presented on Thursday at the FDIC International 2021 Opening Ceremony in Indianapolis.

Dugan started in the fire service in 1973 in the Halesite (NY) Volunteer Fire Department. He began his 27-year career in the FDNY as a firefighter in Ladder 137. As a probie, he was transferred to Ladder 43 in Spanish Harlem. As a firefighter, he received the James Gordon Bennett Medal in 1992 and the Harry M. Archer Medal in 1993, the FDNY’s highest award for bravery. As a lieutenant, Dugan served in Ladder 42 in the South Bronx. He was promoted in 2000 and ended up serving as the captain of Ladder 123 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, until retiring. He has been involved with the fire service for more than 45 years. He is an instructor and an educational advisory board member of FDIC International and an author and editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering. He lectures around the country on truck company operations, building construction, size-up, and today’s fire service.

FDIC International Education Director Bobby Halton says about this year’s selection: “It would be hard to find someone with a richer life to recognize than Mike Dugan. From winning the two highest awards for bravery in the FDNY to providing world-class education to the fire service and public sectors, he has always been the first to show up and the last to leave. Mike’s personal life is equally as impressive; his family can attest to thousands of folks who call Mike their friend, and with good cause. Never one to forget a friend or abandon those in need, Mike Dugan epitomizes what it means to be a firefighter, a gentleman, a friend, and a patriot.”

FDIC Q & A: Mike Dugan

Thomas Richardson, chief of operations for FDNY: “Mike devoted his professional life to the fire service; in particular, he had a passion for training firefighters. As the captain of L-123, I always admired how Mike took pride in training and developing all of his members,

especially the probationary firefighters. He was an excellent teacher and held his people to a high standard of performance. Many of his members went on to become line officers and chiefs in the FDNY and others went on to work in our rescue and squad companies, our most elite units. They were all able to progress in their careers largely due to the training they received as young firefighters by Mike Dugan.”

John Salka, battalion chief (ret), FDNY: “Mike was a well-known and respected captain in the FDNY, and he worked in several of the busiest and best companies. His dedication to and love for the FDNY and the work that we do is unparalleled. He was known as a smart and courageous firefighter and officer and he was cited several times for bravery and was awarded two FDNY medals during his career. Mike has also worked as a fire instructor locally and throughout the country and has an equally amazing reputation with firefighters around the country.”