In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

John Norman

Deputy Assistant Chief (Ret.)

Fire Department of New York

Building Construction for the Street-Smart Fire Officer

Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

My main motivation for presenting this topic is to prevent further needless deaths and injuries on the fireground from causes that fire officers have a responsibility to know and should be able to prevent.

Hundreds of firefighters have died during my time in the fire service, and the building construction has contributed greatly to this tragic toll. A fire officer who understands the way a building is constructed should be able to predict what is likely to happen to that structure when it is on fire and take steps to prevent most of the deadly outcomes associated with that type of structure. By presenting this topic, I hope to enlighten all who attend so that they can avoid unnecessary death and injury.

Many of the topics I teach relate directly to preventing tragic outcomes, and numerous students have told me that something that they picked up in one of my classes has either saved their life or allowed them to save the life of another, often a fellow firefighter. That is a tremendous motivator!

We're live from the floor of FDIC International 2016! Join Rick Lasky and John Salka, Doug Cline, and Ed Hadfield as they chat live from the conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Jim Silvernail

Battalion Chief

Metro West (MO) Fire Protection District

Fireground Decision Making for Suburban Company Officers

Tuesday, April 19, 8 a.m.-12 p.m.

I am a product of the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference. Much of the success I have had springs from Fire Engineering and FDIC. I have been attending this conference for the past 14 years and still consider myself a student. The experiences I have gained in this learning process have motivated me personally and, career-wise, to become involved in the fire service.

This will be my sixth year instructing at FDIC and my eighth presentation, including classroom and workshop. My topic is based on a needs deficiency I perceive in this industry. For years, I have experienced the absolute best hands-on training that this fire service has to offer. I also attended the highest quality fireground discussions from the most experienced fire service instructors and professionals in the nation. However, I still felt the need for more training for tactical implementation for my demographic, Suburban America.

Fire Engineering is not only the top fire service education provider, but it is also a responsible stakeholder within our industry. It understands this dilemma and has taken on the responsibility to deliver education to all demographics within the fire service. To maximize safety, effectiveness, and efficiency, Fire Engineering has filled these gaps and has allowed instructors like me to share their message.

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Becki White

Assistant Chief of Training and Fire Prevention

Eden Prairie (MN) Fire Department

Why Fire Prevention Education Doesn’t Work in Today’s Fire Service

Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

After participating in a few fire prevention education sessions with my department, I realized that we aren’t developing and delivering our messages in a manner consistent with educational best practices. Many of our statistics and much of our advice are unfounded or outdated. I have a background in education and have worked with many great fire safety educators throughout my fire service career. I have combined my experiences and background to identify the areas in which the fire service is struggling with getting out consistent, accurate messages. My presentation calls out some of these inconsistencies and provides strategies for changing delivery models or messages to accurately get our messages across to the various audiences we are trying to reach.

Last year, I received quite a bit of feedback after the class from departments that had revamped their educational messaging. There was much discussion on why messages were selected and which messages are still valid and should be reinforced. It’s good to see discussion happening in the fire prevention and fire safety worlds, since it’s our interface topic with the public in a non-emergency mode. If we enhance the messages we are sending, understand them, and stand behind them, we would look more professional to the public. We will also create opportunities to reach out and build partnerships with organizations in our community and state; this will help future with funding through grants and other opportunities.

In this series, Fire Engineering Senior Editor Mary Jane Dittmar looks at the things that motivated and inspired instructors to present on their topics at FDIC International 2016. Segments will be posted on a regular basis up to and through the conference, April 18-23.

Shawn Pruchnicki

Faculty, Ohio State University

Using Human Error as a Tool to Build a Safety Culture

Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

My primary motivation is that my working across many domains will enable me to help students to better understand human error, thus resulting in better investigations and recommendations after an incident. As a former paramedic/firefighter, airline pilot, and practicing emergency medicine pharmacist (toxicology), I have seen the devastating results and lost opportunities and leverage for change that poorly performed post-incident investigations can cause. They only serve to place blame on the humans involved and have no consideration for the normal nature of normal work and how the complexity of systems can result in large surprising outcomes that greatly exceed the “errors” that were made.

If we are going to produce meaningful recommendations, we must craft meaningful investigations that are sensitive to the normal nature of work. No one comes to work to die, and the choices they make are based on far less information than what we have in hindsight during an incident investigation. Their choices should be viewed on what they actually knew during the operation, not on what is known in hindsight.

The most optimal effect I hope this workshop will achieve is that the fire service will follow the lead of other safety-sensitive domains, such as aviation, that have carved a path through the darkness and are willing to explore new methods in understanding why sometimes it all goes wrong. This is the first time this course is offered at FDIC.