In his Opening Address on Wednesday, Chief Bobby Halton, FDIC International education director and editor in chief of Fire Engineering, highlighted the concept of “honor to duty” and described how it has served as a thread that has connected the fire service and other uniformed services with ancient times and will continue to connect them with the future.

Halton extended an invitation to the audience: “As a community that has answered the call to duty, let’s celebrate the qualities and virtues that undergird our profession and other uniformed services. Let us revel in natural goodness, honor, principles, and morality. Above all, let us honor duty, which compels men and women in uniform to be honest and forthright.”

Examples of individuals who have preserved the continuity of these qualities and virtues Halton presented included the following:

• The king of Uruk (the part of the world then known as Iraq), who details in The Epic of Gilgamesh, his “unrelenting efforts to complete his duties both sacred and ordinary.” The Epic, written on clay tablets, is considered the first record of the written word.

• World War II’s Lt. Col. James “Maggie” Megellas, the most decorated officer in the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division (and his H company).

• World War II’s George S. Patton, American task force commander of the third Army, who wrote in his diary, “I hope that, whatever comes up, I shall be able to do a full duty ….”

• The “thousands upon thousands of patriots who fought and died to defend their countries and liberate others” because they knew it to be their duty.

 • Bob “Bullfighter” Murray, a 5 Points junior firefighter at the age of 15 and an Army enlistee in the Viet Nam War at the age of 19, who jeopardized his life to save his fellow soldiers.    

• Lt. Timmy “Jobs” Stackpole, Lt. James Blackmore, and Capt. Scott LaPiedra, Fire Department of New York, who responded to a four-alarm fire in a Brooklyn rowhouse on June 5, 1998. They entered the well-involved building to rescue a trapped woman. Without warning, the floor collapsed. They were trapped in fire for almost a half-hour, being burned alive. Lt. Blackmore died at the scene. Capt. LaPiedra suffered serious burns; he died 29 days later. Jobs, burned over 30 percent of his body, was near death for many days and in the burn unit for 66 days. Although his injuries qualified him for a retirement pension, he returned to full duty in March 2001 after years of painful surgeries and skin grafts. He was promoted to captain in September 2001 and was among the first to arrive at the World Trade Center site on 9/11. He led his crew into 2 World Trade Center. Searchers found his body a week later. Today, Timmy Stackpole’s Foundation’s mission statement reflects his beliefs, dedication, and spirit: “It is our God-given mission that in times of trouble, grief, sorrow, trial and disaster, each of us has an obligation, a duty to reach out to help others, in any way we can.”

All these individuals, Halton said, exhibited the attitudes, courage, achievements, selflessness, mores, and principles comparable to those of the brave men and women in the audience and their counterparts in other uniformed services. Thus, we continue that long line of ordinary citizens, firefighters, who heard that call to duty and were compell

A Virtual Training Platform for Real Emergencies

The FAAC Pump Operations Simulator is a full-size replica of a Fire Engine Pump Panel at FDIC International Booth #13077. Its realistic components and functionality provide safe, economical and highly realistic training on pump panel operation in a controlled and repeatable environment.

The simulator is intended to supplement pump training on a real fire apparatus and performs many of the same functions. It allows reinforcement of hands-on pump operations training for new and existing pump operators in a controlled, cost efficient and fail-safe manner. Unlike traditional pump units that require the use of thousands of gallons of water, FAAC’s pump panel simulator does not require water, reducing the environmental impact and allowing you to conduct training even when water usage restrictions and bans are enforced.

Features:
• Realistic pump panel hardware
• Realistic hydraulics simulation models
• Simulates a variety of hand line nozzles, master stream nozzles and hoses
• Can be integrated with FAAC driving simulators or operate stand-alone
• Learn new skills in a safe environment
• Specialised training courses offered in cooperation with partners
• Realistic 3D training environments, company specific or generic
• Complete control and flexibility for the instructor before & during scenarios
• Logging of all actions and decisions for debriefing
• Touch-Screen instructor interface
• Water sources depicted by virtual computer generated imagery (dump tanks/hydrants)
• Sound system provides realistic engine, pump, primer and cavitation sounds
• Headset communication system provides for instruction and pre-recorded messages
• Evolutions based on IFSTA Pumping Apparatus Driver/Operator Skill Sheets
• Operates in a classroom environment. Fits though standard doors
• Allows fire-fighting assets to remain in service and not used for training purposes
• Modular unit built into a free-standing cabinet
• Mixture of authentic components and LCD displays
• Multiple pump, nozzle, hose configurations
• The “inner” workings of the panel are simulated through software 
• Active student assessment forms
• Standard 1 15V/15Amp power

To discuss any of FAAC’s simulation products please contact Public Safety Manager Bill Martin at 734-761-5836 or visit us at booth #13077

Keynote Speaker Captain Angela Hughes #FDIC2017 pic.twitter.com/fiBCBGLghD

— Fire Engineering (@fireengineering) April 26, 2017

Captain Angela Hughes, Baltimore County (MD) Fire Department, began her keynote address on Wednesday by inviting audience members to join her in an imaginary trip to FDIC International 2027 and then reflect on how they had changed in the preceding decade. This virtual flight, she suggested, could serve as a bridge audience members could use to gradually transfer themselves to a place where you “Become your own hero.” This process begins by finding someone to chase. “That person is YOU,” Hughes said. “Create a life of mission, and determine your purpose and legacy.”

She provided the audience with a roadmap of the experiences, key persons, events, and lessons learned that led her on the path to professionalism and the discovery of her mission. She categorized them under four rules.  

Rule 1. When you figure out your mission, act on it. Don’t delay. Under this rule, Hughes cited the following goals:

Find a mentor. This is the place to begin. Find “someone to look up to, someone who will be a trusted advisor, an experienced person who will have your back, tell you when you mess up, and celebrate your victories with you. A trusted advisor will challenge you, point out your flaws, and sometimes push you to the point where you may want to give up, but your mentor won’t let you.”

Develop the right attitude. She shared the advice of one of her mentors, Chief Rick Lasky: “If we are doing the right thing, we have to do it for the right reason."   

Identify your “brick walls,” and convert them into strengths. Hughes identified what she called "brick walls,” attitudes, behaviors, or other challenges that may be keeping you from being the best firefighter you can be. She related how her “brick walls” ultimately led to lessons learned and were transferred into positives that led her toward her career objectives. These shortcomings can take many forms such as not knowing or disregarding department regulations, missing crucial information on a call dispatch, jeopardizing yourself or other firefighters through your actions, acting on the premise that YOU have something to prove, indifference toward or not supporting your fellow firefighters.  

All acts of kindness matter. If you have something to give, give it now. Hughes discovered that a part of her mission was “to pay it forward” and be part of something bigger. She wanted “to become a part of a proactive network, dedicated to education, mentoring, and developing future leaders in the fire service—to invest in others just as her mentors had invested in her. This quest ultimately led her to "iWomen, “whose mission statement was directly in line with her desire to be a part of something bigger”; it is a proactive network for men and women that encourages success. She joined iWomen, later served as a trustee, and now is its president.   

Every person here has something unique to bring to the fire service. She challenged audience members: “Step out of your comfort zone: submit an article, write a blog, or submit to teach. Find a way to make a positive change in the fire service, and go for it. Brick walls are not there to keep us out,” she stressed. “They are there to teach us and to show us how badly we want it. I found my brick walls; I broke through them, and it’s changed my life!”

Rule 2: Find a mentor; then become a mentor.

Rule 3:  Invest in