FHWorld16: Sendelbach Poses Challenge to Fire Service

During this morning’s Firehouse World opening ceremonies, Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Tim Sendelbach posed an ambitious challenge to attendees—and the fire service as a whole—asking, “are you willing to make the necessary changes to combat our nation’s intolerable fire loss statistics?” Specifically, Sendelbach called for a reduction in fire loss by 20 percent in the next five years.

Explaining why this challenge is so vital to the fire service, Sendelbach cited powerful NFPA statistics:

U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 1,298,000 fires in 2014.
These fires resulted in 3,275 civilian fire fatalities, 15,775 civilian fire injuries and an estimated $11.6 billion in direct property loss.
Home fires caused 2,745, or 84 percent, of the civilian fire deaths.

Further, he noted that it was particularly telling that here at Firehouse World—in the presence of so many international attendees representing 13 countries—that the United States remains in the top 10 of industrialized nations for civilian fire deaths per capita, exceeding the rates of Switzerland, Singapore, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Germany and others.

The statistics are disturbing reality, but Sendelbach reinforced that “for the street-level firefighters and fire officers, this represents a challenge and an opportunity.”

To illustrate his point about the challenge ahead, Sendelbach referenced President John F. Kennedy’s famous “Moon Speech” in which he announced the goal of sending an American safely to the moon before the end of the decade. “Kennedy was not willing to accept the United States being viewed as or becoming subservient to the Soviet Union or any other nation,” he said of the May 1961 speech. “The president was setting a standard of excellence for the United States—a standard for others to admire, affirm and pursue.”

Sendelbach shared Kennedy’s exact words, underscoring that they may be about a wholly different topic, but are equally applicable to our nation’s battle with fire: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

After posing the challenge of a 20 percent reduction over 5 years, Sendelbach reiterated that the fire service must take on this challenge, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. “Are we willing to work collaboratively with nontraditional partners to share information and resources that enable us to multiply our efforts?” he asked. “Are we willing to explore new options and pursue the unimaginable?”

Following Sendelbach’s speech, he introduced Neal Zipser, community affairs manager with Kidde, to discuss an exciting new campaign and partnership with Firehouse, the IAFC’s VCOS, NFFF and the NFPA. The Step Up and Stand Out campaign helps recruit volunteer firefighters and rewards existing volunteer firefighters. Part of the campaign involves a contest in which firefighters can nominate a volunteer who has “stepped up and stood out” in their community. The winner will be announced at Firehouse Expo in Nashville later this year, and receive a $1,000 training grant and VIP tickets to the County Music Association Awards and more. Visit www.firehouse.com/vf for more information.