ORLANDO – The Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s 27th annual Apparatus Specification and Maintenance Symposium kicked off this morning with more than 250 in attendance and 39 vendors exhibiting their products and services.
A highlight of the morning’s activity was presentation of the Emergency Vehicle Technician of the year award to David Cottingham Jr., the shop supervisor of the Chesterfield County, Va., heavy vehicle maintenance shop overseeing apparatus maintenance for Chesterfield Fire and EMS.
The award, given by Firehouse, is sponsored by C.E. Niehoff & Co.
“I am extremely honored to receive this award,” Cottingham said in a brief interview after receiving the award before a room packed with his peers. Cottingham thanked his colleagues, Lt. Mike Martell and Capt. David Farmer who traveled with him to Orlando to receive the award. He also thanked Chief Loy Senter and his department for recognizing the importance of safety and doing good work.
In presenting the award Janet Wilmoth, project director for Firehouse who also serves on the Board of Directors for the Fire Emergency Manufacturers & Services Association, said she understands the importance of safety and the role EVTs having keeping vehicles on the road. She said her brother was not only a firefighter but the department mechanic.
“Safety, it’s all about safety,” Wilmoth said, adding that service helps prevent injuries and loss as well as liability issues. Wilmoth said the push for EVT certification has been going on for about 25 years and the award was first presented in 2004.
“This year, we had more nominations than ever,” Wilmoth said, noting the judges sifted through more than 25 applications before deciding on Cottingham.
Attendees were also entertained and taught by Gordon Graham, a lawyer from Long Beach, Calif., co-founder of Firefighterclosecalls.com and an expert in risk management.
“We don’t teach risk management in elementary school,” Graham said. “We don’t teach risk management in high school. And we don’t even teach it in fire school.” Graham added that it makes no sense to him to have people engaged in a high risk profession without any kind of training in risk management.
Themes that peppered his lecture included the importance of not only identifying risks but coming up with policies or controls that prevent them from happening again.
“Identifiable risks are manageable risks,” Graham said.
Data and interpreting appropriately go a long way to identifying risk and managing them. Looking at reports of from the U.S. Forest Service over 10 years, Graham said noticed a pattern that even though the number of firefighters lost each year changed, the methods and manner in which they were dying remained consistent.
That, he said, is an example of using data to identify a risk.
When tragedy occurs, too often people focus on the “proximal” or trigger cause, the even that immediately proceeded the event, Graham said, adding that is a mistake. Often, there is a cascade of events that must be identified to create controls to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.
The fire service is resistant to change, but it’s important for people like those who attend the safety symposium go home and keep hammering for the important changes that will inevitably be resisted.
Graham spoke with attendees for three hours, using humor and real life examples to illustrate his points.
FDSOA Executive Director Rich Marinucci said in an interview during a break he was very pleased with the turnout for this year’s event. He said attendance and vendor participation is up by at least 20 percent over last year.
“It’s great to see the momentum continue to build,” Marinucci said. “It’s not a junket. It’s an opportunity to learn and to pursue excellence in your department."
Marinucci said FDSOA plans to host next year’s symposium in Scottsdale, Ariz., as a way to provide the education to other sections of the country and try a new venue.
“We’ll still have the sun and warmth, but we’ll provide the opportunity to another part of the country,” he said.
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Ed Ballam
Ed Ballam served as associate editor for Firehouse. He is the assistant chief of the Haverhill Corner, N.H. Fire Department, and a National Registered EMT. He is also a Deputy Forest Fire Warden for the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands. Professionally, he's been a journalist for over 35 years working for a variety of publications, including employment as managing editor of a national fire service trade journal for more than a decade.
