On Oct. 15, the fire service lost a legend, an icon and an unparalleled leader when retried Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini passed away at the age of 80.
Brunacini was born in New York and relocated to Albuquerque, NM, before moving to Phoenix in 1958 to join the Phoenix Fire Department. After beginning his career as a young firefighter assigned to Engine 1 in downtown Phoenix, Brunacini ultimately served as a firefighter, engineer, captain, battalion chief and assistant chief before being appointed fire chief in 1978. He retired as the fire chief of the Phoenix Fire Department in 2006.
Chief Brunacini (aka Bruno) is likely one of the most recognizable and accomplished fire chiefs in the American fire service. He was a distinguished, yet humble leader who helped shape the future of the fire service. Brunacini answered the call of duty, serving the global fire service, for more than 50 years.
Chief Brunacini was a contributor to Firehouse for more than 30 years, sharing his insight and wisdom about fire command, customer service and leadership, while at the same time presenting thought-provoking conversations in his lectures at Firehouse Expo and Firehouse World. Chief Brunacini was inducted in the inaugural Firehouse Hall of Fame class at Firehouse Expo in 2015.
Brunacini is survived by his wife Rita; his sons Nick (wife Michele) and John (wife Holly); his daughter Candi (husband Ryan); his grandchildren Alex, Alana, Chelsea, Lauren, Olivia, Katie and Maria; and a loyal tribe of coworkers and friends.
Related Content: Bruno's friends offer their thoughts on his legacy.
Bruno’s Pathway of Influence
Command
Chief Brunacini introduced to the fire service the concepts of effective fireground command and control, personnel accountability, risk vs. gain decision-making and standardized actions that were applicable to urban fire departments and rural fire departments alike. He did so using caricatures, speaking in terms that all firefighters could understand, always in the most subtle of ways with the most humble of mannerisms.
In his book “Fire Command,” Chief Brunacini presented a common-sense approach to incident management, always emphasizing the need for standardized actions and firefighter safety.
Part of Chief Brunacini’s command influence included a new way to command an incident. He proved to us that we could effectively command an incident from the isolation of a vehicle while managing the risk of our firefighters. Incorporating the use of standardized tactical worksheets, common language, effective span of control and progress reports (aka CAN Reports), Chief Brunacini revolutionized the fire service.
Although it’s hard to believe, there was once no national system for incident commanders (ICs), no checks and balances. Chief Brunacini was a staunch proponent of departments using the incident command system, and using the principles of “Fire Command,” Chief Brunacini and his sons, Nick and John, developed Blue Card, a training and certification program that has trained more than 35,000 firefighters around the world to safely manage and mitigate the challenges of the modern fireground. This global system qualifies and quantifies our incident commanders by producing standardized actions that produce standard outcomes.
Today, we have command vans because of Chief Brunacini. We have command training centers (CTCs) around the world because of Chief Brunacini and the influential following that he has created.
NFPA 1500 & 1710
One of the critical ways Chief Brunacini helped shape the modern fire service was through his work on NFPA 1500 and 1710, two of the most monumental NFPA standards for which he served as chairman.
At the time of its writing, NFPA 1500: Fire Service Occupational Safety and Health (now Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health and Wellness Program) was the most controversial document ever produced by NFPA. There were over 20,000 public comments submitted by firefighters. When first introduced, NFPA 1500 took firefighters off the tailboard and introduced us to enclosed cabs. It took away three-quarter-length boots and put us in a full protective ensemble for the first time. It was Chief Brunacini who bore the brunt of the pushback, defending the standard and all it sought to accomplish for the betterment of the fire service. Today, NFPA 1500 is the most referenced document in NFPA history. We use it to justify everything safety, including equipment purchases, training programs and so much more.
Never one to shy away from controversy, Chief Brunacini also served as the chairman of NFPA 1710: Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments. If you’ve ever wondered why apparatus across the country have four, five or six or appropriate staffing at that level, or wonder how you’ll win a staffing battle, it’s because of Chief Brunacini’s leadership with NFPA 1710.
It should also be noted that Chief Brunacini was the first active fire service member to hold the position of chairman of the Board of Directors of the NFPA.
Safety First
Chief Brunacini introduced the fire service to three phrases that every firefighter should be able to echo: Risk a Lot to Save a Lot, Risk a Little to Save a Little, and Risk Nothing for What Is Already Lost. He emphasized that we as firefighters will risk everything when lives are at risk, but that we will do so in a calculated manner and be smart about our actions. He never advocated being a passive firefighter; he advocated being a smart, risk-oriented firefighter.
All of this was to underscore the importance of safety. When Chief Brunacini started going across the country, talking about fireground command, everything was driven by improving firefighter safety and reducing the number of firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs). That was the critical factor that he wanted to drive home with every message and every document he produced—and it worked. When Chief Brunacini took the helm, there were nearly 175 firefighters losing their life every single year in the fire service. As he indoctrinated firefighters with new ways of managing the fireground, those numbers began to fall.
Customer Service—Mrs. Smith & “Be Nice”
Who would have thought to bring the corporate world into the American fire service? We’re a rough group. We’ve taken pride in our knuckles bleeding, a little grease on our hands and soot on our face for many years. Chief Brunacini took the 30,000-foot view, and he said, “You know, it’s really pretty simple: If we take care of the customer, she will take care of us.” And so we all got to know Mrs. Smith—the representation of any fire-department customer. Although none of us has ever met Mrs. Smith, we know her face, we know her eyes, we know where she lives, and most importantly, we know our responsibility to her because of Chief Brunacini.
At the end of the day, Chief Brunacini wanted us to take gentle care of our citizens, be kind and show compassion for them. This bore a simple phrase—“Be Nice”—that will forever resonate throughout the fire service. Of all of Chief Brunacini’s many lessons, I believe “Be Nice” is the one he would want us to remember most.
Chief Brunacini’s 1996 book “Essentials of Fire Department Customer Service,” was featured in The Wall Street Journal, garnering the attention of leaders from all reaches of the fire service—and other industries as well. Like so much of what he did, Brunacini lead the charge of customer service, and for that he bore the backlash and road rash that comes with such a radical idea. Some said his efforts softened the fire service and took away the gruff nature of the profession and lessoned the machismo of being a firefighter. Truth be told, he raised the bar of professionalism for the fire service and enhanced the public perception of firefighters and fire departments around the world.
Life-Long Learner
Chief Brunacini never stopped learning. Even when he was regarded as the epitome of fire service knowledge and professionalism, he continued to seek out new information, from institutions of higher learning and firefighters from every part of the country. He received a degree in fire protection technology from Oklahoma State University and a political science degree from Arizona State University. His education also includes the Urban Executives Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s in public administration from Arizona State University.
In a 2001 interview with Firehouse, Chief Brunacini shared what he had learned through the years as he traveled around the world, teaching on a variety of topics: “It's been fascinating to me for years to go places and to learn the most unexpected things from the most unlikely people,” he said. “After you do that a while, pretty soon you withhold judgment because you can go someplace that you think isn't a very refined kind of place, but if you shut up and pay attention to the people, they're doing some pretty neat stuff.”
You would often see Chief Brunacini scribbling notes on 3 x 5 cards he kept in his pocket. He had faith that anyone at any time could have something clever to say, and he didn’t want to miss it.
Sharing His Wisdom
Fortunate for us, Chief Brunacini didn’t keep his wisdom to himself. He authored or co-authored nine books, including “Fire Command,” “Timeless Tactical Truths,” and “Essentials of Fire Department Customer Service”—books that every member of this proud profession should consider required reading. He also wrote for numerous fire service publications, including Firehouse, and spoke at conferences and meetings around the country.
Chief Brunacini clearly understood the concept of two ears and one mouth. He listened a lot more than he spoke, but when he spoke, it was a succinct message—a message of importance. He had an uncanny ability to reach all firefighters on our level. He could read us. He would share information and then follow it up with “in other words,” meaning that he was about to say it again in terms that us less scholarly firefighters could understand. And he always concluded his messages with a compliment, particularly if he felt like he may have said something sternly or harshly, and would compliment the audience to show his respect. Brunacini was probably the only instructor I ever met who could sit on a stool at the front of a room in a casual manner and captivate a crowd.
The chief once shared with me: “Tim, I’ve been teaching fireground command for more than 20 years. I’ve used the same material for 20 years, and the troubling thing is I haven’t spoken in any city where there wasn’t a firefighter who came up to me and said, ‘Wow, that was great; I’ve never heard that before.’” Twenty years this man traveled all across the country, repeating the same message, and there still was an audience who hadn’t heard his message. We are so lucky that he never stopped, that he persisted in spreading the message of safety, command and customer service.
Sidebar: In His Own Words
Chief Brunacini wrote an article about Firehouse’s 40th anniversary for the October 2016 issue. Following is an excerpt; read the article at firehouse.com/12212529.
“I began attending and presenting at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore, where I got to actively listen and ask questions about what I saw and heard from all of us, from all over, doing a ton of new stuff. I would go home with a notebook full of ideas that would cause my hard-working team members to cringe. (A common hallway comment: “Oh my God, look out! The dwarf went to a conference. What’s next?”) I guess that the magazine was (and still is) built on both current events and what’s next.
“Many times these changes were disruptive and jumbled up our comfort zone. When firefighters disagree with the new stuff you are suggesting or doing, they are not bashful about making reference to the non-marriage of your parents. This is just our regular reaction to change. I can still recall the energy generated by getting off the tailboards, calling Mrs. Smith a 'customer' and making the incident commander physically stay in the buggy. Don’t worry about a dull future; in our service, the hits just keeping coming. We currently are struggling with improvements in alternate EMS response, the implementation of new research-based tactical techniques, behavioral health support, and cancer prevention and treatment, to mention a few. Just keep reading because as these current challenges are effectively addressed, there will be another set of exciting future issues to keep us busy.”
Sidebar: Tribute to Brunacini at Firehouse Expo 2017
Just days after Brunacini’s passing, Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Tim Sendelbach delivered a powerful tribute to “America’s Fire Chief” at Firehouse Expo in Nashville, TN.
Chief Brunacini was a mentor to Sendelbach, who described Bruno’s many contributions to the fire service. Sendelbach explained a unique memorial in the form of a table setting, adorned with items of significance: a lemon to represent the bitterness of the loss; salt scattered around the place setting, representing the tears shed; and an empty chair to signify that one is missing. The chair was set at an angle, facing a wall of 95 flags—one for each for the firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2017—to represent the work Chief Brunacini has done to reduce the number of firefighter LODDs but as a reminder of the work that remains.
Several longtime Firehouse contributors placed additional items of significance on the table—a folded flag from Billy Goldfeder, a Hawaiian shirt from Dr. Harry Carter, a lei from Barry Furey, a copy of Brunacini’s customer service book from Paul Hashagen, a pack of #2 pencils by Ron Moore, and a set of 3 x 5 index cards from John Salka.
“Chief Brunacini served with distinction,” Sendelbach said. “He has influenced tens of thousands. Generations will continuously carry his message. His fingerprint is on this proud profession. To Alan V. Brunacini, America’s Fire Chief, I say job well done. We’ll take it from here.”
You can watch Sendelbach’s tribute at firehouse.com/12378968.
Timothy E. Sendelbach | Editor-in-Chief
Timothy E. Sendelbach is a 30-year student and educator of the fire and emergency services, and former editor-in-chief for Firehouse. He has served as an assistant fire chief with the North Las Vegas, NV, Fire Department, as the chief of training for Savannah (GA) Fire & Emergency Services and as assistant fire chief for Missouri City, TX, Fire & Rescue Services. He is a credentialed Chief Fire Officer and Chief Training Officer and has earned a master’s degree in leadership from Bellevue University, bachelor’s degrees in fire administration and arson and an associate’s degree in emergency medical care from Eastern Kentucky University.
