The Firehouse Yak: Ken Prillaman & Jerry Streich - International Firefighters Day
Peter Matthews talks with former Minnesota fire chiefs Ken Prillaman and Jerry Streich about their mission trips to Africa and later, Kenya, as part of this year’s International Firefighters Day coverage. Prillaman and Streich traveled multiple times to Liberia in West Africa.
Prillaman shares how the citizens he protected in Brooklyn Park, MN, connected him with officials in Liberia, which sparked multiple trips to bring basic and advanced fire and EMS equipment while providing command and tactics training. They started with an assessment of the country’s fire protection where they found one fire engine protecting a country the size of Ohio and firefighters using palm leaves and sand to douse fires. They had no PPE, little equipment, and no medical supplies.
The two reflect on the desire of the Liberian firefighters to learn which lead to life-long relationships and a better prepared and equipped fire service. From equipment maintenance and firefighting tactics to how people treat each other, the Prillaman and Streich shared how this experience changed their lives.
Resources:
Jerry Streich | For Firehouse.Com
Jerry Streich is a 32-year fire service veteran. He has a wide range of experience in building design, plan review, code enforcement and investigations and helps to design public safety facilities that are safe and functional for the job, with modern features to enhance recruitment and retention and to reduce stress and sleep deprivation. At Brunton Architects and Engineers, he heads up the Public Safety Division, to ensure that customers receive the design that meets today's needs of public safety officials. He operates Capstone, a consulting group to assist fire department leadership and is author of the Shift Happens book series.
Peter Matthews | Editor-in-Chief/Conference Director
Peter Matthews is the conference director and editor-in-chief of Firehouse. He has worked at Firehouse since 1999, serving in various roles on both Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com staffs. He completed an internship with the Rochester, NY, Fire Department and served with fire departments in Rush, NY, and Laurel, MD, and was a lieutenant with the Glenwood Fire Company in Glenwood, NY. Matthews served as photographer for the St. Paul, MN, Fire Department.
Kenneth T. Prillaman
Ken Prillaman was appointed fire chief for the City of Wichita Falls, TX, on July 15, 2019. He previously served as fire chief, fire marshal and emergency management director for the City of Brooklyn Park, MN.
He has two associate degrees in fire science and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia Southern University, with a bachelor’s degree in fire administration with a fire investigation major. He is a nationally certified Fire Officer III, Fire Investigator, Fire Instructor II as well as an IAAI-Fire Investigation Technician and Evidence Collection Technician. He is a Minnesota Certified Emergency Management Director and a National Registry EMT. Prillaman has an excellent reputation as a command officer and teaches incident command in high-rise operations for the National Fire Academy. In 2019, he earned his credential as a Chief Fire Officer from the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
Prillaman has served in a variety of regional and state leadership including service as the deputy director in the Minneapolis MACS Emergency Operations Center for Super Bowl 52. He is a member of the North Texas All Hazard Incident Management Team and he serves on the weekend staff of the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial in Emmitsburg, MD. He wrote and published the Minnesota Ceremonies & Protocol Guidebook, heralded as the most comprehensive guide of its type in the fire service.
Ken is an accomplished public speaker and has presented at a variety of local, state and national meetings. He and his family have devoted free time to helping parents keep their kids safe on the internet. His presentation “Parents vs. Predators” has received national acclaim and has been developed into a made-for-television documentary that won a 2012 Telly Award.
He has recently written and published his first book, Leadership Lessons from the Fireground.
Ken and his wife, Debbie, reside in Wichita Falls.
