The Firehouse Yak: Mike Wisko - Commission’s Focus on Firefighter & Gear Safety and Training
Peter Matthews talks with Mike Wisko, the Agency Chief of the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) about their role in ensuring firefighter training and equipment and member safety throughout the state’s career fire departments.
The two talk about the annual TCFP Firefighter Injury Reports that are mandated training in the state, and some of the trends TCFP has found, including an overall reduction in fireground injuries but an increase in firefighters being burned, plus injuries at the fire are on the rise.
Wisko discusses their policies on PPE and what the impact on non-compliant equipment is on the firefighters and their families. He also shares how the state ensures mandatory training is taking place and the process in which they determine the baseline for annual CE training, plus the at look at the future of the TCFP.
Mike Wisko
Mike Wisko is the Agency Chief for the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP). He has more than 37 years fire service experience as a firefighter-paramedic. Wisko retired from the Galveston, TX, Fire Department in 2019, after serving 31 years including six years as fire chief. He has been affiliated with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) since 1995, serving on the Firefighter Advisory committee for 25 years and 10 years on Texas Task Force 1.
Wisko is a graduate of Weatherford College in Texas, the Texas Fire Chief’s Academy’s Chief Executive Fire Officer Program, the Texas A & M May’s School of Business Fire Service Chief Executive Officer Program and the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs Governor’s Executive Leadership Program. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.
He and his wife, Dana, live near Austin, TX, and have three grown children, one grandson and four happy dogs.
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.
