By Chief Richard Marinucci
Editor’s Note: The Second National Line-of-Duty Death Prevention Summit was held on March 3-4 at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company Headquarters in Novato, California.
The National Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation recently sponsored its 2nd LODD Summit, with the goal of following up on the first Summit in 2004 that resulted in the 16 Life Safety Initiatives. These initiatives are intended to create the blueprint to reduce the currently unacceptable number of LODD by 50 percent in 10 years. The second Summit had a goal to develop more definitive actions that can be taken to build on the 16 Life Safety Initiatives.
The attendees worked very hard, exhibiting their passion for improving safety in the fire service. When the report from this summit is issued, there is no doubt that there will be some excellent recommendations. It will not necessarily be the recommendations that make the difference, but rather the ability to get buy-in from those that typically are not aware of the initiatives, or those whose culture is such that change moves at “glacial speed.”
Clearly, three things must happen: word must get out to every firefighter; the basic competencies of every member of the fire service must improve through practice, repetition, and training; and every firefighter must be convinced to wear their seatbelt. There are also other things that can be done, such as improving wellness and fitness.
With respect to getting the word out to everyone, the NFFF has mailed training programs to all known addresses. They have developed the Courage to be Safe training program, which is available to everyone. Furthermore, they are creating an advocacy network with representatives in all 50 states with the purpose of improving two-way communications, to not only get the message out but to keep it on the front burner.
Since we can probably agree that people don’t intentionally do something that can harm them, we must make sure that they have the skills and knowledge to remain safe and not get careless. Good work habits that are repeated often enough to make them nearly automatic are essential to the ultimate goal of reducing LODD and unnecessary injuries.
Finally, although it seems strange in this day and age, we must convince every firefighter to wear a seatbelt. We can’t rely solely on our driving ability and must assume there are other bad drivers who may do something to harm us.
- Listen to Bobby Halton’s interview with Chief Marinucci in188金宝搏是正规吗‘s “On the Road with Bobby Halton”
- More188金宝搏是正规吗podcasts
Richard Marinucci has been the fire chief of the Farmington Hills (MI) Fire Department since 1984. He was president of the IAFC in 1997-1998 and served as acting chief operating officer of the United States Fire Administration in 1999. He has bachelor’s degrees in secondary education from Western Michigan University, in fire science from Madonna College, and in fire administration from the University of Cincinnati.
