The United States fire service is built on years of high standards, strong traditions, and the hard work of countless men and women who worked diligently to uphold these standards and traditions and to pass them on to the next generations of firefighters. The fire service is facing some challenges-challenges in our jobs and leadership, challenges that we can and will overcome.
Our job requirements are constantly changing to meet the expanding needs of our citizens. New technology and modern building materials and practices seem bent on making our jobs more dangerous. Our training and certification requirements seem to be compounding daily, sometimes at the expense of mastering the skills. How in the world are we supposed to continue providing for the safety and effectiveness of our firefighters, who provide our citizens the highest levels of service?
I believe we can accomplish this by instilling in our personnel the values, traditions, and moral obligations that have made our departments successful over the years. We must demand that our people be well trained; know not only "what the book says" but also how to do it and how it all works together; and feel confident at the end of the day that we are very good at physically doing what we do.
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