Linda Stone and I have been retained to manage year 4 of the Everyone Goes Home® program. For starters, we recognize that this is a very large task that is going to require the support and effort of many others. Further we understand the importance of the program to help to reduce the unacceptable number of line of duty deaths for firefighters. With that said, what can you expect?

Throughout the past two decades the fire service has witnessed a decline in the number of volunteer firefighters. Many studies and commissions have been formed to discuss this problem, but resolutions have not been given. The members of the West End Fire & Rescue Company of Shippensburg, Pa. would like to share a program that changed the way they dealt with recruitment of young people into the fire service.
» Also: Minnesota Junior Firefighter Weekend

In his seminal work on fire department culture for Oklahoma State University, funded in part by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation's Everyone Goes Home® Program Year 3 funding, Bill Pessemier argues that changing a department from a "risk based identity" to a "safety based identity" is a transformational process.

Firefighters face a number of occupational perils, and the dangers may seem obvious: burns from a raging fire, smoke inhalation, or a fall from a ladder. There is another peril, however, that is less obvious, and that is exposure to asbestos in burning buildings. Previous exposure to asbestos is the only cause of malignant mesothelioma, a deadly type of cancer that has no cure.

A few of us attended the Pittsburgh Fire/EMS Expo. Some of us attended classes. The fire department picked up the tab for the training with the caveat being that those of us who did attend classes were requested to bring something back to share with our department. So I will share this.