Firehouse Excellence

Captain Michael M. Dugan, Fire Department of New York       

There is nothing quite like a firehouse. It can be the most incredible experience of your life or a miserable exile to purgatory. It can be a place of learning where skills are honed and techniques refined or a stagnant cesspool where competence erodes into ineffective complacency. What is it that causes one place to be cohesive and brimming with camaraderie, while just down the road there are dissension and drudgery? Learn five key areas that can turn any firehouse into the type of place that enables firefighters to thrive and fulfill their calling. This class will look at how to build and enjoy the type of firehouse everyone wants.

MICHAEL M. DUGAN, a 36-year veteran of the fire service, is also a 26-year member of the Fire Department of New York, where he serves as captain of Ladder Company 123 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As a lieutenant, he served in Ladder Company 42 in the South Bronx. While assigned as a firefighter in Ladder Company 43, in Spanish Harlem, he received the James Gordon Bennett medal in 1992 and the Harry M. Archer Medal in 1993, FDNY’s highest award for bravery. He was a volunteer firefighter in Halesite, New York. He lectures on truck company operations, building construction, size-up, and today’s fire service.

Lieutenant Ray McCormack, Fire Department of New York
Tactical safety needs to be integrated into operational fire tactics to reduce injury while increasing fireground effectiveness. This class will assist educators and instructors on how to integrate safety into fire tactics. Once this integration has been accomplished, then proper fire tactics that already include a safety component can be taught. Safety is not to be thought of as a hindrance but as a component of fire operations. Only by mindful integration of these two components will we establish workable tactics that limit injury and increase effectiveness for all on the fireground.

Shift Commander Jim Duffy, Wallingford (CT) Fire Department
It is no secret that the fire environment has changed in the past 30 years. Buildings are made to be more energy efficient. Building construction has changed; structural members are made lighter and cheaper. Fuel loads have changed, with just one upholstered chair holding the capacity to emit enough Btus to make a room flash. This class will explore today’s fire environment and how it has impacted our fire service. Topics include the need for planning to avoid issues, size-up to address problems on the fireground, the importance of choosing the correct hoseline and proper water supply, the importance of coordinating ventilation with the other disciplines on the fireground, when to vent for fire vs. for life, timing issues involved with proper ventilation, the importance of a primary search and a secondary search, and staffing.

Deputy Chief Charles Ryan, Fairfax County (VA) Fire & Rescue    
A common fire service adage is that the first five minutes of any incident often determine how the next several hours will go. With declining numbers of structure fires, there is also the peril of declining performance of effective size-up and initial incident action planning by company and chief officers. This class covers the essential elements of size-up using multimedia examples of each element in a variety of structure/incident types, the process and art of fireground decision making, and the importance of effective and efficient fireground communication.

Operations Training Captain Michael Posner, Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue
This class will review several important factors to consider when fighting fires in today’s modern residential structures. The importance of an ongoing and early size-up, time of day, resources needed, construction, accountability, command priorities, fire attack, determining fire location, entry point, proper hoseline selection and length, garage fire tactics, search and rescue, and vent-enter-search will be discussed.

Chief William R. Ball, Williamsport (MD) Volunteer Fire-EMS Inc.
The focus is on the challenges commanders face when multiple buildings are burning on all four sides in the square of a small town and there is not adequate staffing to effectively manage the incident. The challenges and lessons learned from two multialarm incidents that occurred in 2008 and 2010 in Washington County, Maryland, are presented and discussed. Students and instructor will evaluate the incidents from the perspective of how similar fires would be approached if they were to occur in their jurisdiction. Developing an operational plan, interoperable procedures with mutual-aid response units, and effectively planning for the big one using a commonsense approach are emphasized.

Captain Raul A. Angulo, Seattle (WA) Fire Department
Learn special skills and techniques that enhance basic skills knowledge and retention. Innovative drills and evolutions for engine and truck companies are the focus. They are designed to make drilling challenging, exciting, and fun. Among the drill areas addressed are knowledge of equipment, portable radio communications, couplings, siamese vs. wye hoselays, techniques for carrying firefighters/victims up and down stairs and ladders, using fire hose for self-extrication, climbing a wall, hanging from a window, advancing and operating 2½-inch hose, lifting obese patients off the floor, public education/public relation drills, fog applicator drills, other uses for ground ladders, long hoselay techniques, and using local facilities for nondestructive training.

Be apart of the FDIC Online Event. With a speaker lineup consisting of the most dominant experts within the fire industry, 2012 promises to set registration and attendance records. Each conference is 100% interactive with the attendees.

For more information and virtual tour, please contact:

Nanci Yulico
National Sales Manager FDIC Events
Phone: 973-251-5056
Email: NanciY@pennwell.com

Susie Cruz
Exhibit Manager FDIC Events
Phone: 973-251-5059
Email: SCruz@pennwell.com