The ISFSI is proud to announce the “launch” of it’s exclusive Instructor / Training message board and forum. This forum has been designed to provide instructors with a one-stop sounding board for web based networking and instructional development. Enlisting the expertise of the nations best instructors and trainers, this forum will become a resource center for instructors to discuss and share proven instructional ideas / concepts dedicated to improving the safety & effectiveness of fireground operations. While many message boards and forums have been created throughout the fire service, no such forum is dedicated “exclusively” to instructor development and firefighter training. The ISFSI is proud to host this forum and we welcome your contributions and feedback.

On June 2, 2007, fire service professionals from across the nation assembled amongst family and friends in Clearwater, Florida to celebrate the retirement of former ISFSI Chairman of the Board and Fire Chief John R. Leahy Jr. The legendary career of John Leahy began nearly 51 years ago in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he rose through the ranks (including the ranks of IAFF Local 1) where he eventually earned the position of Fire Chief for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. In addition to serving as the Fire Chief in Pittsburgh, John also served as the Fire Chief for Seminole Fire Rescue (FL), and Pinellas Suncoast Fire & Rescue (FL) before officially retiring. While John’s contributions and accomplishments in each of these respective organizations are unquestionably long lasting and progressively based, they pale in comparison to what he has done for the nations fire service. As the Chairman of the Board for the ISFSI, Leahy took the reins and tirelessly paved a path of progression while exemplifying the character traits of outstanding leadership; do as I do (Lead by example), others before self (selfless versus selfish), and 100% professionalism coupled with fair and ethical decision-making. Throughout his career, John made many sacrifices for the fire service, but he never once forgot priority one, his family. Raising six children, several grandchildren and now great grandchildren, Leahy is not only known as a legend in the fire service, but also a proud family man. While we are certain John’s family will forever be his proudest accomplishment, his legacy in the fire service will continue to be highlighted by the hundreds if not thousands of anxious followers he mentored and guided to become leaders themselves. On behalf of the Board and membership of the ISFSI we express our sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to Chief John R. Leahy Jr. for his many years of service and tireless dedication to the nation’s fire service and fire service instructors around the world. Congratulations Chief and best wishes for a safe and enjoyable retirement.

On March 29, 2007, the Houston (TX) Fire Department responded to an arson fire in a six (6) story, occupied office building which eventually claimed the life of three (3) occupants and the rescue of one firefighter who became trapped on the fifth floor. The riveting audio and photos from this incident are available online at: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5165021 The firefighter rescued was Captain Eric Abbt – a long time Instructor and personal friend of the staff of TES². Captain Abbt was a student of the very first Houston Fire Department “Saving Our Own” Program conducted by TES² instructors Tim Sendelbach and Curtis LeGrotte. Following this class, Captain Eric Abbt served as a lead instructor for the “Saving Our Own” program and his been teaching firefighter safety & survival programs at the Houston Fire Academy for the past seven years. We are proud to announce that Captain Abbt has recovered fully from this event and continues to serve with the Houston Fire Department in addition to his duties as the Owner and Chief Instructor for the Fire Academy Online (www.fireacademyonline.com

Sugar Land Fire Chief Dannie Smith promoted Clay Fenwick to the position of assistant fire chief for planning and research. His responsibilities include professional development, resource management, planning and research. Sugar Land is a Houston suburb. Fenwick began his professional fire career with the Sugar Land Fire Department in 1991. He began firefighting in 1983 as a member of the Pearland Volunteer Fire Department, where he served until 1994. He has previously held the positions of firefighter, driver, lieutenant, captain and battalion chief. He holds certifications with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection as a Firefighter Master, ARFF Advanced and Fire Service Instructor II, along with holding a Texas Department of Health Emergency Medical Technician Basic certification. He earned an associate’s degree in Fire Protection Technology and is in the third year of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. In addition to Chief Fenwick’s promotion, TES² Instructor Curtis LeGrotte is now assigned as the “C” Shift Battalion Chief for the Sugar Land Fire Department. Chief LeGrotte has been a lead instructor with TES² since 1999 and previously served as the Chief of Training where in 2006 the Texas Fire Educators Association honored him as the Training Officer of the Year. On behalf of the entire TES² staff we would like to congratulate both Chief Fenwick and Chief LeGrotte on their recent promtions/assignments.

On Friday, April 20, 2007, following the annual membership meeting of the International Society of Instructors in Indianapolis, the ISFSI presented Battalion Chief John Tippett of Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Services with the 2006 George D. Post Instructor of the Year Award. Chief Tippett was presented this award in recognition for his work on the Firefighter Near Miss program and his instructional efforts in support of firefighter safety and survivability nationwide. In receiving this award, Chief Tippett joins a long cast of fire service leaders who have received this prestigious award including: Chief Billy Goldfedder, Lt. Jim Crawford, and the late Frank Brannigan to name a few. The ISFSI is proud to recognize Chief Tippett for this his hard work and dedication to the fire service. Through his instructional efforts the health and safety of firefighters nationwide will forever be changed – CONGRATS CHIEF TIPPETT!

1st Vice President Shane Ray, President Tim Sendelbach, and 2nd Vice President Doug Cline traveled to Washington, D.C. as representatives of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors for the 19th Annual Congressional Fire Services Institute dinner on Thursday, March 29, 2007. This year’s event featured strong words of support and heartfelt praise for the fire service including addresses from two new members of the caucus Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson and Congressman Peter King. Senator Joe Biden, Congressman Steny Hoyer and Robert Edwards also shared their support and words of continued praise for the fire service. Three accomplished leaders were also recognized for their accomplishments and long-term contributions to the fire service; recently retired IAFC Executive Director Gary Briese was presented with the CFSI/Motorola Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award, former congressman and founding member of the Fire Service Caucus Curt Weldon received the Congressional Fire Services Institute Legislator of the Year Award, and Jim Dalton of the National Fire Sprinkler Association received the Dr. Anne W. Phillips Award for Leadership in Fire & Safety Education. Once again the CFSI dinner and the preceding educational seminars proved to be a very rewarding event filled with great networking opportunities for all. As a member of the ISFSI, this event truly is a unique experience and one that every member should strongly consider attending each and every year. While politics may not be considered your strong point, it remains a key to our success and the forward progression of the American Fire Service. So please make your plans now to join us next year as we continue our quest to make safety, survivability, and progressive change the hallmarks of the American Fire Service.

Tim Sendelbach, chief of training for Savannah (Ga.) Fire and Emergency Services, delivered another energetic presentation addressing the effectiveness of “objective-based assignments,” and how they enhance safety on the fireground. The class focused on the some of the most common issues in the fire service: fireground command and control, RIT operations, accountability, fireground benchmarking, communications and air management. Sendelbach hammered home the main point: All these issues can be better managed if you employ a systematic approach to your operations. “You need a plan at the front end,” he explains. “If you don’t take a systematic approach to your operations, everyone ends up doing the same thing, and the job doesn’t get done. You can’t have everyone on the nozzle. We have to do all our jobs.” Using an objective-based approach starts with identifying your strategic, tactical and enabling fireground objectives. Specifically, strategic fireground objectives identify the overall goal of the operations, such as life safety and property ; tactical operations involve most specific unit requirements and task; finally, enabling objectives include the specific individual tasks that must be accomplished. Especially with the enabling objectives, you can break the incident into digestible bits so you’re not putting your firefighters at risk. Otherwise, the incident feels overwhelming as too many people try to do too many tasks. Sendelbach notes that this often leads to fatigue-stressed firefighters at risk of heart attacks. To counter this, Sendelbach emphasized standardizing each unit’s priorities so everyone knows what they’re doing when they arrive on scene. He presented a matrix that departments could use to determine the responsibilities of each arriving unit. For example, the first-arriving unit would likely take command, make an initial interior fire attack and determine if rescue operations are necessary. Another important part of objective-based strategy and tactics is tactical communications. Essentially, you must provide a standardized information report to the incident commander so he or she knows exactly what is happening on the fireground. The report must describe three things: the interior/exterior conditions so the IC has a mental picture of the scene; the actions underway; and what else is needed to accomplish the task at hand. This can be summed up as CAN: Conditions, Actions, Needs. If you do all this, you’ve got a much more organized process for your incident, and you can more easily determine what your immediate needs are. During the interactive session, Sendelbach showed photos of fire incidents and asked attendees to explain how they would approach the fire, incorporating objective-based tactics. Their answers sparked friendly debate and created a lively, positive interaction. Chris Miller with Florence (Ky.) Fire & EMS thought the class was “excellent.” He noted that he likes to attend classes that don’t just go over the same stuff over and over. “There are few people who make you really re-think what we do; Tim’s doing just that.” By Janelle Foskett Associate Editor, FireRescue Magazine and Wildland Firefighter

Scary moments on Savannah's west side this afternoon. A fire broke out at a house on West 39th Street near Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard and quickly spread to neighboring homes. At this time, we still do not know what caused the fire. The smoke was so thick; it was hard to see the flames ripping through the top of the house, threatening to spread to the homes next door. "We've got two neighboring structures, and the main thing is to try and shut that fire down before we lose all three," said Savannah Fire Department spokesman Matt Stanley. But the closest fire hydrant was inoperative, which caused a slight delay as firefighters searched for another. After the setback, firefighters were finally able to get water to those homes. "We immediately went to a defensive mode and worked to protect the neighboring structures," said Stanley. With intense smoke impairing visibility, some firefighters had to catch their breaths while others stepped aside to gather up their strength. "You know they get out there in the hot fire, they need some liquids," said Bob Tully with the American Red Cross. "So we brought six cases of water out here." With one house completely engulfed, two were damaged as the flames spread across the rooftops. "I don't believe there was anybody home, we haven't heard any indication of any injuries, any fatalities," said Stanley. Even though nobody was home at the time, fire investigators tell us that at least five families have been left without a place to stay. "The families that have to get out of their homes now because of the fire, we'll have them come down to the Red Cross," said Tully. The house where the fire started has now been completely demolished.

The staff of TES² is proud to announce it's newest partnership with “Smoke Trainer” – Simulated Smoke Training Systems. The California based company has designed a multi-density simulated smoke mask insert for firefighter training. The insert provides firefighters with a realistic simulation of varying smoke densities for SCBA, Search & Rescue, RIT, and thermal imaging training. The Smoke Trainer is custom fit for all SCBA models and comes in three densities – light, medium and heavy smoke. The reusable simulation insert can be installed and removed in seconds allowing for simulated IDLH training without the expense of smoke generating units. For more information visit: http://www.smoketrainer.com .

At 1:08 PM, Thursday, October 14, 2004, Savannah firefighters were dispatched to 1301 Montgomery Street on the report of a structure fire. First arriving Captain D. Pridgeon reported heavy black smoke showing from Station 5, which is located only three blocks away. Upon arrival at 1:09, an interior fire attack was initiated but conditions quickly deteriorated due to the heavy fire load. A Task Force 2 (additional Engine, Truck and Rescue) was requested, and tactics then changed to a defensive operation. In the end, the original structure was declared a total loss. Due to the instability of the remaining walls, the rest of the building was torn down before the sun set on the scene. Two surrounding warehouses and an multi-unit apartment were spared damage from the rapidly spreading. Companies rotated throughout the night on fire watch. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries during the incident, no civilians were injured.