Finish

By: Mark vonAppen
from www.fireservicewarrior.com

During my travels in March 2013, first to Chicago for FSW Fundamentals, then to Jacksonville, NC, to deliver FULLY INVOLVED Leadership to some 200 fire service brothers and sisters, I learned a few things about finishing the job.

When I arrived in Jacksonville, I had little idea of the types of firefighters I would be addressing in my fledgling class on leadership. I was eager to have an impact on the group by sharing my somewhat unique perspective on the subject, but I had no idea of the fingerprint the group would leave on me. I left North Carolina humbled once again by my interactions with those quality individuals who never stop teaching, those who work overtime to ensure people get it right.
I quickly came to understand that Jacksonville is home to Camp Lejeune, an enormous Marine base, the biggest in the world I am told. Jacksonville Public Safety’s Headquarters is on Marine Boulevard, so it makes sense that a few Marines might find their way to the local fire department for employment after they leave active duty. I have read a lot about the Marines, and military history in general, so the gears in my head began to squeak into motion.
Gulp…I’m going to be addressing a group of former Marines about leadership?

"FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION"

A MOTIVATIONAL PHRASE IS BORN

This motivational phrase is certainly not new. In-fact, its origin is quite unique. As you may have seen in the movie "Apollo 13", actor Ed Harris who plays the famous NASA Flight Director/Manager Gene Kranz says the phrase as he's addressing his staff, during a stress filled, hectic moment. Truth be told, Gene Kranz never actually said those exact words. It was derived from an interview that was done by the producers of the movie. During the interview, Kranz was asked "Weren't there times when everybody, or at least a few people, just panicked (in NASA Mission Control)?" His answer was "No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on finding a solution." From that point on, "Failure Is Not An Option" became the tag line of the movie.

 

Click the link for the rest of the article:

 

http://community.fireengineering.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1219672%3ABlogPost%3A581245

Region 5 Course Update

Course Code/Section #	Course Name	Dates	Location	Prereqs	Registration Deadline
1154-13-506	FFII	6/17-7/13	Old Fort Fire Dept (burn @ Harleyville)	FFI certified, 3330 class	5/28---fax to regional office
3310-14-503	Rope Rescue Ops	8/2-8/4	Ashley River Fire Dept	none	7/1---fax to regional office
4171-14-501	Fire Instructor I	10/7-10/11	MCAS Beaufort	18 years of age	8/7---fax to regional office

 

Upcoming IOW’s in Region 5:

 

Course	IOW course code & section #	Date	Time	Location	Prereqs	Registration Deadline
1152-Fund of FF	1952-14-501	7/24	10am	Colleton Co Fire/Rescue, Sta 19	1152, 4171, 4174, completion of pretest required by 6/30	6/30 DO NOT SEND REGISTRATIONS—bring to pretest.  (bring PPE/SCBA to class)
2155-Command Sim	PILOT IOW 2909-14-501	10/24	9am-6pm	Isle of Palms Fire Dept	Invitation Only—contact regional office 2155, 4171, 4174	9/3---fax to regional office

 

This is a very brief update on some of the upcoming catalog courses in Region 5:

 

·        2148-13-502, Unified Command, scheduled to start 6/22 at James Island Fire Dept will go---this class is free through grant funding
·        1250-13-510, Aerial Ops, scheduled to start 6/27 at City of Charleston Fire Dept will go---this class is full

 

The following classes are in danger of cancelling (need registrations):

 

·        4171-14-502, Fire Instructor I, scheduled to start 7/8 at James Island Fire Dept
·        1153-14-501, FFI, scheduled to start 7/8 at Colleton Co Fire/Rescue
·        2118-14-501, PICO, scheduled to start 7/13 at Lady’s Island Fire Dept
·        1428-14-501, Hybrid HMO, scheduled to start 7/15 at Dorchester Co Fire/Rescue
·        1210-14-501, EVDT, scheduled to start 7/16 at Dorchester Co Fire/Rescue
·        2153-14-501, I-300, scheduled to start 7/22 at Awendaw Fire Dept
·        4171-14-503, Fire Instructor I, scheduled to start 8/12 at Beaufort Fire Dept
·        2173-14-501, Leadership III, scheduled to start 7/30 at St. John’s Fire Dept

Let us never forget why we have this holiday weekend or how we continue to have the freedom to celebrate it. Memorial Day is the only day we fly the American Flag at half-mast until noon, then raise it to full staff. The reason for this is to honor our fallen warriors but show that our great nation lives on because of their sacrifice.

SCFA Course Catalog

Here is the link to the July-December course catalog:

http://www.scfa.state.sc.us/PDF/July%20-%20Dec.%202013%20(FY14)Public%20Fire%20Service%20Dates.pdf

Fire Instructor II Class

There is a Fire Instructor II class at the South Carolina Fire Academy with an opening May 20-24. If anyone is interested please contact me ASAP. 

Catain Earle

Region 5 Course Update

This is a list of some of the upcoming in-house/request classes we have in Region 5 with openings:

 

Course Code/Section #	Course Name	Dates	Location	Prereqs	Registration Deadline
1154-13-506	FFII	6/17-7/13	Old Fort Fire Dept (burn @ Harleyville)	FFI certified, 3330 class	5/27---fax to regional office
4171-13-509 **3 SPACES LEFT**	Fire Instructor I	6/21-6/30	Goose Creek Rural Fire Dept	18 years of age	5/15---fax to regional office
4165-13-502 **5 SPACES LEFT**	Fire & Life Safety Educator	6/24-6/28	St. John’s Fire Dept	None	5/15----fax to regional office
1181-14-501 **4 SPACES LEFT**	PILOT for Wildland FF	7/13-7/14	Colleton Co Fire/Rescue, Sta 19	FFI certified	6/13---fax to regional office (PPE for the class is structural fire gear, no SCBA needed, but Wildland fire gear is preferred.)
3310-14-503	Rope Rescue Ops	8/2-8/4	Ashley River Fire Dept	none	7/1---fax to regional office
4171-14-501	Fire Instructor I	10/7-10/11	MCAS Beaufort	18 years of age	8/7---fax to regional office

 

This is a brief update on some of the upcoming catalog courses in Region 5:

 

·        2173-13-505, Leadership III, scheduled to start 6/8 at Bluffton Fire Dept will go
·        2148-13-502, Unified Command, scheduled to start 6/22 at James Island Fire Dept will go---this class is free through grant funding
·        1250-13-510, Aerial Ops, scheduled to start 6/27 at City of Charleston Fire Dept will go---this class is full.

Welcome to the Fire Service by Chief Rick Lasky

By Lance C. Peeples
From www.fireengineering.com

I recently had the opportunity to view a YouTube video of Astronaut Mike Mullane discussing the "normalization of deviance." In his talk, Colonel Mullane describes how the Space Shuttle program came to accept the damaged "o" rings that ultimately led to the catastrophic failure of the Challenger during its last lift off from Kennedy Space Center. According to Mullane, in 14 of 24 previous flights, inspection revealed slightly damaged "o" rings that had been exposed to the effects of significant heat…this despite the fact that these "o" rings were engineered NEVER to be impinged upon by fire. Engineers identified this as an "urgent" design flaw; six months prior to the catastrophe, one engineer even called for "immediate" reengineering of the "o" rings. Unfortunately, the original standard (i.e. no damage/flame impingement) that had been developed when there was no pressure was rejected by the space program leadership when there was tremendous pressure to keep the shuttle flying. To justify this position, NASA tested in the laboratory damaged "o" rings, which did not fail during the testing. The fact that there was no bad experience reinforced the acceptance of the lower standard. The difference between the original and new (lower) standard was never recognized! The difference (deviance) between the two standards had been accepted (normalized)…indeed, according to Astronaut Mullane, the team had come to EXPECT some "o" ring damage in their postflight inspections despite the original design specification that there should NEVER be any damage.
NASA's "normalization of deviance" prior to the Challenger disaster demonstrates a natural human tendency to take shortcuts, i.e. deviate from standards when the pressure is on. It's easy to say we won't tolerate "o" ring damage when there is no pressure, but much harder when millions of dollars are at stake!

This normalization of deviance is not just a problem for the space program--it is also a threat to firefighters. It is easy to take shortcuts. Imagine these scenarios:

• "I'm not going to wear my self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). it's just an automatic alarm."
• "I'm not stretching the 1 ¾-inch line, it's just a car fire."
• "I'm not taking the can, it's nothing."