SENTIALS OF FIRE FIGHTING® AND RESCUE CTURAL FIRE FIGHTING: INITIAL RESPONSE STRATEGY AND TACTICS
PUMPING AND AERIAL APPARATUS DRIVER/OPERATOR HANDBOOK
CHIEF OFFICER OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH, AND WELLNESS FIRE INSPECTION AND CODE ENFORCEMENT
VE FIRE INSTRUCTOR
page by page, as the basic version, plus the final three chapters that were Brady content and Brady would publish the expanded version. Brady was also able to provide some supplemental resources that FPP did not have the ability to develop at that time. FPP and Brady would each sell both versions of the manual, but they would have to purchase the different versions from each other for resale. Brady would focus their marketing on academic programs and major metropolitan fire departments, while FPP focused on the remainder of the fire service market, although neither were restricted from making sales in each other’s market. This agreement worked well through the lifecycle of the 5 th edition. Combined, more than 381,000 copies of the two versions were sold. This was very close to the five-year sales numbers for the 4 th edition. Based on these numbers, there was an automatic renewal clause that was met to continue the agreement for the 6 th edition of the manual. The 6 th edition versions were released in 2013 and they went on to sell a combined total of a little over 112,000 copies (Figure 28) . During the course of the 6 th edition, FPP leadership determined that we were better positioned to develop the supplements to the manual, as well as, we had more marketing resources to handle the entire market than we did when we entered into the Brady agreement. The decision was made that the 7 th edition of Essentials would be solely an FPP product (Figure 29) . We would use our own hazmat content and develop our own EMS content for the new edition. Brady does remain a distributor of the IFSTA/FPP product line, but that was the sole connection left with them. At the time that this report was being developed, the final sales numbers for the 7 th edition were not in. However, the preliminary figures were looking like the numbers would about the same or slightly lower than then the 6 th edition. In reviewing the sales of each edition over the years, it becomes obvious that the total sales were dropping after the 3 rd edition was released. Just slightly less sales with the 4 th edition, but then more rapidly with subsequent editions. Why was this happening? It would be easy to say that it was due to the various competitors that entered the market and took market share. However, sales of the Essentials manual significantly exceeded the competitors’ sales. It was estimated that Essentials still held at least 70-75 percent of the market. The real cause for this decline was a shrinking market, period. Historically, the estimates for the numbers of firefighters in service in the
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29
United States ranged from 1 to 1.2 million members. Generally, about 25% were career firefighters and 75% were volunteers. That ratio has changed a small amount in recent years as some departments that were once volunteer have transitioned to career departments. This transition has occurred for two general reasons: The communities being served experienced substantial growth in population and commercial/industrial facilities that was beyond what their volunteer departments had resources to cover. There has been a significant decrease in the number of volunteers wanting serve on these departments. The reasons included increased call demand, increased training requirements, needing to work two jobs, competition with other family/community service organizations, athletic programs, other activities that potential volunteers found more attractive than serving on fire departments.
34 IFSTA /FPP: THE FIRST 90 YEARS
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