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
IFSTA Is Born Word spread quickly about what was being done in Oklahoma. Pence had a network of contacts in the fire service throughout Oklahoma, the southwest, and the nation because of his membership in several fire service organizations. He also sent out a newsletter full of information and reports of fire fighting activities. Word of his accomplishments frequently appeared in the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA’s) Volunteer Fireman magazine through his friendship with the organization’s chief engineer, Horatio Bond. Thus, word of Oklahoma’s attempt to produce training manuals to support their training programs reached a wide audience and soon led to a further movement to improve firefighter training. It was not surprising that the next move came from the fire insurance industry. Naturally, the industry saw the benefits of better-trained firefighters and was willing to help prepare the necessary written materials. In November 1934, an insurance industry trade group named the Western Actuarial Bureau sponsored a conference in Kansas City, Missouri, to showcase the activities that were going on in Oklahoma to representatives from other states. The representatives of four state rating bureaus were: • Milt Parker of Missouri • Ed Stewart of Kansas • Walter Plyngman of Arkansas • H.J. Clark of Oklahoma Also in attendance were numerous fire chiefs and officials. These personnel met with Heisler and Emmett T. Cox of the Western Actuarial Bureau to determine how best to publish and distribute training manuals beyond Oklahoma. Since they knew of Heisler’s work at Oklahoma A&M, they decided to form an alliance that would develop and validate the training material as a group and use the Oklahoma organization to finish and distribute the work. They named this alliance the Fire Service Training Association (FSTA) and word spread quickly from one state rating bureau to another. By the next meeting of the conference a year later, membership had already grown to 16 states, roughly the middle third of the continental United States. This unified effort had several benefits. The manuals developed could be wider in scope than any produced by a single agency and publication costs could be reduced. Oklahoma A&M was willing to publish the manuals if they were allowed to retain the copyrights. Oklahoma had already found an experienced and capable writer in Heisler. Because of these assets, Stillwater and Oklahoma A&M were the logical headquarters of the new association. Thus, began what came to be known as the validation conferences that have convened annually ever since. At some point early in the life of the association, the second full week in July was chosen as the annual meeting time and Stillwater as the location. As the loosely organized Fire Service Training Association had no policies for choosing delegates, attendance was voluntary and at each person’s expense. ‘The delegates came because of their interest the organization,’ said Glenn Boughton, a retired Stillwater assistant fire chief and Kansas state fire training instructor. It was an organization that a person came to give rather than to receive. Those who attended soon came to share something of a revival spirit. The best known and respected members of the fire service came to Stillwater each July: fire chiefs, state fire marshals, and state training directors. With them came representatives of the insurance industry (Cox of the Western Actuarial Bureau was always there), educators from colleges and universities, government agency officials, delegates from firefighter organizations, and manufacturers of fire apparatus and equipment. Only a handful came at first, of course, but veterans of the conferences recruited colleagues who brought still others. Many came year after year into a second generation. Accommodations and entertainment were unsophisticated in the early days. Delegates stayed at the fire station or at local hotels and motels for about $3 a night (Figure 5) . Nightly entertainment was usually a poker game, and delegates enjoyed eating watermelon and “apple-less” pies at the Heisler’s home.
8 IFSTA /FPP: THE FIRST 90 YEARS
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