By Captain Ryan Pyle
Shawnee Fire Department Station 71 (KS)

It is that time again, the time of year where we all make new goals and resolutions for the year to come. Maybe your goal is to shed a few pounds or to join a gym...again. If you are anything like me, your goals are lofty and sometimes unrealistic. I have decided to keep my goals fairly simple for 2009...or will they be? One goal I have, as it pertains to the fire service, is to learn from the lessons of other departments. On its face, it seems like a simple task. However, anyone in the fire service should be capable of reading a story in a trade magazine, listening to a testimonial from a speaker, or even reading about a near miss event. The fundamental question is; what do we then do with that information? If we do not make positive changes based on the stories we hear or read, then the stories are just words and a passing thought. There have been great advances in the past few years of sharing our "mistakes" with others, but we still have a long way to go. Every department has "dirty laundry" that we do not want to share, for fear of being scrutinized or judged. Now is the time to end that mindset.

On November 12th and 13th, the Kansas City metro area had the good fortune of hosting District Chief John Sullivan of Worcester, Massachusetts for a two-day seminar on the events surrounding the 1999 Cold Storage Fire; a tragic fire that resulted in the death of six Firefighters. The Shawnee Fire Department, along with a few local fire service vendors, sponsored the seminar. My name is Ryan Pyle and I am a Fire Captain at Shawnee Fire Department Station 71. I first met Chief Sullivan at The Virginia Fire Officer's Academy in 2007 where he delivered his educational and emotional account of his role at the Cold Storage fire. I felt as though his message was one that every Firefighter needs to hear and made sure to maintain contact with him. After months of planning, and hard work from every member of the Shawnee Fire Department, Chief Sullivan landed in Kansas City and nearly 400 firefighters from 43 departments heard his remarkable story. As I listened to what he had to say, I realized that he was not just telling a story, his mission was to make sure that not one firefighter in the room had to endure what he and his department had to go through. I am not going to rehash the events of the fire. I am instead going to talk about the message behind Chief Sullivan's message.

It was apparent to each person in the room that Chief Sullivan still has a difficult time reliving the events of the fire. He spoke candidly about the events surrounding the fire and spoke openly about the mistakes that were made and what they could have done differently. We, as firefighters, are notorious for critiquing someone else's actions. However, it takes on a much different meaning when someone who lost two personnel, is strong enough to relive the event and to "air dirty laundry" to thousands of firefighter's each year. When someone who has a story like the one surrounding the Cold Storage fire speaks, they are trying to tell us something. As I listened, I felt as though Chief Sullivan was saying that they never thought this would happen to them, but it did. Does this sound familiar? How many people do you work with that show up at the firehouse and act as if nothing will happen to them. How did we get to this conclusion, and more importantly, how do we get out of this dangerous mindset? The logical starting point is to embrace the Everyone Goes Home® Life Safety Initiatives. They may not completely eradicate line of duty deaths, but they are definitely a great place to start.

I have never met a firefighter who does not like to share "war-stories" with other firefighters. I myself look forward to talking with other firefighters, whether, at the Fire Academy, area trainings, or even with my own crew. These "stories" can also be viewed as an essential learning opportunity. I challenge each of you to talk with each other. By doing so, it can make you and your department better. The story does not have to be anything groundbreaking or life altering; it can be something as simple as a policy change or a training idea to make our job a little safer. I have been gathering thoughts from some of the firefighters that attended the Shawnee seminar. Each of them had a different perspective and more importantly, each had something that they wanted to take back to their respective departments. I am convinced that several lessons were learned on those two days, below are a just a few of these valuable lessons:

• The majority of firefighters are committed to making the job safer.
• If we implement or at the very least try something new, we can and will reduce line of duty deaths in the fire service.
• The importance of accountability and the use of NIMS on any incident involving numerous companies.
• The need for an adequate response, in a timely manner, to a structure fire. In the words of an instructor that I once had in a command class, "go ugly early." In other words, order more resources early and often.
• The importance of reading the building and the initial size-up.
• The importance of pre-fire inspections.
• The importance of knowing the target hazards in your community.
• The importance of knowing when to change strategies, based on deteriorating conditions in the fire building.
• The importance of understanding building construction, and how that construction is likely to behave under fire conditions.

I could write a list a mile long on all of the lessons learned, but again, the most powerful part of the program was what each attendee learned on a personal level. What they learned can then in turn be shared with someone else. Several, if not all of the Life Safety Initiatives could be seen within Chief Sullivan's presentation. As I close, I challenge each of you to learn something new every day and share to it with others. It is my hope that there is a domino effect of positive change in the fire service. In 2009, I am going to listen to others and make changes, what are you going to do?

Ryan Pyle is a Fire Captain at Station 71 in Shawnee Kansas. Ryan has been a part of the department for thirteen years. He holds an Associate of Arts degree in Fire Administration, a Bachelors degree in Management and Human relations, and a Masters degree from the Edwin Stene School of Public Administration at the University of Kansas. Ryan is a graduate of the 2007 Virginia Fire Officers Academy, a program that includes leadership values associated with the Everyone Goes Home® Life Safety Initiatives. Ryan has been accepted into the Executive Fire Officer Program and will begin in September.