Welcome to the IAAI’s April 2012 CFITrainer.Net. Today, we’ll be interviewing Chief Ernest Mitchell, Jr., the US Fire Administrator, and also giving you an update on the upcoming ATC, or Annual Training Conference, from the IAAI about to happen in Dover, Delaware. Let’s get on to the interviewer with Chief Ernest Mitchell, Jr., the US Fire Administrator. Prior to joining the USFA, Chief Mitchell retired as the Fire Chief and Assistant Director of Disaster Emergency Services for the City of Pasadena, California Fire Department after 33 years in the fire service. He’s an executive board member of the International Fire Service Training Association and an active member and Past President of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Chief Mitchell, welcome to the podcast.

CHIEF MITCHELL: Well, thank you.

ROD: So, what are the major issues facing the fire service today?

CHIEF MITCHELL: You know, there are many issues facing the fire service today, and I’ve had an opportunity to know many fire chiefs and talk with them around the country, so I do recognize there’s this variety of priorities and demands on fire and emergency medical services in their local communities, but the major issues that seem to be most prevalent are, of course, related to economics and the budgets today, and that would be typically resources or a lack thereof that is also further complicated by the changing expectations and demands of communities, and most departments are facing service reductions and they’re going through ongoing difficulties and maintaining a high quality of service delivery. Those things, maintaining service levels, staying abreast of the changes that technology creates, that may create new fire problems. We’re also seeing increased fire losses as a result of expanded home building and wild and urban interfaces.

As we’ve seen before during down economic times, there is that challenge to reduce training and fire prevention efforts when we evaluate service delivery cuts. We know also that there are changes and challenges on the horizon such as being prepared for the impact of the aging baby boomers on EMS and potentially fires as their capabilities diminish and living arrangements change based on their elderly status. So, there just are so many things facing us today that we much focus on.

ROD: Yeah, and I can appreciate that, and I know this is a tough audience that’s got a lot of demands on it, and I appreciate you qualifying at the beginning - you know, I make it sound so easy - what are the major issues facing the fire services, it’s a pretty big question.

CHIEF MITCHELL: You know what? I just hate to leave someone’s out. I know there are others.

ROD: So, in light of the issues that are out there, can you share with the podcast audience your focus and goals for the US Fire Administration today?

CHIEF MITCHELL: We focus on the USFA mission and FEMA’s mission. We have what we traditionally refer to as the four stars of the US Fire Administration and they keep us in alignment with that mission. The stars are supported by our five primary goals, and they are to reduce - reduce risk at the local level through prevention and mitigation, to improve local planning and preparedness, to improve the fire and emergency services capability for response to and recovery from all hazards, to improve the fire and emergency services professional status and to lead the nation’s fire and emergency services by establishing and sustaining the US Fire Administration as a dynamic organization, and then those goals, those five primary goals are met through multiple objectives and activities that are contained in the strategic plan.

What I have asked that we do here though at USFA is to focus on evaluating civilian fire deaths and injuries, to dig deeply into the data and analyze it to see if there’s a way we can increase our effectiveness and reducing those losses by focusing on certain conditions that we might find or groups or locations or any other factors, and I’ve looked at that death rate, civilian death rate, and we need to see what we can do to further move the bar and reduce those deaths and injuries. So, that’s one of the primary focuses that I’ve brought in and also to emphasize the importance of continuing our focus on reducing preventable firefighter line of duty deaths. It’s actually exciting and encouraging that we’ve done better in the past three years. We absolutely must not let up, and I believe it’s incumbent on the leadership in the fire service to continue emphasizing safety. Then we must address the largest cause of firefighter death, line of duty deaths, and those are heart and respiratory events and casualties, and that’s going to take a lot of leadership support, but also individual responsibility on the part of the members in the fire service.

ROD: Big goals and a lot of objectives, and wow, a big job and a lot of - big shoes to fill there. So, in your past duties you were involved in fire investigation, and most of our audience is focused in the fire investigation area. We’ve got probably over 40,000 some folks now. We’ve got about 46,000 registered users. I’m wondering how your experience in the background, you know, being a fire investigator changes or informs your vision for the USFA.

CHIEF MITCHELL: I believe that my experience as an investigator helped me by giving me a well-rounded perspective on the importance of balance in our fire service operations and in all of our planning and in our service delivery, and it’s important for a fire department to fulfill all of the functions needed by the community it serves, and that means more than fire and more than EMS. So, I’d say in arson also I gained an increased appreciation for the value of specialized training, the application of science and technology and gathering data and evidence. It was very important to participate in a network of people with similar responsibilities and needs and to stay current, and so overall I think that experience has contributed to me keeping an open mind and being solution oriented and stressing the importance of working with others as partners.

ROD: So, some of this sounds common sense, but I often find that people lack to talk about the tie between fire investigation and fire prevention and you spoke about, you know, we want to make it safer out there for our communities, we want to reduce the number of firefighter fatalities. How do you think fire investigation - how would you sum that up as fire investigation’s importance in that role?

CHIEF MITCHELL: I think fire investigation gives us a lot of insight into the causes. You know, it’s our primary means of getting insight into the cause of fires, which then leads to better preventive - prevention methods, procedures, it leads to more accurate data so that we might better develop programs. So I just think it’s an essential and without accurate investigation. We will not have accurate data about fire cause.

ROD: I think it’s well said, and I, again, it seems like common sense when we talk about it in the fire services, but oftentimes I’ll hear people only talk about fire investigation tied to arson and I think you said it well. Thank you. So, local, state and federal budget cuts are hitting the public sector, you mentioned it earlier, and private sector, and fire investigator positions are being eliminated, training budgets are strained. So what role can the USFA play in supporting fire investigators, their jobs, training, especially, as you had mentioned, the forensic science. You know, the work of fire investigators continues to be scrutinized. So what do you think the USFA can do about that?

CHIEF MITCHELL: We do provide a variety, I think about seven courses related to fire investigation, through the National Fire Academy. We have been in partnership with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives since 2007 and jointly funded numerous classes, and we’ve partnered in the development of a forensic evidence collection course with the support of ATF and your organization to focus on the identification and processing of non-traditional arson evidence such as DNA, trace evidence and digital evidence. And so, those things, those various courses and even our online training courses that we have partnered with your organization again to deliver, we will continue to seek ways to make training available that will enhance the skillset of the investigators, and we know that that comes - that training comes at a cost, and so we are just exploring ways to get that done as efficiently as we can.

ROD: I appreciate you saying something about the IAAI and boy, I think everybody really appreciates the support that the USFA has given to the IAAI and CFITrainer.

CHIEF MITCHELL: Well, the IAAI and the ATF and the USFA partnership really is essential to our continued success I believe, and one of the things I’ve been finding in my own experience is that if there’s any plus side to diminishing dollars is that we do seem to seek to work closer and better with others, and many times that yields dividends and I think the course work that we’ve able to do and working with IAAI and ATF has really benefited all three organizations and the fire service overall.

ROD: Yeah, I can tell you that as a person who’s been around and watching it for the past ten years, the partnership’s work together has been phenomenal, and the leadership over at NFA and ATF, so all very grateful. How can the fire investigation side of the fire service better partner with, and you had mentioned it a little bit earlier, with the fire suppression side to meet the needs of communities that we serve - or that you serve.

CHIEF MITCHELL: I was fortunate to go in Fire Prevention Bureau early in my career and then get a different perspective. I think that what I saw was when relationships are built between the operations side, the first responders and the investigators and it just increases those outputs because there’s some trust that develops and there’s a respect for what you do. You know, I would just encourage more interaction, reinforcing the importance of preserving evidence and getting the first responders to call an investigator early into the incident. A lot of that is just that the first responders need to understand their role and the importance of their role in preserving evidence in working with the investigators, and that even though they may not suspect its arson, they really can contribute to a scene preservation that allows to a more accurate determination of cause, and just that cause investigation is also very, very important. So, overall I think that investigation community as a whole needs to reach out to the fire service folks and seek to work with them and get with them, but I think just by developing relationships they’ll get better cooperation.

ROD: I love hearing you talk about the relationships because I’ve seen it happen, and I think sometimes people talk about it but they don’t go, wow, you know what? I should actually get up off my seat and walk over and go to talk to some of these people, whether it’s in law enforcement or fire services before the scene, and it’s happening and you can see it. I think you’re mentioning it.

CHIEF MITCHELL: Oh, absolutely. It’s like you get to know people and you get to know them as people, and there was - there’s that old saying that if you want someone to care about what you do, then you first need to show them you care about what they do. And I think that - and of course that works both ways, but usually we - when we’re doing investigation work, we need their assistance right up front, and so it’s important to develop a relationship.

ROD: Wonderful. Thank you. So, we’ll wrap up now with I think what I would like to be a personal message to the individual fire investigators or those that are out there in the fire investigation community, what can they do as individuals to be part of this effort to improve fire investigation?

CHIEF MITCHELL: Of course, they can continue to develop their own skills and then assess what they can personally do to make a difference where they are working. Get to know those first responders with whom they work, offer them training and essential skills. I know when I first heard from investigators about what they needed us to do. It was kind of a distant thing that I didn’t quite understand. When I did it for a while and then came back out to operations and worked with folks and had the discussion, they received it at a different level and in a different way just because of our relationship, but I think to let them know how valuable their effort is that they can be eyes and ears for the fire investigators and that the more they know and the more they know about our procedures, methods such as things like identifying witnesses, preserving and protecting evidence, properly documenting the scene, then there’s a better chance that fires of both incendiary and accidental origin can be identified, investigated, prosecuted. That could lead to fewer fires, and in these times of financial constraints, I’m reminded of what someone I admired for many years, John Wooden said. He says don’t let what you can’t do get in the way of what you can do. I try to remember that because these are times where we just have to maintain focus, keep striving to do the best that we personally can do, and I do believe that these - the economic side will come back around. I think hard work and continuous effort will be rewarded and I would encourage the investigators to keep that up.

ROD: Well, I really appreciate and I know that our audience appreciates you being with us today Chief Mitchell. So, thanks very much to the Chief of the United States Fire Administration. We really appreciate the support and especially your time to talk to us here at the IAAI on CFITrainer.Net.

All right, guys and gals, you wanted a little bit of an update on the Annual Training Conference coming up for the IAAI. It’s in Dover, Delaware and it’s starting in less than two weeks. You need to go to firearson.com, click on the link and find out about what’s going on. There is close to 120 credit hours of education and training that’s available to you as a fire investigator. If you work real hard, I think you can take about 36 of those hours, and when you get done at the end of the day, you may find yourself networking or rapping with some of the experts that teach the courses or some of the other folks that you know from around the world that have come to join us at the IAAI at the ATC.

One of the things I wanted to make a note, and I heard a couple of people say oh, the drive from Philly is long or it’s an hour to get down there. Well, you know what - I drove it the other day. We were headed down there for a scout because we’re going to be doing some interviews for CFITrainer related to a couple of new modules that are going to be happening. They’re video interviews. We’re also going to be doing some radio style interviews for the podcast coming up with people like you and others, but as we went down there, I was like, wow, this drive is actually pretty nice. It’s like taking a four lane down to the beach and that was the feeling that I got when I did the ride. It was real nice. When I got down there, I was greeted by a hotel that’s got plenty of room and it’s sort of funky. I don’t know how many places you go to where there’s a racetrack for horses surrounded by a racetrack for cars. So, it’s sort of a cool place to take a look at and get to know. There are going to be tours around that track. Jamie Novak’s going to be burning some - I don’t know what he’s burning, but Jamie Novak is going to be actually doing some live burns for people, and I think they’ll be happening out near one of the tracks. There’s going to be a lot going on folks.

There’s also going to be a chapter hospitality event going on down there. A lot of the chapters got together and wrangled some of the folks from New Orleans into making some of their gumbo. I understand in the past this was a big hit. So, for folks that want to get together with a lot of the chapters from around the US and around the globe, you can hang out with some of them and eat some good gumbo from New Orleans.

Investigator of the Year is also going to be announced at the dinner and there will be interviews again with you and other experts from around the world that we’ll be doing here from CFITrainer.Net. So, here’s the bottom line. In about a week and a half, two weeks, I want you to turn off your computers and phones for a while and head down to the ATC in Dover, Delaware. I think what you’ll find out is that there’s a whole lot of business to be done down there, and it’s good to see your folks that are in fire investigation with you.

Just an FYI for some of the things you are doing on the computer. The International Association of Arson Investigators LinkedIn page has gotten quite active. There’s also a Facebook page for the International Association. Check them both out and like them or join them or get involved in one of the many groups or conversations going on there.

One other note that I just wanted to make; we are looking for people to help us with alternative funding for CFITrainer, and here’s the deal. It takes quite a bit of money to generate good content that you folks are used to seeing. So what we’re doing is we’ve got partnerships with a lot of different associations, we’re still looking for grants through the International Association of Arson Investigators, reaching to the USFA and others, but we’re also looking for other ways to sustain the network as you know it. So, if you have ideas or ideas for partnerships, ideas for partnerships with state, local, federal organizations, we’re looking to continue to grow those. If you have ideas for sponsors or people who you think might provide some funding because they’d like some visibility on the network, we’d also like you to reach out, click on the email link somewhere on this page and send us an email and let us know who you think might be a good idea to contact. Or you can just pick up the phone and the call the IAAI office and say hey, you know what, I was listening to the podcast, I know you folks are interested in some people for sponsorship, have you ever thought about contacting and give us a name, give us a company, whoever you might think about. We appreciate that kind of feedback. I mean, you are the people who are involved in fire investigation. We should be listening to what you think. That’s about it for this April podcast. Hoping to see you down in Dover Downs, Dover, Delaware, a place that really embraces the fire industry, in about a week and a half. So for CFITrainer, the International Association of Arson Investigators, I’m Rod Ammon.