Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

Remember BY DEPUTY STATE FIRE MARSHAL TOM LEONARD WHEN? In 1995, there was the Massachusetts Fireﬁghting Academy, a stand-alone agency within the Executive Ofﬁce of Public Safety. There was also an Ofﬁce of the State Fire Marshal, a bureau within the Department of Public Safety (DPS), under the direction of the Commissioner of Public Safety. The State Fire Marshal at that time reported to the Commissioner, who, like the Fire Academy Director, reported to the Secretary of Public Safety. The budget for the Fire Academy in FY 95 was approximately $ 3.1 million. The Hazardous Materials Response program was recently created with no operating funds, administrative support provided by the Fire Academy, and $15.0 million in capital funds to begin procurement of vehicles and equipment. The six teams were supported ﬁnancially on a regional basis with team members often soliciting funds for equipment and communities contributing money to regional teams. The Fire Marshal’s Ofﬁce had no legal staff, no code compliance and enforcement unit, no ﬁre protection engineers and no technical services support for local ﬁre ofﬁcials. There was a Fire Investigation Unit, staffed by a limited number of State Police Troopers, but not a statewide operational unit within the State Police as many district attorneys handled ﬁ re investigations at the county level. The Bomb Squad consisted of two civilian employees who worked out of the Fire Marshal’s Ofﬁce but reported to the State Police administratively. There was an Underground Storage Tank unit, which handled collection of fees, insurance claims, and codes issues related to tanks. An individual in DPS handled the aboveground storage tank program separately. While many of today’s chiefs were not in their current positions, most, if not all, were and continue to be impacted by the foresight of the leadership of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts. FCAM was a primary mover in 1996 for the legislative creation of today’s Department of Fire Services. With the passage of legislation in 1996, many things happened, including the creation of the Fire Service Commission, which was given the appointment authority for the State Fire Marshal, the combination of the Fire Academy, the Fire Marshal’s Ofﬁce, the Underground Storage Tank program, Hazardous Materials Response and subsequently an Administrative Services Division to provide support to the operating divisions. A new Special Operations Division was later created providing signiﬁcant support to local ﬁre chiefs at ﬁres and other emergencies through the Incident Support Units and Rehab vehicles, as well as lighting plants and large capacity emergency generator units. Today’s budget for DFS operations is in excess of $19.8 million. This includes substantial funding for the Student Awareness of Fire Education (SAFE) and Fire Equipment Grant programs. This ﬁnancial support is due in no small part to the action and support of FCAM each legislative year. ©www.dreamstime.com WHAT ELSE HAS CHANGED? Through the ongoing partnership of FCAM and DFS today we have comprehensive ﬁre safety requirements for nightclubs, bars, discotheques and dance halls requiring annual inspections prior to renewal of liquor licenses, automatic sprinklers for occupancies greater than 100, increased pyrotechnic display requirements, and ticketing authority for ﬁre code violations for local and state ﬁre inspectors. Legislation, in the form of Nicole’s Law, has been successfully passed requiring mandatory carbon monoxide alarm protection in 1 & 2 family homes as well as many other residential occupancies. Massachusetts has a comprehensive ﬁre safe cigarette program that includes enforcement, testing and certiﬁcation of all cigarette products sold in the Commonwealth. The outcome of this program should be a signiﬁcant reduction in ﬁre deaths caused by smoking materials. Our combined efforts have resulted in a school ﬁre reporting law that is critical to dealing with juvenile ﬁresetting issues in local educational facilities. The Legislature has provided $42.0 million in capital funding for the DFS expansion project in Stow, which will be completed in the summer of 2010 and another $10.0 million for the purchase and renovation of the City of Springﬁeld’s Fire Academy to create the DFS Western Mass Training facility. Without a doubt this successful partnership between the Department of Fire Services and the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts, as well as the other major ﬁre service organizations, is the cornerstone for all ﬁre related matters in Massachusetts. DFS greatly appreciates your support for our combined agenda for a ﬁre safe state now and in the future. ❚ M A SSA C HUSE TTS FIRE CHIEF 2009 | 23

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009

Massachusetts Fire Chief 2009 Contents A Message from the FCAM President Code of Ethics/Vision Statement Bonds of Service Legislative Report The Fire Chief for 2009 and Beyond Leading a Combination Fire Department Remember When Fighting for Code Change Leadership Matters Fire Risk Management - Fire Chiefs - Codes The Current Economy and its Effect on Fire Departments Statewide Fire Mobilization Plan Beware of the Truss Index of Advertisers

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