The Chicago Fire Department made quite an impression last week as a new exhibitor at the Fire Department Instructors' Conference in Indianapolis. The department had a double-sized booth to promote its new High-Rise Life Safety Conference, to be held Aug. 17-20 in Chicago. CFD members also answered questions about changes in their department and shared information about recent public education initiatives.

A lot has changed in the department since Oct. 2003, when it fell under fire for its response to a high-rise fire that claimed six lives. This week, I observed a training exercise on CFD's new mobile ventilation unit, a 48-inch fan mounted on a truck/skid unit. Over three days, each shift of the station responsible for the MVU trained on the concept, strategy and tactics of large-scale positive-pressure ventilation. Examples of the MVU's effect in tunnels, airport terminals and high-rise incidents were graphic and amazing.

Today, the department's slogan, "We're here when you need us," is at the root of an aggressive public safety awareness campaign. It seems like every week I receive press releases about CFD efforts to educate Chicagoans about safety in their homes and at work.

For example:

CFD partnered with State Farm Insurance and local movie theaters for its "Got One? Get One!" campaign. Chicago Firefighters from Truck 6 and Engine 43 distributed smoke detectors to moviegoers and set up fire safety displays in six theaters. The plan is to also use short safety "infomercials" during movie previews.

At the Chicago Auto Show a couple of months ago, CFD members had a booth and distributed information to raise community public safety awareness.

Together with the Aviation Commissioner and the Chicago Children's Museum, CFD opened a new children's exhibit -- "Play it Safe" -- at O'Hare International Airport. The interactive exhibit provides children and their families with an opportunity to learn and practice responses to common emergencies and to discuss life safety.

CFD produced an eight-minute video titled "Commercial High Rise Fire Safety" and distributed it to 400 high-rise buildings in Chicago. In the event of a disaster, the video teaches tenants to think of the acronym CALM, which stands for Call -- Alert -- Listen -- Move.

At FDIC in Indy last week, MSA presented the Fireslayer of the Year Award to the Chicago Fire Department for its response to a five-alarm high-rise fire at the 45-story LaSalle Bank Building last December. Several hundred victims were evacuated from the electrical fire, which burned for more than five hours. The fact that no lives were lost was attributed to recent changes in high-rise tactics, intense training and the teamwork of 300 firefighters involved in the "5-11 and 4 Specials."

"We swear to protect life and property; that's what we do for a living, " said CFD Commissioner Cortez Trotter in accepting the Fireslayer award. Citing the support of the Illinois Mutual Aid Box Alarm System in response to the LaSalle Bank fire, Trotter added, "All of those departments that are so large and so 'great,' don't ever lose sight of the fact that you need other people."

Trotter told the audience he wanted to invoke something that is dormant in the fire service: "You've heard all along you have to think outside the box. What I've asked the men and women of the Chicago Fire Department is to not see boxes. Ladies and gentlemen, we have to raise our level of training and raise our level of commitment over the edge."

Never think for a moment that you won't be needed at a high-rise fire some place, Trotter warned.

Sept. 11th changed that perception, but a disastrous, fatal fire changed the Chicago Fire Department's response even more.

Janet Wilmoth, Editor