Twenty years ago in a small used bookshop in England, some heavy gold-leafing on a blue-leather cover caught my eye. It was a pocket-size book called Links with the Past, published in 1918 by the Eagle and British Dominions Co., Ltd., in honor of its founding in 1807. The book is a history of the insurance industry, focusing on fires in early England.

The book begins way back in time noting that through combined effort, early dwellers could safeguard their families by being part of a tribe: “One of the feeblest creatures from a fighting point of view, sans claws, tusks or muscular force, sans even swiftness to fly, yet by combination with his fellows and ‘pooling’ his gifts in common stock, man found the value of mutual protection.”

Unfortunately, that lesson of mutual protection may have been lost in the millennia since. Several weeks ago, there was quite an uproar — and rightfully so — about the fire service's conspicuous absence from the new Department of Homeland Security's organizational charts. There can be no doubt that the fire service has earned a position in the DHS, so why is there even a question of who are first responders? Has Sept. 11 faded from memory that quickly? While some back-pedaling by DHS Secretary Tom Ridge seems to have appeased the fire service, the threat of the FIRE Act grant money disappearing looms larger than ever.

The fight for money isn't over, so what will it take to get the attention of the DHS and keep it? Well, power equals money. The fire service needs the money, but it also must learn to work together as a group. That creates the power to keep up the flow of money. For example, a fire chief recently described how one county manager stood up at a statewide meeting and said that he represented his region, proceeding to read off a list of agencies within his region that had agreed on how they would work together. Mutual protection.

Unity is hard to come by. The Fire Service Leadership Summit earlier this year was a pleasant gathering of 30-some fire service organizations. After two days of meetings they produced a White Paper. I was struck by the lack of any real substance during the meetings, and I still wonder what's changed. The summit could have been handled with a conference call.

The closest I've seen to unity in the past year was at the Congressional Fire Services Institute Day in Washington, D.C. Fire uniforms were visible in the Senate and House of Representatives. Did Congress know the fire service was present? I bet they did!

What are you doing within your department to encourage working with local agencies? Are you taking the lead within your county or region to educate your state officials about how the fire service is the first responder? Are you active within the International Association of Fire Chiefs and receiving their updates? Will you be in Dallas for Fire-Rescue International to network with your peers?

Mutual protection is available on a grander level, too. Look at our poster for the 2003 Guide to Federal WMD Response Assets in this issue. All of these resources are available to you via the Federal Bureau of Investigation. You may be the first responder, but you have an incredible scope of specialists to help and support your efforts to provide a safe environment for your personnel and your community.

Some reminders:

• The deadline for the 2003 Fire Station Design Awards is July 10, and the awards will be presented at an FRI pre-conference seminar. Details are available at http://stationstyle.firechief.com/.
• Additional copies of the poster in this issue are available by calling our customer service department at 866-505-7173. For those outside the United States, call 402-505-7173.