This has been a difficult year for the fire and emergency services, particularly for its leaders. Two Baltimore Fire Department officers lost their jobs as a result of a training fatality. Three FDNY officers received reassignments after two firefighters died in a fire in a building at a demolition site.

It also has been a difficult year for emergency vehicle technicians. A fire department mechanic in the Northeast was suspended for incomplete maintenance records after a firefighter was killed in an apparatus crash, and an apparatus engineer in California was arrested and later released when a firefighter was ejected from his rig and killed.

I've been a proponent of safety for many years, supporting EVT certification and preventive maintenance and sitting on the board of the Fire Department Safety Officers Association. I've seen the tremendous effort over the last four years to change the fire service culture when it comes to safety and health, thanks to the efforts of an endless list of national and state organizations and fire and emergency service departments. Still, current projections show that 2007 firefighter fatalities will exceed last year's number of 106.

Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. commissioned six top-notch fire-rescue professionals from across the nation to examine the city's fire department and its handling of the fatal fire. The task force included: Gordon Routley, a retired chief with experience in fatal fire investigations; Brian Crawford, assistant to the fire chief and resident instructor at the National Fire Academy with a master's degree in industrial psychology; Kevin Roche, assistant fire marshal and assistant to the fire chief who is expert on firefighting equipment and research; Tim Sendelbach, former chief of training and president of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors; Mike Chiaramonte, former fire chief and fire inspector with expertise in fire prevention and fire codes; and Pete Piringer, a public information officer with expertise in media relations.

When I saw these names, I couldn't help but wonder what a fire chief might think if he or she found this group at the door. How would you answer these five questions they might ask? And remember, you can't hide behind your department's ISO rating.

1. Are your officers trained and/or certified to the best possible levels available to your department and, if so, do you have records to prove it?

2. Are your firefighters and emergency medical personnel trained and/or certified to the best possible levels available to your department and, if so, do your records support it?

3. Are your department's apparatus and emergency vehicles properly maintained to safely transport your personnel?

4. Could you produce your standard operating procedures and provide documentation that your department adheres to those SOPs and trains accordingly?

5. Have you done all you can to keep your personnel safe so that everyone goes home?

In addition to sitting on this task force, Crawford also is a member of the FIRE CHIEF editorial advisory board and author of the often-requested “To Die For” article in the May issue. I believe that Crawford is a future leader to watch, so I asked him what five questions a fire chief should ask him- or herself in the face of a mayoral fire-review task force.

“Fire chiefs and chief officers are not the ones to generally go into a burning building to save someone or save someone's property,” Crawford replied. “We are not the ones that have to deal with a shooting at 3 o'clock in the morning when the whereabouts of the perpetrator are unknown. We are not the ones who are generally laying our lives on the line each and every day to protect our communities, so the least we can do is damn well make sure that those brave men and women who are have the best equipment, the best PPE, the best training, the best policies and procedures, the best safety practices, the best management, and the best leadership….

“If you can look in the mirror without any hesitation and say, ‘Yes, I have done all that I can,’ then you should have no trepidation or concern about a task force coming into your community following a line-of-duty death,” Crawford continued. “If you can't say yes, then you need to turn in your badge … today!”

No matter what the questions are, the answers are in the mirror.