Remember the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about the emperor who unwittingly hires two swindlers to make the finest garment every created? The swindlers convince the emperor only stupid people can't see the cloth. Afraid to appear stupid, the emperor pretends he can see the invisible clothing and walks down the street, and his subjects are afraid to tell him he's naked.

And so it is with fire chiefs who build their own little kingdoms, who are out of touch with the challenges facing the fire and emergency services. These chiefs won't retire because their departments are quite content to make up for their deficiencies. In these departments, you're likely to hear phrases like “he's been chief for so long” and “he's such a nice person.” It's as if the bugles on their collars and stripes on their sleeves provide protection from being exposed.

I'm not talking about age discrimination. A 40-year-old chief can be more out of date than a 60 year old. Experience plays a critical role in the emergency services, and officers who keep current with the latest in technology and research can offer a valuable resource to a fire department. But for every sharp, experienced chief I meet, there is another who needs to stop responding to fires, if not for physical reasons or lack of agility, then because emergency response has become a serious business. It's time for them to let go of the reins and support the department's public-education, code and political efforts.

If a firefighter death could have been prevented, somebody should be held responsible, both legally and morally. After six firefighters died on Dec. 3, 1999, in Worcester, Mass., fire service leaders from across the country demanded change so this type of situation would not happen again. Many changes came, but not enough.

The Charleston Post Incident Assessment and Review Team's 272-page Firefighter Fatality Phase II Report should be printed, dissected and highlighted and action steps implemented by every fire department in North America in memory of the nine Charleston firefighters who died on June 18, 2007.

If this task force suddenly showed up in your department, would you be prepared? If J. Gordon Routley looked you in the eye and asked to review your fire department operations, and Kevin Roche asked for your apparatus and equipment records, would you quake? If Brian Crawford asked your members about you, your organization and the human-resources section, would you hover in the background? All the while, Michael Chiaramonte would ask for your prevention code procedures and enforcement steps, Tim Sendlebach would spend time with your training and safety officers to review certification and training records, and Pete Piringer would delve into your public-education programs and do his best to keep you focused on the tasks at hand.

The report is a multi-faceted case study with something for everyone. Fire chiefs and officers will find the flaws in Charleston's strategies and tactics and hopefully will review their own. Firefighters will learn that the Everyone Goes Home Firefighter Life-Safety Initiative 4, “All firefighters must be empowered to stop unsafe practices,” applies to their department. Dispatchers would do well to read Appendix B on radio transmissions.

Municipal leaders should read the report and ask themselves if their taxpayers are better served by their fire department being accredited by the Center for Public Safety Excellence than by saving pennies with Insurance Services Office ratings.

Nine firefighters died believing their officers would direct efforts to save them. Clothed in arrogance, their naked fire chief said afterward that was how they fight fires in Charleston.

Bugles and stripes don't make you the smartest person in the department; they should encourage you to seek out those who are smarter than you and rely on them for their expertise. And if you think wearing those bugles and stripes will protect you from being swindled, your department and other departments already know you're naked.