Last month, the Colorado State Fire Chiefs Association held its Fire Leadership Challenge 2008, “Changing Our Culture: Safeguarding Our Most Valuable Assets — Our Firefighters.” Considering 2008 line-of-duty deaths passed the 100 mark by October, the theme certainly was timely and extremely important. How does the fire service, both as a whole and the sum of its parts, accomplish a change in organizational culture?

This has been debated for decades. In 2004, fire service leaders met in Tampa, Fla., to set some measurable goals for reducing LODDs. The goals developed at this Firefighter Life-Safety Summit called for a 25% reduction of LODDs in five years and 50% in 10 years. Developed in tandem with the 2004 summit goals was possibly the single most important document in fire service history — the 16 Firefighter Life-Safety Initiatives.

How is the fire service doing? From January 2004 to mid-November 2008, 520 firefighters died serving their communities. The number dipped below 100 in only one year (87 LODDs in 2006). Clearly, the fire service hasn't achieved the desired goals.

What are we doing wrong and how do we steer the fire service in a direction that will achieve the desired results? Ask 100 fire chiefs and you will probably hear 150 different opinions. So let's start at the beginning, in this case the first initiative: “Define and advocate the need for cultural change within the fire service relating to safety; incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility.” Emphasis here is on the need for cultural change.

The life-safety initiatives document wasn't the first time the fire service advocated cultural change for LODD reduction. In June 2005, the National Fire Service Research Agenda Symposium convened in Emmitsburg, Md., to “produce a document that will identify and prioritize the areas where research efforts should be directed to support improvements in firefighter life safety.” That 50-page document identifies dozens of potential avenues of research that may assist in reducing firefighter injury and death. Each issue was double-rated in importance. The “Analysis of Fire Service Culture” project was rated 1A, or highest priority. “This issue is believed to be one of the key factors in reducing firefighter's injuries and fatalities,” the report stated.

This issue couldn't be any clearer, nor could the leadership challenge theme be any more timely or important. If the primary villain in this fire service drama is its own culture, the solution should be pretty obvious. Yet annual year-end statistics don't lie.

An age-old axiom says, “Change your mind and change your culture.” But consider how often you really do change your mind. Once they have made up their minds about something, most fire chiefs are loathe to change it. Sometimes, this is a stellar trait. After all, if you have done due diligence and thoroughly researched an issue before taking a position, you should be able to defend it and stand by it. However, circumstances change, technology improves, techniques evolve and experience often alters processes for the better. For a fire chief to blindly stick to a position because of tradition is not only absurd, it's dangerous.

A critical thinker is someone who has changed his or her mind about an important issue based on new evidence. Have you? Do you regularly re-examine long-held views based on new evidence? Do you seek out new evidence to evaluate? Do you ever re-examine your positions on member health and wellness, apparatus or personally owned vehicle operations, inspection and maintenance of personal protection ensemble, or even how your department approaches structure or wildland fires?

Until the fire chief makes a firm commitment to change an organization's culture, members won't positively alter their behavior. Learn to change your mind, support vital change, and stand firm against those who resist.

But how are firefighters dying? These incidents will illustrate a few of the many changes that can help prevent future LODDs.

In December 1999, six firefighters died in an abandoned cold-storage warehouse in Worcester, Mass. The investigation report strongly recommended against risking firefighter lives to suppress fire in vacant or abandoned structures. Unfortunately, every year since 1999 more firefighters have died inside vacant structures. What happened to the axiom taught in incident safety officer training that says, “Risk a lot to save a lot (human life); risk a little to save a little; risk nothing to save nothing?”

Worcester built a new fire station on the warehouse site and dedicated it to the six firefighters. I can't think of a more fitting use for that property, but with all due respect to all those who have made the supreme sacrifice both before and after Worcester, we do not need more monuments. We do not need more Worcesters or Charlestons. We need more fire chiefs to change their approach to structure fires. Can you change your mind?

In August 2008, nine wildland firefighters died in a helicopter crash while combating a rural and isolated forest fire in northern California. The fire was not threatening life or property. If that were an isolated occurrence it would not reflect so poorly on the fire service, but it wasn't. And there are common threads woven through most, if not all, fatal wildland fires. One of those threads most commonly cited is the can-do culture of the wildland firefighting community. In the case of the 2006 Esperanza Fire, in which five firefighters were killed, investigators cited that culture prominently.

Perhaps change is on the way. According to Tom Scott, a prominent University of California Wildland-Urban Interface planner, “You don't see people saying, ‘If we can fill one more sandbag, we can stop the hurricane.’ And the most sophisticated fire leaders are saying, ‘We can't save every house, we can't fight all the fires and, in some cases, with all the technology in the world, there's not a thing we can do to stop it.’” Are you one of those sophisticated fire leaders?

Year in and year out, more than half of all LODDs are attributed to heart attacks and other major medical maladies. In his paper, “Reducing Firefighter Deaths and Injuries: Changes in Concept, Policy, and Practice,” cardiologist James S. Cole outlines how one rural fire protection district chose to combat coronary artery disease:

“We have approached the early detection aspect of the problem using our County Occupational Health Program to obtain regular examinations and stress testing for all personnel. We have also set up a fitness center at each duty station which includes a Universal Smith machine and an Elliptical Trainer. The fitness program follows a vendor's program approved by the American College of Sports Medicine. It is based on the initial evaluation and subsequent improvement of aerobic capacity, muscle strength, flexibility, and body composition. The program provides a score, adjusted for age and gender, so individual comparisons can be made and individual progress evaluated.”

Cole concludes that coronary artery disease is the primary cause of LODDs and found that data suggests early detection, modifying risk factors and initiating therapy should reduce this problem significantly. How many volunteer and combination departments have NFPA 1582? and 1583?compliant medical and wellness programs in place?

A 2007 double-blind study through the University of Edinburgh of 20 healthy men of prime firefighter age clearly demonstrated exposure to as little as 300 micrograms of diesel exhaust (a level comparable to curbside exposure on a busy street) temporarily increases the blood's clotting factor. That could lead to coronary artery blockage and heart attack. Particulate matter contained in diesel exhaust also is one of the most potent known carcinogens. How many fire stations have positive-pressure vehicle exhaust evacuation systems?

Many states now recognize at least seven types of cancer as “presumptive” to firefighting. More cancer types may fall into that category with additional research. There was a time not so long ago when sporting soot-stained and smoke-permeated PPE was considered a badge of honor. No self-respecting firefighter would be seen in sparkling yellow turnouts. We now know that soot and smoke can be a killer to both firefighters and their families. How many volunteer and combination departments have NFPA 1851-compliant PPE cleaning, inspection and maintenance programs? When it comes to health and wellness of your members, can you change your mind and your department's culture?

Volunteer and combination departments seem to dominate LODD statistics for vehicle operations; water-tender fatalities are almost exclusively the domain of volunteers. Tenders are invaluable to rural fire suppression operations, but they also are inherently dangerous. Is it absolutely necessary for water tenders to respond to a code 3 with warning lights and siren? Is that extra 30 to 60 seconds going to make that much difference in a fire's outcome? Many departments' policies dictate water tender response as code 2 unless its arrival can make a difference in preserving a life. What is your response policy? Can you change your mind?

Statistically, another major LODD cause is volunteer members responding in privately owned vehicles. Does your department permit POV emergency response? Does your department have strict traffic and speed policies in place? Has your department debated eliminating volunteer response in POVs? Can you change your culture?

Those are but a few of the hundreds of issues that can and do lead to LODDs. The list is long and the list of causes even longer. Every volunteer and combination organization is at a different phase of development. During the development stage, every organization can learn from studying the statistics. What element of your organization could benefit from changing your mind?

Do you listen carefully to those with whom you may disagree to determine if they have information that might change your position? Or do you avoid thinking, sticking to your tradition no matter what?

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, has made the point that Buddhism is based on rational thought and, if scientifically generated information conflicted with Buddhism, “Buddhism would have to change.” What a concept. Certainly if a religion deeply seated in tradition can be open to change, so too can the fire service.

We should never be too old, too smart or too traditional to change our minds. For the past decade, attendees at symposiums, summits and conferences have debated how to reduce LODDs. They have developed and published strategies, tactics and goals from those noble meetings. Unfortunately, positive results have been sketchy, at best.

As fire chiefs and chief officers, we all need to look in the mirror and realize that we may be our own worst enemies. We must come to the realization that priority number one in the 16 initiatives document is the most important. The Colorado chiefs were right on; changing the culture of the fire service is job one for all of us. Learn to change your mind and the rest becomes much easier.

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Jim Wilson is fire chief of Mariposa County (Calif.) Fire Department and a 36-year veteran of the volunteer and combination fire service. He has founded two successful business ventures including a book publishing company specializing in America's national parks and approaches fire service issues with an entrepreneurial outlook. Wilson is also a graduate of National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program and is on the board of directors of International Association of Fire Chiefs' Volunteer and Combination Officers Section.