Mesa (Ariz.) Fire Department Chief Dennis Compton (Ret.) received the Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award in April at the Congressional Fire Services Institute's annual dinner in Washington, D.C. The award, sponsored by CFSI and Motorola, is given annually to a fire service leader who promotes and strengthens the fire service. Among other accomplishments, Compton has served as chair of the executive board of the International Fire Service Training Association and as chair of the CFSI's national advisory committee. A member of the NFPA board of directors, he was assistant chief of the Phoenix Fire Department for 27 years and wrote the When In Doubt, Lead! series of books.

FC: What has motivated you in terms of leadership during your fire service career?

Compton: I became really interested in supervision and leadership because it has such an impact on service delivery, and that's where my focus is at. We're in the fire and life-safety business, and too many times in our industry, and in other organizations as much as the fire service, you see the relationship among workers and bosses get in the way of what you were there to do that day. Because of the role that we play in people's lives, our customers' lives, and in each other's lives, … there's probably not a more important issue than the quality of leadership and supervision and management in our organizations, because if affects everything we do.

FC: What do you think is the most important thing fire chiefs can do to lead their departments effectively?

Compton: I think first and foremost that all of us, not just chiefs, need to remember that we lead by example, and that what we say we think and what we say we're going to do isn't nearly as important to our members as what we act out and what we actually do. That's so important because when it's absent, it begins to diminish the trust and respect that people have for that person as a leader, and when it's present, it tends to improve a level of trust and build that trust and build that respect that people have for one another. So there's no escaping it, it's like the rite of passage to everything else. You lead by example. And then of course, just basic honesty and integrity and accountability.

FC: There's been a call for more of a presence and more lobbying on Capitol Hill on behalf of the fire service. What do you think about the CFSI's efforts in this area?

Compton: If you look at the way that organization is funded, and the level to which it is funded, and what it was put in place to do, it functions probably better than it ever has right now, and I attribute a lot of that to Executive Director Bill Webb. We could always do better together. One of the things to remember is that a lot of different fire organizations have government affairs people in Washington, D.C. One of the keys to us always being more effective in what we do in Washington, for the sake of the fire service, is for us to work better together. That's one of the ways I think CFSI can continue to help.

Part of the key to us being successful at the national level in the fire service lies in the local level and at the state level. Those people who are in Washington, D.C., represent a group of constituents, and if we could become, as a fire service, more politically effective at the local and state levels, we would become more politically effective at the national level. It's all connected. If we're all, as the fire service, going to sit around waiting for someone in Washington, D.C., to make us happy, we're going to be waiting a long time unless we're willing at home to do what it takes in the way of political activism and in a way that serves us well, not in a way that's destructive.

I think another thing is just all of us understanding that even when we win victories and achieve success like we have with the FIRE Act, we have to be very careful to watch over that success because there's always someone who wants to take it away and use it for something else that's important to them.

FC: There's been so much talk about the fire service disappearing from the Department of Homeland Security. Is it time for fire departments to accept a new role in responding to emergencies? Is the fire service as we know it dead?

Compton: The fire service as we know it is a different place, and it's not just because of Sept. 11 and what's happened since, and I hope that as a service we accept at least that. I hope we're never willing to accept not being represented in a federal agency where the U.S. Fire Administration exists. We need to continue to work to get more key fire service leaders in positions of authority and influence in the DHS so that we're present at the meetings where things are decided, and I think that we've got some great people there now. They're doing a tremendous job. But we need to continue to try to work to get people who are sensitive to our needs in key positions in that department because it's still forming.