Established in 1866, the Denver Fire Department currently has 32 fire stations and 923 uniformed personnel to cover 154 square miles and a population of more than 500,000.

Larry Trujillo was promoted to fire chief in July 2003, after 21 years with the department. He attended the University of Northern Colorado and Metro State College. Trujillo is a certified EMT and also is certified in hazardous materials, dive and river rescue, conflict resolution, and risk management.

How did the IAFC select Denver for Fire-Rescue International 2005?

For several years Denver had been looked at as a place to have FRI ]but] ever since Sept. 11, and as the [first] new chief in Denver directly after, I felt the need to build coalitions. I became very involved with the IAFC and the issues they were facing and I wanted the Denver Fire Department to be a part of this great organization. The IAFC approached us to see if we were interested in hosting the conference.

I also attribute our selection to goodwill and … that we have a new convention center that's able to hold the up-to-20,000 people we're expecting. The fact that we wanted the IAFC here and having this new convention center helped build this coalition. I'm hoping that it will set the tone for other chiefs to get involved with the IAFC. It's just important that we all work together to build foundations and relationships.

What recommendations do you have for first-time visitors to Denver?

They have to visit the Rockies' stadium and take in a baseball game; there will be some opportunities for them during FRI. [Ed.: Rosenbauer America will distribute 500 tickets at FRI for the Aug. 12 game.] They need to visit LoDo. It's a whole area downtown that's just bars and places to see. Of course, the Firefighters Museum, too. They have to see our mountains — that's what sells Colorado.

At the IAFC Leadership Summit in October, you stated that FRI 2004 made a difference in your department. How so?

After I attended the last FRI conference in New Orleans, I came back to our department and changed our slogan to “Everyone Comes Home.” That was based on what I had heard at the conference.… As I was writing down notes throughout the conference, I just kept to the theme of how do we get our firefighters to come back safely, so I wrote down “Everyone Comes Home.” I asked people to take an active role in how we do our day-to-day business. If you look at the bottom of any [DFD] document, that [slogan is] printed.

How were you able to implement that slogan?

Fortunately, we're working with Kaiser Permanente [health care services], the city administration and the union to build a full wellness program. We're moving and changing our on-coming test, which is CPAT and is recommended by the IAFC. Our ultimate goal is to [promote] a whole way of life, from the day they walk in the door to the day they leave, and hopefully they'll continue on with that.…

Our wellness program will include a stress test, work-ups on blood, and working with a wellness coordinator who will work with firefighters individually.… It's more for the firefighters to tell their officers that they want to go work out, but we created a membership from our own city, so our firefighters can go use the workout facilities for one hour every day. You can't tell them to go exercise and not have a place to go do it. Our new fire houses that we're building now will have a one-quarter mile-track built into the landscape of the fire house and a weight room. The city wants to cut dollars, but these are things that will make the city come together.

What's your message to the IAFC attendees?

My purpose at the conference is to share the message loud and clear of what I learned last year. It's time for other fire chiefs to step up. Just before FRI in New Orleans, we lost a 39-year-old to a heart attack. I really believe it was preventable had we known and if we'd had a program in place. I don't pretend to be God, but he wouldn't have died because of a heart attack. This individual was in great physical shape. He went to the hospital and told them he was having a heart attack. They told him he was having acid reflux and he died at home that night. That was just about this time last year, so I really took it to heart that we can do something about this. I read a quote that “anything preventable shouldn't happen, not even one death.”

We're a very open department, even listening to the probationaries who come in the door on how we can be better.… I'm really looking forward to the future of our department and realizing we can't do it alone. As chiefs, we cannot just look to firefighters to make things happen, it has to be a broader range and working with all agencies.