Just more than 10 years ago, Fire Chief Arthur Lim Bin Lock put his gold badge in the drawer and hung up his uniform. He had retired from his job as chief of the Singapore Fire Department. Not only had Lim retired from his position, but the position itself had been retired.

Lim was replaced by Commissioner James Tan, a military officer, and the structure of the fire brigade was redesigned, targeting men who had been conscripted for the Singapore military. The department would not only train to fight fires, respond to medical emergencies and assist in disasters, but learn to use weapons in case Singapore was invaded. The Singapore Civil Defense Force was born.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security appears to be on a similar path. It has grown from the government's knee-jerk response to tragedy to the agency that must bring order to 22 agencies and 180,000 personnel, all working with the same purpose: protecting the nation.

So does that mean your job as fire chief is in danger of being retired as well? The role of fire chief is changing, as each and every one of you knows far better than I do. What consumes your job as chief: staffing, budgets, politics? What part of your job keeps you awake at night? When was the last time you went to an actual fire?

We recently surveyed a number of fire chiefs, asking how many are recognized as their community's emergency manager, even with the title of fire chief. The response in the affirmative was 70%.

For many chiefs, becoming an emergency manager will be a step up and will require additional training, so it's time to make a choice: Take the lead role in managing emergencies or settle for being a spoke in the wheel, proactive in a new role or reactive in the current one.

We asked a number of leaders in FEMA, the USFA and the IAFC if they think America is headed for a nationalized fire service. Each person said “no,” but added that standardization must be a priority, and a unified voice a necessity. Speak together, like the police do, and see what you get.

Over the past few years, fire service leaders have called for a unified voice from a very diverse field to help find their rightful place in DHS. While the IAFC and IAFF working together was a significant step, a true banding together of state and local fire agencies still needs to occur.

NIMS is meant to unify the response community as never before. It will streamline coordination at the federal, state, tribal and local levels. It will incorporate incident management's best practices as developed and proven by thousands of responders across America, with its Madison Avenue slogan, “NIMS makes America safer, from our nation to our neighborhoods.” It calls for common language, condensing the fire terminology that varies from east to west and north to south. It calls for standardization in response. We've heard about standardization in hose threads since the inception of the IAFC, 131 years ago. It's about time it happened.

NIMS makes sense and, let's face it, should make your job easier. Will you be the one selling the plan or having to buy in? Which would you rather be?

NIMS makes common sense to many, but it is viewed skeptically by many others. The danger is that in October when the National Incident Response Plan is introduced for all incidents, the voice of the fire chief risks being drowned out by the police chief or the emergency services manager hired to bring the public agencies together.

The new fire commissioner in Chicago is from the emergency medical side and previously served as the emergency management coordinator for the 911 Center. The recent announcement in New York that the police department will take command of major incidents is a warning.

The times, they are a changing. Which way do you want to go?