Since he assumed the union's general presidency in August 2000, Harold Schaitberger has focused on bringing the membership together. Leadership training, broader education initiatives, and a commitment to health and safety have led the agenda so far, but with the International Association of Fire Fighters' endorsement of Sen. John Kerry as the Democratic presidential nominee, the union is taking on issues of national importance.

It's been three years since you were elected general president of the IAFF. How has it gone?

One of the first things I wanted to do was really unify this union as it had never been before. This union, not unlike a lot of other organizations, is a political-driven structure. Over the decade and in its history there were a lot of divisions, sometimes regional — north and south — sometimes differences with borders of the United States. There were districts and regions with different administrations that, whether real or perceived, felt they didn't have a place at the table, and some felt others received more attention.

I really made it a core goal to tear all those barriers down to make sure everybody came to the table, to really unify us in both spirit — emotionally — and in a practical sense. That starts at the top with the executive board with some very savvy, very experienced, very tough, politically astute individuals, each the best in their own districts. They've heard a lot over the years, and in their minds it was time to see if the words were real, if I was going to walk the walk. I began by empowering the board as it's never been empowered before. I gave them an opportunity to really run their districts, restructured the International as I had intended to do in many ways, changing the physical structure and also its mission, focus and its goals. We did it by bringing them to the process, which had not necessarily been the case in the past.

The board embraced this vision of mine that would bring all of us together. Everybody gets treated equal, and that has permeated our union. I believe you can go to virtually any corner of this country, large departments, small departments, traditional departments, new and more progressive departments and you'll find IAFF members that are really connected with their union who feel good about and feel unified as one as never before. That's a goal that I believe we've achieved.

I created a program where I tapped our own experience. I took leadership to the field. I gave vice presidents an opportunity to appoint two or three field representatives: We brought them in, we trained them, we gave them additional skills and tools to use, and then we used them on the ground out in the field. Now we have more than 2,900 affiliates, and all have access to hands-on support and services, which was not the case before.

The IAFF has taken a much more active role in education.

We've completely revamped our education program. We started that by understanding that we need to harness the power of technology to not only communicate and inform but to also educate and train. We redesigned our online learning modules. We created a partnership education program with our state provincial affiliates where we send our instructors. We develop the curriculums that each state finds it needs for its own concerns, and now we can partner our state provincials to provide training in those forums, touching so many more leaders.

We have created a new Affiliate Leadership Training Summit where we provide actual experience that our leaders are asking for and need to do their work. In states that need arbitration, we have arbitration break-outs, staff meeting break-outs.

We have an extraordinary staff. I'm blessed with people whom I appointed who do super work. We have a technical and research shop that allows us to completely rework the financials of a city within 48 hours. We have saved station after station. We have brought back [those affected by] staffing reduction by taking the cities' own financials that are available under the Freedom of Information Act, and we have the capabilities for our analysts to go through and find the money and show cities where the money is.

Minneapolis is a great example where they laid off 44 firefighters. We went in, did the financials and found $40 million that they had tucked away in a coffee can when they sold their share of the Hilton Hotel, and they had another $30 million in a reserve that exceeded their needs for their bond rating. It took us a few months, but along with our bond program, 32 of those 44 firefighters are back to work strictly by having the information, analyzing it and giving it to our affiliates to address the city council and the citizens.

Our GIS mapping capabilities are absolutely the top of the line in this country. We're able to do the mapping for stations, company locations, taking all the factors now — whether it's speed, streets or one-ways — every factor is put into our database so we can map out a city and show the real response times of apparatus. It's been an extraordinary tool to go into the city council and project on a screen their city and watch different members of a council realize their district is going to be burned by a potential company shutdown or relocation. We can do this in measurable, quantifiable terms.

NFPA 1710 was surely an achievement.

We had a lot of people against us: the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities and too many ill-advised chiefs. We put our operation together and, quite frankly, our political plan together, and ponied up the million dollars to back it up, because we knew it will be and is one of the most important efforts this union can achieve for our members and citizens, and that should be riding safe with no less than four. Now we have an international standard that states that. I felt we had a good strategy, we had a good plan and I knew it would not fail. Marching that day in Anaheim was a great day for fire departments across North America.

What's its current status?

We're picking on areas where we have reasonably good political relationships, and we are implementing the passage of 1710 in a variety of different plans. Some are moving quickly and some are five-year plans. We want to go into places and establish it successfully, and then like the proverbial rock in a pond, let those successes ripple out around those communities. Doing that around the country will have those ripples geographically spread, and in time we will have everybody riding safe.

The union emphasized its commitment to safety and fitness at the Redmond Symposium.

We've had a tremendous success with our wellness/fitness program. The openness [with which] it's been embraced by our membership far exceeds where there is still resistance. This effort is like everything else we're doing: It's a message that starts at the top with me, flows through our district vice presidents, through our staff, our district field reps, state reps and becomes part of many of our forums.

Convincing our members has been much more easy than difficult. We believe our members will be better off, enjoy longer retirements and be apt to not incur injuries during their work if we have them involved in the program.

I don't know if the analogy is fair, but it's like looking at EMS a decade ago. Back then many places resisted the integration of EMS, and now with very few exceptions a cross-trained, multi-role, integrated EMS/fire service is recognized and supported by our members. There was a time when that wasn't the case in a lot of areas. A lot of that is a generational change, and I think physical fitness is the same. As firefighters are coming on the job there is a focus on fitness and well-being, and an inclination to be focused on that makes it easier for our programs to be a success.

What do you think about the move of the FIRE Grants to the Office of Domestic Preparedness?

We're confident that we're going to be able to work with ODP and see that the money gets to where it's directed.…

I think we're going to have less of a battle with Washington to finally send some money out than we are with the decision-makers at the state and local levels to get that money out to where it's supposed to go, so we don't have a little shell game where you cut a department's budget and then use its newfound money to basically bring the department back to square one and that gives you resources to balance your budget in other areas of the government.

I feel very strong that all the equipment in the world and all the great training in the world is not worth much if we don't have the personnel to do the job. At the end of the day, this business is still a labor-intensive business. With all the new technology there is and all the new gadgets there are, it still takes basically people to go in and get it. When people want to characterize us as just wanting to build membership with you, you're right. Because that means we have more firefighters in departments riding rigs like we should than we do now. Two-thirds of the fire departments in the cities are too short-staffed.

I challenge you to go into almost any fire department in this country and go to the firefighters on the floor and say, “Have you see the measurable resources from the federal government yet?” And the answer invariably is no. It's getting sucked out to think tanks, strategic planning or wherever, but it's not hitting the floors.

The fire service is shrinking on the org chart of DHS. What is the union's role with the DHS?

I first met with Secretary Tom Ridge in 2001. I knew him as a member of Congress and as a governor. I find him to be a very honorable and honest, straightforward guy, but we had some big fundamental differences in our views on how the federal government should respond to our needs and how they're federalizing the issue of homeland security. They were nationalizing the concern of border support and rail, and the defense of our homeland was a federal concern, yet their view on a lot of what fire departments need is a local concern. They spoke of it as a local responsibility.

So I would characterize our relationship as candid but with fundamentally different views on America's fire service. My view is that they've given us the responsibilities to our citizens that we are going to respond, and we will, but a federal government that isn't willing to put its money where its mouth is — that firefighters and firefighting should now be a national concern and not just local issue.

Quite frankly, our relationship has — I'll be very candid — deteriorated politically. We became very tired, and if I heard one more politician, including the president, admire the nation's firefighters, praise the nation's firefighters and tell us how our members are heroes and part of the fabric of our community…. At the end of the day, it's all lip service. No real support and we're three years down the road.

I think the Homeland Security Department is needed, we supported that concept, but I think right now they are so bogged down in trying to manage the integration of 22 agencies and dealing with all the turf battles, that the real focus on what they should be doing, at least in our industry, is pretty minimal.

The IAFF endorsed Sen. John Kerry in October. Why did you come out so early?

My view of politics at this level, the presidential level, and my view of politics in general, is simplified: You've got to be there first or you've got to be a big enough dog at the end to make a difference….

You remember who was there early. You remember who was there when it wasn't conventional wisdom, and that's my simplified, basic view of politics. If you're going to play in the game, you have to get in and try to make a difference. We made our evaluation that regardless of how the campaign looked today, plenty of ups and downs, we made a judgment on the candidate, John Kerry, who represented the values and principles of our membership. You don't win three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star by sitting in a commissary.

Kerry has extraordinary experience in foreign affairs. I don't believe this country has the standing that we once did. Here's a candidate with 20 years on the Foreign Affairs Committee and eight years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and he's strong on crime. Our people are very strong on certain core values. Here's a prosecutor who put away a number-two guy in the Boston district. He's somebody who's supported our profession over a long period of time and somebody who we believe could lead this country.

However it plays out, it plays out. Whoever becomes president, we'll find a way to work with him.… We made a decision that we thought was right for the country. If it turns out to be someone else, we'll find a way to work with him.

How's the relationship with the IAFC?

I think it continues to grow. I take great pride in our two organizations continuing to come together. I admire a lot of the work it's doing, and we've found many more areas of common ground and common interest to work on and areas that — because of our roles — find ourselves in conflict. I look forward to working with [current president] Ernie Mitchell — he's going to bring a lot to the table.

What's next?

I think our union is vibrant, it's growing, it's unified and I'd like to think we get pretty good passing grades. We're only here for one reason, and that is to serve our affiliates and members and to improve their lives and livelihoods.

FIRECHIEF.COM

Read “The Union's New Chief,” our last interview with Harold Schaitberger, at our Web site.