Bob DiPoli is in his 34th year with the Needham (Mass.) Fire Department and his 15th year as chief of department. He is a past president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts and of the New England Division of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. For the last several years, DiPoli has served as federal legislative representative and director of governmental affairs for the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts.

After two narrow losses, DiPoli ran for second vice president of the IAFC in 2002. He won that 11-way race by a margin of nearly 40%. This month he will be sworn in as the 133rd president of IAFC, and he recently spoke with Fire Chief about his goals for his term.

What made you first decide to run for IAFC office?

In the mid-'90s, we had little federal support for the fire service. We didn't have a FIRE Act, and the total budget was $28 million, which funded the National Fire Academy, the U.S. Fire Administration and various programs. I had just served the Massachusetts Fire Chiefs on their executive committee and I saw how a good number of people working together could succeed. We were able to create consolidated state fire services, receive tens of millions of dollars for other initiatives, create a model hazmat program for the state.

With that driving me, I went on the road and started trying to promote myself for IAFC president. I ran on a strong platform that we needed to get involved and pull together at the federal level. Unfortunately I lost twice, but that message started to get out and take hold.… I was really promoting simply [the organization] communicating to the membership of what's going on at the federal level, legislation being filed and items needing grassroots support. Now they are being done, but there's still a lot of work.

What are some of the challenges ahead now that you are IAFC president?

One of my biggest passions and challenges is to unite all of the IAFC organization, as well as the other groups we're going to be playing with — the IAFF, the NVFC — and try to reach common ground on issues that we believe are priorities.

I also see a number of challenges with the National Fire Academy, not only with funding, but keeping it whole. There's a lot of concern over what's going on down there since the consolidation of DHS. A major concern I have is that the fire service does not get lost in the shuffle of DHS. I'm going to strive for placing the fire service in a position of prominence within the DHS.

The other thing is that we need to get serious about reducing the line-of-duty deaths; having made 14 trips down to Emmitsburg, it tears my heart out to see people losing sons and daughters.… I see a lot of deaths from heart attacks and strokes. I turned over a new leaf myself with a diet and exercise program. I had hypertension, cholesterol that could have led me to suffering some poor health. When I go speak to groups around the country I'm going to encourage them to look at their diet and fitness programs, to stay in shape to serve the people we love.

Those are very worth objectives: to continue to give us a place of prominence in the federal level of government, to keep the funding we need to do the job safely and efficiently, and to bring our people home safely at the end of a day's work.

I'm realistic enough to know my term of office is only a year. What I'm doing right now is living my goals and ambitions. The president position [validates] that what I'm doing is for real.

One of the things people are asking for is for someone from the fire service to directly report to the DHS secretary. Do the police have someone in a similar position?

The police have the director of the FBI, the director of the CIA, the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney General — they have about six or seven advocates in Washington who could pick up the phone and talk to the president of the United States. We really have just one person, U.S. Fire Administrator Dave Paulison.

The last number of members for the IAFC was around 12,000, which is less than half of the fire chiefs out there today. Why should chiefs belong to the IAFC?

There are a number of reasons that chiefs should belong to the IAFC: information, professional development, advocacy on the Hill, and communication. You're touching on one of my passions with membership. Year after year, I try to bring in new members and maintain our existing numbers. A lot of the older chiefs are retiring and the new people coming in have full plates with the challenges they're facing. Somebody needs to take them by the arm and get them involved. …

Get involved — that's my main message — and stay tuned.