MFRI director Steven Edwards found success on Capitol Hill and offers his advice to chiefs and trainers looking to raise their visibility.
The Congressional Fire Services Institute's Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have been proactive at the local, state or federal government level to improve fire/emergency services and life-safety issues. Steven T. Edwards, director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, is the 2009 award recipient.
Edwards is former fire chief of the Prince George's County (Md.) Fire Department, and during his tenure the department received the IAFC Award for Excellence and was a 28-time winner of the National Association of Counties Award for Excellence. He also has served as chairman of the board of directors of the Safety Equipment Institute and is a past chair of the CFSI National Advisory Committee and president of the North American Fire Training Directors.
You have been very active in raising awareness of training issues on a federal level. How did you accomplish that?
One thing that assists in my ability to remain active in this regard is geographical closeness. (MFRI is eight miles from the U.S. Capitol.) One of my main objectives, and that of many state fire training directors, is to convince the federal government to support and use existing training systems to the maximum extent possible before engaging outside contractors. I have attempted to work with [the Department of Homeland Security] and make progress on this issue, but it has been an uphill battle.
It only makes sense to me — and it would be beneficial for the fire service — if firefighters could access terrorism-response training using the same agencies and process that they use for other training obligations. Unfortunately when DHS was formed, it tended to ignore what was available and to build a new system of delivery at great expense. This has changed somewhat over the last several years, and I think there is a new recognition toward using existing systems more.
What advice would you give to chiefs who are looking to raise their visibility with their congressional representatives?
Getting their attention focused on your issues is very important. Most upper-tier federal officials are very busy, and you have to package your communications to best state your message quickly and in terms that they understand. Fire service jargon will not work. You need to present a solution and not just complain about a problem, as well as have the documentation to support your position.
Additionally, you have to ensure that you are dealing with individuals who have the authority to resolve your issue. In the federal maze of departments and agencies this will require some homework. …
Get to know them before there is an issue or crisis. Invite them to your departmental activities and make an effort to attend their events that are non-partisan. I firmly believe that [nearly] all politicians want to support and appreciate public-safety agencies; use that to your advantage. Good communications, networking and a reputation as being someone who is dedicated and fair will always serve you well.
MFRI has an excellent reputation as a training facility. What makes MFRI stand out from other state fire academies?
If I had to choose one aspect … it would be our regional training centers. MFRI operates six full-service regional training centers and each has full-time staffing. This decentralized approach to the delivery of training programs means that we are able to teach our courses where the firefighters live and work. Many other states have outstanding central training facilities, but it may take hours to drive there depending on where you live. Every firefighter in Maryland is no more than 90 minutes from a regional center. Each regional center includes a structural burn building, maze, flammable gas props and auto extrication, as well as classroom and administrative space.
How important are those political connections to your work at MFRI?
Most of my federal level work has involved representing the North American Fire Training Directors (NAFTD). At the state level Maryland does have its own brand of politics and I am active in issues that support MFRI and emergency services training. Mush of this involves acquiring additional operating or capital resources to make improvements to the Institute.
The emergency services agencies and organizations within Maryland work well together and have a statewide perspective, as opposed to a regional or local one. I attempt to remain politically visible where appropriate and be in a position to move our agenda forward when the opportunity presents itself. It is important to have a long term vision and understand it may take several years or more to achieve your goals in the political world. You cannot be weak, but at the same time it is not good to overreact or burn bridges that you may later need to cross.
You served on the board and chair of the National Advisory Committee of the Congressional Fire Services Institute. What were you most proud of during your term as chair of the NAC?
During this period I was actively engaged in working to add a new provision to the AFG program that would support research and development directed at improving firefighter safety. This was supported by all of the other national fire service organizations and eventually enacted as a part of the AFG within the fire prevention section of the program. I am proud to state that the results have been substantial and of benefit to all firefighters. We as a profession need to have a factual basis from which to make policy decisions as opposed to opinion and experience. Since this program has been in place some of the premier academic institutions in this country are now involved in and doing research on issues that will provide the knowledge that we will need to work safer and smarter. I really think that this will have a profound and important impact on how the fire service operates in the future.
You are actively involved with the North American Fire Training Directors. How has that organization changed in recent years?
NAFTD used to be focused on its specific activities and issues and did not contribute in a significant way at the national level. Now NAFTD regularly communicates and works with the other national fire service organizations on issues that affect training and beyond. I think that this has increased our exposure to other groups and when we need assistance it is more readily available as we are there to help with their agendas.
NAFTD has a very active membership base and does a very good job in representing the interests of the state fire training directors. We also work very closely with the NFA and the USFA as well as other federal agencies.
As MFRI approaches its 80th anniversary next year, what challenges do you predict for MFRI?
MFRI is an organization that constantly is improving its services at every opportunity. We recently totally revamped our instructor and program evaluation system to a computerized system that allows us to instantly obtain information as well as perform comparisons and analysis. We have plans for a large scale emergency incident simulation center that will support simulations of single company responses up to multi-jurisdictional, and state wide emergencies. This center will support all of the DHS designated organizations that may respond to disasters, not just the fire service component.
MFRI also teaches Advanced Life Support courses to the paramedics within Maryland and we hope to expand the use of our human patient simulator capability. All of this will take additional financial resources and it will most likely not come from the state budget. We will be challenged to find new resource streams either with earned income from our Special Programs Section or other grant opportunities that may be available.
What's the biggest challenge facing the North American fire service today?
I will choose a challenge that I think we have a good chance of overcoming. My opinion is that we need to improve the management of our organizations to ensure a higher level of discipline and accountability, especially on the incident scene. Far too often firefighters are injured or killed and in the investigation it is determined that they were trained to take the proper action, but chose not to do so. It may not be a popular opinion, but many fire service supervisors do not do a good job of maintaining control of the activities that they are responsible for. If they did — how could any piece of fire apparatus ever leave a station without every firefighter wearing their seatbelt? How could anyone not be wearing their protective clothing or be unfit for duty if supervisors fully did what they are supposed to do.
Now, I do know that there are many fire service cultural and organizational reasons for this to exist as it does and therein lies the greatest challenge or actually our greatest opportunity. However, if we are able to solve this it will affect everything the fire department does in a positive manner. The good news is that the people we need to accomplish this with are already here, we just need to ensure better management at every level of the organization.
What do you think are the greatest challenges facing training directors?
Resources are always a challenge and even more so in the current economic climate. Within the 50 state fire training programs there exists a wide variance in capability and resources. At the same time the requirements for certification — as well as the length and difficulty of the training courses — continue to increase to meet the applicable NFPA standards.
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