Presentations Highlight FRI 2011 Program
This year's Fire-Rescue International conference put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs gets rolling Aug. 26 at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center.
FRI 2011, the annual Fire-Rescue International conference put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, really gets rolling Aug. 26 at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center with an 8:30 a.m. keynote speech and the expo opening at 10:30 a.m. Two days of educational sessions and several major awards were already presented by that point, including the Alan Brunacini Fire Service Executive Safety Award and the Billy Goldfeder Fire Service Organizational Safety Award on Aug. 25. The IAFC Fire & Life Safety Section is scheduled to present its Award for Excellence in Fire & Life Safety on Saturday, Aug. 27, during the section's annual meeting starting at 2 p.m.
Motivational speaker Tom Steiner, Ph.D., is the Aug. 26. keynoter on the theme, "Creating an Achievement Climate through Innovation." The Aug. 27 "The Trust Edge" keynote at 8:30 a.m. will be delivered by David Horsager. Two 90-minute sessions that afternoon are sure to be of interest to many of the thousands of fire chiefs attending the conference:
- Northwest Fire/Rescue District Fire Chief Jeff Piechura and Operations Division Chief Cheryl Horvath will discuss the response to the January 2011 mass casualty shooting in Tucson that injured U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and caused six deaths. Their presentation begins at 1 p.m.
- At 2:30 p.m., Norihiko Komuro, first assistant chief and Equipment Division chief for the Tokyo Fire Department; Taka Nakamura, assistant Administration Section chief for the department; and Takashi Koga, assistant Fire Supression Section chief for the department, will discuss the Japanese fire service's response to the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis. They also will discuss the current situation in the affected areas.
The expo is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 26 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 27. Fire apparatus, PPE, communications gear, and a host of other fire safety products are on display, including in a small Health & Wellness pavilion sponsored by the IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section and a Technology Pavilion sponsored by the IAFC Technology Council.