In preparing for the 140th anniversary of the IAFC, what’s most remarkable is how ordinary chiefs, in their ordinary course of business, did such extraordinary things for the association, the profession and the safety of people worldwide.
Over the next year, the IAFC and its members will be celebrating how our tradition of leadership, education and service continues to shape our future. A historical timeline intertwining IAFC and fire service history will help us remember the good times and the challenges, the funny stories and the sobering experiences.
We invite all members—both the great luminaries who have inspired so many on the national and international level and the unsung heroes who have quietly taken action to make vision a reality—to contribute their stories, photos and memories to this project throughout the year.
Each print edition of On Scene will feature a historical quote or fact relevant to current issues to inspire our yearlong celebration.
This month, IAFC leaders will gather for the biannual strategic-planning process. In planning for the working session, staff developed a list of projects and programs, envisioned and brought to life by IAFC members, that didn’t exist five years ago. It was nearly four pages long.
Oftentimes, innovations and solutions created by our members were based on events that hadn’t happened or technology that didn’t exist before the five-year mark and so they couldn’t have been foreseen in any planning process. This underscores the importance of bringing together a vision of service, vigilance to the world around us and the daily action that has made—and will continue to make—history.