Chief Bob Seltzer From the Central Coventry RI Fire District sent us these thoughts on

NFPA 1710

Thank You Bob for sharing your thoughts with others.
Standards such as NFPA 1500, NFPA 1710, and NFPA 1720 are needed in the fire service so that fire department administrators have more tools to fight with to make the job of firefighting safe as possible for our personnel. In addition, these standards are made to establish benchmarks that allow us to provide the best possible level of service to our customers, the people of the communities we serve. These people we serve not only deserve, but expect us to look after their best interests when responding to and mitigating emergency situations. After all, we are the professionals in our business and our communities have put their trust in us to protect them.

The fire service has been on the backburner for too long. More money and resources go into law enforcement, education, highway infrastructure, and the like than the fire service will ever see. I am not saying this is money poorly spent. However, it is about time the fire service gets a piece of the pie. The FIRE Act grants are a start in the right direction, but only represent a drop in the bucket.

So, with the adoption of the NFPA 1710 & 1720 standards, it is time for the fire service to demand our town fathers to step up to the plate and support our efforts to provide the most efficient service possible to our communities.

However, to do this we must have the support of the fire chiefs, local IAFF union officials, and volunteer firefighter representatives to lobby together as a united force to get these new NFPA standards adopted by each community as benchmarks in providing better protection for our communities and safer working conditions for our firefighters.

After all, we and our families also live in these communities. What kind of response do you want for your family when an emergency occurs?