Art "Chief Reason" Goodrich's Blog – March 2011 Archive (7)

This year at FDIC, I was a lone wolf. I guess that made me more mobile and I didn’t have to worry about the schedules of others. I only had ME to worry about and my nights there were shortened considerably.

I buy two shirts when I get to the Indiana Convention Center.

I always go to the Indianapolis FD Emerald Society booth and purchase their shirt, because the money is going to a great cause. It is an awesome group that provides a valuable, time-honored service that is such a…

Captain Bill Gustin of the Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue Department was a perfect complement to FDNY Captain Mike Dugan’s opening conference address.

Where Dugan was telling the young firefighters to turn introspective; to soul search for their reasons that they are firefighters (“Why Are We Here”)-Gustin was telling them what they could expect.

From budget cuts hurting both career and volunteer departments to the changing attitudes of the public, “doing more…

For the sports-challenged, my title means that FDNY Capt. Mike Dugan hit a home run with his keynote address.

I was fortunate; like so many of us who couldn’t be there today, to watch the live streaming video. A big shout out and thank you to the FDIC technical staff for making it possible.

FDIC has been described as the Mecca and the Super Bowl of fire conferences. It is Woodstock, Lollapalooza and Farm Aid all rolled into one. And for some, it is like Spring Break at Daytona…

Blog Note: Don Rickles (young ones will need to Google) said: “We make fun of the ones we love”. So, feel the love!

For the record, I am a fire district trustee and I have struggled to find a diplomatic way to address my thoughts on this issue, so I am going to just jump in and use my usual recipe of humor, sarcasm and just a dash of cynicism.

There have been several discussions and blogs written on the “aging of the fire service”. Most of the conversations have centered…

I don’t know if I have been lucky, in the right place at the right time, blessed or a combination of the three.

I started writing my thoughts down and sharing them over 10 years ago; not only on discussion boards, but in op-ed pieces.

It started at Firehouse.com. They were in the process of rolling out a “MembersZone” section and for a subscription, you could get additional content that wasn’t accessible as part of the free membership. I was a charter member of MembersZone and…

UPDATE: Here is the link to the story of the Wednesday, March 2nd trustee meeting:

I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems as if I’m seeing more and more departments involved in some degree of discourse.

It’s running the gamut;…

Blog note: On March 6^th, many of us paid tribute to the memory of Assistant Chief Dennis Olson of the Monmouth, Illinois Fire Department, who died in the line of duty on that day in 1993. This blog raises many questions, may raise many dormant feelings, but it is done with the utmost respect for family, friends, community, fire department and most of all, Assistant Chief Dennis Olson.

Monmouth, Illinois is known as the “Maple City” in west central Illinois.

At…