By Mike Worrell, FirstNet Senior Fire Services Advisor

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) hosted the 2016 Fire-Rescue International (FRI) conference earlier this month at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. At the conference, leaders from fire and emergency services and other first responder agencies came together for leadership training, collaboration and networking. This year, the conference hosted almost 10,000 attendees from around the world.

Since 1873, the IAFC has represented leaders from the fire services and the emergency response community worldwide and provided them with a forum in which to exchange ideas and best practices. The IAFC advocates for its members on issues of importance to fire and emergency services leaders and provides information to those leaders on the newest technology and products available to first responders. FRI is an annual opportunity for those members to gather together and learn with and from one another.

I was glad to attend the conference along with several of my colleagues at FirstNet, many also with a fire background. FRI 2016 was a great opportunity for us to debut our new exhibit booth. As an extension of our outreach efforts with public safety, more than 300 conference attendees visited the booth, and FirstNet staff fielded questions from many eager to learn about the future of public safety communications.

FirstNet’s Chair Sue Swenson and Vice Chair Jeff Johnson had the opportunity to speak to the IAFC Board of Directors. After an engaged discussion on FirstNet in general, the Board then passed a motion to draft a position statement in support of FirstNet. Additionally, along with Mike Varney and Vicki Lee, FirstNet presented to 15 IAFC committees and sections at the conference and conducted a general education session called “FirstNet: The Future of Firefighting” with more than 50 conference attendees. Many of them were already familiar with FirstNet and asked detailed questions at the various sessions on Quality of Service, Priority and Preemption; the governor’s decision, network hardening, location based services, cybersecurity and federal engagement. Those who were less familiar with FirstNet were provided information and a point of contact for follow-up and encouraged to visit the booth during the expo.

While in Texas, FirstNet staff had the opportunity to film video interviews with several metropolitan and volunteer fire chiefs to capture their thoughts about FirstNet and how it could revolutionize firefighting and EMS response. Thanks to Austin and San Antonio Fire Departments for hosting FirstNet staff on ride-alongs. These were a great opportunity for us to see first-hand the challenges firefighters and EMS personnel face and the ways mobile data is becoming an invaluable tool.

Thanks again to the IAFC for a great event and for supporting FirstNet’s mission.
-Mike