A lot of professional trade shows, conventions and conferences are pretty nuts and bolts - attendees go to seminars and learn about the newest tools of the trade and how to use them. At the International Association of Fire Chiefs Strategic Direction and Leadership Forum, which Kenai Fire Chief Jeff Tucker is currently attending, the focus isn’t so much on the newest fire truck as it is on the department.
“It’s more looking inward towards the association than back outwards. How we can better serve the fire service community, fire departments and fire chiefs across the nation,” he said.
Tucker is attending a forum near Washington D.C. in his role as the vice-president of the Western Fire Chiefs Association.
“You know a lot of it is working on strategic direction for the association. But there's also some sharing of information with presentations on the first responders network, the national mutual aid system, and other things that are topics of interest," he said. "So it's sort of a two-fold event over two days and then the board itself, the International Fire Chiefs Board, has a separate meeting on Thursday.”
Tucker says no matter what size town the chiefs come from, they all have common issues.
“Whether you’re a small community like City of Kenai, all the way up to your metro departments, there's similarities, but resources are different and how do you utilize that," he said. "So we're always really good about sharing that information and making sure that no one has to reinvent the wheel or come up with ideas. Someone’s figured it out.”
A quick disclaimer here: Kenai Fire Chief Jeff Tucker is a member of the KDLL Radio board of directors.