Page 4 - Volume 20

A Message from OFCA’s President
Retired Chief Bill Houk, OFC, OFE OFCA President
I promise to continue to devote much time and effort into the OFCA. I am very proud of this organization and hope that you are, as well.
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Iwould like to thank the membership for allowing me the opportunity to lead this fine organization. I am humbled to hold this position, and for those of you that do not know me, it is one that I will not take lightly. I promise to continue to devote much time and effort into the OFCA. I am very proud of this organization and hope that you are, as well. It is the participation by you, the members, that makes our association successful.
Once again, thank you to Chief Tom Wallace, the Conference Committee, and
the OFCA office staff for yet another great conference! Chief Wallace works on the conference year round, and it is apparent based upon the conference evaluations. Over the years, many speakers and attendees from out of state have complimented the OFCA on the quality of our conference compared to other conferences that they have attended.
The success of the conference, in a way, is similar to the successes that we experience during incidents we respond to on a regular basis. Chief Wallace and the Conference Committee meet in advance of the incident (annual conference); there is research and planning (pre-planning), available resources are identified and verified for availability, and an incident action plan is developed. Many of the activities are practiced or exercised ahead of time. The incident action plan is evaluated, and necessary changes are made and communicated with the appropriate personnel. Most of the attendees do not see the preparation, time, and effort put into the conference, which is much like our citizens who do not see the time and effort beforehand that goes into incidents that we respond to throughout Ohio on a daily basis.
The theme of this edition of InCommand is dedicated to “Command Operations”. Whether it is Blue Card, NIMS, ICS, Tiered Response, or ISO, the critical factor
is to prepare in advance. Evaluate which system(s) work best for your department (com- munity), train or exercise the system(s), communicate the changes with the appropriate personnel, then put your plan into play and continuously evaluate it. Preparing, practicing, and becoming more efficient in our day-to-day operations will make it easier for us to operate more efficiently when we experience the larger, once or twice in a career, incident.
The programs previously mentioned help us to not only become more efficient in our operations, but most importantly, they help us to provide a safer environment for our most valuable resources—our personnel, who should expect us do our best to keep
them safe and help them perform!
Please take the time to read through this edition of InCommand. If you have yet
to do so, consider which program could benefit your department, and then work on implementing it. As the world changes, so do our missions from time to time. We should consider planning for a variety of hazards. Involving mutual aid partners of multiple disciplines ahead of time will prove to be beneficial during our responses. By using com- mon equipment, tactics, operations, and terminology amongst responders, we will greatly enhance our success. However, it takes planning and preparation to accomplish this.
The weather will soon change as we move into the fall and winter seasons. I wish you, your personnel, and all your families a safe and enjoyable holiday season! Please do not hesitate to contact the OFCA if there is anything you need. There are many great people that could be utilized to assist you and your departments. u
4 InCommand OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org