IWCE 2023: To evolve with tech advancements, the fire service must adopt a culture of change

To compete, private businesses are quick to adapt to tech advancements. Public safety organizations, on the other hand, are slower to adapt given their responsibility to safeguard constituents and their property.

Especially in the fire service, leadership is slow to adopt new ways of doing things. And if something doesn’t work the first time, it’s quickly dismissed. Dan Munsey, fire chief and warden at the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Fire Department, is working to change that culture.

“The fire service is changing from responding to fires to trying to prevent them,” Munsey said during a keynote speech at the IWCE 2023 telecommunications expo, which was held last week in Las Vegas, Nev. American City & County is a media partner of the annual event. Next year’s event will be held in March in Orlando, Fla.

Munsey showed an early video filmed in 1903 by Edwin Porter called the “Life of an American Fireman.” The black and white film depicts a horse-and-buggy response from the firehouse to the scene.

“What’s interesting is that I see a lot of parallels to what we do today. There’s not a whole lot of changes that occur,” Munsey said, gesturing to a still taken from the video projected at the front of a room filled with hundreds of public safety telecommunications administrators and business professionals. “My mission is to make sure the fire service doesn’t look like that bottom picture.”

As a whole, the industry is moving away from using communication codes in favor of plain speech, and cloud-based systems are now the norm. In San Bernardino, Munsey said a robust drone program even includes an autonomous fire suppression helicopter that can either drop suppression agent directly on the flames or use artificial intelligence to predict where the fire is going and wet the area where it’s going to go.

Future advancements will see a rise in edge computing, low-earth orbit satellite connectivity in remote locations, devices, drones, and heads up displays that leverage artificial intelligence and edge detection to let firefighters ‘see’ through smoke. Edge detection outlines people, doorways and rooms, and can even track where a firefighter has been to help them escape if necessary.

“In the next few years, we’re going to be looking at augmented and virtual reality,” Munsey said, highlighting the importance of reliable connectivity as tech evolves to support smart firefighting devices—even in remote wildland locations. “We’re looking for redundancy.”

Munsey explained three ‘pillars of success’ that have allowed his department do adapt: a top-down culture that accepts change; training; and infrastructure.

In the fire service, leaders are often afraid to test new techniques or products because they don’t want to fail and put their jobs at risk. Failure is an integral part of learning, and when it comes to tech adoption and tech advancements, Munsey said it’s important to foster a workplace that understands this and supports leadership, especially when they’re pushing boundaries of normalcy.

Before they’re put into physical firefighting scenarios and training activities, “We’re starting use virtual reality to put the firefighter into the hot seat and teach them about fire behavior, teach them about dynamics,” he said. “I believe in change management. This isn’t something the fire service doesn’t do well.”