Celebrate Your Department’s Legacy

Blog by Battalion Chief Chris Hubbard Hanover Fire & EMS Training Academy I liken it to Tom Brokaw's bestselling novel The Greatest Generation. That sparsely populated group of remarkable individuals who left a footprint on our profession without even knowing. You know whom I'm talking about. The old-timers. The ones who don't come around quite as often anymore and take with them the tale of your department's journey. With their departure comes a lack of knowledge for the legacy of our fire service. We are left scrambling to put the pieces of the puzzle together and celebrate the impact they've had on today's generation of firefighters. As a battalion chief in the Hanover Fire & EMS Department in Virginia, I recognize a need to educate tomorrow's industry professionals on the history and the legacy of the department. While the importance of fire behavior, streams, ladders and EMS skills are essential to the development of a firefighter, so too is the passing on of our history. The past is a direct reflection of who we are as a department. The vision and mission is directly impacted by individuals who painted the canvas of our department and the footpath for those who will take ownership of it. To tackle the lack of knowledge and respect for past generations – and their influence on the department – our training division established a program that both honors our veterans in the department and delivers an invaluable learning experience to the fire academy recruits. Life members of the Hanover Fire & EMS Department were assigned to current academy students with an expectation to personally interview them. The result was to provide the students with a deeper understanding for the decades of services by the life members, as well as the history of the station. The students were held responsible for presenting their research in both a written report as well as an oral presentation to fellow recruits. The challenge for today's training department is providing quality programs on a tight budget. But at little to no cost, a similarly designed program will re-energize both the new recruits and officers alike. It engages that dwindling generation of fire service professionals and calls home the importance of celebrating our past to develop our future. What are you and your organization doing to capture the history and legacy of your organization? Capture it now before its gone forever!