FDIC Opening Ceremonies: Dugan issues a call for firefighters to “change the world”
By Shannon Pieper

Do you know why you’re in the fire service? And I don’t mean the obvious answers—it’s your job, it was what your father did, you love the work, etc. I mean, if someone asked you that question, is the answer sitting on the tip of your tongue, “To change the world”?

Mike Dugan thinks it should be. In a presentation that revealed his passion and love for the job, while at the same time revealing his pain at the losses he’s experienced throughout his career, Captain Mike Dugan of FDNY Ladder 123 delivered the opening keynote address today at FDIC in Indianapolis.

The focus of Dugan’s presentation was the question, “Why are we here?” As he explained, this question has many meanings.

· On scene, if things are starting to go bad, it can move firefighters and officers to “reevaluate our current mission and position,” said Dugan. “Are you here to put the fire out and be safe? I hope so.”
·  But sometimes firefighters ask “Why are we here” out of frustration, following, as Dugan put it, a “nonsense run” at 3 a.m. when you’re tired and don’t feel like you’re doing much good. Dugan warned the audience against such thinking. “We help the helpless … because that’s what we do,” he said. “We’re here because we like the idea of helping people and we love the idea of service.”
· “Why are you here?” can also bring a member on a rant back to reality—simply ask them why they’re here if they have so much to complain about. Dugan remembered how after 9/11, FDNY firefighters held up signs saying “This is still the best job in the world.” “Even after the murder—and it was murder—of 343 members of the FDNY … we still love our jobs,” he said.
· Finally, Dugan turned the question to the event at hand: Why are you here at FDIC? His answer: to learn, to meet people and to have the opportunity to teach others. “You are duty-bound to pass on the knowledge you gained at FDIC,” he said.

Despite this high-minded talk about service, Dugan—a decorated 33-year firefighter and a long-time contributor to all the major fire service magazines (full disclosure: he’s a FireRescue editorial board member and one of our Truck Company Operations authors)—understands that firefighters are love the physical aspect of the job, too. “Don’t get me wrong, I know we love fighting the red devil,” he said. “We love making the world right again, and when the fire goes out, the world is right again. We’re the only civil service where the people want to do more.”

But Dugan countered this more traditional message with a call to change. “The fire service is changing,” he said. “Some [of us] long for wooden ladders and iron men. Those days are gone, and we better be ready for the fires of today.” He encouraged FDIC attendees to be leaders, mentors, teachers—the “one-percenters” who make the fire service great, who “believe that we can and do make changes in the fire service”—and by so doing, change the world.

Dugan’s final message: “Firefighting is not just a job, it’s a noble cause to leave this world a better place.” Recalling President Kennedy, he asked, “Have you asked not just what the fire service is doing for you, but what you can do for the fire service? And if not, why not?”

Shannon Pieper is senior deputy editor for FireRescue magazine.

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