Metropolitan Metro Fire Chiefs Association

1
Metropolitan Metro Fire Chiefs
Association Chief Keith Richter, President Russ
Sanders, Executive Secretary
2
History

• Founded in 1965. The original cities included
• New York
• Baltimore
• Washington, D.C.
• Newark
• Detroit
• Chicago
• Boston
• San Francisco
• Philadelphia

3
History

• Chief John OHagan (FDNY) was the first President
  and he served three terms.
• Our only surviving founding member is Joe Redden
  (Newark), and Joe remains very active in the
  Metro today.
• The Metro became a section of the NFPA in 1997
  and is the only joint NFPA-IAFC section.

4
Purpose

• The purpose for forming the Metro was to Address
  particular problems of large-city fire
  departments that were becoming increasingly
  complex... One of the Metros early goals was
  to promote the establishment of a National Office
  of Fire Defense. This office was to have two
  primary objectives (1) To obtain federal money
  to aid cities in obtaining needed equipment and
  (2) To create a National Fire Academy.

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One of Many Accomplishments

• In 1974, nine years after the historic Miami
  meeting, Public Law 93-498 - The Federal Fire
  Prevention and Control Act was passed providing
  authority for the creation of todays National
  Fire Academy. This is only one of several
  examples of where the Metro set the tone for
  where we are today in the U.S. and Canadian Fire
  services.

6
Membership Requirements

• The first criteria set in the spring of 1967
  Chiefs of Departments with populations of more
  than 250,000 and/or 400 or more firefighters.
  Based on this established criteria, the chiefs of
  64 fire departments were eligible to join the
  Metro and 56 did in fact become members.
• The current bylaws state The Metro Chiefs
  Association shall be limited to members of the
  IAFC and the NFPA who serve as the
  highest-ranking fire department officers of
  cities or jurisdictions having a minimum staffed
  strength of 400 fully paid career firefighters.
  Today we have 121 member departments, and all but
  two eligible U.S. and Canadian departments are
  active members.

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The First Conference

• From April 25-27, 1967, 52 of the 64 eligible
  metro chiefs met in Chicago, IL for the first
  Metro Conference. The expressed purpose of this
  first conference was to Share experiences and
  discuss mutual problems. A highlight of the
  conference was a panel discussion on civil
  unrest. Civil unrest was also the main topic for
  the next two conferences, which were held in San
  Francisco and Louisville respectively. The
  continuous focus on this topic of Unrest
  certainly wouldn't be a surprise to those of you
  who were in the fire service during those
  turbulent years.

8
First International Conference

• The Metro took its first step internationally
  with its May 23-25, 1970, conference in Hamilton,
  Ontario. This conference was billed as a joint
  meeting of the Metro and the National Academy of
  Science - National Research Council.

9
The Joint Council is Created

• Metro President Chief Vickery (Seattle) was an
  early advocate for creating a formal Metro- NFPA
  partnership. By the end of 1970 Chief Vickerys
  advocacy was already producing meaningful
  results. Chief Vickery wrote A historic
  meeting of Fire Service people was called by the
  NFPA, the purpose of which was to establish
  definite goals which we should strive to attain.
  Two members from each of the leading 10 fire
  service organizations were invited to attend this
  August 31-September 1 (1970) meeting in
  Williamsburg, VA. Miami Chief Larry Kenny and
  Buffalo Chief Bob Howard represented the Metro.
  At this historic meeting the Joint Council of
  National Fire Service Organizations was created.

10
National Fire Academy

• Metro President and Seattle Chief Vickery later
  became Director of the Federal Emergency
  Management Agency. It was he who arranged for
  the development of a National Fire Academy at the
  current Emmitsburg, MD site.

11
The Metro Today

• The following is a partial list of current
  Association programs and projects Legislative
  support for Fire Service Grants Funding the
  IAFF/IAFC Joint Labor-Management Wellness-Fitness
  Task Force the Coalition for FSC Safe Place
  Fire Service Technology Applications the Home
  Fire Sprinkler Coalition IAFCs State and
  National Mutual Aid Initiatives IAFCs Terrorism
  and Homeland Security Committee NFPAs Data
  Exchange Project NFPAs Fireworks Coalition
  NFPAs High-Rise Building Safety Advisory
  Committee the new Public Safety Spectrum Trust
  the annual CFSI Legislative Breakfast and the
  annual UASI conference.
• Our strategy is to partner with other
  organizations with common interests, such as the
  IAFC, IAFF, IAPC, NFPA, state fire chief
  associations and many others.

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Truly International

• Our members represent many of the major
  Metropolitan communities from throughout the
  world.
• Several Canadian chiefs have served as Metro
  President and, in fact, our in-coming President
  is Toronto Chief Bill Stewart. Jeff Godfredson,
  former CFO of Melbourne, Australia, is the only
  Chief from outside North America to serve as
  Metro President.
• We also have affiliate memberships with CFOA and
  CTIF.

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Conclusion

• That is a very brief overview of the Metro. I
  think you will agree that we have a very rich
  history and, in many respects, our members have
  and continue to lead the way for the fire
  service in this country and beyond.

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Metro Fire Chiefs Association