The Official Magazine of the International Association of Fire Chiefs Technology in the Fire Service Page 04 Advancing Education Page 12 New Ways to Recruit and Retain Page 10 Report from Washington Page 15 And much more! Fall 2025Published For: INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE CHIEFS 8251 Greensboro Drive, Suite 650 McLean, VA 22102 Tel: 703.273.0911 www.iafc.org CEO and Executive Director Rob Brown Director of Marketing & Communications Olga Butler Published By: MATRIX GROUP PUBLISHING INC. 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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 3 A Message from the IAFC President and Board Chair COVER STORY 4 Tech Adoption FEATURES 10 New Ways to Recruit and Retain Volunteer Firefighters 12 Turning Professional Training into Higher Education REPORT FROM WASHINGTON 15 Legislative Update: An Uncertain Autumn 17 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 12 10 04Moving Forward // A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT T he journey has just begun for my time as President, but the work continues for all of us! I made my first international trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba, for the Fire- Rescue Canada 2025 conference. It was an excellent reminder of our strong international community and why we maintain our global partnerships. Our Canadian International Association of Fire Chief (IAFC) members and friends were incredibly hospitable, and being able to connect in person and hear directly from members is invaluable. Along with Canada, I was in Minnesota for their Fallen Firefighter Memorial, a trip to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for a stair climb to support the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and a trip to Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin, to follow up on apparatus production and delivery times. It has been a very successful six weeks since being installed as your President. Probably the biggest moving part of the IAFC is the search for a new CEO. I want to thank the IAFC staff for handling the day-to-day business with incredible grace, professionalism, and dedication. They’re the engine that keeps this organization running smoothly every day. I will continue to be transparent and update the membership as the CEO search and hiring process evolves. It has been my primary focus as your President. In the meantime, my promise to you, the membership, is simple: I’m going to steady the ship, and make it ready for onboarding a new leader. The road ahead for the fire and EMS service has some rough spots and some uncertainties, but it is also full of ripe opportunities. I am confident in the talent, dedication, and leadership we have across our Association, and I will continue to work in the best interest of the membership. Until next time, stay safe and treat everyone with compassion and respect. Fire Chief Trisha Wolford IAFC President & Board Chairhave icons on your desktop from tools you no longer use, you’ve already experienced this firsthand. This is where you define the problem you are trying to solve. A simple SWOT analysis can be a great place to start, identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the situation; the most fertile ground for technology-driven improvement often lies in the weaknesses and threats columns. It’s equally important to engage your people at this stage. Start by talking to those closest to the work, firefighters, paramedics, mechanics, dispatchers, administrative staff. Ask them about the barriers they face in delivering high-quality service to the community. These conversations will surface real pain points that leadership may not see from the top down. Finally, use your data to sharpen and validate the problem definition. available to us today have the power to make us safer, more efficient, and more effective in our mission to protect our communities. To help departments move forward with confidence, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Technology Council has developed the following roadmap any fire chief or department can follow when considering new technology. Our goal is simple: to take the overwhelming feeling out of the process and help you succeed in adopting and implementing technology that truly adds value. STEP 1: START WITH A NEEDS ANALYSIS The first, and most important, step in the process is conducting a proper needs analysis. Many departments waste precious resources adopting tools without a clear purpose or alignment. If you T he fire service has long been one of the slowest adopters of technology in the public sector. For many of us, the landscape can feel so overwhelming that we hesitate, or fail, to act. But there is a cost to inaction. The tools COVER STORY \\ By Chief Scott Roseberry, IAFC Technology Council• Training requirements; • Support availability; and • Integration costs with your existing systems. One often overlooked cost driver is application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs allow different software systems to communicate and exchange data. While they are critical for building an integrated, future-ready technology stack, they are not always included in base pricing. In some cases, APIs can be as expensive, or more expensive, than the solution itself. Make sure you understand not only whether APIs are available, but also what they will cost to implement and maintain. Compare solutions side by side. Write down the pros and cons of each. And as always, engage your stakeholders in this process. Different roles in the organization will view the same product through very different lenses. A tool that seems perfect to administration might create frustration for front-line users (or vice versa). Key questions to ask at this stage include: • Who owns the data? Can we export it if we switch vendors? • What other departments are using this solution, and what has their experience been? • How easily does this integrate with our existing systems? • What is the full life-cycle cost (purchase, maintenance, training, support)? • What is the vendor’s reputation for support and product updates? • How will we know if the technology is helping us reach those outcomes? • How does success align with our department’s mission and strategic plan? • What does a successful implementation look like at the user level? • What metrics will tell us when it’s time to adjust, improve, or stop? STEP 3: PERFORM MARKET RESEARCH This is the step where all those conferences you’ve attended and contacts you’ve collected in your network start to pay off. Now is the time to leverage those connections. Reach out to your network, fellow fire chiefs, tech council members, vendors you trust, and neighboring departments. Find out what others are using, what’s working, and what isn’t. Don’t be afraid to ask about lessons learned; often, these are more valuable than the success stories. The IAFC KnowledgeNet is another great resource where you can quickly tap into the collective experience of departments across the country (https://www.iafc.org/ topics-and-tools/resources/resource/ iafc-knowledgenet). Be sure to assess the total cost of ownership, not just the upfront purchase price. Factor in: • Licensing fees; • Maintenance costs; • Replacement cycles; Key questions to ask at this stage include: • What are we trying to fix or improve? • What does our data tell us about this problem? • How does this tie into our department’s strategic goals? • What technology are we currently using? Is it meeting expectations? • What gaps or redundancies exist in our current workflows? A strong needs analysis ensures that technology adoption is driven by outcomes, not by shiny tools. If you can’t clearly define the problem and the desired improvement, it’s too soon to move forward. STEP 2: DEFINE CLEAR OBJECTIVES What does success look like? Using the data and insights gathered in Step 1, it’s now time to establish what you are trying to achieve. These objectives must be specific and measurable so that you can later determine whether you’ve been successful, need to make adjustments, or, in some cases, need to change course entirely. A common trap at the implementation stage is falling victim to escalation of commitment. This occurs when all evidence points toward the need for a major course correction, or even starting over, but leaders have become so emotionally or politically invested in the project that they fail to pull the plug. The result is not only wasted fiscal resources, but also significant wear and tear on the morale of your people. Defining success at the stage helps identify this trap. Establishing clear, measurable objectives up front provides a guardrail against this trap. If the technology isn’t helping you meet your stated goals, you’ll have the discipline and framework to make an informed decision about what to do next. Key questions to ask at this stage include: • What measurable outcomes are we trying to achieve? “The tools available to us today have the power to make us safer, more efficient, and more effective in our mission to protect our communities.”2. Implementation Stage: Strategically implement the solution — not all at once, but in phases. Ensure training is in place, support resources are ready, and key users are prepared. 3. Evaluation Stage: Actively evaluate the change as it’s rolled out. Gather user feedback, monitor outcomes, and be ready to make adjustments. Treat this as an iterative process, not a “one and done.” Work toward one solution at a time. Resist the urge to roll out too much at once. Many solutions come with multiple modules or features — implement just one at a time. Evaluate its impact and make necessary corrections before moving to the next. This phased approach also creates small wins, which helps maintain momentum and confidence in the process. Maintain open feedback loops with all levels of the organization throughout implementation. And remember: sometimes the right move is to pause, regroup, or readjust — staying flexible is a mark of strong leadership during change. Expect road bumps; technology implementation always comes with unforeseen issues, no matter how well you plan. The key is not to avoid problems entirely (you won’t), but to be prepared to identify them early, adapt quickly, and maintain trust and transparency with your team throughout the process. Key questions to ask at this stage include: • Have we clearly communicated why this change is happening and what success looks like? • Are we prepared to support users through this change? • Is our implementation phased and realistic? • Are we collecting feedback and evaluating progress in real time? • Are we prepared to pause or adjust the rollout if needed? • If we are six months down the road and this implementation has failed, how did it fail? (Asking this question now will help surface known risks and potential pitfalls before they become real problems.) • Do the APIs work as intended, and are they reliable under operational load? • How do frontline users perceive the solution? Is it intuitive or cumbersome? • What issues surfaced during the pilot that must be addressed before full rollout? A well-run pilot increases your odds of success dramatically. It’s also a valuable opportunity to build credibility with your workforce by showing that leadership is taking a thoughtful, phased approach, not forcing change without listening. STEP 5: DEVELOP AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND IMPLEMENT Any technology implementation requires changing the way we’ve done things. And this is not the time to manage change through email alone. During this phase, it is critical to apply a formal change management model to guide your rollout. There are many different models out there, but most share three basic stages: 1. Readiness Stage: Prepare the department for the change. Communicate why this matters, how it will improve service, and what’s expected. Build understanding and buy-in early. Clear, consistent communication is key. • Will this product scale with us as our department grows or changes? • What are the pros and cons of this solution compared to alternatives? STEP 4: PILOT AND TEST Now that you’ve identified the problem, defined your objectives, performed your research, and selected a solution, it’s time to test it before launching it department-wide. This phase is where you validate how the technology integrates with your existing systems, workflows, and hardware. It’s your opportunity to uncover unforeseen issues while the risk is still contained. Be intentional about who participates in the pilot. Invite not only your early adopters, but also your skeptics. The wider the range of users, scenarios, and use cases you expose the system to, the better your chances of identifying potential problems before going live across the department. And don’t overlook APIs during the pilot. This is the time to confirm whether integrations between your new system and existing platforms function as intended, before those integrations become critical to daily operations. Key questions to ask at this stage include: • What works well? What doesn’t? • Will this solution meet the objectives we established?the Garland Fire Department. He currently serves as Chair of the IAFC Technology Council, Co-Host of Tech Talk Tuesday, and Co-Producer of Technology Summit International. In addition to his operational leadership, Chief Roseberry is an Adjunct Instructor at Tarrant County College and a frequent speaker at both national and regional conferences, where he shares expertise on fire service leadership, technology, and innovation. FINAL THOUGHTS Adopting technology doesn’t have to be overwhelming, not with a proper plan and strong support from your stakeholders. The roadmap outlined here will help you avoid common pitfalls and turn technology into a true force multiplier for your department and your community. Chief Scott Roseberry, EFO, MPA, CFO, is a Battalion Chief with over 25 years of service at STEP 6: MEASURE THE IMPACT, SUSTAIN, AND SUPPORT Congratulations, you’ve implemented a new solution that will improve your department’s ability to protect its community. Now it’s time to measure its impact. Go back to the data and objectives you identified in Steps 1 and 2. Is the technology delivering the outcomes you were hoping for? Be transparent in reporting results to all stakeholders, frontline users, department leadership, elected officials, and even the community. This transparency builds trust and reinforces the value of the investment. Remember: adoption is just the beginning; long-term success depends on sustainability. Provide ongoing training for both new hires and existing personnel. Schedule refreshers as needed to reinforce best practices and prevent drift in usage. Updates will be required over time. Make sure they are implemented on a regular basis, and actively seek user feedback afterward. Sometimes updates introduce unintended consequences that must be addressed quickly. Finally, assign internal champions to monitor and drive continuous improvement. In the fire service, turnover is constant, and current champions will be promoted or transferred. Without someone to carry the torch, even great technology can wither on the vine. Always be developing the next generation of champions who can sustain and evolve your solution over time. Key questions to ask at this stage include: • Is the solution delivering the outcomes we set out to achieve? • Are we transparently reporting results to all key stakeholders? • Do we have a plan for ongoing training and support? • Are we monitoring for unintended consequences after updates? • Have we identified (and are we developing) internal champions to sustain this solution over time?ServeLeadEducate WE ARE THE IAFC. Serving all ranks and departments since 1873, the IAFC has provided fire and EMS leaders with what they need to succeed. Continue the legacy. Lead with us. Already a member? Upgrade or renew your membership at IAFC.org/membership Our members enjoy access to various education, training, career development, networking, and administrative resources tailored to the unique needs of fire service officers and chiefs, non-chief officers, company officers, and association industry personnel. Explore upcoming events at iafc.org/events Join us! IAFC.org RENEW OR JOIN We don’t wait for change. We don’t follow. We lead. This isn’t just about today. It’s about every first responder who makes it home tomorrow. Every community that’s safer. Every voice that’s heard—because we stand together. For more than 150 years, the International Association of Fire Chiefs has led the fire and EMS profession—driving smarter policies, setting safety standards, influencing codes and best practices, and building the next generation of leaders.Connect With 12,000+ Fire Service Leaders Every Issue! iCHIEFS connects IAFC members across North America and internationally, reaching decision makers in thousands of career, combination, and volunteer fire departments. These leaders are the world’s experts in firefighting, EMS, terrorism response, hazmat response, wildland fire suppression, natural disasters, search and rescue, and public safety industries. Showcase your expertise, services, products, and technologies to the readers of iCHIEFS ! The publication is produced three times per year and features added distribution at major sector events throughout the year. Reach out to request the 2026 Media Kit! Ask how advertising in multiple issues can save you money! 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