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Smart Firefighting

Smart Firefightingsmartfirefighting.podbean.com
Smart Firefighting Podcast covers real-world deployments of smart technologies through conversations with technologists, innovators, companies, and forward-thinking public safety and government agencies. Learn from interviews with leaders as they share their insights and offer their expertise every week! ​ Host Kevin Sofen is a co-founding member of the Smart First Responder Community who loves to explore change management and technology in public safety.
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Episodes

Episode 101: TechX2021: Preparing for the Worst to Perform the Best with Tammy McLean

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! Imagine how many more lives could be saved if public safety training technologies mimicked real life crisis scenarios to more accurately prepare emergency responders. Well, Tammy McLean had the same thought... In this episode: - How is TechX unique? - Who should par...

Nov 11, 202132 min

Episode 100: Thinking Differently About Community Risk Reduction with Joe Powers

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! People tend to think that only the bad can teach a lesson, but wouldn't talking about the good also help keep the community safe? In this episode: - What is community risk reduction? - How can it be applied to improve safety? - How to do a risk assessment that helps...

Nov 04, 202130 min

Episode 99: National Fallen Firefighter Foundation Supporting Past & Future Firefighters with Executive Director Chief Ron Siarnicki

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! Just how does National Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF) help firefighters, their families and fire departments? In this episode: - What is the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation’s core mission? - How to support and honor first responders - What are trends fo...

Oct 27, 202148 min

Episode 98: Hickory Fire Department Addresses Interoperability Challenges with Marcus Scott, Matt Hutchinson and Jason Lowrance

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the final episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Attention all entrepreneurs looking to support first responders... In this episode: - What 21st-century communication challenges exist for buildings? - What's the unique issue when first ...

Oct 20, 202115 min

Episode 97: Behavioral Economics in the Fire Service with Dan Munsey and Scott Roseberry

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the eighth episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Now what does behavioral economics have to do with the fire service? In this episode: - What is behavioral economics and how can we rethink the approach? - Explore the significance of fr...

Oct 14, 202126 min

Episode 96: Authentic Storytelling for First Responders with Dillon Corbet

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the 7th episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Ever wanted to tell your story exactly how it is, but couldn't figure out how? In this episode: - Why you shouldn't fake your story - How to engage with first responders where they are - Ti...

Oct 12, 20218 min

Episode 95: Fotokite’s Tethered Drones Maintain Eyes in the Skies with Nate Bazydlo & Bradford Morse

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the sixth episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Want to learn how to fly with a click of a button? In this episode: - How can first responders maintain constant situational awareness while on scene? - How to avoid the need for a part 1...

Oct 07, 202113 min

Episode 94: Decentralized Mesh Networks Advance Communication Abilities with Todd York

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the fifth episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! What if we could extend coverage to the edge of current networks to provide reliable connectivity for first responders? Well, Hypha is already on it. In this episode: - How does wireless ...

Oct 06, 202111 min

Episode 93: Intelligent Nanofiber Cleans It All Up with Erik ’Skip’ Moratzka

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the fourth episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Ever heard of Intelligent Nanofiber Inc? In this episode: - How to prevent unnecessary toxic waste from getting into waterways - Why is the death of 1,000 cuts hurting our environment? -...

Sep 30, 202112 min

Episode 92: Putting Innovation in the Hands of First Responders with David Blankinship and Brent VanKeulen

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is the third episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Why do so many technologies make first responders lives harder instead of easier? In this episode: - How is Western States Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) evaluating and testing technology...

Sep 23, 202120 min

Episode 91: Effectively Navigating the Last Mile with 100 Feet with Vibhu Singh

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This is our second episode of our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Ever wonder why the pizza delivery guy can always get to the right door, but first responders can't? In this episode: - How can first responders get where they need to go by locating the...

Sep 16, 202110 min

Episode 90: How FirstNet Authority Evolves for First Responders with Michael Varney

Hello Smart Firefighting Community! Welcome to another episode covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy! This episode is the first of many for our IAFC Technology Council Outreach Mini Series! Calling all entrepreneurs! Ever wonder how you can build on First Responder Network (FirstNet) Authority in ways that meet the ever-changing needs of first responders? In this episo...

Sep 09, 202115 min

Episode 89: Innovation in Fire through Simplicity with Jay Johnson

In this episode: - What is the goal of innovation? - How can we use the COVID crisis as a force for change? - How can we innovate on the fire truck? Guest Jay Johnson is the previous VP / General Manager of REV Technical Center and the current Senior Director for Marketing and Product Management at REV Fire Group , a leading designer and manufacturer of specialty vehicles and related aftermarket parts and services. He is a leader with a proven track record in global business development, strateg...

Aug 04, 202144 minEp. 89

Episode 88: Data, Location Tracking and A Call-to-Action for All Smart Firefighting Innovators with David Wild, Ph.D.

In this episode: - Who is the Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab? - How to leverage your frustration into innovation - How can we use data more effectively in the fire service? - A call to action for all innovators David Wild is a researcher, practitioner, educator and author in data science, biomedical research and crisis technologies. He is Professor in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering (SICE) at Indiana University where he has also founded and directed research initia...

Jul 28, 202148 min

Episode 86: More Than an LTE Network with Garry McCarraher

What is the First Net Authority? Kevin and Garry dig into First Net and how it got started. They discuss how First Net can be a catalyst for innovation on the LTE network. It's not just big urban cities that benefit from the network, small-town rural fire departments can leverage these new capabilities to improve their infrastructure.

Apr 26, 202143 min

Episode 84: The Evolution of Safety and the Purpose of the Fire Service with Dr. Burton Clark

In this podcast, we discuss: • Why the fire service must have the courage to lead the paradigm shift to an “Automatic Fire Protection Model” for the 21st century. • Exploring the Prometheus Paradox - If we can make fire we can learn to control fire. • The perception of fire across America along with the risks & benefits of fire to our society • How we must reinforce safety into the everyday actions of all firefighters • Why the fire service is the best career in the world Dr. Burton Clark Bi...

Jan 27, 202158 min

Episode 83: Jaap De Vries and FM Global

Kevin sits down with Jaap de Vries VP Innovation, Science & Technology . They discuss the use how to use fire fundamentals to drive guidance on decision making. How to decrease or increase a fire. How to operationalize technology to drive innovation, risk reduction and overall safety goals. What is FM Global and how to get involved and much much more.

Dec 02, 202047 min

Episode 82: Interview with Caleb Holt

Kevin Sofen Interviews Caleb Holt on new technologies in the fire service. Safe Tech has their Pitch competition coming up sign up: http://bit.ly/stp-wsdarley

Oct 20, 202044 min

Smart Firefighting NAFTD Interview

Kevin sits down with Ken Willette to recap of the first NAFTD virtual tradeshow, where are fire academies now? How has COVID forced changes? How technology can be an enabler for the fire training process What does the future smart fire training academy look like? How standard frameworks from NFPA can help ensure safety and spur innovation amongst industry, academia, and government. They Discuss the need for ecosystem engagement to spur conversations, engagement and sharing of best practices Ken ...

Sep 30, 202049 min

Data in the Fire Service

Data swirls around fire operations—resource deployment, turnout times, response times, minimum staffing levels, funding and exposures. Data also comes up when we’re asked to “prove” what we already know about our operational capability! But how do we capture this data, and how do we use it to make meaningful decisions?

Jun 16, 20201 hr 5 min

Episode 81: Addressing Technology Adoption with Brian Ward from Georgia Pacific

Kevin sits down with Brian Ward Global Safety & Health, Manager Emergency Preparedness and Response Leader of Georgia Pacific to talk about technology adoption in the fire service. Covid-19 has shaken the world up and the first responder industry is no different. They discuss technology and what is being adopted into the services. They also discuss the reduced risk and efficiency increase from proper implementation....

Jun 09, 202025 min

Episode 80: Smart Cities in a World Full of Pandemics with Paul Doherty

Kevin sits down with Paul Doherty the President and CEO of The Digit Group, inc. They discuss the behavior changes to the new normal around corona virus. How will our decision-making change going forward? Has the pandemic caused designers of smart cities take a second look at their designs? Is it time to start building cities around life without automobiles? The Digit Group , inc is a company that provides industry-leading technology and management consulting services around the globe. Their del...

May 14, 202048 min

Episode 79: Understanding COVID19 From a First Responder Perspective with Bobby Halton

Kevin sits down with Bobby Halton , American Firefighter, to talk about COVID19 and how the fire service is changing to meet the challenge. They talk about how this the virus ties into lessons learned around cancer mitigation and exposure risk. Bobby discusses how this is not really a black swan event because the fire industry knew something like this was coming, eventually. They compare COVID19 to past historical events like the Spanish Flu, and how we can prepare in the future. Kevin brings up...

Apr 29, 202059 min

Episode 78: Community Risk Reduction with Brent Faulkner

Kevin sits down with Brent Faulkner a battalion chief in southern California and CEO of Virtual CRR Inc. They discuss the 5 E’s of community risk reduction education, enforcement, engineering, economic incentives, emergency response. Brent explains why CRR is so important and gives detailed examples of communities practicing proper use of CRR. Kevin learns how individuals can play a role in improving community safety and what 2020 and 2021 could look like. Virtual Community Risk Reduction is an ...

Apr 22, 202028 min

Episode 77: INTERSCHUTZ 2021 ”Digitalization & Transformation”

Kevin sits down with Stefan Truthan to talk about the postponed Intershutz show. They discuss the lessons learned around first responders, why Intershutz was postponed until 2021 instead of cancelling. How first responders are facing similar challenges around the world and need to explore ways to share best practices and learn from one another. They wonder what the future smart city looks like. How innovation can appear with big impacts and small. INTERSCHUTZ is the world’s leading trade fair fo...

Apr 15, 20201 hr

Episode 76: Using Policies to Manage Risk with Scott A. Eskwitt

Kevin sits down with Scott Eskwitt of Director of Lexipol . They talk about risks in the fire service and which ones can be better managed. Do we need to change the culture and behavior of the fire service? Should policy chase behavior or should behavior chase policy? They dive into the difference between behavioral and policy problems and talk about what departments should do and have done to fix these issues. Scott is a former chief of the Fair Haven New Jersey fire department. Scott works for...

Apr 06, 202021 min

Episode 75: The Fire Service Culture and Training with Brian Brauer

Kevin sits down with Brian R. Brauer , Associate Director, at the Illinois Fire Service Institute . They discuss the role of the Fire Service Institute in the fire industry, they also dive into the fire service culture and how it has evolved over time. The fire service has been subject to many changes over the past few decades and that has changed the way firefighters are trained and what they are trained. To meet the challenges of todays fire training the Illinois Fire Service Institute has emb...

Mar 26, 202050 min

Episode 74: Wellness in Fire Departments with Gamaliel Baer

Kevin sits down with Gamaliel Baer the Department Health and Wellness Coordinator for the Howard County Department of Fire & Rescue Services. They discuss health and wellness education in fire departments and what they are doing to help firefighters understand health risks. Gamaliel talks about the challenges he’s faced when trying to promote health education. Until recently firefighters didn’t make learning about cancer and cardiovascular disease in the fire industry. The Howard County Depa...

Mar 18, 202035 min
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