Connections
City + Fire Department
Who:
Bill Brown, battalion chief for the Indianapolis Fire Department
Susie Townsend, vice president of convention services for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association
Event:
Fire Department Instructors Conference
Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium
April 20-25
Early spring is a bum time to be a fire in downtown Indianapolis—unless, of course, you are some sort of sadistic fire that enjoys watching enemies plot la résistance.
Bill Brown, battalion chief for the Indianapolis Fire Department Susie Townsend, vice president of convention services for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association Fire Department Instructors Conference Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium April 20-25 Early spring is a bum time to be a fire in downtown Indianapolis—unless, of course, you are some sort of sadistic fire that enjoys watching enemies plot la résistance.
April heralds the annual return of 30,000 firefighters to the city’s center for their Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC), an effort that not only offers education and equipment resources to attendees from across the globe, but also unites two unusual bedfellows: the Indianapolis CVA and the city’s fire department.
Once at home in beautiful Cincinnati, the conference moved to Indianapolis in 1995 after heavy wooing by convention sales directors and the fire chief himself. Remarkably, FDIC’s early contacts with the city have remained the same during the past decade-and-a-half—Susie Townsend, then-field sales manager, now convention services vice president, and Battalion Chief Bill Brown of the Indianapolis Fire Department—an unusal occurrence in the high-turnover meeting industry.
There is reason for this annual pilgrimage to The Crossroads of America, and a central location in the U.S. Midwest is just one of many factors—foremost of which is the staggering amount of logistics entrusted to the local fire team. Fifty regional departments contribute to the event by providing training scenario equipment, radio transmission and onsite location scouting. Brown says his department works yearlong with the city government and local contractors to coordinate and obtain permits for the use of future demolition sites for fire training programs.
As many as 25 offsite Hands-on Training (H.O.T.) sessions occur during the conference’s first two days. The four- and eight-hour courses offer live education in everything fire from advanced extrication tactics to survival training to private dwelling search procedures. The conference has even played host to a simulated plane crash. Each H.O.T. Evolution requires long- and short-term logistical support from the Indianapolis Fire Department for site selection and setup, equipment management, program planning and day-of safety personnel.
Meanwhile, Townsend and the CVA act as local liaisons to FDIC’s housing firm, fund the conference’s welcome program and signage, pitch discount packages to downtown nightclubs and restaurants, finance shuttles during the conference and even sponsor an annual exhibitor roundtable preceding the expo. To be fair, the convention is well worth the sweat, bringing in an estimated US$30.9 million annually and generating a near-sellout of city guest rooms.
The proximity of the new, 2 million-square-foot Lucas Oil Stadium (home of the National Football League Indianapolis Colts) doesn’t hurt the city’s cause. Separated from the convention center by South Street, the neighbors will become an even greater asset when the stadium connects to the expanding center via skywalk in 2011.
And FDIC, for one, needs as much accessible exposition space as the city can provide. In addition to trade show standbys (monitors, detectors, protective clothing, sirens, lights and alarms, training services)—which require standard booth space—the outdoor exposition must be able to accommodate aerial ladder, nozzle and hose demonstrations as well as big trucks and engines.
Despite the thousands of hours of local volunteer work needed to produce the conference, Chief Brown says the educational opportunities provided to the area’s emergency fire personnel are priceless—especially since the show offers free credentials to local firefighters to attend the education and training sessions. And, as with most any conference, the person-to-person connections made during workshops and conversations and on the trade show floor create true opportunities for innovation and learning.
“We’re networking with firefighters from all over the world,” Brown said. “We learn from them; they learn from us.”
But it’s not just the Indianapolis and surrounding fire details that think FDIC and the city are a perfect match. Eric Schlett, publisher of Fire Engineering magazine and FDIC executive director, says Indianapolis offers something few other cities enjoy—passionate and reliable volunteers and a history of quality service.
“Without the support of the Indianapolis Fire Department, we could not do this event,” he said. “Cities have been clamoring for us, but our relationship with the fire department here is what keeps us coming back.”
—JESSIE STATES