HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D., MIFireE

Once again we mounted up on our faithful steed Yukon and sallied forth to tell the world about all that is right in the world of long-range planning. This past weekend, I served as the Keynote Speaker for the Annual New England Association of Fire Chief’s Conference.

I was most fortunate to visit that historic western Massachusetts city of Springfield. This city is the home to the museum that celebrates the creation of basketball in that fair city, as well as the Springfield Arsenal, where many of our nation’s greatest weapons were developed and manufactured.

This was a special trip for me. Not only was I privileged to speak to a fine group of dedicated fire people, but I was also able to spend some time with two dear friends. Both of these fine gentlemen have contributed a great deal to the fire service in general, and the International Society of Fire Service Instructors in particular.

Although neither is a household name across America, they have had a deep and abiding impact upon me. The first is Father Steve Foley of Hartford Connecticut, Chaplain of the International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI). The second is my personal representative to the World of Common Sense, Jack Peltier, retired Assistant Chief of the Marlboro, Massachusetts Fire Department. Jack is also the First Vice President-Elect of ISFSI.

These are the type of committed people who help to make up the core at the heart of the American Fire Service. Surely you will all know someone just like them who has had a great impact on their organizations, their friends and the communities where the have lived. Maybe you don’t know them personally, but you know about them, for they are you.

It has been my privilege to share my personal and organizational lives with these outstanding men for more than 25 years. Many of you probably know Father Foley through his annual duty as Chaplain to the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference, a post he has held for as long as I can remember.

Father’s dedication to the fire service truly knows no bounds. Almost from the time that he graduated from the seminary back in the 1950’s, he has spent a great portion of his life buffing fires and giving solace to those who have experienced hardships, death, and grief.

I can recall when I was sweating out the promotional process for Battalion Chief back in the late 1980’s. Father offered to say a Novena for me. He also suggested that I might wish to pray to Saint Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes. Even then Father Foley knew about my career in Newark.

Although I protested that I was not Catholic, he said that this did not matter. Father said that faith was faith, and prayer was no confined to any particular element of the religious movement. I must have kept the good Father praying overtime, because I did not get promoted until very late in the life of the civil service list. Great was the joy when next we met.

So it has been for more than 25 years. Father Foley, along with my local Pastor here at home, has been an essential element of my spiritual anchor. It was he who gave me the inspiration to push on when my time in Newark was at an end. It was his message to me that the Lord must have had a bigger mission in mind for me than being a chief in Newark. It was his faith in me that gave me the strength to move out and move on.

While it is the good Father who helps me with my spiritual wants and needs, it is Jack Peltier who serves as my direct link to the Wonderful World of Common Sense. There are many who consider me to be an idea guy. I think, I ponder, and I write. But sometimes I am a bit screwy. My ideas come out a little crooked and possible bent to the left or right. It is at times like these that I turn to him for guidance.

Jack has a tremendous way of taking my thoughts and making sense of them. If you hand me a baseball and ask me what I see, I will probably say, "I see a baseball." Not so with Jack. He is the kind of a guy who will hold the ball up and look at all sides of it. He will study the stitching, check for the wrap content, look for the manufacturer’s name and place of business, and then point out the intricacy of the stitching. He might even be able to see that the ball is out of round.

He has had a great influence on my life. But to many in the fire service, Jack is that gentle giant of a man that taught them to be better firefighters than they ever thought was possible. For many years, Jack has served in a variety of positions with the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, currently located in Stow, Massachusetts. He currently serves as their Director of Quality Control. What a fabulous position for a man that seemingly has eyes in the back of his head, and a nose for what is absolutely the best way to do something.

Jack Peltier is a man who built his career from the bottom up. Way back in 1954, he began his service as an auxiliary fireman in his hometown of Marlboro. Although he was only 14 years of age at the time, the Chief of Department allowed him to join. As Jack said to me over supper last Friday night, " I was a little big for my age, so the Chief let me start early."

Apparently the Fire Chief in Marlboro took a real liking to Jack. He would drag him to every possible operational area at the scene of a fire. And you have to remember that these were the days when tough guys did not wear masks. It is also important to note that he followed in the footsteps of his late father, who was a longtime member of the Marlboro Fire Department. And in his turn, Jack’s son Jimmy has entered the fire service as a career firefighter in the Southboro, Massachusetts Fire Department. Like his dad, son James started hanging around the firehouse at a very early age. So the tradition continues in the family.

In 1961 Jack took the test for the position of Fire Apparatus Operator. Back in those days the apparatus operators drove the vehicles to the fires and the call firemen responded and began to fight the fires. Many times Jack would be alone at the scene of a major fire until the troops responded from their homes.

Over the years he developed a wide variety of fire service skills. He learned all about writing apparatus specifications from friends in the business. When an outbreak of arson threatened his hometown, it was the skills that he learned from his friends in the state police that allowed him to help in catching the culprits. So vast is his reservoir of arson-related knowledge, that he has taught arson investigation to members of the Massachusetts State Police.

But it is his impact on the world of fire service training and education that brought Jack and I together. Jack spent more than 20 years as an integral part of the Fire Department Instructor’s Conference. His work as a quartermaster for the original round of hands-on training served as the model for all who followed in his footsteps.

There are no problems in Jack’s world. There are just challenges. He seems to be at his best when someone tells him that there is a task that no one has been able to accomplish. You can see him rise to his full six-foot, six-inch size when a challenge has been issued to him. And if Jack cannot solve the problem at hand (rare, my friends), he is never more than a phone call or two from the person with the solution.

Having said all of these kind things about my dear friend, Jack Peltier, I want you to know that I will be leaning heavily upon him as I step up to the position of President with ISFSI next month. I personally asked Jack to run with me, because I knew that I needed a person I could trust at my side for the next two years. There are only a few people in the world like Jack Peltier.

As I move around the country over the next several months and years, I will be looking for the Jack Peltiers and Father Steve Foleys of this world. I will be looking for the go-to people around the country. I will then share them with you. By this method, I hope to bring us together as a fire service. For as Benjamin Franklin so aptly stated at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, " We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The commentary in this column does not necessarily reflect those of Firehouse.Com, Firehouse Magazine, their employees or parent company Cygnus Business Media. Harry R. Carter, Ph.D., MIFireE, is an internationally known municipal fire protection consultant and contributing editor to Firehouse Magazine. He recently retired as a Battalion Commander with the Newark, New Jersey Fire Department. His commentary appears regularly on Firehouse.Com. For more commentary and information, visit Carter's web site at www.harrycarter.com Harry has published several books available for online ordering, including Firefighting Strategy and Tactics and Management in the Fire Service