NYSAFC’s Company Officers Leadership Training Headed to Long Island

NYSAFC is pleased to announce that an additional program has been added to its latest Company Officers Leadership Training (COLT) series, which features lectures by Battalion Chief John Salka (FDNY), Chief Mark McLees (Syracuse Fire Department), and Deputy Chief Paul Melfi (City of Olean Fire Department). The two-day COLT program will be held October 16-17, 2015, at Nassau Community College (CCB Building) in Garden City, NY.

NYSAFC recognizes that leadership development is necessary now if we are to protect the future of the fire service. For the COLT program, the association has assembled a cadre of instructors, all nationally renowned experts on company officer leadership both on and off the fireground, for an energizing learning experience.

Pre-registration and on-site registration will be available. The program fee is $175 per person (for NYSAFC Individual and Department Members) and $200 per person (for non-members).

Training will be held on Friday, October 16 from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 17 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

COLT will include the following lectures and conclude with a roundtable discussion on Saturday afternoon.

John Salka’s "Five Alarm Leadership" lecture is a dynamic program that is designed to energize and motivate the people in your department to perform and excel in everything they do. It outlines many of the common situations that fire departments and fire companies find themselves in and presents suggestions and solutions to those situations. Salka, a veteran of the FDNY for 33-plus years, has experienced many of the challenges and hurdles that your fire department is facing. He has learned through his experience as a lieutenant, captain, and chief how to treat people, how to motivate them, and even how to discipline them so that they want to come back for more. Issues such as integrity, inspiration, interest, innovation, insight, and initiative are all discussed and applied to life in the fire house and on the fireground.

Mark McLees will present "Striking the Balance Between Tradition & Progress." An effective fire officer has many quality traits. One is the ability to keep abreast of current topics, issues, trends, and fads in the fire service. An attribute even more critical is the ability to grasp an understanding of the importance of tradition in the fire service and the officer’s vital role in maintaining the key points of tradition. Unfortunately, striking a balance between these two issues is difficult at best. There is no black and white. This program intends to challenge officers and their ability to perform "critical thinking" as they develop their leadership role.

Paul Melfi’s "Leadership Safety for the 21st Century" lecture will engage chiefs, officers, and "wannabe" officers (that means firefighters) in critical thinking and situational awareness. The exciting, interactive program will be loaded with information and convincing evidence. If you are a real leader, show up and have fun. Bringing your "A" game to the fight is critical to firefighter survivability and injury reduction. Students will be challenged to enhance life safety by self-examination, using case studies of prior incidents. Participants will work on the "16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives" of the Everyone Goes Home/Courage To Be Safe® program of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

The COLT pre-registration form is available here or call (800) 676-FIRE for more details. Information on NYSAFC’s 2015-2016 COLT series, which will feature a new lineup of speakers and lectures, will be announced in the fall.