IWCE keynote: To evolve with tech advancements, the fire service must adopt a culture of change

LAS VEGAS–To compete, private businesses are quick to adapt to tech advancements. Public safety organizations, on the other hand, are slower to adapt given their responsibility to safeguard constituents and their property.

Especially in the fire service, leadership is slow to adopt new ways of doing things. And if something doesn’t work the first time, it’s quickly dismissed. Dan Munsey, fire chief and warden at the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Fire Department, is working to change that culture.

“The fire service is changing from responding to fires to trying to prevent them,” Munsey said during a keynote speech at the IWCE 2023 telecommunications expo, which was held last week in Las Vegas, Nev. American City & County is a media partner of the annual event. Next year’s event will be held in March in Orlando, Fla.

Munsey showed an early video filmed in 1903 by Edwin Porter called the “Life of an American Fireman.” The black and white film depicts a horse-and-buggy response from the firehouse to the scene.

“What’s interesting is that I see a lot of parallels to what we do today. There’s not a whole lot of changes that occur,” Munsey said, gesturing to a still taken from the video projected at the front of a room filled with hundreds of public safety telecommunications administrators and business professionals. “My mission is to make sure the fire service doesn’t look like that bottom picture.”

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