March 1, 2002

PRESS RELEASE
To: Newsroom
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer
Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Fire Department Delegation to Begin Texas Tour

Shreveport chief officers hit the road to Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth Fire Departments to review and compare operations

Shreveport Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran has often been heard saying that the best way to measure your success is to compare yourself to the best. This next week, Cochran is sending a delegation of chief officers to the best fire departments our sister state of Texas has to offer. They will meet with the top brass from fire departments in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Fort Worth. They are being sent to see how the operations in these organizations function on a day-to-day basis. "In the public safety business you cannot operate in a vacuum and expect to be successful. There are principles of management relative to the fire service that are unique to each individual organization. We hope to glean some of those successful practices and attributes from these other departments as well as learning from what has not worked for them in the past," said Cochran.

The group led by department Deputy Chief Coy Chapel will leave this Sunday from fire station 17, Mansfield Road at Southland Park, at noon and head for their first stop - Houston. Also traveling for the department are Assistant Chiefs Dennis Deloach and Ronnie Jordan, and District Chief Bobby Robinson. After a full day Monday with the Houston Fire Department, the team is off to San Antonio, followed later in the week by visits to Austin and Fort Worth. Each member will spend one-on-one time with their respective counterparts in the other departments, focusing on areas of operations concerning personnel issues, staffing, policies and procedures, incident command issues, training, and fire apparatus.

The men will be traveling in a motor home owned by Chapel and are looking forward to the open road experience. Chapel said that usually fire service chief officers just see members of other large departments at professional conferences, not really allowing them time to discuss operation and management styles in detail. "These visits will give us the opportunity to compare and contrast, first-hand, how these organizations deal with important fire service issues, verses the way we operate," said Chapel. The group is expected back Friday. ###