Classroom sESSION

Synopsis

"Fire Officer Excellence"

This Full Contact Leadership / Fireground Strategies-based presentation will seek to challenge both current and prospective fire officers regarding preparation, attitude, philosophical approach, and operational and organizational skill both in the hard environment (on the fireground) and in the soft environment (the areas and time when you are preparing yourself and your subordinates for the fireground).  The outcome of the 1% of the time we spend on the fireground is based on the actions, discipline, and leadership we display the other 99% of the time in the soft environment.  This course will address Officer and Departmental responsibility as it relates to the Full Contact Leadership mantra: “Allow NOTHING to interfere with your ability to maintain the ready and in-service status of your Command.”

We will examine foundation-level reasons for emergency ground failures and discuss organization-level controls and mechanisms to address and prevent same.  Departmental and company-level expectations will be a focus of this discussion and why departments fail in the hard environment the and relationship this failure has to the soft environment.  There will be a major emphasis on the importance of the "nothing showing environment" and its impact on the "something showing environment" with a “What You Permit You Promote” philosophy.

Bio

ANTHONY AVILLO, M.S. retired in March, 2015 after a 30-year career in the fire service.  Avillo was a deputy chief in North Hudson (NJ) Regional Fire & Rescue, assigned as 1st Platoon regional tour commander. He holds a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies and a BS degree in Fire Science from New Jersey City University.  

Avillo is currently the Director and Deputy Fire Marshal at the Monmouth County (NJ) Fire Academy. He is an Adjunct Professor at New Jersey City University.  Avillo is an FDIC instructor and member of the FDIC advisory board and the editorial advisory board of Fire Engineering. He is the author of Fireground Strategies, 3rd edition (Fire Engineering, 2015) and Fireground Strategies Workbook Volumes I, II, and III (Fire Engineering, 2002, 2010, 2016).  

Avillo also co-authored with Chief Ed Flood Full Contact Leadership, (Fire Engineering, 2017).  He was a contributing author to Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and Firefighter II (Fire Engineering, 2009, 2018) and is co-author of its Study Guide (Fire Engineering, 2010). Avillo has also contributed to both volumes of the Pass It On books by Billy Goldfeder (Pennwell, 2015, 2016).  Avillo was a collaborator in the Tactical Perspectives DVD series (Fire Engineering, 2011) and has had issued the DVD’s Control of Fireground Operations (Fire Engineering, 2016) and Forging a Culture of Safety (Fire Engineering, 2013). 

Avillo also co-hosts a radio show, Fireground Strategies and Other Stuff from the Street with Chief Jim Duffy on Fire Engineering BlogTalk Radio.  Avillo was a recipient of the 2012 Fire Engineering/ISFSI George D. Post Fire Instructor of the Year Award