There's nothing we enjoy more than sharing the merits of the fine people that are part of the Intterra family any chance we get. However, this isn't your standard 'Get to Know the Team' type of post, as we're overjoyed to express the just how excited we are to have our new Chief Operations Officer, Molly Hausmann. We love the vision and capability Molly brings to her new executive role, and we intend to share a little more about her coming into this demanding role at Intterra.
GUEST BLOGGER: Holger Durre, Planning and Analysis Chief, Poudre Valley Fire Authority. (Editor's note: A big thank you from us to BC Durre for his insight.Talk to anyone in the Fire Service about analysis and accreditation for very long, and his name will come up. Valued widely for his "roll up your sleeves" work ethic in this area, Holger represents a refreshing new voice.)
The fire service is changing more rapidly now than it has in the entirety of its existence. If your ears aren’t perking up in regards to the influence of this changing environment, I would ask you to unbuckle your radio strap, postpone your next web surfing for fire videos, and tune in long enough to listen to the sweet sound of the winds of change. They are prevailing, and they will be with us as long as any of us serving in this profession will be around. For instance, the role that pre-hospital medicine, data analysis, and the science of fire behavior are playing is just the tip of the iceberg. Understand and know that these issues already have, and will continue to, change our industry profoundly in the years to come. However, as a culture, we have a significant blind spot that has the potential to impact our constituents if we don’t look over our shoulders.
Nothing gets the Intterra team more excited than hearing about your accomplishments. That's why we've decided to dedicate a monthly blog post that's all about you! Below you will find just a few of the many inspiring ways SA users are making some major moves. Use this space to ask questions, collaborate on ideas or just give a fellow department a virtual high five!
IMPROVING IS CONTINUOUS:
Back in 'The Old Corps' (which is essentially the Marine Corps version of 'once a upon time') we used to joke that 'Chow is Continuous'. Which meant that any time you had a chance to grab something to eat from your MRE - do it! You never knew when you would have a chance again based on the need to maintain a high operations tempo.
I remembered that idea as Intterra conducted our post Super Bowl 50 after action review led by Emily Carpenter. Emily was our 'point person' deployed to the Santa Clara Multi-Agency Coordination Group. She not only served as our lead person onsite, she was also a critical part of the Santa Clara County Fire geospatial team.
When she returned, we held a company-wide review of the event so that Emily could lead the entire team through what she and her team did. Sometimes a live, rapid review like this gets lost in the return-to-work drive or even the high-fiving/back-slapping that often occurs after a successful deployment. However, experience tells us that maintaining the high tempo of continuous improvements means learning lessons fast
and acting on them.
