Steve Austin and I just returned from spending several days at the annual Fire Department Instructor's Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We both want you to know that www.ResponderSafety.com, as well as the Emergency Responder's Safety Institute were both well represented.

Our booth in the exhibit hall was extremely well placed, and we dispensed a great deal of safety information. A great many fine people, stopped by to say hello. And a number of those pitched in to help out at the booth.

• Dr. Denis Onieal, Superintendent of the National Fire Academy
• Joseph Kroboth of Halfway, Maryland
• Bill Peterson of Plano, Texas
• Jim Cubbage of Delaware
• Ron Siarnicki, of the National Fallen Firefighters Association
• Brian Yoder of the Mifflin Valley Reflective Apparel Company
• Steve Austin
• Harry Carter

Those of us who worked in the booth want you to know that we learned far more from the conference attendees than any of us ever thought possible. Steve and I conducted a straw poll. We asked as many people as we could if they knew of a highway safety incident, accident, injury, or death.

You would not believe how many people had experienced one form or another of a highway safety-related incident or accident. And even if the bad things didn't happen to them or their individual organizations, most who stopped knew of such an accident happening in their area.

I listened to one fire instructor from Kentucky who had a particularly harrowing experience. He told me of how a chief from a neighboring town pulled him out of the way, just as a mutual aid tanker barreled past his pumper. He was just about to operate the controls on his pumper, when the chief pushed him out of the way. He would probably have died.

Other attendees spoke of just how close the cars had come when they crashed through the protective cones and barriers surrounding them. Others spoke of drunken drivers, inattentive drivers, and just plain dumb-ass people. Like I said, very few people were not impacted by the dangers out there on the highways of our country.

Then something really sad happened. While we were working at the booth, we received word from one of the people passing by of a tragic accident in Russell, Kansas. A fire chief had been struck and killed by a fire vehicle. It was later confirmed that Fire Chief Earl Hemphill died after being struck by a fire vehicle that had experienced brake problems. How truly sad and disheartening this was to us.

Here we were, fighting to teach people about safety, and another member of the service died while doing his duty on the highways of his community. This incident fired us up and we all went about our work with a renewed vigor.

In order to reach the passing people, Steve and I developed a standard introduction to help us grab their attention. "We are not selling, we are giving. Please come over here, we are not like everyone else, trying to sell you something. We want to give you something. That something is highway scene safety"

That was enough to stop most people in their tracks. Most booths wanted money. We wanted a moment of their time in order to share our knowledge. That was usually enough to get people's attention. Once we made our pitch, I think we created an awareness of the problem.

I do want to share something with you that really made me mad. It involved those people that just walked by looking holier than thou. Perhaps equally as maddening were those who said something like, oh, we aren't interested. We do not have a problem with highways. Other people just gave us a dumb grin and said nothing.

It is my most sincere hope that the Lord continues to watch over drunks and dumb-asses, because it would appear that the population of those is on the upswing. Ignorance can be fatal, and there are a great many ignorant people out there. Or maybe I am just a bit sensitive to losing people out there in the second most dangerous emergency service environment, after the inside of a burning building, during a working fire.

The convention went very well. We met a lot of really nice people. We gave out every copy of our White Paper, and passed out literally hundreds of ball cards with our website information. I think we may even have changed a few minds.

My trip home from Indianapolis was uneventful. When I got home, I proceeded to have supper with my wife and daughter, catch up on a few emails, and review a few days of correspondence. Around midnight, I was pondering a bit of sleep when my fire company pager went off, requesting us to respond to a motor vehicle accident.

Upon arrival, we discovered an overturned van, with its driver trapped in the wreckage. While the EMS workers labored to do the extrication, our fire company members set about securing the scene, and stretching a protective hoseline.

As luck would have it, I was placed on the traffic control detail. Under the watchful eye of a local police officer, a couple of us worked our way south on U.S Highway #9, a very active road indeed. We interspersed the cones with flares for about 100 yards south of the accident. A police vehicle and one of our assistant fire chief's vehicles were then set in place, as a sort of blocking device.

Once our work was done, we proceeded back to the rescue truck to standby for additional assignments. About this time, a light drizzle began, making the highway just a little bit slick. That was the beginning of it. I believe I heard the sound of screeching tires at least three times during my time at the standby point.

Thank goodness that we set out a proper barrier. And even with all of our precautions, we were probably at bit lucky too. No hits, no injuries, and a safe departure.

What is it with people? Don't they get it? We are working out there on the highway to help them. I guess that is why I will continue to work so hard on this topic. The lives of my friends and I depend on proper training in highway safety. And so do those of you and your associates. Stay alert, train, and stay safe.