This is a shout out to retired Chief Operator & NFD historian Hank Przybylowicz as well as all the operators who sent us out & gave us a heads-up while we responded.

Hank,

I know how difficult it is to do the research work & writing that you have completed. A writer is a lonely person. It takes a certain dedication & passion for a subject before any meaningful research can be done.

Your work has laid the foundation for all who follow. You’ve heard the expression “I stand on the shoulders of giants”. It’s your shoulders future generations will stand on.

I do take issue w/your comments about operators. And I say operators, not dispatchers for a reason

Before radios were introduced, they would be called dispatchers since they dispatched companies over the telegraph system.

After radios, they became radio operators & the fire service was changed forever.

One of the questions I ask during interviews is

“What is the most important change since you were

appointed?”

Radios are mentioned by men appointed before they became standard equipment.

They have made the job immeasurably safer.

Keep in mind it is not the device that enhances safety, it is the person answering the calls from the field.

The fire department is a team effort. Without operators, there is no response.

There is no updated information when responding.

There are no instructions from the Deputy to companies coming in.

No progress reports from the BC to help the Deputy keep the crews in a building safe.

Every rescue, every line stretched, every ladder thrown all depend on communication between dispatch & field.

Which means part of the credit for the safety provided by the fire department belongs to dispatch, to the radio operators.

If you doubt this, just talk to guys who have responded to fires when the radio wasn’t operating properly.

(Did I hear the word “cluster”?)

As with all occupations, there are good operators who give you the confidence needed when you roll up to a working fire & there are not so good operators who make you wonder.

Hank, you were the consummate operator who gave the field everything you could in a coherent, calm voice.

You made the job safer & contributed to every rescue & to fighting every fire that happened on your watch. It was a job well done.