Keynote Speaker
Battalion Chief Curt Isakson
Curt “Ike” Isakson is a 30-plus-year veteran of the fire service, professional speaker, motivator, educator, and consultant with experience working in volunteer, career, and combination departments in urban, suburban, rural, and countywide settings.
He is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue in Florida, where he has worked for the last 21 years. Before his time in Escambia, Curt was a Company Officer with the Pensacola Fire Department assigned to Heavy Rescue 31 for nine years.
He also worked for the City of Mary Esther as a Fire Inspector. His fire service experience started at a young age as a junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District, and he rose through the ranks to captain.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and has been assigned to operations, training, and inspections. He was Chief of Special Operations for seven years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics, which covers a diverse range of fire service topics and he spearheads all of the County Fire Tactics conferences in Pensacola Beach FL.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training. These departments respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally at the FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, and Bowling Green State University.
He is a Florida-certified Fire Officer, Fire Instructor, Arson Investigator, and Urban Search & Rescue.
Bonus Lecture
Captain (retired) Dennis LeGear
"Bonus Lecture for HOT Classes"
Dennis LeGear holds an AS in Fire Science and a Bachelor's in Vocational Education from CSU Long Beach. Owner of LeGear Engineering F.D. Consulting (LEFDC), creator of the 1 3/16-inch smooth bore nozzle. A panel member on UL Fire Safety Research Institute’s Fire AttackStudy and Coordinated Fire Attack Study. Currently Manages/Project Lead of a national "Engine Test Group" composed of industry experts who are involved in the LEFDC "True Hose”, HEN Adjustable Smooth Bore Bladed Patternvetting/demonstration burns (Wildland/Structural) Projects. His company has provided technical advice to some of the largest fire agencies in the nation, including Portland, Seattle, Boston, and the City of New York. He has consulted with water municipalities, assisting in developing emergency response plans for various water infrastructure problems related to seismic events and other disasters. Author/Proposal Reviewer (Book Div. PennWell Publishing)Author of Fire Engineer FF I&II Handbook, Water Supply and Hose / Appliance Chapter
The attendee will get a rapid and clear understanding of these three critical areas of fire stream development: Volume, Placement and Velocity. In addition to how these factors impact functional suppression. Often placement of water can trump GPM for example. In addition, why it is important to have tactically redundant flows in place, and once a fire passes the moderate size compartment volume, safety (arresting rapid fire development) cannot be assured via stream volume alone during interior operations. Volume will be broken down into Handline (Small and Large) small to moderate size compartments and Heavy Streams (Single Inlet, Engine & Aerial Mounted) large compartment to floor/building of origin to block of origin flows. Placement will be discussed in terms of Nozzle Reach vs Stream Reach in Handlines bounded by mobility and required members per handline size. In Heavy Streams, Single Inlet Monitors vs Deck Guns vs Aerial Device (Ladder pipe, Bed Pipe, Pre-Plumb Ladder vs Platform) will be discussed, plus best ways to increase stream scrub safely (outside of collapse zones)