Episode 239: Global Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing - World Fire Congress Roadmap to 2026 with Mark Hardingham

Episode notes

How can creating communities of practice address common challenges in the fire service industry?

Hello Smart Firefighting Community!

Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy!

In this episode:

How is The World Fire Congress a platform for global collaboration and knowledge sharing within the fire and rescue services?

How did they address terrorism, conflict, and inclusion in the fire service?

How are the 2026 roadmap and the upcoming Grenfell Tower fire report driving change and improvement in the industry?

Hear from Mark Hardingham - the Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) .

The World Fire Congress is a global event that addresses common challenges faced by fire and rescue services worldwide. It emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge and creating communities of practice to drive positive change. The event serves as a platform for collaboration and the exchange of ideas, focusing on issues such as terrorism, conflict, and inclusion within the fire service.

Mark talks about the 2026 roadmap and the upcoming report on the Grenfell Tower fire, highlighting the need for change and improvement within the fire and rescue services.

So take a listen to hear what he has to share!

Head to www.smartfirefighting.com to discover how SFF accelerates innovation for emergency responders, to find out when our next event is, or review our curated resources!

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Chapters

1. 0:00 Intro to the World Fire Congress miniseries
2. 0:37 Mark Hardingham joins
3. 1:01 Reflections on day one
4. 1:22 How the World Fire Congress came about
5. 2:20 Communities of practice
6. 3:47 What happens after the Congress
7. 4:39 The roadmap to 2026
8. 6:07 Two things that stood out
9. 7:56 The Grenfell Tower report and driving change
10. 9:36 Wrap
11. 10:34 Outro

Questions answered in this episode

What is the World Fire Congress and why was it created?

Mark Hardingham says the Congress exists because fire services worldwide face the same challenges but often try to solve them separately within their own nations. The event was created to share knowledge across borders, since the world is smaller now and it's easier to collaborate internationally.

Hear it at 1:22

What are the communities of practice and how do they work?

Communities of practice are online mechanisms set up by the U.S. Fire Administration so every nation can continue engaging after the Congress ends. Mark Hardingham says they allow countries to share perspectives and receive what others have shared, turning ideas into action in their own organizations. Lori committed that they would launch within a month of the 2024 Congress.

Hear it at 2:40

How often will the World Fire Congress be held?

The plan is to hold the Congress every two years, in 2026, 2028, 2030 and beyond. Mark Hardingham explains that the co-host of one event becomes the host of the next, so the UK National Fire Chiefs Council will host in 2026.

Hear it at 4:50

What are the biggest challenges facing the UK fire service right now?

Mark Hardingham names culture and inclusion as the top issue getting public and media attention, focusing on workforce demographics and the experience of minorities versus the majority. The second is the Grenfell Tower fire, where 72 people died. A national inquiry report is expected soon and Hardingham calls it a watershed moment that must lead to change.

Hear it at 7:56

What unexpected theme emerged at the Congress?

Mark Hardingham says the increasing impact of terrorism, conflict, war and crime on fire services in different parts of the world stood out. Firefighters are being drawn into or suffering consequences of these events, with no existing protocol or guidance, making it a potential focus for 2026.

Hear it at 6:07

Transcript

Machine transcript of the published audio. Names may be misspelled and some sections are missing.

Ep 239 transcript

Global Collaboration & Knowledge Sharing - World Fire Congress Roadmap to 2026 with Mark Hardingham

Speakers: Kevin Sofen, Mark Hardingham

Source: Whisper medium.en machine transcription of the published Podbean audio (no original transcript found in Drive), lightly cleaned. Speakers were separated by voice clustering and then checked and assigned by hand at every speaker change. Gaps where the model returned no usable text are marked [inaudible m:ss].

[0:00] Kevin Sofen: Welcome to this mini series of the Smart Firefighting podcast. Today, we're exploring the inaugural World Fire Congress hosted by the U.S. Fire Administration on May 7 and 8, 2024 in Washington, D.C. This groundbreaking event unites global fire service leaders to address critical issues such as climate change impacts, emerging technology risk, and firefighter health and safety. Enjoy this three-part series as we hear from multiple stakeholders about the key takeaways and the exciting potential for future collaboration in the Global Fire Service. We are here at the World Fire Congress alongside Mark Hardingham. Mark, how are you doing today?

[0:42] Mark Hardingham: I'm doing great. I think I'm doing better than I was yesterday because it's just nice to get the first day of the World Fire Congress out of the way and we're lunchtime on day two and it's gone really well. So you sort of, I've come out of the slightly apprehensive mode and now in the much more confident mode, reflecting back and looking forward to the final session this afternoon.

[1:01] Kevin Sofen: Yeah, even just reflecting on day one and hearing all the different perspectives and the nuances and hearing that even in different languages, we have the similar problems around the world. We're all not that different, which was fascinating. But from your perspective, I'd love to know kind of why are we here? Why did the World Fire Congress come to life and why is it more important than ever that this event happened?

[1:22] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, I'm going to start by giving credit to Dr. Lori, because I genuinely think we're here because of Dr. Lori. But actually it started before then, because when I came into the role I've got now, which sort of chairs an organisation that sits over every UK fire and rescue service, I started doing a lot of work with colleagues in the EU, in the US, in Canada, South America, Australia, the Middle East. And what was quickly apparent is every time I went to a conference or a meeting in those places, the agenda was exactly the same as the agenda is in the UK. And the challenges are exactly the same. And everybody, to an extent, is trying to solve them within their own nation, within their own structures. So we're here today because we need to share more broadly across the world. The world is a smaller place than it was 30, 40, 50 years ago. The way we work now means it's much easier to share stuff across borders. And if the last day has shown us nothing else, it's shown us that we have the opportunity to do that we just need to create the environment for people to come together.

[2:20] Kevin Sofen: Well said and I think that's been one of the most important things I've heard of this push towards communities of action and sharing knowledge and what do you hope happens after this? I mean I always kind of think about these events or what are you gonna do different on Monday? What do you hope is some of the positive ripple effects, domino effect from the World Fire Congress? Yeah I think it's a

[2:40] Mark Hardingham: great question. I've made a point at the start when I was talking about the communities of practice that there's a risk sometimes that people come to these events full of enthusiasm and enjoy the event and then they go back into their role in whatever country they're in where they are dealing with lots of pressing issues, day-to-day challenges and quite quickly the event fades into the background and you don't really think about it until the next event comes around in two years time. So I think the point both Lori and I've made is that people need to be active after we break and we close the conference later on this week and what we've done and US colleagues will be facilitating it for the next two years, is establish these communities of practice. And that is the mechanism through which every nation here will have the opportunity to engage with those communities of practice. It shouldn't be overly burdensome, and they'll be able to share, talk about their own perspectives, but equally receive what others have shared and listen to what others are talking about from their perspectives as well. And then to turn that into action in your own organization, it might be something really small. It might be something quite significant. And then we'll bring that back into the next conference in 2026.

[3:47] Kevin Sofen: So for those that weren't here, the World Fire Congress, they're listening later and they're learning about these communities of practice, whether if their country wasn't represented here or they want to get involved, how do they get involved within the communities of practice moving forward?

[3:59] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, so I think what's going to happen is now the conference is closed, everybody who has been here has had the opportunity to decide which, maybe all, of the communities of practice they want to join in. And then colleagues in the US Fire Administrator will set those up and host those. and Lori committed on day one that within a month, those communities practice will be up and running. They'll be online. So people will be able to engage with them anywhere across the world. And I think inevitably what will happen is that they'll grow. And countries who weren't able to come to this World Fire Congress, but will be interested in coming to the next one in 2026, will be able to join into those communities of practice and start to get engaged from, well, in a month's time.

[4:39] Kevin Sofen: So it's May 2024, and you've thrown out the word 2026 now. So what is this roadmap to 2026? What can we expect and what should we be thinking about in this 2026 roadmap?

[4:50] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, well, the roadmap started a year ago because it was a year ago that Dr. Lori, myself and a number of other international colleagues sat around the table at the Metro Fire Chiefs Conference and came up with this idea of the World Fire Congress. And the intention then was that it wouldn't be a one-off event and it would continue. And being realistic, it would continue once every two years. And in between that, we'd have the communities of practice. And then there are the conferences and events that happen. So World Fire Congress delegates will inevitably meet at some of those other international events to continue the conversation. So the plan is there'll be one in 2026, there'll be one in 2028, there'll be one in 2030. Whoever co-hosts the event, which I'm co-hosting this year, then becomes the host for the next event in 2026. So the rather daunting task of following the fantastic of event that's taken place here will fall on the National Fire Chiefs Council in the UK to host countries from around the world in 2026, and that'll be here before we know it.

[5:48] Kevin Sofen: It will be here before we know it, absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to that, but between now and then, it's really the time to roll up the sleeves and get to work. Like you said, community practice and putting it to action. What's something that's surprised you from your time here so far, and maybe something that's kind of caught you by a surprise, or just kind of made you think, oh, wow, I never thought about that?

[6:07] Mark Hardingham: That's a great question. Well, I'm gonna pick two things, And I do that looking across the table at colleagues from Ecuador who've spoken several times during the conference. And I think we've got four challenge themes here, but what's come across quite significantly and might be a theme that we take into 2026 is the role of the increasing impact of terrorism, conflict, and I'm talking about war and crime on the fire and rescue service in different parts of the world where firefighters are increasingly getting drawn into or suffering the consequences of those happening. And there's no protocol around that. There's no guidance around that. But actually, if that's the theme, there's something that we can collectively come together and share experiences and ideas around that. So that would be one. The second thing is that it's really good at these sessions to get some disagreement in the room. Because there's a risk sometimes you come together and you quickly come to a consensus and everybody agrees with one another. And I've been pleased, and I know Lori has as well, that there are colleagues in the room who are prepared to put their hand up and offer a perspective that's quite different to the rest of the group. And that's good because that challenges the way we think and it causes us potentially to think differently about how we do stuff. So that's a couple of things that stand out for me.

[7:20] Kevin Sofen: Yeah, a little bit of civil discourse is good. I mean, we are in Washington, D.C. after all.

[7:24] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, we have to disagreeably agree, I think is the term that's used.

[7:28] Kevin Sofen: Yeah, respectfully disagree or whatever that phrase is. No, that's good. Well, I mean, like I said, it's May 2024 and we talked a little bit about the ripple effect, domino dynamics, but maybe even just a cathode spotlight a little bit into the UK fire service. I mean, what are some of the unique challenges that the UK fire service faces that actually, maybe we found out that aren't actually that unique. They're probably similar around the world, but maybe just from your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges that you're facing within the UK fire service right now?

[7:56] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, well, we're talking here, having just listened to Dr. Jen Taylor talk about culture and inclusion in fire and rescue services. And if I was to pick out the one thing having the most public attention, media attention and internal attention in fire and rescue services in the UK at the moment. It's about culture and inclusion, it's about the demographics of the workforce, it's about how do you create a unified workforce, what is the experience of people who are a minority in your fire and rescue service compared to the people who are the majority of the workforce in your fire and rescue service. So I'd say that would be one and the second one I would pick out is seven years ago 72 people lost their lives at the Grenfell Tower fire and we are probably only a few weeks, maybe a couple of months away from the national public inquiry that was set up by the government that sat for many years and closed last year are going to publish their final report into what happened. It's not just focused on the fire and rescue services, focused on the whole of the system that built, refurbished, managed that building, and then obviously when the fire service response when it happened, that report is going to be a watershed moment for the Fire and Rescue Service and many other organizations. When it came out, I think it'll be a once in a career report for most people in the Fire and Rescue Services. So those would be the two I would pick out. What do you think that report will lead to? It'll lead to change. It has to lead to change. If 72 people lost their lives, if nothing else, their legacy has to be a better built environment, a better system that supports the better built environment and it has to support a fire and rescue service who is better able, better prepared to deal with fires in tall buildings in those sets of circumstances. So it has to do one thing and that's bring about change.

[9:38] Kevin Sofen: Yeah well thank you for letting me know about that and elaborating on that and from the other fire service members in the room even hearing from Laura Cavanaugh from MYFD earlier and the sisters different institutions around the world like with what you're leading with the UK Fire Service and in New York and around here where when you speak the world listens so I appreciate your leadership and what you're doing. and just your co-hosting and willing to host in 2026 because there's a lot of work to be done, but I think we can all agree that while there are problems, there's a lot of opportunities for unique solutions that can continue to showcase that the fire service is one of the best careers in the world and that we can continue to protect lives and protect property and continue to have a vibrant, inclusive, diverse workforce within the fire service around the world.

[10:25] Mark Hardingham: Amen to that. Thank you very much.

[10:26] Kevin Sofen: Yeah, thanks Mark for what you're doing and look forward to staying in touch.

[10:29] Mark Hardingham: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Take care.

[10:34] Kevin Sofen: Thanks for listening to today's episode. What did you think? What did you learn? Hopefully something, right? Please reach out on social media with your thoughts on this episode and any other suggestions for future content. We look forward to capturing more important stories across public safety and are here at your service.