Keynote speaker Matthew Byrne (center), of the Office of Homeland Security, with a plaque commemorating his visit to UMUC. With him (from left) are JoAnne Hildebrand, UMUC fire science program; Gerald Heeger, UMUC president; Ron Siarnicki, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation; and Patricia Toregas, Alumni Association president.

First President's Breakfast Forum Focuses on Fire Science

By Andrea Martino

UMUC's first President's Breakfast Forum, on December 13, 2002, came together like a perfectly choreographed play, yet none of the players knew the others' parts. The younger man—Matthew Stevens—spoke of his dreams; the older—Michael Byrne—reminisced about having similar dreams and seeing them come true, and shared words of wisdom from his own mentor, who was lost on September 11, 2001.

It was no ordinary breakfast meeting. There was no restlessness in members of the audience, who listened intently to a discussion of possible alliances in fire science between UMUC and the business community.

The fire science program is a jewel in UMUC's crown, graduating students from as far away as Utah (1982), Maine (1983), Texas (1985), and Arizona (1987) years before coursework was made available online. UMUC military students who are firefighters in the U.S. military serve aboard aircraft carriers and on bases worldwide.

It quickly became clear that, for the speakers at the Breakfast Forum, public service was not a job or profession so much as a calling, one that generations before them heeded as well.

"My love for the fire service goes back to my grandfather who was a volunteer firefighter with the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department in St. Mary's County, Maryland," said Stevens, who at age 22 was appointed deputy state fire marshal, demonstrating his expertise not only in fire prevention but in investigating fire origins and as a law enforcement officer, as well.

But even that was not enough for Stevens. He earned an associate's degree in fire science at Charles County Community College, and when he discovered UMUC's fire science program—just next door to the Waldorf firehouse at the Waldorf outreach center—you might say the online program just fell in his lap.

First, though, Stevens had to determine how he would pay for college. Thanks in large part to a lot of hard work, he was able to obtain scholarships from District 28 Delegates Thomas Hutchins and Van Mitchell, from the Maryland State Firemen's Association, and tuition reimbursement from the Maryland Higher Education Commission for firefighters who major in fire science or a related field. The Charles County Volunteer Fireman's Association helped out with its book reimbursement program.

"What is so poignant about Matthew Stevens' story is not just that he has accomplished so much at such a young age," said UMUC President Gerald Heeger; "it is that young men and women like him need to work so diligently to find the proper resources for higher education that would help them better serve their communities. People like him deserve better; they deserve more support from us. That is the purpose of this and future breakfast forums at UMUC. We want to help make these and other connections for our students."

Byrne, the keynote speaker and senior director for response and recovery in the newly formed Office of Homeland Security, agreed.

"We're past the time of letting business continue as is, because September 11 showed us too many lives are at stake," he said. "We know the threat. We have to think outside the box on delivery mechanisms for training. We have to reach out into institutions like UMUC and exploit them."

Byrne, whose public safety career began in 1979 with the Fire Department of New York and who responded to the 1993 terror attack on the World Trade Center, began work last year in the Office of Homeland Security.

"One of the key things is to provide a vision for change," said Byrne. "I haven't seen a system more complex than public safety in this country. I don't think we fully understand the cascade of effects when we apply change to that system."

Using fire service as an example, Byrne cited the numbers of structural fires in New York City's five boroughs alone—60,000 in 1960 and 180,000 in 1976—to emphasize the importance of fire service becoming "a true discipline with common students, language, and understanding."

"When you've got a workload that is magnified this way, you have to speak the same language," said Byrne. "Now that there's a common doctrine, a firefighter from the Bronx can help with a call in Brooklyn. That's the same kind of thinking we need now in public safety. It is critical that we move out of the local mentality and cross lines into county, state, and federal jurisdictions in every area of public safety, pointing to firefighters and emergency service personnel from across the country helping at Ground Zero after September 11.

"After all," Byrne continued, "if a community the size of New York City, with its approximately 15,000-member fire department, needed help on September 11, is there any community in the world that wouldn't?"