I have unilaterally appointed myself as the president of the Brian Humphrey Fan Club. Brian is the Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman, currently one of two firefighters covering all of the department’s media and public relations activities around the clock (on different shifts). More importantly (for our purposes here), Brian started the LAFD News & Information blog, and in so doing has set the bar for other public agencies to follow in using social media to serve their communities.

While his colleagues help to contribute posts to the blog when he is off duty, the blog is really his baby. The posts are most often summaries of incident reports, describing a recent firefighting or rescue operation in vivid detail (and they are sometimes used verbatim in local news reports). Other times he talks about timely safety issues, helpful resources or upcoming LAFD events.

Anyone who reads blogs about the city of Los Angeles (e.g., LA Observed, Metroblogging LA) has likely seen comments from Brian on posts related to the LAFD or safety issues, written in his usual friendly and helpful style (and always with his signature sign-off, “Respectfully Yours in Safety and Service, Brian Humphrey”). Even when people are griping or downright nasty on his or other blogs, Brian always responds with good humor, sympathy and a genuine desire to be of assistance.

I am definitely not Brian’s only fan. He was recently named the LA City Nerd’s Citizen of the Year, and when he recently announced that he had to put the blog on temporary hiatus in order to catch up with a backlog of reports due to a staff shortage, a sampling of the many comments that were posted demonstrate how valuable people find the blog (which gets more than 500,000 direct visitors a year, not counting those tapping the feed):

• I look forward to the speedy return of this resource, one of the best direct information outlets in the entire city. I have written about the LAFD blog in my blog, as have many others and it is seen as a great, respected resource by many.
• Please bring the blog back soon, I feel closer to my community and Los Angeles with this blog, and have never felt so before. If there is anything we citizens can do to make it happen, I am there to help!
• As a LAFD CERT [Ed. – Community Emergency Response Team] Member, I too love reading this blog which keeps us in the loop of what is going around the city. At a recent CERT meeting other members were also bummed out to hear about the blog hiatus….It’s a great source of information.

I got in touch with the very busy Brian to ask him some questions about what he has been doing with the blog and other social media, and he was kind enough to find some time to answer my questions.

Can you tell me about what your role is at the LAFD? What was the professional path you took to get where you are (i.e., did you start as a firefighter, public information professional or something completely different)?

I am a Paramedic-trained Firefighter and 21 year veteran of the LAFD. At our agency, it is expected that each member will at one time or another volunteer to serve in the handful of ‘special duty’ positions that support our mission. Most LAFD special duty assignments last no more than two years. I’ve been asked to serve in a media and public relations role for the past thirteen, and will continue to do so at the pleasure of the Fire Chief. Though all of my training has been on the job, I’m proud to say that I’ve been well mentored.

How did you become the LAFD blogger? Whose idea was it to start the blog?

To most of my colleagues and our constituents, my fire helmet hides the fact that I am a genuine ‘propeller-head’ who enjoys technology, especially when it can be leveraged to alert, inform and reassure the public in times of duress. My many years of on-line work in support of our LAFD.ORG website and my genuine desire to focus on content rather than design brought forth the increasingly popular ‘LAFD News & Information’ blog, which I started in late 2004.

What do you see as the primary purposes of the blog?

While the purpose of our blog has become malleable, the key goal remains to offer timely and accurate information in an appealing manner that can help people lead safer, healthier and more productive lives.

How are you using other social media besides the blog to get the word out about the LAFD, like Flickr, YouTube, MySpace or other applications?

We have developed quite a following at Flickr, with more than a third-of-a-million image views this year. Our established LAFD YouTube Channel, LAFD BlogTalkRadio and *countless* other Web 2.0 projects merely await the staff time necessary to become equally successful. We’d love to take them all to their full potential, and consider them wonderful investments, but it will take more staff to make that happen.

How widespread within the LAFD or other Los Angeles City agencies is knowledge and interest in blogs and other social media?

Until last year, most members of our Department – like those they serve, merely saw our LAFD News & Information blog (which is seamlessly attached to our LAFD.ORG website), as routinely updated web content.
With the advent of RSS and the ability to syndicate or mashup our offerings, more and more Firefighters understand the principles and power of the blog. Sadly, many City of Los Angeles agencies have been late in formally adopting blogs and social media, as they have shunned my most loudly applauded admonition: “We can no longer afford to work at the speed of government!”

Are there others you are working with in the department, or are you the primary person responsible for these activities?

The LAFD has only three persons permanently assigned to the Public and Media Relations desk to provide service around the clock, every day of the year. We each cover a 56-hour minimum work week identical to our colleagues at Neighborhood Fire Stations. Like the crews at the Fire Station, we each have our specialties, mine being the blog – but my colleagues pitch in with content when I’m gone. Our primary roles though, are informing the public, the news and entertainment industries, academia, allied agencies and our own members about the workings of our Department and vocation on a daily basis. For every blog post you might see, we’ve done a hundred or more interviews for radio, television and print media around the globe.

How much of your time do you devote to this part of your job?

Do I have to answer that question? Let me say that I rarely spend less than 19 hours of my tour of duty at the desk multitasking. And yes, given the nature of our work, it is a passion that is both energizing and exhausting.

Some of your posts read like the plot of a TV show, with a level of detail that make it easy to visualize the scenes (like your post on the helicopter crews).

Thanks for your kind words regarding our endeavors. I say ‘our’ because in the Fire Service, it’s all about teamwork. If I do something correctly I must rightfully share the credit. If we do something wrong, I must be willing to take the blame. It may not be my fault, but as a Firefighter it becomes my problem to solve.

I sadly wasn’t able to afford a formal education, so I read everything I can get my hands on, and I think that helps. In our vocation, co-workers never hold back on criticism or compliments, so I get the benefit of continuous feedback that I always put to use.

How do you get the stories you post on? Do you go out in the field, listen to the radio communications, read the written reports?

All of the above. Though I hold the lowest rank in the Department, those who skillfully lead our agency understand the importance of effective internal and external communications, and work outside the our typical Chain of Command to see that I get what I need in a timely and efficient manner. Thinking of the old film and television series M*A*S*H, I’m sort of the ‘Radar O’Reilly’ character played so effectively by actor Gary Burghoff. I may exist and at times speak among the Colonels, but I’m just the Company Clerk helping to make things happen.

Are you deliberately crafting the posts to get that emotional connection from the reader or to convey a safety message within the story?

Our most effective messages are real world examples that resonate strongly in both the heart and mind. It is indeed these rare but memorable missives – sometimes offered in the context of a calamity, that help people towards safer, healthier and more productive lives.

Do you work at all with writers on TV shows or screenwriters to help them portray the work of firefighters accurately?

Oh do I! I’d say that at least five full hours a week are spent on the phone, e-mail and sometimes in person helping the myriad of entertainment industry professionals from writers to costumers accurately portray our vocation, which in itself is quite complex. And its not just TV and film. A typical week will have us working with everyone from film students to romance novel writers, all of whom seem to have at least a passing interest in the work that we do.

What other PR or marketing strategies does the LAFD use to try to persuade the public to take action for safety, disaster preparedness and fire prevention?

To a person, members of our Department realize that we are not judged merely by our admirable emergency response efforts, but also by our daily encounters with those who must know we’ll be there for them, should the need arise. While we have developed many excellent programs right here in Los Angeles, such as the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program, which is now the global standard for community self-reliance and disaster preparedness – much needs to be done for our formal marketing and outreach strategies that continue to languish in this information age.

How much resistance have you encountered from the bureaucracy to sharing information about the LAFD’s activities through the blog?

Thankfully, our Fire Chiefs past and present have been supportive, and we always welcome feedback from the public and our colleagues. We’re always accountable for what we do, and they have yet to say stop.

Have you run up against any legal issues or concerns about making certain kinds of information public? Are there other challenges you’ve faced as a blogger for a public agency?

Sadly, there is no access to any manner of ‘new media’ savvy legal and technical help within our realm. We have however, been blessed with plenty of advice and expertise from members of LA’s well-established blogging community.

One of the things I am most impressed with is how you have become part of the blogging community here in LA, leaving comments on other people’s blogs and responding to comments on your blog. What has been the response of other bloggers and blog readers to your posts and comments?

Delving into the blogoshere (there, I used the word!) has allowed us not to merely speak to others more effectively and efficiently, but most importantly it has allowed to better listen. It never ceases to amaze me how few public agencies realize the importance and potential of listening while atop the mountain, rather than just being there to make noise.

Do you know of other public agencies in LA or elsewhere that are also trailblazers in using social media? Are there any firefighters who blog about their jobs in an unofficial capacity?

I have to offer a tip o’ the LAFD helmet to Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who has embraced and supported our efforts while leading us by the example of his own blogging. As for Fire Departments, I find precious few. On the other hand, there are a few Firefighters who post on blogs.

How do you see blogging fitting into a public agency’s overall outreach strategy?

If you want to be successful in fulfilling your agency mission, you have to communicate. Blogging tools make it among the most affordable and productive mediums for communication. Trust me.

For people at other public agencies who may be considering starting a blog, what advice would you offer?

Lurk for at least six months before you blog, then get your team together, and make it happen. People want access and transparency, and they ultimately come to understand that a blog is a work in progress. They will become both your mentors and your apostles if you let them.

Are you ready to join the fan club now too? Meetings will be every Wednesday at noon at a different firehouse each week. 🙂

Brian invited me to come visit him in the LAFD’s bunker four floors underground in City Hall to see the dispatch center where the City’s fire and medical 911 calls are handled. I don’t want this to get too long, so I will continue the story of my LAFD field trip in a separate post soon, with more on Brian and the other amazing people he works with, some interesting tidbits on what I learned about how the 911 system works, and a few pictures.

UPDATE (3/1/07): Here is my look behind the scenes at LAFD.

Technorati Tags: lafd, los angeles, fire department, blogging, blog, government, marketing

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