Fire Chief John Oates Named New CEO of IPSDI
Will Focus on Data Science: Improving, Enhancing Public Safety Resource, Deployment, Operations, and Firefighter Health and Safety
John H. Oates, former fire chief of the East Hartford Fire Department in Connecticut, has
been named the new CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute by the
organization’s board of directors. Oates replaces Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, who was
appointed to lead the U.S. Fire Administration by President Joe Biden in October.
“Educating fire departments around the country on how to leverage technology and data
to provide lifesaving insights is my mission,” said Oates. “We can’t keep using 1981
procedures, techniques and data to solve 2021 problems. The fire service needs to improve
how it views and applies information in its decision making, and IPSDI has two products
in NFORS and FireCARES that are uniquely positioned to help rethink the future of safety
in communities across America.”
According to Oates, the FireCARES tool, using data collected by the National Fire
Operations Reporting System (NFORS), is the most comprehensive way for fire
departments, community leaders and government officials to develop a community safe
grade score and understand ways to help improve how they respond to emergencies.
“Working with a broad team of experts, I plan to coach local public safety agencies on
ways to gather, organize and translate data into action, improving how they evaluate
risks, deploy resources and respond to emergencies, ultimately to keep their communities
safe,” said Oates.
At the same time, Oates notes the importance of keeping firefighters safe as well. “It is
well known that more firefighters are dying every year from exposures to toxic chemicals
than in their duties of handling daily emergencies,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it is a
simple car crash, a building fire or a pandemic or active shooter, the work is more
challenging than ever before, and its imperative that firefighters use the exposure tracker
app to create their personal, safe and protected career diary. This diary can be critical to
saving lives in the future.”
“Chief Oates is an exceptional leader with a proven track record of execution in
high-stress and high-performing public safety arenas,” said IPSDI Interim CEO and Board
Secretary William Jenaway. “He is an effective communicator, talented educator and
skilled fire ground commander. Chief Oates is a savvy manager who clearly understands
the need for data and the intelligence it imparts to the fire service to make a community
safer.”
In his 13-year tenure heading the East Hartford department, Oates amplified focus on
health, wellness and safety of firefighters, understanding that is the key to keeping a
community safe. He enlarged paramedic training, implemented electronic patient care
reporting, enhanced revenue recovery by more than 55% from emergency medical service
billing, wrote successful Assistance to Firefighter Grant applications, upgraded planning
and operations for mass gathering events, and improved fireground operational
effectiveness and safety.
He served as the president of the Connecticut Career Fire Chiefs’ Association and held
various positions with national fire organizations, including the National Fallen
Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), the First Responder Center for Excellence, National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) committees (including NFPA 3000™), and as an
implementation specialist with Dr. Sara Jahnke and the Center for Fire, Rescue & EMS
Health Research.
Oates is a longtime contributor to the NFFF’s Everyone Goes Home® program. He serves
as a member of the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee created by the First
Responder Center for Excellence, an NFFF-affiliated organization. He also is a member of
the NFPA 3000 Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response Technical Committee and the
Technical Committee for Safety at Motorsports Venues (NFPA 610), where he served as
chairman from 2005 until 2016.
He has a B.S. from Franklin Pierce University, an M.S. from Oklahoma State University, is
a graduate of the U.S. Fire Administration’s Executive Fire Officer Program and holds
numerous professional certifications.
About IPSDI
The IPSDI mission is to enhance public safety resource deployment, operations, and firefighter
health and safety by using data analytics to provide actionable lifesaving insights. The IPSDI team
includes fire service leaders, researchers, developers and data scientists. Available IPSDI data tools
include FireCARES, NFORS Analytics and the NFORS Exposure Tracker. The IPSDI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit data science and research organization formed
by a collaboration of fire service, research, policy and academic organizations. More information
can be found at www.i-psdi.org.
Contact
Scott Treibitz
703-626-1407
www.i-psdi.org
Twitter @TheIPSDI
Facebook @TheIPSDI
