{"id":21619,"date":"2023-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=21619"},"modified":"2023-08-04T06:42:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T06:42:05","slug":"fire-protection-specialist-handles-burning-issues-across-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=21619","title":{"rendered":"Fire protection specialist handles \u2018burning\u2019 issues across Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Sigurd Mack, a fire protection specialist with IMCOM-Europe, said he enjoys learning about other cultures and their fire services as part of his job. Pictured in Poland, where he took a language class in 2022, Mack said he didn’t retain much of the language, but does speak some French and Italian besides being fluent in English and his native German.
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WIESBADEN, Germany \u2013 As a native of Speyer working for U.S. Army Installation Management Command Europe, Sigurd Mack said one thing he enjoys about his job is the opportunity to dive into a different culture and work in a different language. And, as the region\u2019s fire protection specialist, that doesn\u2019t just mean working with Americans, but also coordinating with fire services from each country supported by IMCOM-Europe.<\/p>\n

At the region level, Mack\u2019s said his job is \u201ctaking care of all the burning issues,\u201d and supporting the full bandwidth of garrison fire department operations across Europe. This includes centralized training, equipment procurement, fire prevention, guidance, program management oversight and ensuring Army operations mesh with host nation requirements.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rewarding to see the results of PowerPoint presentations and briefings turn into something physical like new trucks or improvements at the training center, Mack said.<\/p>\n

While his duties at work are administrative in nature, at home Mack has been a volunteer with the Speyer Volunteer Fire Department since 1989. After beginning as a volunteer and doing an apprenticeship as a chimney sweeper, Mack continued his education at a university for applied sciences near Kaiserslautern. He met another German who worked for the U.S. Army, which prompted him to begin his job search from his dorm room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Army was back then lightyears ahead posting all job announcements on the web. That’s how I found out about the job in W\u00fcrzburg, and that\u2019s how I applied for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the garrison at W\u00fcrzburg and a position with the medical command, Mack moved on to IMCOM-Europe in 2003. Since then, he said he\u2019s had opportunities many within fire services don\u2019t get.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally get to see and understand how firefighters in different countries operate,\u201d Mack said. \u201cYeah, I’m basically crossing the pond every morning to dive into a different culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his training, Mack has had opportunities not only to figuratively cross \u201cthe pond\u201d when he comes through the gate to work each morning, but he\u2019s also traveled to the U.S., Italy, Poland and Belgium to learn more about their departments and systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou simply have to know and understand how your partners are working \u2026 first you\u2019ve got to understand their systems, where they\u2019re coming from. Then you put your systems in their compartments, their boxes. That\u2019s often very challenging, again, you learn a whole lot, and you get more in-depth knowledge,\u201d Mack said. \u201cIt just broadens your bandwidth, and a very few people in the fire service, have that opportunity to get that broad spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrison fire departments across Europe work closely with their host nation partners to ensure the safety of their communities. To learn more about opportunities in fire services with the U.S. Army, visit https:\/\/portal.chra.army.mil\/mnrs<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sigurd Mack, a fire protection specialist with IMCOM-Europe, said he enjoys learning about other cultures and their fire services as part of his job. Pictured in Poland, where he took a language class in 2022, Mack said he didn’t retain much of the language, but does speak some French and Italian besides being fluent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21621,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21622,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21619\/revisions\/21622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}