BY DIANE FELDMAN
Bill Manning recently made the decision to step down as editor in chief of Fire Engineering to pursue other interests. I asked Fire Engineering’s three technical editors to reflect on his 17-year career at PennWell. Here is what they had to say:
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Tom Brennan recalls:
“We’ll bury you in one more year.”
“There will be only two fire magazines soon, and Fire Engineering won’t be one of them!”
These were just two of the quotes I heard when I left FDNY for the position of editor of this magazine in 1983. Dunn & Bradstreet held onto us as one of its least successful ventures, but it was a historic and sentimental product for the multi-magazine conglomerate.
I had a staff that was totally dedicated to the principles of editorial excellence and integrity. Jackie Cox tried to teach me all she knew about journalism, and I tried to teach her about the fire service I just left and she protectively loved so.
Jackie left, and we still were a 60-page magazine that couldn’t even pay for itself. I needed help.
A tall and stocky-like-a-linebacker man came in for an interview. “I don’t know anything about the fire service, but I love magazine work and have a great deal of dedication,” he said (greatly underestimating himself). “Good enough for me; let’s do it,” I answered.
The next to come onboard was Diane Feldman. She had basically the same background, and Bill wanted me to conduct her “interview.” Seeing the same commitment I saw in Bill, I said, “Forget all the #$@@#$%%-the job is yours if you want it.” Bill stormed out of my office, angry for the first of about a million times because we hadn’t discussed it.
Well there we were, me talking fire and getting people who seemed to know what they were talking about to participate and the “staff of two” to get everything else done!
When I left a few years later, they knew a lot more about the fire service, had more friends than they ever dreamed they would, and had enhanced all aspects of journalism and production with the magazine. They still had “not enough people or funds,” but dedication and hard work were infectious.
Bill asked me once after going with me to a New Jersey training center for a speech, “How do you learn to talk to people like that? I could never do it.”
“Talk about only what you know, and love who you’re talking to,” I answered.
That was then, and this is now.
The flag of the magazine has grown in every way possible. From its grand scale, abundant pages, and slick look to its lofty position at the head of conferences and seminars and workshops around the world-all in the hands of “this guy” who thought he could never make an impromptu speech.
In taking over the largest fire service conference in America a few years ago, the Fire Department Instructors Conference, the challenge to Bill and the (too-small) staff was to “keep it going, at least.” Well, the first year the show changed hands it became bigger and better than ever. Bill’s leadership and his staff’s support had all saying, “How did you do it?”
Bill had taken the magazine and its networking everywhere. He was not only pushing for fire service excellence in communication to its members but took it into the halls of local, state, and federal governments; he showed up at all committees and assemblies that were trying to influence the outcome of fire departments’ ability to serve. Those that were positive received printed accolades, and those negative knew how bad you could be made to feel with some ink and a pen.
He brought home the most prestigious of journalistic awards, the Neal Award, to the magazine after the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. Who can ever forget the shock he tossed to the world of magazine production and journalism with his “White Cover”?
He wrote his editorials and speeches at the last minute-literally with midnight oil-and he was good at it. He became the champion of information and leadership in all aspects of fire service excellence-and he had the best at his side to do that part.
I long ago realized just why he looked so massive standing in the broken doorway to my office when I first met him. It was so he could carry around his massive heart, a heart that kept growing with nurturing, interest, dedication, pressure from all aspects of what the magazine represents today, and certainly from love.
Anyone who has ever met Bill can remember the quick interest, the ability to make you know that he understands or will work hard to know “the next time,” and almost all walk away knowing they have met a new friend, a professional, a fire service leader. How can anyone in or around this business not, after reading his editorials month after month, interacting in any professional or social event, witnessing the excellence that has become the personalized FDIC in Indy, hearing him passionately deliver his own “Sea of Blue,” or watching in awe as he became transfixed and ethereal as he stood alone on a stage playing his guitar and singing through a tear-stained face “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”?
He has done more than one man has ever done for this fire service-unselfishly, exhaustingly, with not enough time or help or economics. He learned that in this business, when you reach farther than you dreamed, there are so many more hands reaching back to pull you along and still others to push your back and applaud your efforts.
The business of journalism may find it easy to move on, but we in the fire service never will. The bucket of water on the floor now has a hole in the surface as Bill Manning leaves Fire Engineering and the service he longed to be accepted as part of. I can only stand in awe at the journey he took us on and the places he showed us, the stories he helped us and “them” understand, and what he has left in his wake.
Glenn P. Corbett recalls:
A few years ago during the millennium celebration, Fire Engineering participated in a retrospective look at the most influential people in fire service history. Familiar names like Tom Brennan, Frank Brannigan, Alan Brunacini, and Jim Page immediately came to mind while other “historical figures” like Fred Shepperd and John Freeman jumped out of the dusty history books and onto the list. I think, in time, we will add one more name: Bill Manning.
Although not a firefighter, Bill has had a profound influence on the fire service over the past pivotal 17 years. His editorials have moved mountains, altering the fire service landscape for our collective good. Although the motto of “Training the Fire Service” has been on the front cover of Fire Engineering for the past several years, I advocated (unsuccessfully with Bill) that we return to the motto “Leading the Fire Service.” The reason was simple: Bill’s editorial leadership.
Who could forget the “White Cover,” a blank white front page with just the Fire Engineering logo? After numerous “Where’s Waldo, the safety infraction firefighter?” letters to the editor complaining about open coats and missing gloves, he gave them what they wanted: a perfect firefighting scene with no slip-ups. Firefighting is a dangerous business, one filled with imperfections. He wanted the Monday morning quarterbacks to study the cover photo of somebody else’s fire to learn from it, not criticize it.
Bill agonized over other covers, including the recreation of an actual incident in which a deceased Denver firefighter was trapped in an office building. In the end, he went with his gut. Showing the picture would be hurtful to some but would grab everyone’s attention. That photo spurred many to action, resulting in several “Saving Our Own”-type training programs nationwide.
He spotlighted a myriad of problems nationwide. “How White Is Your Helmet?” probably made more than one fire chief think twice about how much time he was spending in the office instead of out in the field with the troops. He documented the shortcomings of the NFIRS software development process and took the federal government and Underwriters Laboratories to task for inaction for failing to respond to the Omega sprinkler head recall debacle. The list of influential editorials is practically endless.
Perhaps his most courageous stand took place a few years ago during the debate over the FIRE Act. After seeing lackluster and pathetic support from the primary fire service organizations-he called them the “anointed seven”-he rallied the troops to get their representative organizations in gear and get behind the bill. Could you imagine a fire service without the FIRE Act?
The fire service today is better because of you, Bill. It will be difficult to find someone of your caliber to take on the issues that continue to affect us today and those that will arise in the future. Fire Engineering has had a long and proud history, and Bill Manning is a big part of that legacy.
John “Skip” Coleman recalls:
We all know how people in our profession accept “outsiders.” We all know and love many “outsiders.” Most of us probably know and socialize with more “outsiders” than brothers and sisters on “the job.” But very rarely do we accept an “outsider” as one of our own. Even less frequently do we listen to or solicit advice from an “outsider.” Bill Manning is one of those rare cases. Bill had the ability to not only relate to us, but he also had the understanding and compassion to become our voice. And Bill was our voice. Bill became one of our own.
I know very few people who possess the talents that Bill possesses. His best abilities come in the form of communication. Not only could he put thought to word and do so in an entertaining and enlightening manner, but he could also hold the interest of thousands of firefighters (which is no small feat in itself) and make them laugh one minute and sob the next. He also has a musical talent that is not used nearly to the extent that it should be. I will never forget his rendition of “New York State of Mind” at FDIC 2002. It was the right song by the right person at the right time. Bill has a variety of ways to get you to “think.”
Bill Manning loved and respected our profession. He fought tirelessly for us nationally and sought to provide us with knowledge and education through his editorials, the magazine as a whole, and the hands-on training and classroom training at FDIC, FDIC West, and FDIC East. He did it all with his soft voice, vision, and veracity.
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My recollections of working with Bill Manning ….
My first clue as to Bill Manning’s work ethic was at my initial job interview with Fire Engineering. It was 5:30 p.m., and everyone else had gone home for the day except Bill. “Burning the midnight oil” was the norm for him, I would soon find out. Whether he was agonizing over an editorial, a speech, or an article, he would spend as much time as it took to get it right, deadlines be damned!
I remember the early years: A one-room office with our desks adjacent to one another-my trying to conduct phone interviews for the News in Brief section and his trying to edit with his hands over his ears, as if that could block out the noise. He used to say fondly when we had our own offices far apart from each other in later years that he could still hear me loud and clear-without the intercom.
I also remember the early faces of the fire service we came to know together: Ray Downey, Andy Fredericks, Scott Millsap-who helped shape us as editors, as “members” of the fire service, and as the people we are today. We laughed at their jokes and cried at their funerals. They are a constant reminder to us that firefighting is a dangerous business. They continue to influence our editorial content and motivate us to continue in our mission to keep Fire Engineering’s readers as prepared and as safe as possible.
Bill’s legacy was his passion. He instilled in the readers of his editorials, in his audiences at FDIC, and in his staff members his passion for all things fire service. He really taught us to love what we do and the people we work with, and he constantly reminded us of the big picture-not to “sweat the small stuff” but to fight for and believe in the “big stuff.”
He left his indelible mark on the fire service and on Fire Engineering. Editors come and editors go, but their good deeds and actions are immeasurable and will always be remembered.
