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1201 033
Mr. Chris McDaniel
Mr. Samuel Bowers
From: Seth Welker

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Whole Life Concept

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Whole Life Concept Final Paper
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Whole Life Concept Paper

Seth Welker

ETGR 1201-033
Chris McDaniel
November 6, 2015
I have neither given nor received any unauthorized help on this assignment, nor
witnessed any violation of the UNC Charlotte Code of Academic Integrity

Date: November 6, 2015

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Introduction
The purpose of the whole life concept project is to give us a better understanding and
look into the passions that we have as individuals. With this project we are forced to
step back and look at the things we do and enjoy. In doing so, we had to do research
into the topics. Personally, I talked to a fire marshal from Charlotte to get a better
understanding into the job that I may end up in one day. Originally my desired outcome
was to be a career firefighter, but after looking into the options and talking with a fire
marshal, have determined that this is the route I would like to take as professional
career.
Passion
A true passion of my life is being a firefighter. I have always dreamt of being a firefighter
since I was little, and the passion spurred from my grandfather. He was a firefighter in
the Navy and brought his knowledge back to his town and started his own department
for the area. Being around this when I was younger inspired me to become one
someday.
Even though firefighting may have been something I wanted to do since I was little, it
had not been a true passion of mine until recently. In March 2014, I joined Bethany
Volunteer Fire Department. I joined at the age of 16 and right then and I knew that
firefighting is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The first meeting I went to was
on a Thursday night, and it was a business meeting so not much happened. But on the
second night, I spent the entire night doing hose training. I had so much fun with the
hose training that I decided now is going to give it a shot and see how it went. On May

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15, 2014, I was voted in to be a member for Bethany Fire Department. Once I was
voted in, I got to start running the calls with the department. Seen the difference that
you can make in someones day, or potentially, life was enough to make me want to
stick with this. I got into more training through the fire department, and this eventually
led to me wanting to advance my career and look at the options are going full-time
firefighter. The only downside to going into a full-time career is that I can be a firefighter
for life, and I have run the risk of getting injured and not being able to work anymore.
However, I cannot take full credit for making this decision. The people who have
influenced me the most are the ones who helped me make decision. Those people are
my parents. Without them, I would not have attended college, and I would have tried to
go straight into the fire service. Apparently looking out for me, they wanted me to
explore my options and see if there was anything I could do in college for the fire
service. I posted a picture after I joined the fire department, and my uncle saw it and
commented telling me about the fire protection engineering program at UNC Charlotte. I
went on to do some research into the program, and determined that this is where I
wanted to be involved going to be forced into college. Because my parents want me to
look into college and my uncle throughout the idea of the fire protection engineering
program at UNC Charlotte, I think these three individuals the most and attribute them
with a large influence on my passion and its development. Due to confidentiality
required with fire and medical emergencies, I cannot go into specifics, but these calls
and experiencing the change lives of those you help have too influenced my passion.
Every firefighter will have similar experiences as I have had with the service because
that is the nature of the job. However very few people take it much further than wanting

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to help. Most career firefighters stick with the service and do not do anything else. This
is not the route I wanted to take; I want to venture out into the fire marshal career and
attempt to stop fires before they occur. Most firefighters do not take this direction. These
seem to stick with the aftermath of the fire starting and tried to stop the damage from
getting worse. My experiences have let me into wanting to potentially circumvent this
altogether by enforcing the codes that have been set forth.
The three specific impacts I would like to have as the fire marshal would be in improving
fire prevention systems, reducing the damage caused by fires, and reducing the overall
number of fires. By improving fire prevention systems, I mean that I want to improve
equipment such as sprinklers, smoke alarms, and heat detectors. Because of this is
necessary because these are three major things that can either notify and limit the
damage or potentially stop the damage before it gets any worse. This leads into my
second impact: reducing the damage caused by fires. Nobody wants or thinks of fire will
happen to them, but it can be out of humans control at any point. Keeping this in mind,
as an impact, I would like to try to reduce the overall damage of the fire. Even though,
as the fire marshal, I would like to stop all fires from happening, this is a complete farfetched idea. There is no way that you can stop all fires from occurring. Therefore I
would like to attend reduce the number of fires. This ties into my second impact in that I
can reduce the number of fires occurring it will also help reduce the damage that has
been done. I would like to use my passion and knowledge in the fire service to help
make these goals achievable.
Three issues that may affect my impact on society include: increased amount of cheap
flammable materials used, increased hazardous material used, and the overall expense

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of manufacturing safer materials. Cheap flammable materials are being used in furniture
and other items found in the home. These will affect the impact involving the reduction
of damage done by a fire because they are out of control of the fire marshal and
inspectors. The increased hazardous materials refers to power plants and
manufacturing companies. An example of this was the instance of the fertilizer plant in
West Texas. A plants such as this uses hazardous materials that can cause devastating
impacts. If these plants catch on fire, the outcome will be detrimental, as seen in the
fertilizer plant in West Texas. The last issue that will have an influence on the impact I
have with my passion is the expense of the materials. Even though fire retardant
materials may be better to have in your house or business, they can cost more and this
tends to make the owner shy away from using these materials. This leads back to the
first issue in the use of cheap flammable materials. In this instance, it is based on the
overall cost to produce the product.
Knowledge, Application, Skills and Abilities
In order to turn my passion into a career, I will need to have a vast knowledge of the fire
service. A few of the areas I will need to have a proficient knowledge of include codes,
smoke detectors, fire sprinklers, building construction, and combustibility and behavior.
If I do not have the required knowledge in these fields, I may go on a site and clear it for
safety and be incorrect. If I am incorrect and the facility catches on fire due to an
oversight or lack of knowledge I had, I will no longer have a job and I will not have
achieved my impact of reducing fires as previously stated. I will need to have firefighting
skills to help me in the role of a fire marshal. If I know how the firefighter will tackle the
scenario, I can have an idea of what should or should not be present in the aftermath of

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a fire. For clarification, if, as a fire marshal investigating an incident, if know where the
fire originated and how it spread and have the skills of a firefighter and know what
tactics they might use in a fire, I can tell if they caused damage in an area do to
something like spraying water or making an entrance to get to the fire.
As stated previously, I have determined that the Fire Protection Engineering
Technologies program is the best program for me to be in if I want to make a career out
of being a fire marshal. Through the discussion with Fire Marshal Jim Thompson in
Charlotte, he has helped solidify the idea that this is the best route to take. From the
discussion I gathered the information that upon completion of the program, you will have
an Investigator Level 1 certification. There are only four levels and I will come in with
one step up if I complete the degree. My only concerns that I have with the major is,
have I limited my ability upon graduation by picking a narrow field and is this the path I
really want to take. In this program, I will have to take classes like combustion and
behavior, the lab for it, and a fire investigation course. These three examples of courses
will help with the points mentioned in the previous paragraph with what knowledge and
skills I will need to be successful. These classes are designed to give me the resources
needed.
Reflection and Conclusion
My passion is firefighting and from this, my interest in being a career fire marshal has
stemmed from this passion. With the passion I plan on reducing the damage of the fire,
reducing the number of fires, and improving the fire prevention systems needed to aid
the previous two impacts. The project has required me to step back and look at why
firefighting is my passion and what exactly I want to do with it. I was assuming I wanted

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to be a fire marshal, but after talking with Jim Thompson, one of Charlottes fire
marshals, it reinforced the idea that it is what I want to do as a career. I am still sure, if
not even more confident, that the Fire Protection Engineering program is the right path
for me to take to achieve this goal in my life. And finally, I believe that it has helped me
get closer to achieving my plans for the future. I was offered an opportunity to ride with
Thompson and see what exactly the job entailed. From this offer, I can tell that I have an
advantage in making this into a career since I know someone in the field. I am now
more committed to the degree in seeing that it actually has shown signs of becoming a
career and having a bright future for me.