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>> Well I don't know whether or not our next honorary was a boy scout
but I do know he's good at starting a first.
Here to present tonight's Citizen Service Medal is Dr. Patrick Gallagher,
Department of Commerce Acting Deputy Secretary and Director of NIST.
[ Music ]
>> Dr. Patrick Gallagher: Well good evening everybody.
First of all, let me add my thanks to the partnership
for public service and all of its many sponsors.
Thank goodness they take this time to honor our most outstanding citizen servants.
I also want to begin by adding my congratulations
to all of the finalists and awardees.
You honor all of us in government service with your achievement.
So thank you and congratulations.
Today, I have the honor of presenting the work of Dan Madrzykowski, fire researcher in NIST.
For me in my experience, for those working in NIST some of the top scientists in the country,
I noticed two traits that bring them to service.
One is the interesting problems.
Nothing tantalizes a scientist more than a challenging
and interesting intellectual challenge but almost as much
and possibly more is a powerful need to make a difference.
And Dan is a perfect example of that work ethic.
His ingenuity and diligence inspires all of us in this to reach a little higher
and he epitomizes our mission to do science that advances the public interest.
Dan likes telling people that he burns things for a living and he's right.
Dan has conducted top notch fire dynamics research by finding buildings scheduled
for demolition, recreating dangerous fires, analyzing the blazes,
and developing new practices that are used fire departments across the country.
But I should note that Dan spreads the word by teaching numerous courses distributing thousands
of copies of educational videos, operating a popular website for the fire service community,
and serving on 7 standards committees.
So he not only does great science but he's committed to putting that work
into practice every day saving lives.
His work is helping to improve the safety and effectiveness of firefighters.
His work is reducing property loss and most importantly, he is saving lives.
Fighting a fire is hard work but teaching a nation how to fight fires is truly invaluable.
So everybody please join me in seeing a little video about Dan's work.
[ Music ]
>> Dan Madrzykowski: I'm a fire protection engineer
for the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
I currently serve as the leader of the firefighting technology group
which is part of the fire research division.
Fire protection is a field that's advancing and moving pretty quickly.
How can we give them better insight into how that building's going to respond
to when they open the door or if they break that window.
Anything we could do to better their odds,
increase their chances, that's what we want to do.
Well the fire service doesn't fight fires in a laboratory.
So we really had to look at how does a fire in a real structure behave.
We would start to instrument buildings and really get an understanding
of how the fire moved through the building.
We really made a big push with the fire service to help them understand how to control
that fire behavior, how to improve their tactics.
We're there shoulder to shoulder and so once they see these fires
for themselves, they see how the fire behaves.
They see how it responds to different actions.
We have incredible members of the fire service board because they're the ones
that are then standing up and saying you know what we've experienced this
and this is really what happens.
And we need to look at modifying our tactics.
These guys are sort of the ultimate public service, if you will.
They're, for all practical purposes,
willing to sacrifice their life to save somebody else's life.
And I want to do what I can to make sure that they're doing
that in the safest manner possible.
We've all heard that saying that, you know,
if you love what you do you never work a day in your life.
And there is a large amount of truth to that.
[ Music ]
[ Clapping ]
>> Dr. Patrick Gallagher: Please join me in welcoming Dan Madrzykowski,
the 2013 Citizen Services Medalist.
Dan?
[ Clapping ]
>> Dan Madrzykowski: Thank you very much.
It's interesting that somebody told the partnership
about all these presentations that I give to the fire service.
And somebody must've also told them that the shortest one is about 4 hours.
Typical one goes about 8 hours and many of them go on for days.
So with that, they said only 3 sentences, Dan.
So please thank you for this honor.
I'm certainly in a group here that it's hard
to imagine myself being among such great public servants.
It's really been my pleasure to serve the fire protection community and to have a hand
in increasing fire safety for the nation as well as reducing the costs of fire.
I'm really lucky, blessed in a way that I got to work at NIST.
I kind of fell into it through a coop position many years ago.
And NIST is sort of a unique agency in the government.
As I hear these stories, as I was at the luncheon earlier today
and people were talking about, you know, NASA and fires in space.
Well one of our guys worked on fires in microgravity and got to ride the shuttle twice.
With regard to forensics, we have a group that works on cyber security and digital forensics.
And we do some of the forensics for fires.
So there's all these connections.
The Veterans Administration, we're working on helping them improve fire safety for some
of the new convalescent facilities that they're developing for vets returning home.
They need some help.
So it's just amazing how it's all connected together.
And one of the reasons that NIST is such a broad reach is that we have a great diversity
of world class experts, scientists, engineers, mathmeticians, technicians.
Believe me, they make me look good.
Computer programmers and even lawyers to help us do our job, to help [laughter] us get to cities
so we can light buildings on fire.
And of course, I'd be remiss not to mention our administrative support team handling contracts
and the legal matters and what not and the day to day time cards and such.
We'd be lost without them.
I mean NIST is truly a fertile ground where knowledge, passion,
and innovation really come together and are cultivated for the public good.
And I'm very proud to be a part of that.
I've got two families.
I've got the work family.
Some of these folks that I've been working with, my crew, in many cases for more than 20 years
as we travel around the country and light things on fire.
And they get great pleasure when they meet the fire chief for the first time whether it's
in Spartanburg, North Carolina, or the Commissioner of FDNY
and they say oh you're going to like working with Danny.
Well, when we're out in the field like this we only have to work half days, 12 hours.
So to my work family I'm very thankful for their support
and all that they've helped us accomplish.
To the fire departments across the country that are willing to sort of take a chance
and inviting the pointy headed scientists out not quite sure what we're going to do
and after the first day or two of testing, then they really understand
and then they help us design the tests and make them even better.
So it's truly a great relationship.
And last of all, I really need to thank you my wife and my family.
They've put up with me as my career has evolved from sort of just a job to truly a calling,
a vocation, and there's many times that, you know, I'm calling home from the field
and I need something faxed or copied or I left a notebook at home or I need something like that.
Or sometimes, you know, you get those great ideas in the shower just before you're
about to leave and then you nudge your loved ones and say,
hey could you sew some thermal couples on this turnout gear for me?
You know just before I get on the plane.
And thank God, my wife Liz has never said no.
She's always been willing to do that.
[Laughter]
[ Clapping ]
And if you look at the DVD, some of my kids' artwork's in there.
So everybody helps.
I'm standing between you and dessert I believe but next week is fire prevention week.
So everybody please go home, check your smoke alarms,
and make sure you have a good fire extinguisher in the kitchen.
That's the number one cause of fires in the United States.
Thank you very much.
[ Clapping ]