International High-Rise Operations Conference Announces Five-Day Research-Driven Training Event
November 9–13, 2026 | Pensacola Beach, Florida
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — The International High-Rise Operations Conference (IHROC), in partnership with County Fire Tactics and High-Rise Firefighting, will deliver a five-day, research-driven training program from November 9–13, 2026, in Pensacola Beach, Florida.
This will not be a sit-in-the-chair-and-check-the-box conference.
IHROC 2026 will bring together firefighters, instructors, researchers, incident commanders, authors, podcasters, videographers, and international fire service leaders from across North America and around the world. The purpose is simple: study high-rise firefighting, test what we think we know, put firefighters to work, time the tasks, collect the data, and build better operational models for the next fire.
The modern high-rise fire is not getting easier. Buildings are taller, systems are more complex, staffing models are different, fires are moving faster, and the distance between the hydrant and the fire floor still belongs to the firefighters who have to make the stretch.
Over five days, IHROC will collect measurable performance data across 14 critical high-rise operational challenges.
A Research-Driven Approach: Time to Task
At IHROC, firefighters will not just talk about high-rise operations. They will work through them.
Participants will operate in an integrated training and research environment that includes:
- Classroom instruction examining fire dynamics, deployment models, situational factors, incident command, and operational science.
- Hands-on circuit training involving WET and DRY evolutions across 14 scenario-based challenges.
- Time-to-task evaluations focused on standpipe operations, vertical movement, water supply, wind-impacted fires, smoke movement, lithium-ion battery hazards, and complex high-rise tactical problems.
- Improvised standpipe operations, including interior and exterior coupling-drop methods.
- Working-group analysis using tactical models, dioramas, international case studies, and data collected during the hands-on evolutions.
The final day will be dedicated to structured analysis and international collaboration. The findings are intended to support future tactical models, academic research, incident command development, and evidence-informed high-rise firefighting practices.
This is training with a purpose. The goal is not to prove who is fast, who is strong, or who has the best patch on their sleeve. The goal is to understand how long critical tasks actually take when real firefighters, from real departments, work through real high-rise problems.
A Study That Reflects Today’s Fire Service
IHROC welcomes firefighters with different levels of experience, training backgrounds, staffing models, departmental systems, and physical-fitness profiles.
That is intentional.
The fire service is not made up of one type of firefighter from one type of department. High-rise fires are handled by career departments, combination departments, large urban departments, smaller municipal departments, and crews with different resources, procedures, staffing, and equipment.
Meaningful operational research has to reflect that reality.
A broad participant base will help show how different crews, staffing configurations, equipment packages, and command systems perform under complex vertical-response conditions.
The Green Army, instructors, evaluators, logistics personnel, spouses, and support members will play a critical role in recording times, documenting observations, supporting scenario flow, and capturing the information needed for the case study.
This data collection matters. What gets timed can be studied. What gets studied can be improved. What gets improved can save firefighters and civilians when the next high-rise job goes sideways.
Dr. Katherine Lamb, founder and CEO of K Lamb Associates and a respected authority on incident command training and assessment, will assist in examining the data collected during the event.
Three Conferences in One
This year’s event will bring together IHROC, Water on the Fire, and Battalion Boot Camp, creating a demanding and exciting week of training, logistics, media, instruction, and operational research.
The Green Army will be busy supporting all three conferences throughout the week. There will be multiple tracks, speakers, evolutions, book signings, podcasts, video interviews, hands-on training stations, and a lot of moving pieces.
That is exactly what makes this event different.
It will be busy. It will be loud. It will be organized chaos at times. But it will also be one of the most practical, firefighter-driven high-rise training events being delivered.
Five-Day Program
Monday, November 9 — MAYDAY
Day One will focus on Mayday events and firefighter emergencies in complex vertical environments.
Multiple speakers will share operational lessons, critical decisions, near misses, and firsthand experiences from significant high-rise and complex-building incidents.
This portion of the program is shaping up to be one of the most powerful parts of the week. These are not just stories. These are lessons paid for by firefighters who found themselves in trouble, crews who had to solve problems under pressure, and departments willing to share what others need to hear.
Additional details about the speakers will be released separately in the IHROC MAYDAY media announcement.
Tuesday, November 10 — Improvised Standpipe Operations
The day will begin with classroom instruction, followed by afternoon hands-on evolutions.
Teams of three will complete DRY tactical rotations involving:
- Hallway and floor-below hose stretches
- Interior and exterior improvised standpipes
- Interior and exterior coupling-drop methods
- Stairwell operations
- Time-to-task evaluations
These evolutions are designed to examine what happens when crews have to think, move, adapt, and solve problems in the vertical environment.
Tuesday evening: Corley Moore of Firehouse Vigilance will present The SCRAP LIVE.
Wednesday, November 11 — Deployment and Tactics
Teams of two will participate in WET circuit training involving 14 time-to-task operational challenges.
The timed evolutions will examine water supply, standpipe system operations, equipment deployment, vertical movement, system troubleshooting, and tactical decision-making.
This is where theory meets sweat. Firefighters will move equipment, stretch lines, solve problems, and generate the data needed to better understand the true timing of high-rise operations.
Thursday, November 12 — Complex High-Rise Tactics
Teams of three will address emerging and high-consequence operational challenges, including:
- Wind-impacted fire conditions
- Lithium-ion battery incidents and exposure protection
- Search operations
- Ventilation and smoke-control strategies
- Exterior cladding fires
- Flanking tactics
- Electric-vehicle fires in underground parking structures
These are the problems that are already showing up in today’s buildings. IHROC is designed to bring them into the training environment before firefighters are forced to solve them for the first time at three in the morning.
Friday, November 13 — Working-Group Analysis and International Presentations
The final day will bring participants, instructors, researchers, and international speakers together for a comprehensive review of the week’s findings.
Collected data, participant observations, instructor feedback, and operational lessons will be examined through structured working groups to help inform future research, training programs, and high-rise operational models.
This is where the week comes together. The goal is to leave with more than sore legs and good stories. The goal is to leave with evidence, observations, questions, and direction for the future of high-rise firefighting.
Special Features and Media Coverage
Each training day will include opportunities for participants, instructors, and guests to share knowledge and continue the conversation.
Planned features include:
- Evening socials, with the standing reminder: enjoy the night, but be ready to work in the morning.
- Corley Moore of Firehouse Vigilance hosting a Vigilante Party.
- Book signings open to all participants.
- Instructor and participant interviews with Scott Hewlett of Multiple Calls Podcast.
- Video interviews and vodcast features with Chris Logan, host of The Fire Sprinkler Podcast.
- High-rise ventilation and smoke-movement demonstrations with Kent Gallant, who will bring a working high-rise building model capable of demonstrating smoke travel and ventilation impacts.
- Book availability and author participation involving Corley Moore, Mike Terpak, Dave McGrail, Mike Ciampo, Dennis Riley, Jack Murphy, and Jerry Tracy.
- From the Book of Search: Mike Ciampo, Jimmy Davis, Clark Lamping, Brent Brooks, Mo Davis and other surprise drop-ins from the book.
The smoke-movement model will provide a strong connection to the ventilation discussions and will be especially valuable with John Ceriello joining the program with his ventilation instruction.
International Participation
IHROC is built around a simple truth: high-rise firefighting does not belong to one city, one country, or one department.
Firefighters around the world are facing many of the same building features, fire protection systems, vertical travel problems, staffing challenges, and command decisions.
The 2026 event will include an international group of contributors, including Gerald Mann from Australia, Thomas Philipp from Germany and Brent Brooks from Canada. Their involvement helps strengthen the global conversation around high-rise operations, firefighter safety, occupant survival, and practical solutions.
Our host, Curt Isakson has brought in other presenters and instructors include Anthony Rowett, Daryl Liggins, Kyle Smith, Jason Jones, Martin Rafacz, Clark Lamping, Todd Edwards, Dave McGrail, Daryl Liggins, Jimmy Davis, Patrick Doyle, Mike Ciampo, Kyle Saxton, Alain Rancourt, Mike Cornelius, Todd Edwards, Mike Terpak, Dan Mishler, Driver Joe Wisz, Brent Brooks, John Evans, Jerry Tracy, Jack Murphy, Dr. Katherine Lamb, John Ceriello, Scott Hewlett, Chris Logan, Kent Gallant, Corley Moore, Andy Plofkin
Registration Information
Registration will be managed through County Fire Tactics at:
www.countyfiretactics.com
Conference information and program updates will also be available at:
www.highrisefirefighting.com
Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodations. Conference fees support the venue, equipment procurement, consumable materials, research needs, media support, and the logistical requirements necessary to conduct the hands-on evolutions safely and effectively.
About IHROC
The International High-Rise Operations Conference is committed to advancing the study and practice of high-rise firefighting.
Its mission is to strengthen high-rise firefighting capabilities worldwide through a unified, evidence-informed approach.
This conference is being built by firefighters, for firefighters, with a clear purpose: better operations, better command decisions, safer buildings, and better outcomes when the fire is above us and the work gets real.
Recent high-rise fires in Spain, Hong Kong, New York, New Jersey, and Pakistan remind us that the challenges facing firefighters are remarkably similar no matter where the alarm sounds. Different building codes, different languages, and different fire departments all face many of the same operational problems: smoke migration, difficult evacuations, stairwell operations, standpipe systems, occupant accountability, and resource management. There is nothing foreign about high-rise firefighting. We all must go up and hook up.
That is exactly why the International High Rise Operations Conference (IHROC) exists. Scheduled for November 2026 in Pensacola Beach, Florida, IHROC brings together firefighters and fire officers from around the world to study high-rise operations through realistic training, operational evaluations, and evidence-based discussions. The conference focuses on the problems firefighters actually encounter inside tall buildings, including standpipe operations, stairwell management, vertical hose stretches, command decision-making, building systems, and firefighter performance.
IHROC recognizes that no single department has all the answers. Firefighters in New York, Madrid, Hong Kong, Karachi, and Florida all confront many of the same problems. Sharing those experiences improves tactics, strengthens decision-making, and helps firefighters prepare for incidents that may occur in their own response areas. The conference creates an opportunity to exchange ideas, evaluate operational performance, and learn from firefighters who have faced these challenges firsthand.
