Seeking Earliest History of Fire Dept Instruction

Once also called FDIC, where the initials were for Fire Department Instruction Conference (?). Family lore tells me that my Grandfather, Chief James W Just, and a few others began canvasing community fire fighters across the country each year, to learn what novel fires they had encountered and gathered data as to what methods they found successful in controlling and extinguishing them. Three men from different areas of the country whom I believe were employed by various state's independent inspection bureaus, ( example, Michigan Inspection Bureau, Maryland Inspection Bureau, etc. all of which eventually became the ISO) began meeting once a year to share their findings with each other and others. These meeting initially may have been in (Memphis ?). I recall that within a couple of years the interest and attendance numbers had grown so that they moved the annual meeting to (St. Louis.? perhaps vice versa for cities. )

I wonder where any documented history might exist.  James W Just (a Fire Chief, also taught at University of Maryland) and two others whose names I don't recall, ( Harry was a first name. ) initiated the program, which eventually grew to become the knowledge base/resource for the training of fire protection personnel, as the insurance industry began realizing the importance for communities to have trained fire fighters.