The Fire Service Deserves Better.
It’s a simple fact. It’s time for all of us to step up and truly fight for what is right, what matters, and what positive progress looks like. Basic skills, knowledge transfer, commitment, relevant fitness and leadership.
The fire service should be leading the world through positive living examples in all of these categories and so much more. Unfortunately that is not the case. I’d love for you to prove me wrong. And to be completely honest it deeply pains me to say that out loud. The apathy culture has set in and what’s even worse than that is this behavior has been condoned at departments all across the land. This is not a bashing sesh on white shirts by any means. In fact it’s more of a bash on the rank and file who respond to 911 calls everyday because we have allowed it to happen. Not to someone else but matter of factly we’ve allowed it to happen to OURSELVES.
Firefighters who love the job are consistently shunned, punished, and ridiculed by those who would rather take the easy road. By no means are we condoning behavior that is unbecoming of the fire service as a whole solely because a guy or girl “loves the job” and therefore thinks they are better than everyone else because they went to some class, conference, or busted their ass training at their station. No. Simply put, don’t be a dick. Share what you’ve learned. Validate that new idea by hundreds of hours of training and attempt to implement it on the fireground whenever applicable. Share what worked, what didn’t, how you FAILED, and how you overcame it (or didn’t). That’s what matters when you go to a class or a conference. Implementation is the golden nugget we all are pursuing.
Recently we read a statement that said something along the lines of “Unless your name is Andy Fredericks or Dennis Legear, you didn’t invent jack in the fire service so stop acting like you did.” Apologies for not citing the actual source and please add it to the comments below if you know who said it.
Last year I was able to attend a fantastic leadership and entrepreneurship conference that still has a tremendous impact on me every single day. This conference had absolutely nothing to do with the fire service and that was absolutely perfect. I witnessed leaders of billion dollar companies receive standing ovations from their employees when they were announced. I witnessed these same employees break out pad and paper and sit on the edge of their seats to glean more wisdom and information from these leaders. I witnessed every single person in attendance take note of this behavior too. Not because it was their “boss” on stage or that the employees were obligated to act this way. It was as genuine as it gets and it was completely amazing. The entire time I kept thinking to myself “why isn’t the fire service like this?” We should be the ones setting the stage. We should be the ones with leaders that are receiving the standing ovations from their crews. We should be the ones that the business world and the military looks to for nuggets of wisdom and guidance.
This isn’t limited to leadership. More often than not the best “leaders” have absolutely no granted rank. They lead by action. They lead by discipline and they lead by good old fashioned hard work. This is what the fire service deserves.
The Fire Service Deserves Better. Are you going to step up? If so we sure as hell hope you’re gracious enough to teach us. We need it and want to learn as much as we can from you and your trials and tribulations.
Keep up the good fight and never forget that what you do truly matters.