THE 4-H FIRE DEPARTMENT
KEN FARMER
What is your fire department really made of? Do you have the right stuff to make it into the next century? In a few months, we will be entering the year 2000. What will it take to carry your volunteer department forward? What tools or skills do you need to make the transition to the fire service of tomorrow and to meet the new challenges it presents?
I am a member of a volunteer fire department in transition. We have grown from a mixed rural/suburban volunteer fire department to a mixed rural/municipal combination fire department. Just a few years ago, we were a classic volunteer department. You know the kind: You`re not paid for anything and hold fund-raisers for many of the things you need. We now have 12 paid personnel, a full-time paid fire chief, and a part of the municipal town government. You can well imagine the many changes we have gone through in the past few years.
THE 4-H PROGRAM
As we move ahead, what attributes are going to make us successful? In thinking about this, it occurred to me that the 4-H program can serve as a development model for volunteer fire departments.
In rural America, the 4-H program is well known and successful. Its objectives are to provide training, education, and leadership for young rural children. Created in the rural areas of the United States in the early 1900s, it kept growing. In 1924, it was formally established as a part of the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Today, the national 4-H program has grown to include more than five million young people. As a child, I was a proud member of my local 4-H club.
In 1911, O.B. Martin identified the four Hs and created a slogan for each letter as follows:
Head–to clearer thinking
Heart–to greater loyalty
Hands–to larger service
Health–to better living.
THE 4-H PROGRAM AS A MODEL
These same 4-Hs can be incorporated into a model for the volunteer fire department of the next century.
Head (to clearer thinking). There is now and will continue to be a constant need for education and training for our members. The variety and types of training needed will only increase in the future. Some of the issues we will have to consider with regard to this model component are the following:
–Is every training opportunity available to members?
–Are members being encouraged to acquire two- and four-year degrees?
–Is your department`s training budget large enough?
–Are your members participating in state training and National Fire Academy programs?
–What`s more important to your department–the latest equipment or more skilled and more highly educated members?
Heart (to greater loyalty). The one thing that has always made firefighters different and special is their “heart.” Going beyond the call of duty is one of the hallmarks of the service. In the future, we will have to expand that big heart and give all we have to our department. We must strive not only to keep our hearts in the right place but to keep them in the right place for the right reasons. Some test questions here might be the following:
–Are the “true heart” efforts of members appreciated and awarded?
–What is more important in your organization, loyalty to the department or loyalty to a few individuals?
–What is done to show members how much their efforts are appreciated?
–How many times do department members open their hearts and homes to those whose homes or business have burned?
–What effort does your department make to help individuals and groups who are needy?
Hands (to larger service). Old-fashioned hard work is the key to success in any fire department, especially a volunteer department: work at the incident scene, work around the station, work in the community, and constant work on the organization. Without the hands of our fellow members, the fire department would not exist and surely would not succeed. The old maxim about many hands making light work is true only to a point in the fire service. There is always something else that needs to be worked on in the fire department. Those many hands will be just as important in the future as they have been in the past. In the 4-H model, hands are dedicated to larger service. So, the department should consider the following questions:
–Do we give our hands to perform service in the community?
–Do all members give equally to the fire department?
–Does the department make the time to give service back to its members in a time of personal need?
–Do officers ever take the time to shake the hands of those who give the service and say “thank you for the job you have done”?
–Do we use our hand to slap someone down or instead to pat someone on the back?
Health (to better living). In many cases, we take our health for granted. I have been to too many funerals in this line of work and accept the fact that I will be going to more. However, we need to place higher priority on maintaining and improving our health. In this business, our health must be a high priority. Without good health, we are not as effective as we can be as firefighters. It is our responsibility to watch what we eat, to exercise, and to have regular medical checkups. In the 4-H model, health is dedicate to better living. See if you are doing the following:
–Providing a wellness program for your members.
–Encouraging members to protect their backs, their hearts, and their heads.
–Providing the best safety equipment money can buy.
–Supporting and encouraging the effective use of your safety officers.
–Providing a good workers` compensation insurance program for your members.
These are just a few of the areas volunteer departments should be exploring.
When I was a member of the local 4-H club, I guess I did not understand the real meaning of the four Hs. The same might be true of your department`s mission statement–not all members may understand it or its objectives. Maybe it`s time for departments to replace the fancy words in their mission statement with simple and meaningful words. I don`t think the 4-H Club will mind if you borrowed its motto: Head, Heart, Hands, and Health!
KEN FARMER is the state director of fire and rescue training for the North Carolina Community College System. He serves as a safety officer for the Fuquay Varina (NC) Fire Department and is an adjunct instructor at the National Fire Academy (NFA). He has a B.A. degree in political science from North Carolina State University and is a graduate of the NFA Executive Fire Officer program.
