BY JOHN “SKIP” COLEMAN
The number of fires is down. This is a double-edged sword: With the reduction in fires comes a decrease in experience for young firefighters.
Training fires in natural gas-fueled burn buildings allow firefighters to “practice” pulling and stretching hose, but little else. Nothing can replace the learning that takes place at a real fire when working with officers and senior crew members who have the ability to teach before, during, and after the fire. Another concern is an officer’s ability to lead and manage his crew in today’s fire department environment.
Fifty-five percent of the respondents stated that leadership/management training should be the focus. To be sure, most of the respondents alluded to the fact that both strategy/tactics and leadership/management training are important to the development of good officers. But, if forced to choose only one pair of skills, more than half selected leadership/management as the key elements.
Thirty-four percent believed that strategy/tactics training should make up the majority of any officer development curriculum. And as one could guess, because this is a tough decision, six of the 53 respondents (11 percent) could not choose and said that both were equally important. Some of the comments follow:
Question: If you had to choose one, should your department’s officer development center on leadership/management or strategy/tactics?
Thomas Dunne, deputy chief, Fire Department of New York. An officer’s most important task is keeping his people safe. Quickly sizing up dangerous conditions and initiating the appropriate strategy/tactics are the essence of the officer’s job. This calls for extensive knowledge of fire behavior, building construction, line placement, and rescue techniquesall of which make up the basics of strategic/tactical training.
Gary Seidel, chief, Hillsboro (OR) Fire Department. Officer development should take on a strategy/tactics flair so you can demonstrate that the officers can do the job.
John J. Salka Jr., battalion chief, Fire Department of New York. Personnel issues, conflicts, discipline, and many other challenges take up much more of an officer’s time and effort than responding to alarms.
Jeffrey Schwering, captain, Crestwood (MO) Department of Fire Services. Improving company officer management/leadership skills breeds a thirst for knowledge in every aspect of the company officer’s job. Providing the skills necessary to make them effective in the firehouse will ultimately translate into better operations on the fireground. I do not necessarily feel that the opposite is true.
Jason Hoevelmann, deputy chief, Sullivan (MO) Fire Protection District.The company officer is responsible for developing those serving under him. If he can’t effectively lead and motivate his crew in the firehouse, it is likely that he will not be able to do this on the fireground either.
David DeStefano, lieutenant, North Providence (RI) Fire Department. In these turbulent times, quality leadership is paramount to maintaining focus and diligence in all aspects of our operations.
Jaime Ponce De Leon, division chief of training, Missouri City (TX) Fire & Rescue Services. The focus should be on leadership/management. Most of what fire officers do, in fact, is manage.
Patrick S. Mahoney, lieutenant, Baytown (TX) Fire Department. I believe our ridiculously high injury and fatality rates are largely attributed to inadequate appreciation of risk management and the relationship between strategy and tactics.
Jack Bennett, fire commissioner, Bluffton (SC) Fire District. I have gone through the ranks in the Los Angeles County (CA) Fire Department and have presented seminars on leadership/management. By the time a firefighter becomes an officer, he should have a very good understanding of tactics/strategy.
Greg Wild, captain, Franklin (TN) Fire Department.It is better to err in the firehouse and lose a dollar than to err on the scene and lose a brother.
Steve Prziborowski, battalion chief, Santa Clara County (CA) Fire Department. It could also be argued that leadership/management takes up 100 percent of our time. Whether it is at a working fire or some other type of emergency response, performing daily duties inside and outside of the fire station, or just supervising and training our personnel, proper leadership/management is critical for taking care of customers’ needs and also for keeping our personnel safe and preparing them for the future.
William Shouldis, deputy chief (ret.), Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department. Historically, new officers lacked time management skills. Often, the novice supervisors wasted energy, efforts, and enthusiasm on low-impact issues.
Mike Bucy, lieutenant, Portage (IN) Fire Department.Too many assume that because they have rank or a title that they are leaders. This is the farthest from the truth. Leadership will save lives and prevent injuries while allowing personnel to operate at peak performance (while having fun).
Read all the responses at http://www.fireengineering.com.
John “Skip” Coleman retired as assistant chief from the Toledo (OH) Department of Fire and Rescue. He is a technical editor of Fire Engineering; a member of the FDIC Educational Advisory Board; and author ofIncident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer (Fire Engineering, 1997), Managing Major Fires (Fire Engineering, 2000), and Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer, Second Edition (Fire Engineering, 2008).
