FFPCogs

There seems to be a ribbon of young guys who demand respect before earning it. They don't give a crap about the older guys or their insight. A good leader needs to be built off those that came before them. I never went to college but have had extensive training in my profession since getting hired. I recently had a newly promoted officer tell me that he deserved it because he went to college to better himself while others didn't.

While both written testing and seniority are good barometers to use for promotions, I think there is a third leg to the triangle that is often overlooked, and that is an actual ability to lead. The senior man may be the most experienced and know his way around the fireground and the good test taker the most knowledgeable with a wall full of certifications but that doesn't mean either can actually lead others. Remember too that much of what officers do takes place off the fireground, especially the higher up the chain one moves. Keeping a crew or shift or department working smoothly with the myriad of personalities, pressures and administrative demands in play is no easy task, and it's been my experience that some who are promoted just aren't up to it. Personally, although probably impractical, I would like to see some form of practical testing used to gauge a candidates all around leadership skill, on and off the fireground, coupled with the written and seniority criteria.

While both written testing and seniority are good barometers to use for promotions, I think there is a third leg to the triangle that is often overlooked, and that is an actual ability to lead. The senior man may be the most experienced and know his way around the fireground and the good test taker the most knowledgeable with a wall full of certifications but that doesn't mean either can actually lead others. Remember too that much of what officers do takes place off the fireground, especially the higher up the chain one moves. Keeping a crew or shift or department working smoothly with the myriad of personalities, pressures and administrative demands in play is no easy task, and it's been my experience that some who are promoted just aren't up to it. Personally, although probably impractical, I would like to see some form of practical testing used to gauge a candidates all around leadership skill, on and off the fireground, coupled with the written and seniority criteria.

While both written testing and seniority are good barometers to use for promotions, I think there is a third leg to the triangle that is often overlooked, and that is an actual ability to lead. The senior man may be the most experienced and know his way around the fireground and the good test taker the most knowledgeable with a wall full of certifications but that doesn't mean either can actually lead others. Remember too that much of what officers do takes place off the fireground, especially the higher up the chain one moves. Keeping a crew or shift or department working smoothly with the myriad of personalities, pressures and administrative demands in play is no easy task, and it's been my experience that some who are promoted just aren't up to it. Personally, although probably impractical, I would like to see some form of practical testing used to gauge a candidates all around leadership skill, on and off the fireground, coupled with the written and seniority criteria.

What should be ended in New York is the cherry picking that goes on with the one out of the top three law. If a man writes the mark has a good fitness rating he should be awarded the promotion on a 6 month provisional basis. If he does well the job is his and the politics are taken out

I've participated in two tactical simulations for promotions in departments other than my own. One was to hire a career Fire Chief and the other for a lieutenants promotion process in a career FD. The aspect I thought was missing, that is a real factor, is the urgency of the situation. Candidates are very calm, collected and methodical in the simulation, almost algorithmic, whereas we know some people who are challenged on the fireground when faced with some many factors all at once. That being said, I like this better than not having any evaluation of practical tactical applications.
One of the factors we use to evaluate leadership potential in firefighters is their ability to teach others. A hallmark of nearly every decent officer I've worked for or with, was their ability to pass on knowledge. Some don't have it, and that is generally reflected in how tight their crew is. Some crews have a few bright individuals that "get it", but others that don't, but where the officers are good, the baseline of the whole crew is raised.

While both written testing and seniority are good barometers to use for promotions, I think there is a third leg to the triangle that is often overlooked, and that is an actual ability to lead. The senior man may be the most experienced and know his way around the fireground and the good test taker the most knowledgeable with a wall full of certifications but that doesn't mean either can actually lead others. Remember too that much of what officers do takes place off the fireground, especially the higher up the chain one moves. Keeping a crew or shift or department working smoothly with the myriad of personalities, pressures and administrative demands in play is no easy task, and it's been my experience that some who are promoted just aren't up to it. Personally, although probably impractical, I would like to see some form of practical testing used to gauge a candidates all around leadership skill, on and off the fireground, coupled with the written and seniority criteria.

And don't forget that there are times when we can go days or more without power during / after a storm. Or God forbid if cell /radio networks get damaged or attacked. What happens when members can't charge their cell phones and pagers or get service for days? It's easy to say "ah that will never happen", but in our modern world if there's one thing we all should have learned by now it's that yes it can. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it doesn't work. And I'm sorry but if an FD has been using a horn/siren for as long as you've been alive (whether you lived in town or not) you'll just have to suck it up snowflake and deal with it.
Horns /sirens (and pull boxes too, remember them?) - Antiquated? yes, obsolete or useless? no

And don't forget that there are times when we can go days or more without power during / after a storm. Or God forbid if cell /radio networks get damaged or attacked. What happens when members can't charge their cell phones and pagers or get service for days? It's easy to say "ah that will never happen", but in our modern world if there's one thing we all should have learned by now it's that yes it can. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it doesn't work. And I'm sorry but if an FD has been using a horn/siren for as long as you've been alive (whether you lived in town or not) you'll just have to suck it up snowflake and deal with it.
Horns /sirens (and pull boxes too, remember them?) - Antiquated? yes, obsolete or useless? no

And don't forget that there are times when we can go days or more without power during / after a storm. Or God forbid if cell /radio networks get damaged or attacked. What happens when members can't charge their cell phones and pagers or get service for days? It's easy to say "ah that will never happen", but in our modern world if there's one thing we all should have learned by now it's that yes it can. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it doesn't work. And I'm sorry but if an FD has been using a horn/siren for as long as you've been alive (whether you lived in town or not) you'll just have to suck it up snowflake and deal with it.
Horns /sirens (and pull boxes too, remember them?) - Antiquated? yes, obsolete or useless? no

And don't forget that there are times when we can go days or more without power during / after a storm. Or God forbid if cell /radio networks get damaged or attacked. What happens when members can't charge their cell phones and pagers or get service for days? It's easy to say "ah that will never happen", but in our modern world if there's one thing we all should have learned by now it's that yes it can. Just because a technology is old doesn't mean it doesn't work. And I'm sorry but if an FD has been using a horn/siren for as long as you've been alive (whether you lived in town or not) you'll just have to suck it up snowflake and deal with it.
Horns /sirens (and pull boxes too, remember them?) - Antiquated? yes, obsolete or useless? no

A few years ago in Stamford we did a test where we sent members all over town with pagers and not only did tests from Dispatch but also from the backup tone encoders in the various stations. We did identify some areas where pagers were unreliable. That was just one city, I can imagine that there would have to be a proportionately larger number of areas in a county. Now weather these areas match up with the areas that have bad cell coverage, I do not know. Cell companies are always looking for new tower sites because they want to be competitive, so these areas change regularly.
When I was in Belltown, we had largely abandoned using the horn, except in a few rare circumstances. I personally used to use it on reported structure fires, as an additional alert method to the pagers. I know of a few calls where we picked up a few members who were in the area and for whatever reason did not have their pagers with them. So the horn was helpful.
I also know that we bought a paging program to send text messages to members phones. We mostly used this to get all the administrative messages off of the radio. However it did have some use for incident pages. We did get members responding that were out of radio coverage but close enough to respond. The reason that you can't depend on it is that you do now own and maintain the infrastructure. Back in the early 1990's there was an outage on a satellite, that was apparently used by many paging companies. They did not know about the outage, until people were able to get in touch with others by phone and ask why they had not returned pages. So in a fire setting, do you want to be the person who has a house on fire and you find out the pagers are not working because nobody showed up?
The horn/siren has a distance limitation, but in a small community where most members live or work nearby this is not an issue. I do not know anything about Delmar.
I agree that this is probably someone who moved into the area and then wants the area to change to his liking.

sounds like someone who buys a house next to the airport then wants the planes to go away because it's too loud...if i had to guess i would say he was new to Delmar..by the way,been to Delmar many times...love the crab house,my 2 cents....

Belltown FD in Stamford is also selling trees starting tomorrow.Hours are weekdays 5-9pm and weekends 12-9pm.

Seth,
TL-45 is now due to rejoin the fleet early next year. If all goes well, by mid January. She is getting a fairly extensive refit with a new body, axles, brakes and upgrades to the wiring and hydraulics where necessary. When she returns to service the only thing will be left that's original is the boom, which has a good 15 to 20 years left on it...especially in Asbestosville..uh ahem I mean Belltown.

Andrew Fredericks at FDIC ...his words ring as true today as they did when he first spoke them back in 2000

I can think of no better way to honor this great man's legacy and sacrifice than to take his words to heart and act upon them.
RIP Andrew..lost but never forgotten.
Thanks for all you still give to us.

Excellent article worth the time to read.
Editorial: http://www.tbo.com/list/news-opinion-commentary/brian-burns-commentary-questioning-use-of-career-firefighters-personal-for-me-20151122/

Wise and true words from a truly wise firefighter and educator.

Andrew Fredericks at FDIC ...his words ring as true today as they did when he first spoke them back in 2000

I can think of no better way to honor this great man's legacy and sacrifice than to take his words to heart and act upon them.
RIP Andrew..lost but never forgotten.
Thanks for all you still give to us.

Andrew Fredericks at FDIC ...his words ring as true today as they did when he first spoke them back in 2000

I can think of no better way to honor this great man's legacy and sacrifice than to take his words to heart and act upon them.
RIP Andrew..lost but never forgotten.
Thanks for all you still give to us.

Andrew Fredericks at FDIC ...his words ring as true today as they did when he first spoke them back in 2000

I can think of no better way to honor this great man's legacy and sacrifice than to take his words to heart and act upon them.
RIP Andrew..lost but never forgotten.
Thanks for all you still give to us.

This is exactly what I was trying to convey, but just laid a very simple non-descriptive scenario out there, and I should have been more specific.

Sometimes, even in this scenario, putting water on the fire may be the best initial action. In our FD, we heavily refer to the 5 Basic Concepts laid out in Chapter 1 of the Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics:
1. When proper manpower isn't available to do both rescue and extinguishment at the same time, rescue must be given priority.
2. When you don't have sufficient manpower to perform all the need tasks, perform those first that protect the greatest number of lives.
3. Remove those in greatest danger first.
4. When you have the staffing to do both rescue and fire attack at the same time, they must be coordinated.
5. Where there is no threat to occupants, firefighters lives should not be unduly endangered.
Again, understanding the conditions you face, the actual time to effect the rescue and a the likely challenges facing a "rescue only" approach may indicate that controlling the fire is the most appropriate first action. How imminent is the threat to the know rescue? Will you be able to make it? Will your actions make conditions worse such that an unsuccessful attempt will seal the victims fate? There is no one answer, except hoping the person making the decision at that moment is at the top of their game.

I stand corrected, I should refrain from the use of the words "always, never, and only" as they often are too restrictive when applied to opinions and commentary.
I guess I've not been exposed to very many firefighters who believe that "all defensive" is right or where we're heading. I have seen some arguments made that in some cases it is felt that new construction dictates a far less aggressive approach or almost a defensive unless rescue approach, but typically limited to new lightweight constructed unprotected residential structures. I think these also focus on too narrow a view of research. There is no way we can apply a one tactic fits all approach, not even to a particular structure. We need to instead be better at size-up, understanding how fire grows and spreads, appropriate tactics and the proper time and place for each tactic. Ultimately, I think we'll find that those who believe in the all one way or predominantly defensive approach will not prevail, as the American Fire Service still appears to attract mostly type "A" people who anticipate having to extend greater risk for others is part of the job. Not reckless risk, but more than the average person. Fires, buildings and human behavior is far too dynamic for a one size fits all approach.

Very erudite and well presented response that for the most part I agree with. This tactic like all tactics has it's place and being educated on the dieferent tools at our disposal and when to use them should never be frowned upon. That said I do though take exception to this one sentence as I have personally experienced quite a different view:
As most know I spent a number of years doing contract firefighting overseas and in that capacity I worked with FF's from all over the U.S. and now Europe. Like FF's everywhere, we overseas engaged in tactical discussions frequently and at times even heatedly, especially when talking about aggressive interior operations. When I started back in 2004 there were probably 2 or 3 members out of 20 who advocated the "hitting it from the yard" tactic as THE primary means of attacking the average structure fire, specifically because they were taught and honestly believed that an "interior attack is too dangerous" in modern firefighting...their words not mine. Their departments made the conscious decision to change their fundamental strategy to an initial exterior attack every time at every fire as policy and justified that change by citing firefighter safety. Fast forward to 2015 and the number of my colleagues who come from departments that adhere to this principle has quadrupled to over a dozen or more, paid, volunteer and military out of 30. These are FFs from widely disparate departments ranging from North Carolina to Oregon, Indiana to Alabama and a host of places in between. They didn't know each other before being assigned to the base nor did their departments work together, the only thing they have in common is a taught belief that ""interior attack is too dangerous". The point being, the "push back " is not based on some kind of irrational fear of change, but rather resistance to a "one size fits all" "use this tactic always" philosophy that, in my personal experience anyway, seems to be spreading through the American fire service.