Cultural Change : The Fire Service

To better understand the background of the contrasting views, we must look at how the fire service has developed around

While dangerous work like firefighting often requires decisive and quick action against one of nature’s most destructive elements, do the inherent risks of firefighting justify risky decision-making by officials? In this dangerous and often daring line of work, when is the line between protecting the public and protecting public employees crossed – and who is responsible when that line is crossed?

The LA County Fire Department needs to implement an anti-nepotism program. The OCI reported that 27 sworn personnel had access to oral interviews test questions and answer, and use the material to distribute to some of their relatives (Naimo, 2015). According to the OCI, these 27 sworn personnel were two Battalion Chiefs, 17 Fire Captains, one Fire Fighter Specialist, and seven Firefighters (Naimo, 2015). These 27 sworn personnel had no authority to distribute the examination material so it’s important to implement an anti-nepotism program for the whole department. Having an anti-nepotism program can help, especially Fire Captains to understand and follow the department’s series of guidelines, laws and regulations. Furthermore, they can formulate a great judgment, and their leading principle must be accountable to and within the rule of law. Accountability is an element of bureaucratic responsibility that involves public officials to obey the law (Hill & Lynn Jr., 2016).This accomplishes as Mark Bovens argues, increase performance in the workplace, reinforcing integrity, encourage democratic domination, preserving lawfulness and contributing purification after a misfortune (Hill & Lynn Jr., 2016). Discussing the rules and procedures can help employees at the department to perform their task

The program outlines the requirements of the Reading Fire Department Command Staff and Reading Fire Department members. All members are responsible for their personal safety. The safety of Reading Fire Department is the number One priority of the Reading Fire Department Command Staff. Understanding the inherent risks involved with fire suppression and other critical tasks, the goal is to minimize and manage the

The mission of the Englewood Fire Department is to work round the clock to protect the public from fire related incidents and to prevent these incidents from happening again. One way they try to prevent these incidents is the fire chief always checks the plans of any new buildings being built for any fire related dangers and proper placement of any fire safety tools which after he is done sends to the building inspectors for their evaluation. They also try to spread the message of fire safety to the community by going to places such as schools and educating them on how to prevent fires and how to survive them.

In my opinion the culture in fire and emergency services are very important for many reason. I believe safety and pride are the two most important parts of the fire and emergency services. With out safety there would be no fire and emergency services. We as a emergency services commuinty need to take a step back from all the tough guy persona and reinstill that safety is number one not who has the cooler bend on their helmet, who has more fires, what color your skin is, personal beliefs or preferences are and get back to the basic worry about proper training and make sure that your 100% ready when its time to spring into action. That is what I think can and needs to be done to improve the fire and emergency services.

Negative attitudes and focuses only conjure up similar emotions and attitudes. Similarly, technology and the social practices continue to creep from society into the fire stations threatening to divide teams. In today’s fire service, team building and motivation are necessary to maximize department operations. This week’s presentation focused on the impact of such activities –as to how they benefit, improve, and are used in fire departments. The three presentations that I reviewed specifically covered one of the three aspects, while bringing up the remaining. The three presentations I reviewed were created by Matt Halfacre, Colin Field, and Brett Schimmack.

Firefighter fitness and health have become common topics in the fire service over the last few years. With programs such as the Fire Service Joint Labor Management Wellness-Fitness Initiative (WFI) and the Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives produced by Everyone Goes Home, demonstrate the importance of working towards improving the overall physical and mental health of firefighters. These programs are a result of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) establishing guidelines for firefighter protection. There are three standards that have been established to address firefighter health and wellness; NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program; NFPA 1582, Standard on

In the fire service, we often preach the importance of being pro-active. The pro-active engine company, ladder company or a pro-active approach to training and education. On the larger scale, fire service organizations are often more reactive than proactive i.e. something isn’t changed until someone gets hurt… We all know the dangers of being reactive and hopefully you and your crew take steps to maintain a proactive environment in the firehouse and on the fireground. With emphasis placed on being proactive in the manner in which we carry out our jobs, we need to have the same mentality with respect to our careers.

Firefighters show an array of qualities in their daily activities that make them leaders, such as, high morals, service excellence, a sense of duty, bravery, courage, camaraderie and resilience. The objective of this study is to explore and analyze the leadership concerns in a large diverse organization. Through an examination of actual events depicted in a Calgary firefighter unit, this paper determines the underlying issues affecting firefighter team leadership and dynamics, and its impact on workforce morale, organizational responsiveness, crisis management, and occupational safety. The paper also discusses measures that the Calgary fire department could have implemented to provide a better crisis management and response strategy.

Fires can be deadly and, at the very least, cause destruction to property. Fire fighters face the

Firefighting is a dangerous job. It takes lots of courage to have to endure the harsh conditions of a structural or rural fire, all while trying to save someone 's life. Fire fighters put their life on the line to save the environment, people, and animals. With all of the harsh conditions involving putting out a fire, there is lots of equipment that a firefighter must use to protect themselves such as strategies that are used in the time of emergencies, technology that is used to help prevent fires as well as technology used in a fire, and the personal protective gear that fire fighters use. Personal protective equipment, Technology and knowledge in prevention of fires are all being updated and improved each day, which is evidence of how the firefighting industry has evolved throughout time.

The Neverland Volunteer Fire Department is facing multiple challenges. Not only the possibility of amalgamation within the Horizon County is pending over the Fire Department, it seems to be affecting department head officials to a point where unity of command is really fragile. The internal problems that we see happening is causing a lack of respect between firefighters and higher ups and even between managers itself. Not only respect is fundamental in a fire service but it is also essential to maintain a professional level of services.

The attitudes and behaviors of responders who accept dangerous and unsafe acts are a part of the job or heroic must change if firefighter death and injuries are to be reduced (Ford, 2012). The use of policies and procedures can provide guidance while responding to and returning from emergency scenes. Some polices that may be used to reduce near misses, injuries and deaths are recurring the use of seat belts, implementing polices for stopping an emergency vehicle, and restrictions on excessive speed.

Empowerment of all personnel to speak up and stop unsafe acts is a key component in fire fighter safety. Personnel should be allowed to stop or voice concerns about unsafe acts without fear of punishment. Company officers should still maintain authority to make final decisions, but should allow the input of