Savona Fire Department: A Case Study

Budgets have played a major role in fire departments all over the world. In the past couple of years, fire department budgets have been in the headlines quite frequently. This is especially true in Florida, where there has been much controversy in the proposal and passing of Amendment 1, in January 2008. The passing of this amendment has left many counties and cities in Florida having to cut budgets across the board, which includes the fire and EMS departments. Many departments are facing a substantial loss in their fiscal year budget which could translate

As I was going through my records, I have noticed that your department (fire) is not fully NIMS compliant and this is something that I would love to work with you on completing as soon as possible. By not being NIMS compliant, it can cause many difficulties to rise against your department, especially when it comes to federal funding and even state funding. For example, you are immediately eliminated from even applying for numerous federal grants due to not being NIMS compliant. This is also the case at the state level. If your state receives federal funding and has the opportunity to give that out to local agencies, your agency would either be towards the bottom of the list to receive or would possibly not receive anything at all due to your department not being up to date on your NIMS training and compliance.

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

Volunteer fire departments everywhere have staffing problems. If you take a drive past any fire department you will probably see a volunteers needed sign. A fire chief in Pennsylvania stated “I would like to have a greater turnout of firefighters on scene than what we currently have,” he said. “We have a lack of volunteers who are able to respond during daytime hours” (Shawgo, 2014, p. 17). There are several reason that there is not as good of a turnout as there used to be. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the thing to do in town was to hang out at the fire house. There was not as much going on as there is today. People today want to spend more time with their family and go out to the movies or mini golfing, things that family’s did not do as much back in the day. The average amount of training that a volunteer must go through is about 130 hours. Most people see that as too much time to sacrifice. Also, in today’s economy many people work a second or even third job in order to make ends meet. There are also more single parent households then there used to be, which does not allow for hardly any time to volunteer. Due to the reasons stated above it is very difficult to properly staff fire trucks in volunteer departments. The average age of members continues to increase. The few people left who still find time to volunteer often work a regular job during the day, which makes day time emergency calls even harder to respond to with proper staffing. The typical fire truck holds 6

One could say the Fire Service possess one unique quality about how it operates daily and that is the culture and the community that lies within every department. Culture is defined as defined by Miriam-Webster “the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations (Definition of Culture, 2017, para. 5).” The many diverse aspects of each department in still’s a variety of cultural differences separating one department from the next. At the heart of all departments, fire service culture is the men and women who work and train hard to serve their communities as prescribed by the Fire Chief. The Fire Chief, however,

This paper explores the different aspects in living a firefighter’s life. The topics that will be covered are the various types of technology when being a fireman, the different tactics you see on a day to day basis, the physical abilities one must be capable of, and the types of equipment used. The technology used today to help fight fires is extremely progressed and different than it was even just ten years ago. If it were not for these new inventions, communication would not be as easy and complex for any fire station. Firemen face different obstacles every day and have to be ready to jump right in with whatever the circumstance may be. Tactics such as

There are many areas in the fire service where potential lawsuits and liability can arise; some of these areas include, but are most definitely not limited to negligence, hazing, and not following the fire department’s SOPs/SOGs. As our society has changed, so has its expectations of those in emergency services—while many in the community may think of firefighters as the pinnacle of what an upstanding citizen must look like, there are countless moral and ethical pitfalls that firefighters can fall prey to and diminish the reputation of the fire service.

There are situations that impact your everyday life that’s when we call the “Firefighters”. Their lifestyle is risky, they serve the people. Firefighters truly deserve the respect and honor from the community, at the same time, this is a way of showing gratitude for their courage. The firefighter station that I visited was the fire department in San Fernando called “ Station 98”, and their agency is Los Angeles Fire Department, it has been around since 1886.

Looking at Orange County Fire Rescue and their future down the road is looking good. Right

On November 14, 2003, a fire was reported at the Greenhalgh Mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The Pawtucket Fire Department was dispatched to the fire. One of the satellite stations, Cottage Street Fire Station, happened to be directly across the road from the old mill and could see first-hand that the fire was already fully engulfed. This fire rapidly spun out of control, destroying three mill buildings, thirteen homes, and damaging seventeen other structures before being contained. Twenty-one mutual aid departments from Rhode Island and Massachusetts were called in to assist the Pawtucket Fire Department. Looking at the article, Rhode Island and Massachusetts Units Converge on Pawtucket Mill Fire by Jay K. Bradish, from both the engine and truck company perspectives, in my opinion, the call for additional resources and an adequate supply of water were appropriately implemented, while the implementation of the Incident Command System and the accountability of fire personnel were handled improperly during this fire.

In July 2015, I received a note and pictures from Lyons Township High School graduate Nick Winner, who wanted to let us know how appreciative he was of receiving the Ken Straube Fire Science Scholarship and how he was applying the award. I was so taken by his thoughtfulness and impressed with what he was doing, that it got us thinking; how can we help and honor the Straube Family for their generosity and how can we show the ‘results’ of Ken Straube’s love and devotion to the fire service and our department. We hope you enjoy!

The first cavalry of wildland firefighters began in August 1886 led by Captain Moses Harris from Troop M. When he took command of the group at Yellowstone National Park, their job was to manage and protect the park.The cavalry remained there for the next 32 years. Quickly after the group's arrival, they immediately began fighting wildfires all around the park. Here emerged the first group of wildland firefighters to be paid for their service. Workers began to apply new regulations, including campfire restrictions when deemed absolutely necessary. These regulations are known as NFPA’s which is an acronym for National Fire Protection Association.

     After visiting some actual fire departments, I realized as a firefighter you certainly have a lot to be proud of. It’s not your average job and does require quite a bit of organization to stay on top of everything. Everyday you have to be ready and prepared for just about anything that can happen. You never know what kinds

I truly enjoyed reading the material for this week 's discussion. I found it fascinating to read how these people of passion were so revered as leaders. Something I found difficult while reading the stories of these various leaders was the details of what they did within their respective industries that made them successful. Although I recognize the importance of the details, I found myself continually fanaticizing about how the many different approaches would directly translate to the fire service. Because of the uniqueness of the fire service as an industry, I found it easier to relate to themes and concepts rather than the details. 'Strengths Based Leadership ' by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie For example Simon Cooper stated: "people create memories, not things. If we ask guests what color the carpet was in their guest room, they probably won 't know. The real value comes from the ladies and gentlemen (employees) who bring that hotel to life. Ten percent is the platform, but the rest is people. (Rath & Conchie, 2008, p. 43) As I read this I couldn 't help but think of the fact that our customers in the emergency response world (fire service) likely remember more about how we treat them than what uniform we wear or what kind of apparatus we arrive in, so long as we bring true caring and compassion to their bedside. In addition Cooper 's people over platform approach was obvious in this Rath & Conchie description: "then when he talked of the night-and-day difference that a

Looking at the changes in fire service little has been done in totality to address firefighter deaths. In fact one of the most