Fireground Accountability Starts with YOU!

I wake up each shift day knowing that whatever I do right for my guys today will only be enhanced a hundred fold if I can get them to communicate great accountability in everything they do. This way all the everyday stuff will get done and if we go into fire hell and someone gets lost, disoriented,out of air,hurt bad, we might get him or her back home safe to those that love them.

Because great accountability begins when everyone communicates to the IC where they are, and not just in general, like the whole first floor of a building. Communications like," Chief, we are pulling a line inside Division 1 and making our way to a fire on the Charlie side." These radio or face to face communications let commanders really know where their guys are if things go to crap, and if you haven't been there, it goes real fast! Officers should be keenly aware that no matter what trust exists between them and their incident commander they must report their location regularly and when an assignment is complete say so. I know your thinking yeah, DUH! but if your honest the fire service sucks at real time accountability. Instead, we want to "do it" by setting out boards ,doing regular PARS, putting tags/velcro on a rig.

These things are all a part of the system that should be employed but lets start at the beginning of a fire where most firefighters die and accountability is usually way behind or sitting on a truck somewhere.
This talking clearly to each other about where we are and what we are doing, is about really increasing safety for us all on the fireground. This falls greatly on the company officers shoulders and then each and every firefighters situational awareness about their individual location, should they end up needing help.

Communications are getting compromised everyday, lets all make great effort to provide updates on our locations so that no matter what the other parts of your system are, you increase your chances of going home! Those digital radios need exercise anyway!

Rescue Training

There is always great training at the Fire Engineering site and this video demonstrates very well how to go to work on a trapped PT with a large vehicle. The crews are utilized effectively and a quick lift is done to do, what would be a best practice for anyone, in this situation, in your community.

Rescue training demands consistent, long term commitment to training that will be labor intensive and mentally challenging. These events are few and the level of readiness must be high to help these people when the need arises! Get out there and train!

This is a great little self rescue video that all should watch. You may find yourself someday in an unusual circumstance requiring out of the box thinking to save yours. This guy is grounded in reality where we all should be when we are training so i hope you practice this and continue to learn all you can!

Vacant Buildings

Recently we see firefighters losing their lives or getting badly injured at abandoned or vacant fires and when you examine the training versus the response they are greatly at odds. The fire service knows this is a growing problem, the fire commanders and firefighters have the knowledge to react correctly but each and every time the only observable consistent thing is that most people on scene forget all the Mr.Obvious cues and go about risking a lot of life, for very little, even when an exterior set of operations would safely and effectively end the fire situation.

Very experienced officers will say in one sentence that the hazards are great and yet when they commit firefighters to an interior strategy they hurt them or get them killed. Why oh why are we inside, because that's where the action is! Not because of a confirmed rescue situation or hazards related to an exposure problem. You can use those last two as your excuses but they do not hold water with me because they are so few and far from the usual set of facts.

Its simply like asking yourself, if I know there is fire showing from a basement do I send firefighters in on the first floor? NO, NO, you do not folks, stop the madness!

Vacant and abandoned structures should be approached with aggressive observation and sizing up of the present and future possibilities of the fire potential. If interior operations are unavoidable then all necessary resources need to be called and a time limit might need to be employed. When the cues related to the fire tell you everyone out, do it immediately. Interior crews should always report conditions that are hazardous and leave when they are!

I listened to a recent vacancy fire in a big city with many resources and, while communication was great, no one responded to what they heard until very late in the game when a safety officer finally deems it unsafe enough to leave. Many of them reported very hazardous conditions and very little exposure problems but did they leave? NO. The commander wanted to know about the fire in the basement but not the holes in the floors and the sagging walls where people were operating. Real safety means taking real actions to make people as safe as is possible in this very dangerous job. They were lucky this time but how about I don't get to say that anymore and we all start keeping the firefighters safe.

Ask yourself this last question. If this fire I'm working has no one to rescue and no significant exposure issues and it burns to the ground what will happen?

Incident Command System Revised

I feel the need to supply way of communication that will help with all the great, easy to use systems out there. The nims system that we are all using...har,har...is wonderful if you use it and I do not mean make your own use of it.

If your frustrated with the command structure within your department it is probably because of two things, which are correctable by the way. One is, people in your department are not trained in their responsibilities or held accountable to their role either. Two, the top does not do their role or respect the roles below them because their ego will not allow it.

So the change now to bring to your department is the very novel idea of.... now hold your breath....use your rank structure and hold people accountable for not doing it.
If your the Chief and you pass information on to a firefighter or write up a firefighter then you probably just ignored two or more ranks that held the resposibility for delivering those things and you did wrong. YOU compromised the safety of personnel by bypassing the command structure. And since in most departments there is no one holding you accountable, its time for changing...YOU!

So start using command systems everyone and if its not your job leave it to the great people who do that for you.

Leadership for all times and conditions

Great blog article on leadership, see if you can "follow" these guidelines.




Monday, May 17, 2010
Experience Leadership
Posted by Douglas Cline at 5/17/2010 12:01:00 PM


Often in my travels and teaching I am asked by young officers and aspiring officers what it takes to be a good leader or how to become a good leader. I usually respond to that question with a question “What do you think it takes to become a good leader?”
Most respond with the typical answers; knowledgeable, fair, hardworking, etc. Well those are good traits, but let’s dig a little deeper into the meat of leadership and where it begins. Let’s start by replacing leadership confusion with leadership courage. This piece of advice was given to me a long time ago by Chief John R. Leahy Jr. (retired). It took me many years and a few more good mentors to figure out exactly what this truly meant. But I finally got it and it was not all that hard. So let’s focus on replacing leadership confusion with leadership courage.

Don’t’ let your fear confuse the Department’s plan.
I can remember a time when my efforts were focused on myself and trying to be the best I could be. Many young officers or aspiring officers get caught up in this drama. They believe that the better they become the better they will be as a leader. There is some truth in this statement, but the meat of being a good officer is much more than having numerous certifications and qualities. You must balance these good components with the courage to believe and support the department and its mission. Finding out the hard way that I could possess many good traits and qualities was not the total answer. In fact it was the smallest portion of the equation. After several years of floundering I finally learned that the most important component in being a leader at any level is being on board and supporting the efforts of the organization. So often I see departments with individuals who are constantly rowing against the Fire Chief, trying to go in other directions rather than the pathway set out by this individual as they try to fulfill the mission. Our fear creates conflict in our lives. The fear is of many things, mostly of change.

The business world is a place of constant change. The fire service is part of the business world whether individuals want to believe it or not. I will guarantee that if you look at any department across the world it is run some what like a business. There are budgets, personnel issues, accounts payable and accounts receivable. If that is not a business I am not real sure what else it could be. So with a fire department being a “business” we should expect constant change. If you look across the United States fire departments are faced with stories of mergers, layoffs and restructuring every day. No matter the scale, when these kinds of changes hit the work place, the literal, situational shifts are often not as difficult for individuals to work through as the psychological transitions that accompany the change. As organizational transitions occur they affect people. These are the individuals who have to embrace a new situation and carry out corresponding change. Leaders find themselves in roles of having to sell these changes.

Don’t let Your Confusion, Cause You to Miss the Department’s Goals and the Mission.
Fire Departments across the United States have Mission Statements and leader philosophies posted throughout the fire stations. But walk in and ask a firefighter, or even better a fire officer, what their mission statement says and I will bet that they can’t tell you, much less live it. As a leader you must follow suit with the philosophies set forth by the fire chief. Generally these goals and philosophies have an end result in mind. However, with our disciplined attention to detail to focus on the mission, the end results all too often fall short of the goals. As a young leader, have the courage to embrace the leadership philosophies. For a while you are guaranteed to receive ridicule and be called a few choice names. However in the long run you will find that you will become well respected for your consistency and diligence by most.

Don’t Let Your Confusion Influence Your Obedience.
With any successful department comes a strong vision. This vision is generally set forth by the fire chief. As a young or aspiring officer you must embrace that vision. Think about it: if the leader has no idea what the organization is to become, he or she cannot expect the people to know. No vision causes misalignment and confusion among the members of the organization. Not supporting that vision is just as detrimental to the organization and your leadership ability.

Vision is in direct proportion to accomplishment. The more you envision, the more that can be accomplished. I know by now you are saying this is not how it works! Well, I used to think that as well. I used to see my vision instead of the department’s vision. End result was a catastrophic failure personally and a drag line slowing the organization down.

Have the courage to obey leadership and the mission. These folks are probably not as stupid as you want to believe. There are many factors that play into the formula that you may not be privileged to know or even understand. Again fighting, questioning or rowing against the forward progression can result in a delayed or failed mission.

If you are beginning to see the light as a young or aspiring officer or you are an officer who is trying desperately to mentor a young counterpart, you may be asking your- self , “What do I do now?” Well it is as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Refocus on the department and the mission – Begin by putting the department first. As you do this and the success of the department occurs you will see that your success increases proportionally. By being diligently focused on being a team player in leadership you will see that you will develop good qualities and traits. Most of all you will gain respect as you have the whole at heart rather than you as an individual.

2. Release a Gift – Each individual has a gift to give. It is the desire to share that gift that doesn’t always exist. Start thinking of the department more than yourself. By devoting your talents to the department and others you will reap the rewards. Ask not what the department can do for you, but what you can do for the department is a good philosophy to follow.

3. Reach out to everyone – Your ability to help others supports the true mission of the fire service To Protect and Serve.

By taking responsibility for your actions and taking some of the heat off of the team, the department will be able to excel to great level. Most important you are part of the solution, not part of the problem that leads to failure.

Just Wear It!

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There are so many mister obvious situations hurting or killing firefighters and although training is very available firefighters still want to deny reality, I guess its the drama of it all. Many firefighters complain that Chiefs do not do the things that would keep us safe, here we see clearly demonstrated the culture of complacency effect.

Here's the safety message, no debate, if your wearing your PPE you are very unlikely to get hurt , so just wear it!

Also while your doing the right things, get out and do some hands on training it may save your rear!