Do We Really Need a Fire Chief?
As our elected officials debate the merits of ‘Wall Street vs. Main Street’ and try their best to fix this national economic mess, local municipal budgets are certainly being impacted. Then the local fire chief leaves, so now what does your community do?
The obvious first answer should be: ‘Hire a new chief!’ There will often be an interim period, because finding a qualified candidate to lead the department is desired. An unfortunate trend is emerging, however, which if left unchecked, has the potential to cause many problems for the fire service.
Recently in Ypsilanti Township, the fire chief left for a new job in Florida. The vacancy has left an acting fire chief while the Township Board searches for a replacement. At the last board meeting, discussions arouse suggesting sharing chief services with neighboring communities. In a similar situation in St. Joe, the fire chief was dismissed as a cost saving measure and now the role is filled by an officer in the police department (working an additional 10 hours), who concedes he doesn’t have time for the job.
So why is it that some communities feel they can operate their fire department without a chief? Is it because of the fire service’s perceived inability to lead at lower and higher levels? Is it because our offices are often separate from City Hall (out of sight out of mind?) Or is it as some suggest, the lack of a professional standard for the position? Would elected officials ever consider running the police department without a chief?
There are many options when filling the role of fire chief and each community will seek a solution that works for their specific situation. For instance, many communities are joining forces through regional fire authorities (Michigan Public Act 57 of 1988 governs this) which may eventually reduce the total number of fire chiefs. The key is of course, that the organization is run by a qualified fire chief.
Certainly, it cannot be overlooked that there are some technical requirements for the position of fire chief at the State level. The question then becomes, if the department does not have a trained fire chief, can he perform the duties as outlined in Public Act 207? If the police chief or acting fire commissioner has not successfully completed Firefighter I & II, let alone Fire Officer I, II, & III and actually have some experience on a fire/emergency scene, can they be the fire chief and fill the role the act requires?
Fire departments across the state require solid leadership that will provide direction to our staff, recommend solid budgets and provide leadership on and off the emergency scene. The role of a professional fire chief requires training, education, and experience.
My questions to you are,
- While Wall Street is figuratively burning, will the reduction of fire chiefs of our communities result in Main Street burning in a very real sense?
- Have we been incorrectly lulled into thinking that a fire chief position in a community is sacred? and
- What can we all, as fire services leaders in Michigan, do to ward off this trend?
Let me know your thoughts on this important topic.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Promotion to Chief should be for qualified leaders. This Rust-Belt idea of straight seniority promotions will do more to harm the fire service than any uneducated politicians. Old Charley may have been here the longest, but has he prepared himself for the position of chief? Preperation for command positions is needed continually throughout your career, not the month before your next promotion.
As the President of Ypsilanti Township Fire Department IAFF local1830 I agree with the writer. Our current battle is over respect or lack there of. The politicians think anyone can run a 4.9 million dollar budget. We are being asked to prove that it is necessary to have a chief. We are fighting this issue and we are a PA Act 78 community. We all need to do a better job of educating our governing bodies as to what we do and why we do it. Obviously the best plan is to be active in the political arena and elect people who care about and understand our needs.
We do not need a certificate commando. Education is an argument that has been beat to death. What we need in the fire service is leadership and experience that is coupled with education. The governing bodies are not wanting an education, they are wanting cost savings. They can pay a police chief a little more and not pay a fire chief at all. There is a difference between volunteer, paid on call, and career fire services. Each group needs a chief that will display the leadership and experience that would make the community want to lynch a municipality that would think of getting rid of their fire chief or for that matter their fire department. This is not so much education as it is selling the mission of the fire department. The vote is important in this regard. For the volunter and paid on call where the firefighters live in the communities they serve, one question. Are they, families, and neighbors registered to vote?
Good comments all. I think the reality is that education alone (certificate commando) or experience alone can both leave voids in what a future chief really needs for preparation. A well educated, but inexperienced chief is a problem and vice versa. These are both essential components to prepare a future chief. The most important attributes are and always will be, the abilty to lead, motivate and inspire.
Amen Mike..Amen….Especially your last sentance
When the Chief retires and you start looking around to other departments, please consider consolidation. Not popular with either department, but economies of scale will be the only way to effectively deliver the services our citizens need.
In Washington State and others, laws allow Regional Fire Authorities. RFA’s allow larger departments and can put more firefighters on the ground without increasing the overhead costs. Citizens really don’t care what it says on the door of the engine. They call they want response.
Doing business the same way simply will not deliver cost effective services withthe increasing costs and demands of modern fire service.
why is it they are always getting rid of the fire chief and having the police chief do the job, why not get rid of the police chief and have the fire chief do the duties of both. Seems like the fire service is always getting the raw end of the deal.
Great comments, it simply is selling ourselves, if aliens landed we as the fire service would just respond to the situation. In the same situation the police would have an ALIEN TASK FORCE with a budget. We need to make ourselves appear as valuable as we really are. But, that also starts with the present chief officer before he leaves, you are all right he/she needs to be a leader, if not a leader then let’s just place an accountant in the corner office.
Unfortunately, the question “how many fire do you really have” and the mindset that structure fires are a victimless incident will always have an effect on the fire service. Statistics will also work against us. Police runs will always be higher due to loose animals, fender bender accidents etc.
Add one more to the list in St. Joe MI
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/01/22/local_news/205434.txt
I would suggest that the Michigan Fire service, in the fire officer training program needs to get serious. I have been through Officer 1, Officer 2 and Officer 3 and had very little preparation on Budgets, Labor Negotiations, Cost Benefit Analysis or everyone’s least favorite topic Politics. Yes, I cussed and said the “P” word, like it or not the position of Fire Chief is very political. I know if I had not been involved in budgeting with my previous department the first time I worked on a budget would have been greek, I believe that our best way to defeat this is through education of our boards on the need for the position and the only way to do that is for us to be educated. I started in a department which was very politically charged and I was on the chopping block at one point, I took a pro-active approach and had My community leaders tell me they would hate to lose me as their chief.
By educating the elected officials and possibly creating a citizen group who supports your mission who is educated it can make your job easy. I have even taken the approach of involving the union leaders in seeing the budget before presented, let them help make the difficult decisions. It works, we were able to cut without cutting staffing.