Comments on: Chief(less) on Main Street?

By: G D

G D — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:05:55 +0000

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.

By: mobrian

mobrian — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:44:32 +0000

Add one more to the list in St. Joe MI
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/01/22/local_news/205434.txt

By: firechief

firechief — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:25:27 +0000

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.

By: Lt Lee Finlayson

Lt Lee Finlayson — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:41:48 +0000

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.

By: Fabian

Fabian — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:31:54 +0000

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.

By: Kevin Coughlin

Kevin Coughlin — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:45:48 +0000

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.

By: Steve Moor

Steve Moor — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:48:54 +0000

Amen Mike..Amen….Especially your last sentance

By: Mike Eckert

Mike Eckert — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:12:00 +0000

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.

By: Gerald Woodruff

Gerald Woodruff — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:03:03 +0000

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?

By: Keith Harr

Keith Harr — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:33:38 +0000

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.