Officer Mentoring

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Permalink Reply by Fred Cummings, Jr. on October 25, 2009 at 8:06pm

Rob my department does have a mentoring program for provisional and newly appointed FF's however when I made LT
2 years ago there was no mentoring for upcoming officers. I was placed in an "acting" position for the first year in which I kinda thought that maybe a Capt. would step up and help with the transition but I was wrong. The only training I got was from the State Fire Academy which was " Fire Officer 1 ". Ever since then it's all hands on.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Odenwald on October 26, 2009 at 8:42am

We require quite a bit of "Schooling" also. The schooling is good in theory but doesn't always prep them for the real deal. Thanks for the input.

Rob

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Permalink Reply by Stephan Charest on October 25, 2009 at 9:51pm

We have the same program for new firefighters (Prob) well developed, have to go trough tonnes of paperwork and training hours...
To become a supervisor... Nothing... As senior firefighter you will have the opportunity to act as LT without all the paperwork... Once you have the job they get you qualified officer Level 1... Are you really ready, even for the course we should have a preparation package to use as refresher on basic stuff...
For mentoring, all depend what generation of Captain you have if he had 20 yrs to learn everything on his own and had A-Hole as boss you are baked... I had one like that, almost made me quit... But if you have the next generation that can read books and keep himself current you have better chances... But no real mentoring program...
If you have or find stuff for such a program, tell me i would be really interested in it... It is my turn to prep the next generation of supervisor and don't want them to remind me as being the A-Hole...
Steph


Ste

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Permalink Reply by Rob Odenwald on October 26, 2009 at 8:45am

I'm with you brother, we need to prepare the next generation. Company officer develpment articles have been a great resource but we need more. I'll be happy to forward anything I get. I've been working on some but need more advice. Thanks for the help.

Rob

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Permalink Reply by Fred Cummings, Jr. on October 26, 2009 at 4:46pm

We have a call dept. which has 2 Captains, 1 who always says " all they have to do is tell me to stop coming " and the other hates to share info w/anyone. I think he feels threatened of being equal to someone else. Keep in mind neither of these two senior officers have any formal academy training. At the time of my appointment I was assigned to an Engine company. I met with them one night an asked them to anonymously write a few things down that they expect from me as their officer. With all the input I got I went to work building my relationship with them. I do attend several training seminars directed for the company officer both classroom and tactical. Some days I wish I was still senior man in the acting position. My company is a great group of guys and they all come together and give at least 90% most of the time. Don't worry over time I'll get that other 10% out of them.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Odenwald on October 27, 2009 at 8:37am

Fred,
Thanks for the input, Keep training and stay safe.

Rob

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