If fire chiefs in this country want to significantly change our safety culture, they must first take a look at themselves. Do they possess the critical thinking skills that it takes to transform some of the long-standing paradigms (read: traditions), or are they just “getting by” based on how things have always been done?
Although traditions establish a link between the forefathers of the American fire service and today’s firefighters, some of these traditions are in direct conflict with advancing the safety culture. In particular, today’s fire chiefs must not only possess a collection of knowledge, skills and abilities to combat the various life-and-death situations that we face on a regular basis, but they must also acquire the higher education required for critical and systems thinking. After all, the 21st century brings new administrative challenges: budget cuts, layoffs, governmental staff reductions, frivolous lawsuits and other challenges to the way fire and EMS services are delivered, coupled with a demand from the taxpaying public for more service delivery. In other words, in the past, a fire chief could get by on being the most technically competent individual in the fire department–the top firefighter. But top-notch technical firefighting skills are of little help when making significant budget reductions.
So what’s the message? Where the fire service has traditionally done a good job creating technicians, the fire service must now do an outstanding job of creating professionals. There needs to be an evolution that results in fire chiefs thinking, speaking and acting like their more bureaucratic counterparts in other government positions.
What Makes a “Profession”?
The American fire service prides itself on being “professional” in how services are delivered. In trade journals and training manuals, the word “profession” is routinely used to describe the fire service. But is the fire service really a profession? Are fire chiefs and other fire department members actually professionals, or are they technicians?
Determining the answers to these questions requires a quick comparison with traditional professions, such as law, medicine, accounting, etc. What do these classic professions require that the fire service does not?
- Higher education. In particular, law and medicine require education beyond a four-year degree.
- Qualitative and quantitative research within their fields, which is then published in refereed journals. Peer-reviewed articles provide the results of scholarly research designed to answer a specific problem within the profession.
- Credentialing beyond formal education to practice in these disciplines. Credentials, such as those achieved through the American Bar Association, prove to clients that the “professional” is at the top of their field through continuing education and a wide knowledge base.
Compared to Others
Let’s compare these requirements to the fire service. To begin, although individual communities and fire departments may have promotional processes that require education beyond the basic academy, higher education is not a professional requirement–some communities still don’t require a high school diploma. For the most part, the fire service involves on-the-job training and job performance requirements that firefighters learn as they progress through the ranks. Further, at many fire departments, it’s still customary to look only within the organization to find the next fire chief.
Certainly, there are individual, self-motivated fire service leaders who have decided to elevate their knowledge, skills and abilities beyond the traditional fire service requirements by pursuing higher education opportunities. But these individuals are the exception rather than the norm.
What about qualitative and quantitative research? Where does the fire chief obtain the research materials, or even know how to conduct the research, to counter city hall arguments such as “Two firefighters can do just as much on the fireground as five firefighters” or “Private EMS is a better delivery system than fire-based EMS”? Would most fire chiefs be able to provide the scientific data that supports the ongoing need for annual firefighter medical exams? Although programs like the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and the Texas Fire Chiefs Academy currently exist to engage fire chiefs in this type of critical thinking, once again, these programs are the exception rather than the rule. No national requirement exists for any fire department leader to attend these or similar programs. Also, only one refereed journal, the “International Fire Service Journal of Leadership and Management,” exists for fire service peer-reviewed articles. This is indicative of the lack of fire service scientific research.
Lastly, there’s credentialing. While still new to most of the fire service, credentialing for fire chiefs is available. Through the Center for Public Safety Excellence, chief fire officers can pursue professional credentialing that increases their personal and professional stature and capabilities inside and outside of the fire service. However, it’s still uncommon to find fire chiefs actively pursuing these credentials.
The Need for Higher Education
So the missing link between the fire service and the other “classic” professions appears to be higher education. Chiefs must pursue university courses and degrees at the same educational level obtained by the city manager, budget director and other bureaucrats located throughout local government.
The reality of this century’s fire service is that fire chiefs must obtain more than the technical skills taught at their local community college. Many local community college programs in fire science or fire protection technology follow the Fire and Emergency Services Higher Education (FESHE) model curriculum. This route provides the firefighter with the technical competencies, but not the nontechnical aspects of managing a fire department.
Fire chiefs, or prospective fire chiefs, must look to master’s and doctoral programs to expand their knowledge base (see diagram on p. 70). For these nontraditional fire service higher education programs, they must investigate both online and brick-and-mortar learning environments, and look for an accredited program. And they shouldn’t just follow the standard track–fire protection, occupational safety and health, emergency management and emergency medicine–but rather, they should look to the political science, public administration, public health and business administration fields to broaden their knowledge and apply these subjects to fire service.
Final Thoughts
The fire service can continue to wonder why certain departments in the city always get “stuff” while the fire service seems to come up on the short end–or the fire service can make changes. These changes begin with individual fire service members making themselves true professionals. The business of the fire chief must not only involve facing the practical challenges of working and managing a local fire department, but also applying the theoretical research and knowledge that it takes to tackle today’s challenges.
Go learn!
