By David Rhodes
You should get out of your department
You have heard it said that our fire service is “150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress.” We often find this is not so far off when we hear some of the stories and read some of the reports. Many out there cling to tradition to a point of fault, while others are quick to abandon it and jump on the latest greatest “snake oil” on the market. “Wha-da-bout you there, Sir …. This elixir will cure fever, rotten hoof, and removes stains …. Only $1 a bottle.” Back in the day of the traveling snake oil salesman, most would fall for the marketing because they didn’t know any better. In a few cases, however, the salesman’s cover would be blown by a customer who was traveling from another town; had seen the whole dog and pony show; bought the product; and found out it didn’t do anything the large hat-wearing, well-spoken entrepreneur said it would. “It’s a scam!” the well-traveled citizen would shout out, sending the peddler scrambling to get out of town fast.
The Comforts of Home
Many in our ranks are very comfortable at home in their own organizations. If you are with a large department, or possibly the largest department in a given area, some of your members think that the way you do things is “the way” and there is nothing out there that anyone else can teach them. This inbreeding is full of tradition and brash pride, but underneath it all is the possibility of just plain ignorance. This is not to say that you or your organization is doing something wrong, but the vast amount of experiences and trial and error that are already out there could make you better or affirm that you have it mastered. But, you have to venture out and take a look around before you will know.
At particular risk are those medium-size departments that happen to be the largest in the area. This big fish has no idea that the pond is small, has fewer members than some of the larger urban area departments, and therefore there is less probability that someone ventures out beyond the town limits to see how others are doing things. Now the big fish in the big ponds have their issues too, but the chances are that budgets are larger and travel opportunities may be more of a possibility. Of course, if your members are out traveling and learning and you’re not using the info, then the impact is never realized.
Smaller departments, on the other hand, are dependent on each other and, while there are always exceptions to the rule, they are forced out of their area because of a reliance on mutual aid and regional and state training-because it’s all they have.
Pointing Out What Was Hidden
When I was a young fire instructor working as an adjunct for a state academy, I realized early on that the real value of being a part of a regional or state training program was less about the material and more about the interaction and after-class conversations with the other students and instructors. I always left, and still do, learning more than I taught anyone.
A good friend of mine from the West Coast and his dad, who was also involved in the fire service, stopped by my station years ago. They made it a habit of visiting local departments whenever they traveled just to look at how the rigs were set up, how tools were mounted, hosebed layouts, etc. They even took pictures of many of the local adaptations. I remember they had never seen a cord bucket before. This was something as simple as a five-gallon plastic bucket with a hole cut in the side at the bottom used to hold and deploy electrical extension cords was foreign territory to them. This was something I took for granted because they were in use since I started. Another was the old three-inch hose cut and slid over the bar and chain of the chainsaw. No big deal right? I thought everybody did that. While these are very small, task-level inner workings, the implications are huge.
Learning from Others
You need to get out of your department and look around to see how others are doing things. In fact, you need to get out of our industry and look at other processes in other professions to see what can be adapted to make you and your organization better. Have you ever been curious to know how UPS and FedEx can track and deliver a package almost anywhere in country in a matter of hours, yet in the fire service, with multiple schedules and shifts, information sometimes still gets missed? Have you ever wondered how that volunteer department that has very limited resources and a 750-gallon-per-minute pumper is able to put a fire out? Have you ever wondered exactly what led up to a line-of-duty death (LODD) in another department? I’m not talking about the sanitized boilerplate public report; I’m talking about the firsthand accounts from the people who know the system and the people involved. Vincent Dunn said it best years ago: “We haven’t invented any new ways to kill a firefighter in years.” You should not be waiting on your own department to have an LODD to learn the lessons from all the others.
Getting out of your organization is a vital part of your career education that you can’t get from any institution. There is no certificate for it, nor is there usually any extra compensation for doing it. Information is more accessible through technology than ever before. You can leave your department and explore through Web sites, training sites, and thousands of hours of videos.
Encouraging participation in conferences and training out of the area and becoming an instructor are just two ways to broaden the perspective of your members. Whatever your method, please make sure all your members get out of your department to prevent the inbreeding that holds so many back. They will come back more motivated, educated, and excited to be involved than ever.
David Rhodes is a 32-year fire service veteran. He is a chief elder for the Georgia Smoke Diver Program, a member of the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) International Executive Advisory Board, a hands-on training coordinator for FDIC, an editorial advisor for Fire Engineering and the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute, and an adjunct instructor for the Georgia Fire Academy. He is a Type III incident commander for the Georgia Emergency Management-Metro Atlanta All Hazards Incident Management Team and is a task force leader for the Georgia Search and Rescue Team. He is president of Rhodes Consultants, Inc., which provides public safety training, consulting, and promotional assessment centers.
