Dear Nozzlehead: I belong to a volunteer fire department that generally does a great job and has a solid reputation. The problem: Many of us have family members in the department and in our companies. And although that works out fine sometimes, there are other times when the officers favor their relatives. One chief in particular really “takes care” of his kid, regardless of the rules or policies (of which we have few). His actions are very obvious, and it’s basically become a joke. This “chosen child” will always be treated differently. This situation has definitely affected the organization in terms of training attendance and runs. Do you have any advice?
–Tony Soprano, N.Y.
Dear Anthony,
I once visited a volunteer fire department that had 60 active members–and only four last names on the entire roster. Although this alone was weird enough, it was even weirder when I saw that many of them arrived in the same cars, not to mention how close some of their eyes were.
Yours isn’t a unique problem, but it certainly is an interesting one that some departments have addressed and many others have chosen to simply ignore. Welcome to the ignore side of life. You won’t be lonely. MANY fire departments ignore problems that are “lying in wait”–in other words, problems WE KNOW exist but choose to ignore … until something really bad happens. Then we’re forced to deal with the really bad aftermath.
There are a few levels of problems related to family members working together in fire departments. But first, let’s look at the positive: staffing and community involvement are the two top reasons why it’s a GOOD thing. And if a fire department and its leadership choose to manage the issue correctly, conflicts can be kept to a minimum.
On the flip side, relatives working together can create serious issues. For example, it’s tough enough for any of us when a brother or sister firefighter gets hurt. Imagine that it’s your spouse, child or other relative whom you see hurt on the fireground. And as prepared as we may be, the heartfelt emotions can often override our training and our ability to maintain composure, which is understandable.
Additionally, when we’re dealing with a domestic environment, family crap can end up in the firehouse–an extremely comfortable situation for everyone involved! Yeah, right. For example, here comes Firefighter Sally who is dating Firefighter Ricky, and they’ve decided to have ANOTHER fight and bring it with them to the firehouse. Now YOU are dragged into the questions, the accusations and all the other BS.
In addition to that kind of family crap, there is also the “mafia” environment, where one family–the family–“controls” the fire department or company (and has forever), and that’s how it is going to stay. Period. So the next time the fire company votes on the annual awards banquet dinner, and members of the family want green beans with almonds (again), you can FORGET that YOU like ’em with mushrooms. And that is just the “social” side of having “the family” run the firehouse.
Family matters can also affect a department’s operational side on a few different levels. As you wrote, when an officer supervises a family member, it’s rarely handled fairly. Sometimes it’s handled too strictly, because the officer wants to “show ’em who’s boss” or prove to others that they’re not being unfair. On the other hand, sometimes the members are treated with “kid gloves” because the officer doesn’t want to do their job and actually discipline their relative. Career or volunteer: Don’t be an officer if you can’t do the job–fairly! And remember: 98% of the job has nothing to do with going on runs. It’s all about dealing with people. Yuck.
As with most issues, the solution comes back to developing a policy that will address the situation before it becomes a situation. It’s wise to always use your fire department attorney to help develop a policy like this (since they have to defend you). Features of the policy could include:
- Family members should generally not ride on the same apparatus (unless there are no other staffing options).
- Family members should not work on the same duty crews (if your volunteer fire department has such things).
- Family members involved with corrective actions of other family members should excuse themselves and transfer the situation to a less-biased officer. People being charged with a disciplinary issue should generally not be subjected to decision-making by relatives.
- Although it is not possible to “policy-out” all our problems, members who hold officer positions must hold all subordinate members–related or not–to the same standards of policy enforcement and discipline as any other member. Additionally, subordinate members (family or not) can avoid confrontation by following the organizational policy and procedures.
Simply put, if we all do our jobs and follow our organizational policies, guidelines and procedures, we’ll rarely have to deal with the issue of family vs. family or an officer “picking on” a member of “the family.” HOWEVER, because we’re all human and will almost always screw up, intentionally or not, we must have policies, guidelines and procedures in place to objectively manage and deal with the problem fairly.
And now, back to our featured movie presentation: “Deliverance.”
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