Chief Dan Jones, Chapel Hill, NC

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway!
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway!
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway!
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway!
5. Honesty and frankness makes you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway!
6. The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway!
7. People favor underdogs, but follow top dogs. Fight for the underdogs anyway!
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway!
9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway!
10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway!
     It is always good to be reminded of what we were given as students and mentee’s. This comes at an opportune time in my life to clarify focus, create drive and provide sound direction to my future. I was raised on these commandments of leadership by my mentors, some of the greatest fire service individuals to ever exist. Ironically, I was searching for something else in the office when I ran across an old text book that I utilized when going through the International Society of Fire Service Instructors’ (ISFSI) Company of Development (CODe) Series many years ago. One of the authors of the book ended up being my Fire Chief and Mentor, Dan Jones. The book “Managing People” happened to fall to the floor in my search and opened up to page 32 where the Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership was located.
     Over the past year I have been in many discussions with friends and colleagues across North America about issues that we face daily in the fire service and the many frustrations leaders are having. It often times gets to the point of being somewhat depressing as the future holds so many uncertainties. I know I have had friends with 25 plus years experience layoffs, we see stations closing, training centers shut down and good leaders cut off at the knees by ram-rod political events.
     I believe the book falling open to the page with Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership is one of those events that occur that makes you say…Ok I get it! My frustration with the fire service is like riding a roller coaster. Many issues affect my emotions as I often am finding myself disheartened with the events that have reoccurrence in our business.
     The Paradoxical Commandments were written by Kent Keith in 1968, when he was 19, a sophomore at Harvard College. They were part of The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council, his first booklet for high school student leaders. Here is how it all came about.
     As a senior at Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Kent was heavily involved in student government. He was student body president and also president of the Honolulu High School Association. He was excited about the challenges of leadership and good leadership techniques.

Kent keith in 1969

     Because Hawaii did not have a student council leadership workshop to train student council leaders, Kent founded the Hawaii Student Leadership Institute, which held its first session in the summer of 1966. This was the first leadership workshop for high school student leaders that was founded and run entirely by high school students.
     Kent went on to attend Harvard. During his four years as an undergraduate there, he gave more than 150 speeches at high schools, student leadership workshops, and state student council conventions in eight states. These were the turbulent sixties, when student activists were seizing buildings, throwing rocks at police, and shouting down opponents. Kent provided an alternative voice. In his public speaking, Kent encouraged students to care about others, and to work through the system to achieve change. One thing he learned was students didn’t know how to work through the system to bring about change. Some of them also tended to give up quickly when they faced difficulties or failures. They needed deeper, longer-lasting reasons to keep trying.
     “I saw a lot of idealistic young people go out into the world to do what they thought was right, and    good, and true, only to come back a short time later, discouraged, or embittered, because they got negative feedback, or nobody appreciated them, or they failed to get the results they had hoped for.” recalls Keith. “I told them that if they were going to change the world, they had to really love people, and if they did, that love would sustain them. I also told them that they couldn’t be in it for fame or glory. I said that if they did what was right and good and true, they would find meaning and satisfaction, and that meaning and satisfaction would be enough. If they had the meaning, they didn’t need the glory.”

      In his sophomore year at Harvard, Kent began writing a booklet for high school student leaders that addressed both the how and the why of leading change. The booklet was titled The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council, and it was published by Harvard Student Agencies in 1968. The Paradoxical Commandments were part of Chapter Two, entitled “Brotherly What?”

     “I laid down the Paradoxical Commandments as a challenge,” Keith said. “The challenge is to always do what is right and good and true, even if others don’t appreciate it. You have to keep striving, no matter what, because if you don’t, many of the things that need to be done in our world will never get done.”

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The idea for high school students to be able to take Firefighter I,II certification classes through the community college system has been around for many years through the dual enrollment process. The idea for High Schools to offer Firefighter Certification classes as part of the Career and Technical Education program however, is a much newer idea. Mr. Jay Brooks, the Assistant Fire Marshal of Rockingham County near Eden, NC proposed the idea to Mr. David Barbour, a Trade and Industrial Consultant for the NC Department of Public Instruction. His idea was based on the fact that many high school students across the state were responding to fire calls and they did not have the necessary training to answer these calls safely. His proposal was to have the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the NC Department of Public Instruction join forces to offer Career and Technical Education classes that would provide these students with the Firefighter I,II certification classes as well as provide them with CTE class credits.

These two organizations collaborated and the first three pilot programs were selected. The 2010-2011 school year marks the second year of the 3 year pilot program. If all goes well and the pilot program is deemed successful, the concept of High School Fire Academies will become part of the NC Standard Course of Study. All that will be needed is to have a strong partner agency for the high school to work with to assist with providing the tools of the trade and additional instructors to assist with the practical skills. The Instructors must be NC Certified Teachers as well as Level II Instructors with the Office of the State Fire Marshal qualified to instruct Firefighter I,II classes.

Welcome to the Concord High School Fire Academy! As the recruits enter the classroom, they pick up their ID tag from a ring on the back of the door and walk across the room and tag in on the Accountability Board. Students must tag in and out each class period. If a student is called to the office or needs to leave the class for any reason, the CHSFA has a “2-In – 2-Out” policy and another recruit must accompany them as their “Battle Buddy”. This is Reality Based Instruction. The class is considered a Battalion and each neat row of 4 desks is a Company. The class has a Battalion Chief and each Company has a company officer who holds the rank of Captain. The officers all sit in the rear seats of the class so they can watch over their companies. When the class attendance is taken it is done so as a PAR by company.

Each class period there are the announcements which are performed much like a face to face shift change with the recruits standing at either attention or at parade rest. Once seated, there is the “Morning Minute” and a Fire service quote or a one-liner from Fire Nuggets.com. Then there is the trademark CHSFA Cheer. Chief “Whooo?” Battalion Drill Commander “Who Are WE?” All Recruits shout “CHS Fire Academy CTE – Sir!”. The CTE has two meanings – Career and Technical Education, and the Fire Academy motto which is “Committed To Excellence”. Posted on the wall next to the accountability tags is a sign that says Don’t Train To Get It Right… Train So That You Can’t Get It Wrong. The Academy Motto is “Honor, Service, Pride, Tradition”.
The classroom has a Memorial Wall with the American Flag and State Flag flanking it. It is a black bulletin board with a red stripe. The NCFFF T-shirt is in a shadow box on the wall along with Stickers from 9-11-01, W6, and the C9. At the top of the wall there is a sign that says… WE WILL NEVER FORGET. There is also a plaque with the names of the Cabarrus County LODD’s and a current count of the LODD’s for the US that is kept updated.

As you entered the CHSFA classroom one cannot help but see the 20 sets of used Turnout Gear hanging at the rear of the room on the gear rack that were donated by local fire departments along with 12 brand new fire helmets and CHS Fire Academy helmet shields. MSA Cairns Helmet division was very good to provide these for the academy as was Shelby Specialty Gloves and Majestic Fire Hoods. One also sees the mats used for PT for the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program. The academy classroom also has several different brands of SCBA for the recruits to become familiar with.

Wednesday is uniform day. The recruits are required to wear the Fire Academy T-shirt and navy blue BDU’s with a plain black belt and black duty boots or shoes. The Introduction to Public Safety class has a red T-shirt and the Fire Science level I, II, III recruits wear a navy blue T-shirt. The Fire Science students actually wear the Class B uniform (T-shirts) every Monday and the Class A navy blue dress uniform shirt with the CHSFA patches on Wednesday. The Battalion Chiefs and Captains wear white dress uniform shirts. All of these are used shirts that have been donated by the partner agency – Concord Department of Fire and Life Safety. The partner agency has also made Photo ID cards for all of the Fire Academy recruits as well.

Whenever a Battalion goes outside of the classroom to participate in Drill, PT, or to train with the CHSFA Fire Apparatus “The Black Widow”, the Recruit Class Guidon must lead. One recruit is designated to guard the Guidon and a relief is appointed at approximately 5 minute intervals. This is another way that accountability is taught and learned through reality based instruction.

The Concord High School Fire Academy has an Honor Guard that presents the colors for many different events including Home Football games, Honor Society Inductions, Graduation, and this fall the Honor Guard was called upon to serve at a military funeral procession. The Honor Guard teamed up with the Police Explorers Honor Guard to begin the Holiday season this year by Presenting the Colors at the Concord Tree Lighting ceremony the night before the CHSFA marched in the Concord Christmas Parade. Early in December the CHSFA also participated in the Kannapolis, NC “Christmas Parade of Lights” night parade.

At this time, the Fire Science – Level I recruits are taking the Fire Prevention Education and Cause class and are working on Fire Safety messages as well as acting out a number of children’s fire safety story books with homemade and commercially available Puppets. Hopefully these will be successful and deliver the messages needed to make many young persons of all ages more fire safe.

The CHS Fire Academy has grown from 20 students in late January of 2010 to the current roster of 110 students during the 2010-2011 school year. Performance has been very satisfactory with the administration of 295 Certification Exams during the first semester along with the completion of the Practical Skills assessments. The pass rate during the first semester was 98 percent. To date, during the second semester the rate has been only slightly lower.

The Firefighter I,II certification classes are instructed over 3 semesters.

Semester I topics include: Orientation and Safety, PPE, Fire Behavior, Portable Fire Extinguishers, Alarms and Communications, Fire Prevention, Education, and Fire Cause Determination, and Fire Hose, Streams, and Appliances.

Semester II topics include: Ropes, Ladders, Forcible Entry, Ventilation, The Art of Reading Smoke, Water Supply, Sprinklers, and Foam Fire Streams.
Semester III topics include: Salvage, Overhaul, Emergency Medical Care, Rescue, Building Construction, and Fire Control – Except for the Live Burn. The Live Burn can be completed after age 18 and after graduation.

The only other class for Firefighter I,II that is not completed in the Fire Academy is Haz Mat Awareness, Operations, and Terrorism. The number of hours required for this class keeps it from being completed along with the rest of the Semester III topics. Recruits can take and complete this class with Dual Enrollment or at another time.

There has been a strong interest in the Skills USA Firefighter Competition Team that has been started this year. Currently there are 14 students that hold practice every Wednesday afternoon. Events that are practiced include: Turnout Gear Racing, Ladder Raise, Forcible Entry, Advancing charged and uncharged Hose Lines, Knots, Obstacle courses with backboards and Stokes Baskets and more… Each Competition Team member has a Resume, practices Interview Skills, and studies extra topics and detail in Fire Science. Two officers from the academy attended the Camp Dixie Fall Leadership Conference at the beginning of the school year so that they could lead and train the Skills USA Firefighter Competition Team. The State competition this year was held in late March and three of our recruits competed and did well. Captain Brandon Blackwelder placed 2nd, Battalion Chief Taylor Beverly placed 6th, and Captain Kyle Franklin placed 7th. Just recently we have learned that Captain Blackwelder will be representing North Carolina at the National Skills USA competition in Kansas City, Kansas in mid June.

The CHS Fire Academy Honor Guard and Officers attended the NC Association of Fire Chief’s Midwinter Conference February 2-6, 2011 that was held at the Embassy Suites Conference Center and Hotel in Concord, NC. The recruits were present as Chief Barlow presented a workshop about the program. The recruits manned a table display showcasing the High School Fire Academy Concept. The workshop was well attended. Mr. Steve Sloan of the Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Office announced to the workshop participants that this program is now being recognized as the model program in the state.

On April 12, 2011, Chief Barlow presented an overview of the CHS Fire Academy to the North Carolina Fire and Rescue Commission at their spring meeting. The Fire and Rescue Commission meets quarterly. The reason for the overview and update was to let the Commission know first hand what is happening with the program since there is so much interest statewide and beyond.

Other major events that the CHS Fire Academy has participated in this year include: Cabarrus County Fire and Life Safety Bowl and the Liberty Mutual Drunk Driving Awareness Crash Car event.
Upcoming events include: The 1st Annual CHS Fire Academy Awards Night, The 1st Annual Firemen’s Day & Muster, Honor Guard performances at the National Technical Honor Society Induction, Two different High School Graduation ceremonies, and the presentation of the colors at the International Association of Fire Chief’s Southeastern Conference in Montgomery, Alabama in mid June, and then the Skills USA National Competition. It has been a busy year so far.

As you prepare to leave the Fire Academy, the Battalion Chief asks if you have time to look over their pride and joy – “The Black Widow”? This is their 1973 American LaFrance Fire Apparatus that is named for the school mascot – The Spiders. The truck is on lease from the Concord Department of Fire and Life Safety for the recruits to use and maintain as their Training Truck and is their source of much pride. Since you do not have time to check it out on this visit, maybe you can return soon and really get a more detailed overview of how this equipment fits in to our overall Fire Academy experience.

Chief – Can I get a Hoorah? Recruits – “HooRah!”

Chief “Whooo?” Battalion Drill Commander “Who Are WE?”
Recruits shout “CHS Fire Academy CTE – Sir!”.

Chief David Barlow was hired as the Chief Instructor for this program after a 33 year career as a High School Science Teacher. His last 20 years of teaching was at Mooresville High School where he retired in June of 2008. After retirement, starting inside of Shenandoah National Park he backpacked the entire length of the Original Blue Ridge Parkway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. He has come out of retirement to serve as the Chief of the Concord High School Fire Academy. Chief Barlow is an OSFM Level II Instructor, Emergency Medical Technician, Fire Officer Level III, Technical Rescue Specialist, Haz Mat Technician, and a graduate of the NC Association of Fire Chief’s Executive Development Program. He has also attended the NASA DART Advanced Structural Collapse USAR School at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. His current and active career as a volunteer firefighter spans more than 32 years.

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Certainly aptitude is important to our success in life or the success of an organization. Yet anyone who has been around the fire service for more than a few days knows success or failure is precipitated more by mental attitude than by mere mental capacities. WE have to recognize the true importance of the total equation I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) + A.Q. (Attitude Quotient) = Success or Failure. We have all witnessed individuals whose I.Q. was extremely high and their performance was low and the opposite of low I.Q and high performance. The difference in each of these formulas is the attitude quotient. There is very little difference in people, but that little difference, attitude, makes a big difference.

So how do we become successful organizations excelling in all aspects? First we must have talented personnel in place. We must foster positive attitudes. This fostering is critical and it is not just the responsibility of the Fire Chief. Sure it may begin there but the critical dimension is within the officers, especially company officers. It is paramount that officers maintain a strong -positive attitude. The true leaders and trainers of today’s fire service are the company officers. In many organizations it is glaringly apparent that the company officers don’t possess the correct attitudes. This is a serious issue because they begin to affect the troops as their leadership is mostly what these individuals see. Just like cancer growing, attitudes spreads very quickly whether it is positive or negative.
Some Individuals would look at a pile of rubble and say “what a mess” while others will look at the same pile and say “what an opportunity”. Which one of these individuals would you want leading the fire department in your community? Most would say the one who has a vision of what that “mess” could be. This is an excellent example of a positive attitude.

With all this said…how is your attitude? Before you answer, what would others say if they had this opportunity to answer? I encourage you to take a true examination here. As an officer, I hope my personnel have excellent minds and outstanding attitudes. But if I have to choose an “either-or” situation, without hesitation I would want their A.Q. (attitude) to be high!

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Training & Tactics Talk: Company Officers and Their Role as a Training Officer

Douglas Cline talks with several fire officers about the role of officers as trainers at the company level.
Chief Cline is joined by Lt. Michael Daley of Monroe Township, NJ, Deputy Chief Spencer Lee of Jacksonville, NC and Deputy Chief Jeffrey Pinelski of Downers Grove, IL.
The group of seasoned veterans, and long-time fire service instructors, share stories that illustrate the important role of a company officer in keeping firefighters trained.

They talk about building a foundation for training with each crew and share tips to keep training exciting and fresh.

For a direct link to the podcast, HERE

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Talking about culture

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            You know that history shows that firefighters and students learning to become firefighters, have died or been severely injured during these live fire training exercises. However, you also know that firefighters who don’t possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the job effectively are a danger to their fellow comrades. You also have your peer pressure and superiors’ pushing you to make sure that the drill is “real”. They want to make it worth their time so the rookies can “learn something from it”.

           So you have to achieve a balance of risk in training versus the risk of not having that training. NFPA 1403 was designed to set standards on what should be done to mitigate those dangers and that risk. The International Society of Fire Service Instructors (ISFSI) has designed a Live Fire Instructor credentialed training program designed to teach you how to meet the standards while preparing firefighters through the experiences of live fire training, in permanent live fire training props. For more information contact ISFSI.

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Authority is the right to command and expend resources.

A leader is one who can generate effective individual and group action to accomplish agency goals.

The fire service is a dynamic profession that is richly steeped in tradition, noble in deeds and calling. We know the fire service to be constant – yet ever changing in today’s society. We have built this profession upon man and machinery in opposition with an uncontrolled force known as fire. The last fifteen years has shown a shift from traditional fire service missions to encompass a wide scope of service deliveries that is ever expanding. We are challenged daily on the way we do business.
These changes have affected not only the fire service as a whole but also each level
within. The importance of competencies for fire officers in skills, knowledge and training is of the essence in today’s fire service. Fire officer cultural and attitudinal changes are the crucial links that will ultimately determine the future of our business.
Each year the American fire service experiences an average of over 100 line of duty deaths each year. Further we know that the amount of working fires are down approximately 66% of what they were in the mid 1970’s. So what is the score card saying? Why do we continue to know the causes of line of duty deaths and do nothing to change? Summed up it is nothing more than attitudes. We need to change our attitudes. There is no where in the corporate world that you could come in and give an annual report that stated we had a good year, we only lost 100 employees that you would not be escorted out the door before you could get your personal items in a box. Ron Siarnicki of the national Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation (NFFF) made this statement in one of there program. Guess what…HE IS CORRECT! Why do we as leaders in this business continue to allow these issues to occur? Why do we continue to deem it an honor to die in the line of duty? Why are we so resistant to change? We call it tradition! Well as a fire chief and a fire service member I have to say, “GET OVER OLD and BAD TRADITIONS, START A SAFE NEW ONE!” Ok, if I stepped on some toes here, GOOD, they probably needed it. We cannot afford to continue allowing the same mistakes over and over again to occur. At some point we have to start saying it is not acceptable to have injuries and Line of Duty Deaths (LODD). We must change this culture and the time is now and it starts with YOU!
I recently was shuttled to the airport following a conference. I was able to spend that time talking with a young foriegn exchange fire science student who was asking many questions about the culture of the fire service. I asked me how many people get hurt or are killed doing this job as he had seen T-Shirts this week about this. I was ashamed to say we  usually have an average of more than 100 firefighters a year. He then asked why. Boy did this hit home! We know why and how firefighters die in the line of duty but what are we doing to prevent them? In 2010 we had eighty five(85) line of duty deaths. My question is just how many of these could have been prevented? One area that we know we can control the environment and have good chances of not having a line of duty death is training. But in 2010 we had 7 line of duty deaths in training. This equates to 8.2% of the total line of duty deaths for that year. Secondly responding to and returning from alarms accounted for 16 line of duty deaths or 18.8%. Deaths in crashes continue to account for a significant portion of the annual fatalities. How many of these could have been prevented? How many were not wearing their seat belts? How many was speed a contributing factor? To answer the last two questions is far too many. This can be corrected with an attitude adjustment.
Let’s look at how we can reduce these numbers. We need to first address our culture and make attitude changes. These changes need to be at all levels. We can begin this change today without problems by changing the thought process as new firefighters enter the academies across the United States. We can further push with the existing firefighters. We have to hit the dinosaurs hard because they take the new recruits freshly in the field and create dinosaur eggs that then develop into dinosaurs themselves. The year 2009 we saw a reduction in the line of duty deaths to below 100 again. Are we lucky or are we truly focusing on what the issues are. Thus the culture revolves in a vicious cycle. Ok there is the start but what do we do to impact the fire service?
We need to develop and require Comprehensive Health and Wellness Programs. These programs need to include physical conditioning, medical evaluations, and mental conditioning. With more and more firefighters perishing due to heart attacks and strokes ( 56.4%) we need to make sure that we are in the physical condition to do this job. I further think that the statistics are some what skewed. When we see LODDs of fire service personnel 65 years old or older who die after responses who did not engage in suppression activities it is being question as to where or not these individuals would have had a heart attack even if they were not on scene within that 24 hours. How many departments are providing and requiring comprehensive medical evaluations (NFPA 1582) for all of their members? If you are not, you need to look for a way to make this happen. So many times I hear of how certain medical evaluations have found members of the fire service with health issues they never knew existed. These physicals need to be annually. I recently was running a portion of a department’s physical conditioning program which was a job performance physical agility test. I found one of our more experience personnel to be hypertensive (elevated blood pressure). I refused to let him test and the department sent  him for medical evaluation. Guess what…he is alive today and has begun taking on life style changes and has medication to assist in controlling this issue. He had no symptoms of this condition and was at the potential levels for major problems. Simply as your grandmother would say, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Further we need to evaluate and support physical conditioning (NFPA 1583). These need to set personal goals as each individual is different, department goals and standards as to show everyone who performs must be able to perform at a set level. Lastly, we must have qualitative and quantitative testing of physical conditioning. Not as punishment but as a teaching tool. How many of your members can tell you exactly how long an SCBA will last when they are working at full capacity. As command officers this is important information as we work on scenes and strive to complete accountability of our personnel. More importantly it will keep our personnel safer.
We know this is one of the most stressful jobs anywhere you could travel. So just how well do we condition our folks mentally. Have you ever heard “suck it up it’s your job?” Sitting and talking with some professionals from an FDNY Engine Company they talked about and exhibited significant signs of Critical Incident Stress. This, I am sure, is compounded several times over from the events that affect the lives of these firefighters, but hey lets face facts here. These brothers are hurting and hurting bad. But have we addressed any of this, how about there families? I bet they are hurting too! So what do we do to help this problem? We must provide good Critical Incident Stress (CIS) education and coping techniques not only to the firefighters but also for their families. I know that I have done multiple programs on the east coast about this same issue, addressing firefighters and families together both the firehouse family and our true families all at the table together. This program is titled “Hearts and Sirens” and it explores CIS as it affects both the emergency services working and the family we leave at home when duty calls. My wife tells here heart felt stories of the situations she has had to live through and what helped. Basically we provide education, coping techniques and skills to deal with CIS for families. Let’s face it tough guys, even the hard core folks, struggle with all we face in this job at some point. As they face repetitive issues it becomes cumulative and eventually the levels will build up to the eruption point. This can be prevented and enhance our quality of life with just a little education and swallowing of pride on our part. Face it we are not super human, as much as we wish we were.
Training is the paramount. We must continue to enhance our training in every aspect. This includes going back to the basics. We often see in NIOSH reports where basic and routine components of our job are not performed or are contributing factors to LODD and injuries. So why can’t we do the basics? We have the mentality of hey I been there done that, I don’t need to do that anymore, I have got that down. Ok are you sure? If so show me! If you got it should not be hard or lengthy. Next we need to focus on realism. What are we truly going to face. I deal with the mentality of that wouldn’t happen to us or that’s the big city stuff it’s not going to happen here. Well, last time I checked fire did not discriminate. It does matter who you are or where you are from. Reality check… who would have thought that an aircraft with terrorists on board would crash in rural Pennsylvania. That should prove this point with enough said. We must train hard, train realistically and train often. By doing this we stoke our tool boxes with the right tools for the job.
As we train, we as leaders and trainers must make every effort to pull out the stops. We must not accept or condone any type of training environment or attitude that compromises the safety of any firefighter. We must cease pushing the envelope with cowboy tactics that only prove that you can show boat. If this is you I have a message…Your Dangerous and you need to change. We do not need to hurt or kill firefighters to have good quality training. In fact good quality training starts with no injuries and especially no deaths. In research of training line of duty deaths almost every incident could have been prevented.
In closing we must have to courage to say NO and the courage to be safe. It often is not a popular personality folks want to see, but again is it worth dieing for…Most times not! Come on folks, let’s face it, we are not doing everything correct here. We need to change and we need to change NOW!!! Do your self, your firefighters and their families a favor. Help prevent a line of duty death, change the attitudes and culture in your departments and have the courage to be safe! The families at home depend on you to be a leader and an officer. If you are not willing to do as much as possible to help with the change of the culture, do the fire service a favor, RETIRE or QUIT or RESIGN BEING AN OFFICER because you are part of the problem not part of the solution. Help us support the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the fire service quest of “EVERYONE GOES HOME”.

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Two dates and a dash in the middle…that equates to your day of birth, your life and your day of death. The middle component is symbolized by a dash (-). So what does that dash mean? Well let’s be honest it divides the dates on the grave stone and it is symbolic of your time alive. I heard this as the opening of a church service recently and it hit me like a ton of bricks of just how this symbolizes our time in the fire service especially the portion you are serving as a fire officer.

As a fire officer I am going to challenge each individual who reads this article to live and work the fire service as if you only had one month to live. Recently I was conversing with a good friend in the fire service, Deputy Chief Jeff Pindelski of Downers Grove, Illinois, and we both said it at the same time it is obvious that firefighters and fire officers have lost the passion for the fire service. This concerns me considerably as I have a good ways to go to retire and I am going to see the effects of what this loss will cause. In the 16 Life Safety Initiatives, the first initiative states that we need to define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety, incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility. I believe that this loss of passion is the root of the problem. Bottom line if you don’t really give a Damn then there is no passion and no passion leads to lack of leadership, management, supervision and responsibility as an officer. As we see this the way to make this change is that officers should live and perform each day passionately in an effort to change or make the fire service better. So why does this not happen? It is just too easy to sit back and ride the wave and keep the status quo. Well those folks will never leave a thumb print on the organization that way.

This lake of passion will not let you leave a positive mark on the fire service. We see each year over 100 line of duty deaths. We are presented the causes through FirefighterCloseCalls.com, the Near Miss Reporting System and NIOSH reports. My question is why do we keep doing the same things over and over expecting to get different results? My answer is that firefighters and fire officers don’t have the passion to make change. Let’s face it; they obviously don’t love the fire service. I was sitting in a restaurant having lunch on day when an elderly couple comes in. It is obvious that the gentleman was in much better physical condition and health than his wife. But she was meticulously dressed and made up. As she shuffled along slowly the gentleman stood by her side and helped her. They finally made it to the counter, ordered their meal and he proceeded to help her to the table to sit down. All along she shuffled along slowly. This fine gentleman never got hurried or frustrated with her. As she sat down in a booth he had to gently push her over as she was not able to scoot herself. He went back to the counter got the food and brought it to the table. He sat down fixed her food for her, took her hands and prayed. After finishing the prayer the gentleman began to feed her. In seeing this was passion for his wife and true demonstration of love that he had for her. Ok my fellow officers just how many of you have that passionate level of love for the fire service. I would guess not many as I hear frequently what can the department do for me not what I can do for the department.

It is obvious that Ken Farmer in one of his recent Barnyard Management article series hit it on the head…we have got a lot of Kudzu. “For those of you not in the south Kudzu is a climbing, woody vine that is capable of reaching up to 100 feet in trees but scrambles over almost any lower vegetation. It has large green leaves. The scientists say it will grow up to 60 feet in a season and as much as 30 stems from a single root. It was originally brought from Japan to the US in 1876 to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition as a forage and ornamental plant. Somehow it escaped from a secure greenhouse in Philly and was spread throughout the south by several northern terrorists while on vacation in the south. (Well, if you believe that story…..)

It was actually promoted by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service 1935 to the 1950’s to reduce soil erosion in the South. It worked to hold the soil in gullies and in areas where land was clear cut. Farmers were even paid $8.00 an acre to grow it and more than 1.2 million acres were planted with funds from the government.

After it became difficult to clear and stop, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared it a weed in early 1953. To even further soil (or sully) its reputation, in 1998 it was declared by Congress as a Federal Noxious Weed. The good news is that no one in the South heard about that law being passed!

So, with such a rich history and so much a part of southern tradition and lore, why do we still make fun of kudzu? Well, that is very easy to answer. Kudzu is a sneaky pest that will cover everything before you can turn around and stop it! On a farm its one of those things that happens before your eyes and you just don’t see it coming. It is almost impossible to kill. Scientists say it takes 20 years to kill it off! We would try almost anything from pesticides to trying to make the cows eat it (the cows graciously refused!) to burning it off. Of course, none of this was successful. So you always kept a sharp eye on it all the time and tried to cut it back every chance you got.

So do you have any kudzu vines in your department or business? You know the type I am speaking about! They sit over there in their office or maybe they work at another station or work site. You never think about them until you realize they have snuck over and covered everyone else with their negative thoughts and leaves. Then you have to get in there and hack away at the plant to try to stop its spread. The first thing you must do it get to the root, just like with kudzu. If you don’t take out the root, the pain (and the weed) will just start growing back the very next day.” Bottom line is we cannot let the poison in. It will spread like Kudzu.

Because we live in a “Me” first world – “I want it and I want it now” We as officers must make some BIG cultural changes. We must be patient and loving like the gentleman was to his wife. Showing passion about the people and the communities we serve. We have to make that dash between the two numbers truly mean something and leave a positive thumb print on the fire service. Officers should perform each day passionately in an effort to change the fire service for the better. Working tirelessly to make the fire service safer, firefighters better educated and our service delivery the best it can be since we have a monopoly on the business in our communities. Bottom line officers need to be just that officers, not coat tail riders.

I want to leave you with a few final thoughts…Who or what are you working for?
1. Other people’s approval?
2. For more toys?
3. For someone else?

Or are you working for the right reasons. Hey folks as firefighters and especially fire officers you have only one option if you are going to do it with passion…LEAD BODLY FROM THE FRONT. Because, you have two dates and a dash in the middle what are you going to do with the dash? What will folks say your dash means when you are gone?

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Phase 3: I Know I am Growing because it is Showing
When you recognize your lack of skill and begin the daily discipline of personal growth in leadership, exciting things start to occur. During this phase you begin coming into your own as a leader. This phase is more of the true student phase. You are actively learning, experimenting and growing in both knowledge and wisdom.

Phase 4: I simply Go because of What I know
When you are in phase 3 you will be effective as a leader, but you have to think about your every move. During phase 4, your talents and abilities to lead become almost automated. During this phase is when you receive your reward for all of the discipline, dedication, determination and hard work. For many they never reach this phase as they never recognized the process and pay the price. During this phase it also opens the door for mentoring. You have the opportunity to pay it forward as you “lead” other through this rigorous process.

Leadership is something that is not developed over night or in one day; it is developed daily and is an ongoing process – that is reality. The important thing to recognize is that your leadership ability is not static. Because no matter where you are or starting from you always have the opportunity and ability to get better no matter who you are – world famous to the person next door.

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