Through “Chief’s Corner,” Firehouse Magazine will talk with fire chiefs to better understand today’s leadership challenges and to bring leadership ideas to our readers. For the inaugural edition, we spoke with Reginald Freeman, who has been the chief of the Hartford, CT, Fire Department (HFD) since 2016.
FIREHOUSE: How has HFD’s response area changed over the years? How has that affected budgets and staffing?
FREEMAN: Hartford was consistently financially healthy up until the ’60s. From then up until now, the capital city of the state has struggled at no fault of our own. Between the land and structures that are owned by the state, hospitals and higher learning institutions, our inability to collect property tax on literally hundreds of buildings in the city is crippling. Only 54 percent of our structures in the city are taxable. This has impacted our budgets and staffing by having to continuously communicate risk, benefits of maintaining four-person apparatus, and explaining how our ISO Class 1 and international accreditation will be impacted if staffing, resources and firehouses are cut.
FIREHOUSE: After the October 2014 LODD of firefighter Kevin Bell, internal and external investigations determined HFD didn’t provide up-to-date equipment and training was below standards. Before you arrived, several firefighters were arrested for fights and alcohol-related incidents. What were your priorities on arrival?
FREEMAN: Stop the bleeding. The department that was being portrayed in the media was not the real HFD. The department has some of the best firefighters in the country, but when all you read in the headlines are the mistakes that are made by the few, everyone forgets who you really are, including stakeholders. During my first four days on the job, I was able to meet with all 17 companies on all four groups. That was very important to do for many reasons, but to communicate expectations and to hear what my men and women expected of me was my biggest motivational factor. During these station visits, I advised all members that my fundamental principle is to ensure that the “S.O.D.” [structure, organization, discipline] would be laid. When a fire chief does station visits, and the members in response to the question, “What do you need from me to help you be successful?” answer, “Accountability,” you have a problem. Only on a few occasions have I heard of firefighters asking for more accountability, and none of the departments where this occurred had a healthy culture.
In my 100-day plan, one of the main priorities was to address our public image. I had previously been hired from the outside as the assistant chief of support services, so I was familiar with the team and the culture. We addressed our public image with a very proactive social media and media campaign. On Feb. 1, 2016, we had 2,400 followers on Facebook. Today, we have close to 15,000. We made it a point to send out press releases so that we controlled the narrative and shared the good things that the men and women do on a daily basis.
After fixing our public image, the priorities were to establish a performance management metric so that we could make informed, data-driven decisions. We trained and offered training like mad men and women. Members went to federal sponsored training for the first time in their career.
You get firefighter buy-in through firefighter empowerment. It was important to empower every member to be an active participant in the cultural change that was taking place within the organization.
FIREHOUSE: What benefits have resulted from your regular visits to fire stations?
FREEMAN: You can’t send memorandums or exclusively do video Zoom meetings and expect to be effective or garner true followership. I’ve always made it a personal rule that if I’m driving and come across a fire station with the bay doors open and our men and women are on the apron or in the bay, I always stop and make it a point to ask how the family is doing, how the firefighters are doing and lastly, “Do you need anything?” Those five-minute interactions might as well be 30 minutes. The men and women appreciate it, and it recharges my batteries to see the men and women who make it happen for us on a daily basis.
FIREHOUSE: It’s almost five years since you joined HFD. What goals did you achieve?
FREEMAN: We’ve successfully ordered five new apparatus, which is the most we have ever ordered in a five-year period in our history. We received $12.8 million in AFG and SAFER grant money. We hired and brought in 125 new members (49 African American, 43 Latinx and 33 Caucasian). We have a comprehensive community-risk assessment tool. We have bought and placed gear extractors in every firehouse. We successfully developed a professional development program in partnership with the [union]. We successfully defended our Class 1 designation and made history last year as Connecticut’s first and only internationally accredited departments.
FIREHOUSE: What goals are you still looking to implement in 2021 and beyond?
FREEMAN: The continued pursuance of excellence. I know that sounds cliché, but that is the goal. Our focus is to secure CIP funding for new or renovated firehouses.
FIREHOUSE: Last year, the Hartford Fire Department became the first department in New England to achieve international accreditation. What step(s) did you take during the process to attain that goal, and what lessons did you and the department learn?
FREEMAN: Our accreditation team members (about 30 strong) worked extremely hard for three years on this initiative. We had to refine some programs and, in other cases, create processes to meet the stringent requirements of CFAI [Commission on Fire Accreditation International].
I believe that it also is important to communicate what we did prior to starting the accreditation process: overcommunicating the “why.” It was important for the membership to hear from me and to understand why we were entertaining the notion of pursuing accreditation, which is something that New England departments traditionally haven’t done. Once we communicated the “why” and had enough buy-in from the membership and union, collectively, we determined “how” we would go about doing it.
I can’t reiterate enough how important the communication piece is before and during the accreditation process.
We had specific assignments or tasks that members were responsible for; however, we weren’t two- and three-deep for each section, including the accreditation manager. That’s probably the most valuable lesson learned: Have a No. 1 and No. 2 in the position of accreditation manager as well as deputy accreditation manager.
FIREHOUSE: What programs did you implement to take care of your members? What is being done to address firefighter fitness and cancer prevention and to ensure that firefighters’ mental health and wellness are priorities?
FREEMAN: First, hopefully, my fellow fire chiefs agree that our No. 1 job is to ensure the health and wellness of our members above all else. Secondly, we must ensure that everyone has the appropriate tools, equipment and resources to do the job. Lastly, we must ensure that we have timely, relevant and comprehensive programs in place to shore up the aforementioned.
At HFD, we support members participating in physical training for approximately one hour. The company officer simply coordinates the time that he or she intends to PT with their respective company, although the company must stay in service. However, the tour commander still maintains accountability and is aware of the disposition of all companies, always.
Each member must complete [an NFPA 1582: Standard on Comprehensive Occupational Medical Program for Departments] physical successfully prior to officially starting with us, and every year after, a general physical must be completed by a licensed physician.
With the number of firefighters who are diagnosed with and succumb to cancer every year, we quickly realized that we could and should be doing more to protect the health and safety of our members. We did the following within a two-year period:
· Procured new extractors, so every firehouse had its own unit, and companies didn’t have to travel to other stations to clean their PPE
· We placed “hero wipes” on every apparatus, so members quickly could remove harmful carcinogens from their body after a working job
· We created a policy that made it mandatory that every company that was engaged in fire suppression duty shall return to quarters and shower immediately after the successful mitigation of the emergency; this is coordinated through the tour commander, so he/she can manage when companies go offline for this important task
· We pursued and successfully obtained an [Assistance to Firefighters] Grant for just under $200,000 that allows for every member of the department, both sworn and civilian, to complete a LifeScan Wellness Centers physical; this comprehensive wellness physical can identify medical concerns that pertain to cancer and cardiovascular disease, at the minimum
We have an EAP [Employee Assistance Program] coordinator who is a firefighter who does a remarkable job ensuring that all of our members’ needs are met, regardless of the topic. We frequently communicate the importance of seeking help and do so in a manner that is normalizing the process.
We have intramural sports that our members participate in, bike rides (both bicycle and motorcycle) and a host of other events that allows our membership to decompress in a healthy manner.
FIREHOUSE: The city has aging fire stations. What is your plan to update them?
FREEMAN: According to NFPA, the average age of a firehouse in the United States is 44 years old. Here in Hartford, the average age of our firehouses is 78 years old. We never had a comprehensive capital improvement plan (CIP), so that was a high priority early on in our administration.
After conducting [NFPA 1500: Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health, and Wellness Program] facility inspections and coordinating with our city engineer in public works, we successfully developed and implemented a 10-year CIP. As a matter of transparency, the CIP was shared with all members of the organization, union leadership, the city council, city leadership and the management & budget department for the city. This act of transparency also lends itself to be utilized as a tool for accountability during budget hearings or other public conversations, when or if the question of the request for capital funding ever is brought up: A friendly reminder of the email/document previously sent can be subtly offered.
FIREHOUSE: What does your department do for community risk reduction and education?
FREEMAN: We have a very proactive community risk reduction division that consists of our fire marshal’s office, the special services unit (public education) and the executive office. Naturally, a community risk reduction program can’t be complete without firefighters from the firehouse and city building code officials. This “synergy” among the aforementioned must exist to have relevancy and impact.
In 2019, our special services unit physically interacted with a documented 116,000 citizens. Through the data that are present in our community risk assessment, we knock on doors that are most likely to have a structure fire. The data are presented in a manner that highlights “blocks” within neighborhoods, and from there, we take literature that is reflective of the “most probable” Top 3 fire incidents that might occur at that address. While speaking with the resident, we also offer a free home safety inspection and smoke/carbon monoxide alarm installation.
We attend countless community events and set up booths accordingly for our materials.
We also developed a fire safety comic book, titled “Hartford Henry,” that has fire safety and anti-litter messages throughout. From this comic book, our department mascot, “Hartford Henry,” was born, and he attends our community events on a regular basis. The costume consists of the gloves (paws) and a face/head that has a fan inside of it for the hot muggy days. The remainder of the costume is our bunker pants, coat and boots. He is a big hit with children and adults alike in Hartford.
Lastly, after every structure fire in the city, we conduct what we call a “fire safety blitz.” We knock on every door within a two-block radius of the fire and provide fire safety literature that pertains to unattended cooking, open flame safety and electrical fire safety, respectively. We also offer a free fire safety home inspection and change out smoke alarm batteries as needed for the resident while we are there.
FIREHOUSE: You have worked as fire chief in military and municipal fire departments. What are differences that our readers might not realize?
FREEMAN: The biggest difference is in how goals or tasks are accomplished.
On the government or civilian contractor side, there is heavy regulation on how the mission is accomplished. This leads to a more stringent, strict and process-driven culture. There are serious consequences for not meeting the mission. There isn’t much discussion on “why” you have to do something.
On the municipal side, the exercising of leadership is much more prevalent. It is critical that people who are in positions of authority know and understand that their members are their boss. It is important to motivate before you manage; it’s equally important to inspire and not publicly chastise. With three generations in the workplace, how persons who are in positions of authority respond to adversity determines how successful that they will be in motivating and inspiring their personnel.
Challenges will come consistently; however, how you respond to these challenges also consistently presents itself as an opportunity for success or as a self-imposed setback.
FIREHOUSE: What accomplishments stand out more than others?
FREEMAN: I am most proud of our joint labor management initiatives. Although we didn’t agree on everything and had our fair share of dialogue and discussions about problems, we did a lot for the membership and the department, the most notable being accreditation.
When you put ego to the side and truly embrace doing things for the betterment of the organization, the sky is the limit. Who cares if someone doesn’t give you credit? Who cares if someone makes it out to be their idea? Who cares if you aren’t acknowledged? If progress is made and/or the team “wins” but one of the first things that you do is ask yourself one of those questions, then you are doing things for the wrong reasons.
FIREHOUSE: What advice would you share with those who look to climb the career ladder to become a fire chief?
FREEMAN: Be a lifelong student. Regardless of how many certifications, degrees or credentials that you might have, stay humble. Tenure isn’t equivalent to competency; however, having a certification doesn’t make you competent either. Competency is defined by your training, education and experience but, most importantly, by how you apply your training, education and experience. Take your time and focus on being competent in every aspect of the fire service. This includes administrative duties, fire and emergency services mitigation, leadership, management, conflict resolution, team building and public speaking, just to name a few.
FIREHOUSE: What is the one thing that you wish that you knew before you became a fire chief or joined the fire service?
FREEMAN: The necessity and importance of work-life balance.
I am a hard-charger and give 100 percent of myself to the fire service. In 2009, as a young fire chief, I was working 14–16-hour days for the first six months. I was reading, writing and just working in general, trying my best to identify holes and gaps that needed to be filled while at the same time, unknowingly, leaving a huge hole at home.
I was able to acknowledge my absence and have a very honest and humble conversation with my wife about my shortcomings and why I was doing what I was doing. I apologized and promised her and myself that moving forward, I would have a better work-life balance.
I have a Type A personality and, no doubt, am a go-getter who has brought the attitude and mentality that I had as an All-American high school athlete to the fire service. The difference between now and then is that now I have a family, responsibilities and people who count on me for more than just providing a home and nourishment.
As dedicated professionals who have great work ethics, we must protect ourselves from ourselves sometimes. You still can be that consummate professional and spend quality time with your family. Set boundaries as well as schedules and ask one of your loved ones to help you manage it. This has been very helpful for my family and me.
