Salka: Incident Commanders...Here We Go

I just read the story about the Dallas deputy fire chief who has been reassigned following the release of two reports concerning a fire and all the discussions and the questions that ensued. This wasn't just a fire but a fatal fire - the fatality was a Dallas firefighter. The stakes are high here and the costs have been even higher.

The question that remains is where do we want to go? We meaning the American Fire Service.

Once again everyone is concentrating so keenly on what happened here and why. Who's fault is it that a firefighter has died? Who made the mistake? Who lacks leadership? Who made bad decisions?

Well, we keep asking and in this case it looks like we got our answer. The people who conducted the investigations and produced the reports have spoken, and it looks like the deputy chief involved here is on the chopping block.

For all of you that think this is a good road to go down, let me ask you a few questions;

• Have you ever made a bad decision at a fire scene?
• Have you ever commanded a fire where the building burned down or suffered serious damaged unnecessarily?
• Have you ever experienced a poor leadership moment?
• Are you well trained? Really well trained, and beyond being questioned about your capabilities after a fire has gone wrong?

I don't know how your answers look but mine scare me. For the record:

• I have made some bad fireground decisions.
• I have commanded fires where there are now parking lots.
• I have displayed poor leadership skills at several fire scenes.

So, if you think this post-fire examination, whether or not it involves a serious structural fire, a civilian fatality or a LODD, is a good thing, you better move out of that glass house. You know what I'm saying. If a deputy chief in a large urban fire department can be examined and judged, then we will all be under the microscope soon.

Have you been to fires where the chief didn't have a clue? How about the department that doesn't have a single written SOP, guideline or operational policy? Are there departments that train once month? Do some officers get promoted for no reason other than they have been there longer than anyone else?

If we want to go public and ask these questions we better be ready for the answers. This time it's a "temporary reassignment." How is that recorded in the chief's personnel record? What happens to the next chief at a fire where we suffer a LODD? Just asking...