Firefighters tend to be very reluctant when it comes to talking about their fears. I’m sure there are some firefighters who would say they are not afraid of anything. The reality is every firefighter is afraid of one thing: change. The moment there is a hint of changing policies or challenging of traditions, the wall goes up. The amount of resistance created within an organization is amazing at times. Daily operational procedures are probably the best example of an organization change that immediately creates apprehension and distrust in the ranks. Operations, or how we fight fires, are something most departments take pretty seriously.
For example, introduce the concept of adjusting attack procedures in your organization an firefighters will lose their minds! Once the “change” rumors have started in an organization, they cannot be stopped. A large portion of your membership may question, “Why do we need to change?” Many of the members within your organization will state they’ve been doing it this way for years and it works.
In reality, every department across this country has an individual way that works for them. Whatever your organization’s "way" is, it needs to be documented and viewed as the overall training goal. The members of your department need to believe in “the way” and be working towards it. Standard operating procedures, guidelines and arrival matrixes all need to document “your way”. If your organization cannot train to, and reproduce your way, it isn’t a way at all. Without attainable and tangible results to show, justifying your way is very difficult.
Reinventing The Department
Many fire departments are attempting to reinvent themselves, for whatever reason. When this happens, departments tend to look to bigger organizations around them or even on a national scale. For example, FDNY uses this tactic at fires, or we should use Blue Card as a command structure.
The issue with trying to use another organization's patterns or response guidelines is that it does not always work. If you are a member of a department with 30 members, one station and 250 runs a year, looking to FDNY for a response guideline may not work. Training programs, such as Blue Card, cannot be taken as the gospel by a department without evaluating how it fits into existing department procedures and culture. If your organization works in a northern climate, basements and lower levels are a huge part of what we do. Blue Card just barely scratches the surface of what it takes to successfully operate at a basement fire in the parts of country where every home has some kind of lower level.
In the case of FDNY protocols or Blue Card Command Training, both have a lot to offer. An organization could pick and choose the communication elements from Blue Card and combine them with your department’s current fire scene communications procedures in order to clarify arrival reports. A department could adopt the Vent-Enter-Search methods of FDNY and mesh them with your current search and rescue tactics in order to develop a more through training program for ladder and heavy rescue companies. There is no perfect training program or department out there that is going to solve all of your issues; it will always be your responsibility to seek out the best fit for your organization.
Reinventing The Wheel
The key to creating useful and acceptable change in your organization is realizing that no one is reinventing the wheel. Take some ideas from column A and B, utilize what fits the structure of your organization and don’t ram it down people’s throats. Take whatever the change is and put it up on a pedestal, then take what your department is currently doing. Now, find the middle ground between the two and decide what, and how much change, will fit your organization.
Factors such as staffing, financial and buy-in all need to be part of your evaluation. Getting buy-in by the big players in the game is an important step that many leaders seem to forget. If your goal is to create a new response matrix for residential structure fires, discussions with the company officers that are going to fight those fires is a huge part of the process. Getting support from your “street leaders” will create support from the firefighters. When change is simply ordered from the top down, buy-in is always difficult. Firefighters tend to take a piece of their department and protect it. If the members of your organization are not allowed to have any input on major changes that affect their future, they will resist simply on principle.
Conclusion
The message here is that a lot of departments refer to their way, as the tactics and overall method in which they attack fires. The method that is developed over time comes with a lot of pride, culture and commitment. If your organization has made a commitment to train your personnel, written your SOP’s/SOG’s and developed a response matrix that reflects your way, it is working! If your department’s way is working, fine tune it and sell your program to those around you. Take pride in your organization, if you are doing something right then show it off a little. Large metropolitan departments don’t have to be the leaders of the fire service, your way of doing things may fit your organization, and others. As stated early, response protocol in New York City is not going to fit every department, but if your organization has a great cold weather protocol it will probably work for your neighboring departments too. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, someone out there is it doing right; and it may be you.
DEREK PETERSON has been in the fire service since 1991. He is currently a captain and paramedic with the Saint Paul, MN, Fire Department. Peterson has been a certified fire instructor with various technical colleges and training institutions for the last 18 years. He acts as the lead instructor for the St. Paul Fire Department's technical rescue program and has assisted with the department’s training academy since 2005. He has developed courses on apparatus operation, rapid intervention, company operations, incident command for technical rescue, advanced strategies and tactics, and crew integrity. He is a medical specialist and trainer with the regional Urban Search and Rescue Team, Minnesota Task Force 1. Prior to joining St. Paul, he served as a firefighter and trainer for the cities of Coon Rapids and Eden Prairie, MN.