The Volunteer View: Playing the Rural Cards: Planning & Preparation

I am from West Tennessee. Severe thunderstorms are common occurrences in the region. High wind events are a real threat to the area.

It has been common practice in our department to staff the firehouse when the forecast indicates a high likelihood of a severe weather event. When we do this, I like to reach out to the departments that immediately surround us to let the neighboring chiefs know that we will have a duty crew in the house and that if the severe weather skips us and affects them, we can provide an extra hand if they need it. Doing this not only is the neighborly thing to do, but in most cases, it generates a conversation regarding the preparations that the other departments made—which, of course, is important to my district if it’s affected and their districts aren’t.

• Brandon Fletcher will present “AFG Strategies for Success” and “Shaping Your Volunteer Fire Department to Fit Today's Expectations” at Firehouse Expo 2023.

In some cases, the conversation plants the seed that the neighboring departments also should consider some type of preparations that they as yet didn’t.

Conversations

One of these conversations with a neighboring chief led to the basis of this column.

Instead of replying to my text when I reached out, he called me. He opened the conversation with colorful words that often are heard in a firehouse when two friends greet each other: He packaged the compliment of my constant planning and preparation into the guise of giving me a hard time. We shared a good laugh, and the conversation switched to the preparations that he made for the same weather event as well as an offer to provide any needed assistance should we require it.

Afterward, I went on about my day of preparations, which included such things as:

• Making sure that batteries were charged for my primary radios (that run on a digital system), for older analog radios (that we maintain for use as a backup should the digital system fail) and, of course, for my weather radio
• Double-checking flashlights and other battery-powered equipment
• Ensuring that food and water were put in my response vehicle
• Making sure that preparations were adequate at my home, to ensure that my family was taken care of if I were to be out for an extended period
• Monitoring the progress reports from my officers and firefighters who were performing checks of equipment at the firehouse

During this process of preparation, several other chiefs replied to my text with a thank you and an update regarding their own preparations.

Obligated to prepare

As we settled in to brace for the storms to come, what stuck out to me were the chiefs who didn’t respond, and it got me to thinking …

• What, if any, preparations had they made?
• Will they be an asset who we can count on if incidents overwhelm our department’s capabilities?
• Will they be able to handle their own incident(s), or will they be a drain on resources that I might need, to include my own?
• Why was there no acknowledgment of the offer of assistance?

Many who know me know that I am a planner. I come from a family of planners, and my time in both the military and the fire service has taught me that, even though no plan survives first contact with the enemy, it’s much easier to adjust off of an existing plan than it is to build the airplane as we are flying it.

Those of us who are in the emergency services world are obligated to prepare for the worst. The expectation of the public is that we will have a plan to deal with whatever scenario that’s thrown at us, regardless of whether we get a paycheck for our service. The excuse that we are “just volunteers” doesn’t cut it anymore. (In fact, the bottom line is that it never should have been an acceptable excuse for incompetence and poor performance.) It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about a single event, such as an incoming severe thunderstorm, or the overall mission, vision and values of the organization: Planning and preparation are critical!

Today, the fire department is looked at as being an all-hazards response agency. We like to throw that term around when it’s to our benefit, but are we backing it up in our planning and preparation?

Capabilities & shortcomings

Now, before you misconstrue what I am saying, let me add that I understand that most small and many medium-size departments, regardless of pay status, can’t be fully prepared to handle by themselves every situation that arises. That said, I don’t have an answer for why so many have a difficult time grasping that concept.

What I do know is that you must have a plan for contingencies that are beyond your capabilities, and to do that, you must be able to assess and recognize what your realistic capabilities are.

After identifying your realistic capabilities, you must identify your shortcomings that pertain to the needs of your community and assess whether you realistically can address those shortcomings with your existing staffing, budget, training and equipment. If identified shortcomings can be addressed internally, the planning process must begin to reduce and eventually eliminate those shortcomings.

The shortcomings that can’t be addressed internally still must be addressed. This might mean that you swallow your pride, set your ego aside and ask for help from other agencies and organizations, to allow you to bridge that capability gap and to provide the best possible service to your community.

This process is very similar to the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis that’s used by many successful organizations. For example, in a very basic fire department scenario:

• Strengths: The department is well equipped and well trained for its fire and EMS mission.
• Weaknesses: Staffing is limited during the weekday/daytime hours, and equipment and training for automobile extrication is inadequate.
• Opportunities: Grant funding is available for the purchase of extrication equipment/training and to assist with recruitment efforts; the neighboring fire department is well equipped for automobile extrication; and the local high school hosts a career fair every year.
• Threats: Construction of a new highway through the district is planned over the next five years; residential and commercial population growth is expected; call volume is increasing steadily at a rate that’s greater than increased funding and membership.

It’s your responsibility

Planning and preparation must take place at all levels of the organization. While command staff should be planning and preparing for the long term, day-to-day operations can’t get lost in the shuffle. We know that adequate planning and preparations for a drill night go a long way toward ensuring a successful training. The same is true for all other aspects of the organization. Key points to remember:

• Assess your department’s capability to perform its current mission. This assessment must be a continuous process if you want to stay at the top of your game and an absolute if you plan to take on additional missions and responsibilities directly.
• Identify realistic gaps in your department’s response capability that are based on your community’s needs and pinpoint ways to fill those gaps. Maybe a mutual aid or automatic aid agreement fills the gap in the short term—or even long term—while a more permanent solution is developed.
• Unless you figured out the secret to unlimited staffing and budget, you can’t be self-sufficient 100 percent of the time. There will be things that you need help with.
• Set your pride aside and realize that teamwork often makes the dream work.
• Although this can be a daunting task as well as an uncomfortable one, you eat an elephant one bite at a time.

Your responsibility to your community to plan and prepare never ends. Even if the plan means calling another department, it’s better to make that preparation in advance than to wait for the heat of the moment. Continue to put the needs of the community ahead of the wants of the department and, as always, never stop learning.