By Rich Marinucci
One of the good things about being in a class, even if you are the instructor, is the opportunity to learn new things. I was lucky enough to present at FDIC 2022 and was discussing various problems that may be encountered in the fire service along with leadership and politics.
I introduced the topic of diversity as it relates to the fire service and mentioned it is more than race. Diversity also includes gender, age, religion, and culture. One person in the class caught me during a break and said there were others to consider. He said there is great diversity in political views. We had a nice discussion. I talked about anticipating issues and that by looking at society in general, you can expect similar in organizations.
The discussion continued to talk about the extreme views that people have relative to politics, whether liberal or conservative. It seems that we are getting to a point in some fire stations that civil discourse is not always possible. One gentleman told me of a firefighter who was detailed to a station and proceeded to block a particular news channel on the cable system. This is hard for me to believe in that the fire station should be a place where we can disagree in an agreeable manner. I realize that there has been conflict within fire stations, occasionally leading to fights, but for the most part mutual respect has remained. I hope the incidents cited were anomalies and not something that will affect the long traditional brotherhood and sisterhood of the fire service.
This discussion got me thinking a bit more. We now have differences in opinion on vaccinations and masks. This is yet another example of diversity, whether of opinion, viewpoint, or anything else. When you start looking at this, you can find a lot more examples of differing thoughts and viewpoints. One could argue that this will continue into the foreseeable future. Leadership, regardless of whether it is the person in charge of a station, battalion, shift, or department, must acknowledge this and prepare to address it.
A proactive approach is needed before any significant damage is done. The fire service exists to provide quality service to the community and cannot become embroiled in unnecessary controversies. But just saying this will not make it go away. Acknowledge the possibility and be ready to address.
At the time of this writing, the USFA has reported 47 line of duty deaths in 2022. When presenting safety classes, I will almost always ask the rhetorical question as to whether or not any of these were planned events. Obviously not. Nobody intentionally does something to keep them from going home at the end of the shift or call. But we know that this will happen to some, unfortunately. Through study, education, and training, we can learn of the root causes and begin to take action to change the way things are done.
Yet, I continue to find people that want to do things the way they always have. With this approach, nothing will change. The first step is always to want to make a difference. In many situations, this does not happen until the tragedy hits close to home. This needs to change. As more information becomes available, we need to learn as much as we can and minimize risk to improve our chances. I have been around long enough to know that there will remain certain dangers and there will be events that don’t end as planned. But having an attitude that accepts the status quo in unacceptable. Don’t wait for disaster to strike close to home before you evaluate your methodologies and approach to this job. You owe it to yourself, your family, your department, and the next generation of firefighters.