Fire Chief Questions

[bgreen]

We are about to hire a fire chief for a combo dept. with 50 line employees and about 100 vols. I am looking for some good questions to ask our prospective chief.

[cpr4u]

How many different departments has this person worked for as a Chief? If the answer is more than one, chances are this is a person that is not too interested in department growth and service but personal growth. The more departments the worse the canidate. More times than not.

[WOODMAN]

Make sure they are detailed questions so he has to give detailed answer that make him think and keep from giving a broad general answer.
Find out why he is leaving his present department and how long he has been there.
Does he work well with paid and vol.members?
What are his strenghs and what are his weaknesses.

[ChiefJTL]

I am not in agreement that a chief has had more than a few jobs, he is interested in professional growth only. Some Chiefs can do more in 3 years than those that stay a lifetime. In the largest departments we promote from within but that is departments with thousands of Jakes. I think the litmus test is "What can you do while you are here"?

------------------
"Stay in the House"

[fireman116]

Ask what his short term and long term goals are. Also a fire chief should be someone who is in the community promoting the department, getting involved in functions and get the dept involved as much as possible.

[Smoke286]

It has always been my policy to stay away from managment as much as possible, and pray
none of their stupidity trickles down this far

[Dalmatian90]

Are you crazy to want to lead a combination department, or simply stupid?

Seriously, I would think a question the troops would want to know is what are his/her thoughts on managing so that the volunteers continue to feel important and needed; while at the same time the career staff doesn't feel threatenend.

Some questions can be answered specifically...not sure on the above, but it would be interesting to hear the answers.

For that matter, maybe just ask on his beliefs on managing a combo department and see if he answers something with the points in the first question!

[FyredUp]

Here's a few for you:

What's the most innovative thing you personally have ever championed and accomplished in the fire service?

How will you empower the firefighters to make them feel valuable in decision making...specifically regarding equipment and apparatus purchases?

Ask the candidates about their personal goals and their fire service goals. They are different and can tell you much about the candidates completeness as a person.

Good luck,

FyredUp

[DFDRev]

How often will he/she provide donuts?