Personal problems

[firedawg803]

I am a captain of a rural fire dept. I have 2 fellow firemen both of which are good hands, but they have some sort of a conflict. One man "john" , doesn't have any problems with "bob", other than the incessant dirty looks anytime they are in the same room. John wants to get it worked out, and has tried to approach Bob, but Bob acts snooty. I have asked them both to get it taken care of, but Bob doesn't seem to want to. John has tried to, but he is to the point he just wants to go to the backyard and get'er done. If it comes to a fight, John will be asked to leave, but he is the best hand. But if it doesn't get settled, he will leave on his own. The chief will not intervine, because it is our job to take care of our problems on our own. But neither of these men is willing to take the second step to getting them worked out. If any of you fellow officers have faced a problem like this with your staff, could you PLEASE give some advice on how to handle it? Thank You.

[Weruj1]

first let me say this ............if they act like that out of the department then that is there business. But.....when the pager goes off, the fire phone rings then by God all differences aside, lets get along get the job done safely then go back to being mad at each other. If this is not the case and you as a Captain have tried to work it out then your CHIEF needs to get involved and lay down the law............you have done your job to try and reslove it at your level, I say up the food chain it goes !

[serpico]

I'd have to echo the previous reply, in that as long as they both act as professionals on scene there is not a problem. Not everyone gets along with everyone, its just a fact of life. In my own situation the majority of the dept. has a hate on for me led by the Chief because it is a typical "old boy's mentality" where they don't want to change with the times. The have refused to hold safety meetings, and we have had numerous incidents because of it. Regardless of what they say or do they know that if they need a someone to get them out of a tight squeeze I'm the man. Time after time a firefighter that was giving me a dirty look one week would be asking for my help the next. That being said the first indication of something happening on scene should be deal with without hesitation.

[captjab]

Maybe there is an ego problem here and BoB feels intimidated by John because maybe John is getting more attention then he is or maybe John is more up on current standards and Bob feels inadequate.

There are ways to work around that, but sometimes people just don’t get along. If it becomes more of a problem, I say move one to the opposite shift if you have one. If it goes further, a good ole meeting with the Chief will set it straight. Either they get over their problems and act like grown up adults, or the wheel gets set in motion to protect the other members from the spill over.

[firedawg803]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I talked to both of them and told them they were going to have to get it settled. The problem boils down to one thinks he is better trained than the other, so he should be held at a higher level than the other, but it doesn't work like that 'round here. This is just going to end up being a problem they are going to have to live with until one of them goes down the road, and for the sake of the department, I hope it is not the loyal member.