At some point in their life, all firefighters made a decision that they wanted to serve their community and fellow citizens. Whether they decided to join a department as a volunteer or to become a career firefighter, they chose to take an oath, swearing to honorably fulfill the duties of their position regardless of personal risks and circumstances.
The oath reinforces that firefighters are public servants who are responsible for protecting the lives and property of others, whether it’s a fire, a specialty rescue situation, a medical call or a deadly pandemic that’s faced. In doing so, sometimes the ultimate sacrifice is made, and firefighters lose their own life in the process. This is something that we don’t like to think about but that we all know, understand and accept. This commitment starts the day that we raise our hand and swear into our position and lasts until the day that we turn off our radio for the last time.
Throughout those years, a lot of things change. We might change departments, stations or trucks and, most likely, will move up in rank. This oath will stay embedded in us the entire time. However, if we choose to don the white hat and become a chief officer, the perspective of that oath changes, too. Your risks of running into danger will decrease dramatically, but there still are many life-threatening hazards to the position, such as responding in itself and even health hazards, such as cardiac issues or cancers. However, there’s one thing regarding the white hat and the oath that a lot of people don’t consider. This is the cost of not necessarily one’s life but of one’s livelihood. Once a new chief enters the world of politics, it’s a whole new world.
Firefighter or chief: same commitment
A lot of chiefs make the mistake of falling into the political trap out of fear of losing their job and livelihood. They come to quickly understand that the agenda of political officials might not match up with the needs of the department.
Some political officials aren’t afraid to use intimidation tactics to silence the fire service leaders about what the officials believe is nothing short of a money pit. How many chiefs have heard the famous phrase, “Chief, if you can’t do it with what you have, I will find someone who can”? This is all too common, and it’s easy to just tuck your head and give up. This is where you could lose your drive and passion, where you could start to develop the mentality that it pays the same to clock in every day and do the minimum as it does to come in and pour 100 percent of passion, care and love into the job, just to find that the political officials don’t have the same care and passion for the department and public safety as you. So you debate surrendering to the pressure.
It is at this point that you must ask yourself, “Am I fulfilling the commitment to the oath that I swore to uphold? Am I protecting the lives and the property of the citizens who I swore to protect at all cost?”
As chief, you still have the same commitment as that first-day firefighter and the same oath to protect the lives and property of the citizens who you serve. You have an obligation and responsibility to the public to maintain the proper staffing, training and equipment to effectively save their lives and property. In today’s times, that’s far from an easy task, given firefighter shortages—volunteer and paid—and the rising cost of apparatus and equipment. At times, it almost seems impossible.
Nonetheless, if you as chief know of issues and/or problems in your agency that could affect response or operations but don’t act—even if it could affect your livelihood—you are no different than the firefighter who pulls up on scene, sees a victim hanging out of a smoke-filled window and decides, “I would do something, but it’s just too risky or dangerous. It could cost me my life, so I will just stay here where it’s safe and watch and see what the outcome ends up being.” We all know that this never would be an option, so why should it be for a chief? Furthermore, as chief, these potential risks of livelihood come way more frequently than those daring and risky rescues that might come only a few times in one’s career.
Taking it to the people
As accurate as what’s noted above is, you also must understand that the political officials are fighting the same battle that you are, only on a larger scale—from rising costs of infrastructure, such as water, sewer, roadways and bridges, to all of the different types of equipment that’s necessary for the community to function. There’s no magic money tree that they have hidden that they just refuse to share with you. You must try to see things from their point of view as well.
That said, it’s a very thin line between standing up for what’s right and just becoming radical and irrational. This is why you must meet with and educate your officials with factual statistics regarding your department. These should include issues that you face, including staffing and retention, funding, aging of equipment (and the cost that comes with it), run volumes, increased training requirements and anything else that you can think of that adds to the struggles of your agency. If they are willing, educate them to the point that they know as much about your department as your own staff does.
Be prepared to face opposition and to have to answer a lot of logistical and financial questions with data-based facts.
At the end of the day, if none of this has worked and you have exhausted all resources, this is when you must make one of the most difficult and most humbling decisions of your career: Notifying the public of these issues and shortfalls. Let them know the issues that you face and how they affect their safety. Educate them on how they can take measures on their own that will help to ensure that they and their family are safe.
This is the part where everything could go downhill in a hurry. You might become a target of scrutiny and anger. Even worse, the public might side with you and attack the elected officials, and that definitely isn’t a positive mark on your career status.
This action must be planned and entered very delicately. This can be achieved through community forums and social media platforms. I, personally, am no expert in this field nor do I have the perfect answer, but one thing is for certain: If it gets to this point, it absolutely must happen. Through your commitment to the oath, you owe it to the public whether you pay the ultimate financial sacrifice or not.
When the time comes and you actively are doing the things that are listed above, this is where you can really say that you held your oath to your citizens and community by doing the right thing, even with the potential cost to you of your livelihood.
