Not everyone who becomes a firefighter (career or volunteer) aspires to promote into the fire officer ranks, and that’s all right. Not everyone who is a firefighter or at any rank is meant to promote into the fire officer ranks. Some might argue that some in the fire officer ranks should not have even been promoted in the first place. In this discussion, the fire officer ranks include the company officer and the chief officer, from the lieutenant all the way up to fire chief.
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One of my passions is advising individuals from around the country who reach out for advice when they are getting ready to take a promotional examination in their own or for another fire department. One of the questions I usually ask is, “Why do you want to promote to a fire officer?” If it’s for the extra money, I say it’s usually not worth it, given the extra responsibility and weight on your shoulders as the supervisor; the leader; the manager; or, as some say, the designated adult. If you want to promote to get away from your current negative position, there are better ways to do that than just promoting to a position or rank you may not enjoy any better or be prepared to step into. If you want to promote because you’re sick of seeing all these newer, younger personnel get promoted and feel left out or don’t want to be working for some of these personnel who have less seniority, that might not be a good reason either, unless you are going into the process fully prepared and, most importantly, are ready to take the step into the fire officer ranks for the right reasons, which I’ll mention below.
Here are some considerations before stepping into the fire officer ranks:
- You realize the added responsibility you are now willing to accept. When I think of all the added responsibility I assumed when I promoted to company officer (captain) years ago, there are days I wonder why I just didn’t stay in the firefighter or engineer ranks. Have you ever read the entire job description of the rank/position you’re preparing to promote to and broken down each item to realize the enormous amount of responsibility that is required of a fire officer? If you really think about it, for those in the fire officer ranks, you’re not just a fire officer, you are also
- • a human resources professional;
- • a risk manager;
- • a health and safety officer;
- • a training officer;
- • a fire prevention officer;
- • a facilities and apparatus manager; and
- • a supervisor, a leader, a manager, a follower, and the designated adult.
Now, before you say that the training chief/officer working a 40-hour week is responsible for training, health, and safety, or someone else on your command staff is responsible for human resources, risk management, or facilities and apparatus, that’s the key—most of those positions are usually filled by someone who works Monday through Friday during business hours and may or may not be readily available after hours. Who does that leave as the designated adult? The company officer in the firehouse, that’s who—the company officer who is on duty 24/7/365 and is the primary representative of the fire department. The local firehouse and the firefighters and apparatus he manages are who and what will handle the public’s requests for service, not the administrative offices. The company officer is also the one supervising personnel on the front lines.
- You realize it takes courage to be a leader in today’s world, and especially in today’s fire service. All eyes are on you. Everyone is always ready to second-guess your decision, regardless of your rank. You will be a target for others, even those you consider friends, and on occasion be ostracized for doing the right thing for the right reasons.
- You’ve talked to people already in the rank/position you aspire to. It is amazing how many people accept a promotion without having fully researched or prepared for what they are getting into. It’s one thing to think you know what the promotion requires of you; it’s another to have to do the job and be the one doing the job. Obviously, acting up time can help give you an idea of what you’re getting into, but so can talking in depth with those in the position. Ask them about the pros and cons of the position, what they enjoy or don’t enjoy, what they wish they would have done differently before promoting, what advice they have for you, any lessons learned, and so forth.
- You’ve talked to your family about what you’re hoping to jump into. You may think you’re ready and prepared to promote, but what about your family? Are they prepared for what you’ll be going through or having to deal with, including having to deal with you and how you are able to cope or handle the stressors of your new position?
- You realize what going from buddy to boss or crew member to supervisor really means and you’re willing to accept it. Think about it: Most of us who joined the fire department as firefighters did so to fight fire, save lives, have fun, and hang out at the firehouse. We didn’t join to be the supervisor; the designated adult; or the one who was expected to say, “Stop it,” “No,” “Knock it off,” and so on. As a firefighter or engineer, I honestly didn’t care as much about safety or risk management as I should have. I cared about having fun, running calls, and being aggressive in getting things done. It wasn’t until I promoted to company officer that I would feel and realize the weight of responsibility on my shoulders as the officer, the leader, the supervisor, the manager, the designated adult, the responsible one, and everything else. If you want to be on the nozzle, drive the engine, tiller the truck, and just do the “fun” things that are typically task level items, then don’t promote! But realize that, once you promote, you’re expected to be the boss; hold others accountable, when necessary; and take full responsibility for everything going on under your command.
- You are not overwhelmed in your current position. If the responsibilities of your current rank are overwhelming, promoting to the next rank does not make it any easier. Workloads only increase the higher up you promote. Once, as a battalion chief, I asked a firefighter aspiring to become a company officer why he had not replied to an e-mail I had sent out regarding an item in which he had previously shown interest. I was managing the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) program at the time, and we were having committee meetings on purchasing new SCBA units. The firefighter just matter-of-factly said, “Sorry, Chief, I’m just too overwhelmed right now, information overload with so many e-mails. I’ll get to it next shift.” I then shifted the conversation to promotional preparation since I was known for helping others prepare for promotion. I asked him if he thought if he got promoted to captain, would the e-mails and workload decrease? I suggested if he was overwhelmed now, it would only get worse, and he wouldn’t enjoy the promotion. Ironically, he said he had never thought of that. I told him, “If you think you’re overloaded with e-mails, check my inbox. Then, ask the fire chief how many e-mails he gets every day—I bet it’s 10 times what you get and at least five times what I get, if not more.”
- You want to be a part of the solution, to be a part of the bigger picture. When I was a firefighter and engineer, a battalion chief accused me of being a recliner sniper [a term I will attribute to Chief (Ret.) Anthony Kastros]. I remember the day clearly: I was at a firehouse in the recliner, when the battalion chief stopped by and he overheard me complaining about pretty much everything—the fire chief, a deputy chief, and so forth. He called me out, and I’m forever grateful now, although I was embarrassed immensely at the time. Point blank, he asked me, “Hey, Steve, how did you do on the last fire chief promotional exam?” I looked at him in a weird way, not knowing what he was getting at. He then asked, “How did you do on the last battalion chief’s exam?” I was still giving him the “deer in the headlights” look when he then asked me, “How did you do on the last captain’s exam?” I told him I had no clue what he was getting at and that I was hoping to take the next captain’s exam. He then called me out, asking what right I had to complain about the ranks above that I’ve never filled or been in. I’ve never walked in their shoes as they have walked in mine in years past. His point was valid; I could easily think I knew what they should be doing when, in fact, I would only be speculating, since I was not fully aware of all the challenges they had. His point was, if I was going to complain, I should at least offer solutions and, most importantly, promote to the positions I thought I could do a better job at and then see how easy or not so easy it would be to do those things I said I could or should do.
- You’re willing to put service above self. Now, in reality, this should be the case on becoming a firefighter, but it’s even more so the case on promotion. It’s no longer about you; it’s about those you are fortunate to lead and serve both within the department and outside the department (the public as well as everyone you interact with daily). It’s no longer “me” (not that it should have been as a firefighter), but it’s definitely about “we.” It means going out of your way to ensure you are taking care of the needs of your personnel and those who request our service. “Courtesy and Service” is the motto of the Santa Clara County (CA) Fire Department; I’m proud to say our personnel take pride in ensuring they provide courtesy and service to everyone inside and outside of the department. As an officer, you will have more duties and responsibilities than firefighter or engineer and more paperwork (e.g., data entry, time on the computer). As an officer, the decisions you make can and will affect your personnel and their families and friends, too. They can and will also affect the public and the community. At times, you may feel like you’re darned if you do, darned if you don’t.
- You understand the need for time management, planning, and organizational skills. The added paperwork and computer time demand that you ensure you have excellent time management, planning, and organizational skills. As a firefighter or engineer, you could probably get away with letting something wait until the next shift or until sometime in the future. But, as a fire officer, you are now responsible for ensuring paperwork and computer entries are timely and accurate: public education records, fire prevention inspection records, training records, apparatus and facility records, response report records, and personnel evaluations, just to name a few. You will be expected to complete them before, during, and after responding to calls, training, and mentoring your personnel, all of which are more fun than doing the boring and laborious paperwork and computer entries; your battalion chief will expect you to complete them on a timely basis. You also may be assigned project or program management responsibilities and in areas that may take you out of your comfort zone, requiring you to learn more about your new responsibilities.
- You are willing to make decisions. a firefighter or engineer, most of your daily decisions are straightforward and don’t require much thought. I don’t mean that condescendingly, but both positions don’t require you to supervise, just make usually easy task-related decisions. However, now that you are a fire officer, your decisions will typically impact at Asleast one other person, assuming you have a two-person crew (including you), and more personnel depending on your staffing levels. As you become a battalion chief, your decisions may impact more personnel because of the number of firehouses you are responsible for. Once you become fire chief, your decisions affect the entire department. So, the higher up you go, the more impact your decisions will have, and the larger number of stakeholders that could be affected—good or bad. A couple of years ago, I was testing for a fire chief’s position at a local fire department and talking to the union president about what he was looking for in their next fire chief. He said, “Steve, I know you, and the only thing I can offer based on the previous chiefs we’ve had is to just make the decisions, especially the tough ones. We will not always agree on your decision, but at least by deciding, we will respect that and if we don’t agree, we can agree to disagree.” I asked him for some background on that statement. He replied that previous fire chiefs wouldn’t make the tough decisions. They kept kicking the can down the road because they didn’t want to make anyone mad, knowing that, as the fire chief, his tough decision would affect the entire department, not just a crew of two on your engine as a captain. He said since those chiefs did not make the tough decisions and held off doing so, it only made things worse because of the prolonged agony of awaiting the final decision, regardless of the outcome.
- You realize you’re more in the spotlight than you were previously. Good, bad, or indifferent, the higher you go up the ranks, especially starting with company officer, the more you’re being watched, evaluated, critiqued, and tested—by virtually everyone. There will always be some who think you got promoted for the wrong reasons or that you weren’t ready and who are waiting for you to fail. It’s a reality for some.
- You realize you may be assigned to a 40-hour, Monday through Friday assignment at headquarters. In some departments, someone promoted to the fire officer ranks could be placed into an assignment out of their comfort zone, such as having to “drive a desk” at headquarters or serving in the training division, the fire prevention division, or the operations division. This might not be true in many departments for the company officer because most smaller departments don’t have company officers in such positions. The higher up you want to go, the more you could find yourself driving the desk and not in the firehouse anymore. I think it’s a good thing for personal and professional growth and development and will make you more well-rounded, especially if you aspire to promote up the ranks.
- You realize you’ll be held to a higher standard. It’s a reality in any line of work—the higher up the chain of command you go, the higher the standard you’re held to. It’s not fair, but it’s the way things usually work out. Just recognize that and try to do the right things at the right times, talk the talk, and walk the walk. If anything, go back to the first item and the other items in that section, and you’ll see the added weight of responsibility on your shoulders.
- You realize at times you may be lonely. This is especially true the higher up the ranks you find yourself, especially if you aspire to the rank of fire chief. Obviously, life isn’t lonely when you’re the most popular person or you’re still one of the gang, everything is going right, everyone is doing the right thing, the work is getting done, and life is on cruise control. But, of course, we realize life doesn’t work that way. There are always going to be challenges, road bumps, and personnel who for whatever reason want to make you earn your living as a supervisor by compelling you to hold them accountable and do your job. The challenge now, as a supervisor, is to not complain or vent to those you supervise—your firefighters and the engineer—because that would be inappropriate and not be demonstrating quality leadership, management, or supervisory skills. Now, you need to vent to your peers or to those in the rank above, in a positive and productive manner, to ensure any issues you may be concerned with will get changed or dealt with. It can be lonely as a company officer when you must make that occasional tough decision that affects your personnel and because you are supervising more persons, not just yourself. And when you must make that tough decision that could affect your personnel (e.g., a problem that involves corrective action or discipline), expect the other personnel at the lower ranks to side with the affected person and not take your side as the supervisor, even if the person was clearly and obviously in the wrong. That’s just human nature—to take the side of the underdog or the lower-ranking personnel with the thought that management is just being heavy handed or micromanaging or whatever. So, to ensure your sanity, not to mention health and wellness when having to make a tough decision and feeling like you’re alone, make sure you have a number of healthy outlets with which to de-stress, such as physical activity and exercise, spending quality time with family and friends, and having a network of peers or higher-ups outside of the department to use as confidants to bounce things off of and support you.
- Remember that leadership and teamwork start at the firehouse. Yes, the department chief is expected to have a vision, ensure there are policies to guide the daily operations, and so on. However, the chief is relying on the boots on the ground personnel at the firehouses to carry out the department’s the mission and ensure it is taking care of the community in the best possible manner. If the company officers are not doing their part in ensuring that effective and appropriate leadership and teamwork is occurring at the company level, how do we expect the public to be comforted knowing we as their fire department are here to serve and protect them and using their hard-earned tax dollars in the most efficient and appropriate manner? As in sports, we accomplish the mission with a well-trained and prepared team that is ready to handle whatever is thrown at them, is professional in their actions and demeanor, and is not relying on one person but rather a team of individuals with various strengths to accomplish that mission.
Going from buddy to boss or crew member to supervisor is not for everyone. For many, this is the most challenging jump in ranks in the fire service. Going from the task to the supervisory level will provide more challenges, headaches, and heartaches. There is nothing wrong with staying in your current rank and just deciding to be the best you can be. There is nothing wrong with deciding to promote to the fire officer ranks; the key is going in with eyes wide open, knowing what you are getting into, and knowing what many of the challenges are before you encounter them so that you can have a plan of action to prepare for and mitigate them without them managing and overwhelming you.
Steve Prziborowski retired as deputy chief with the Santa Clara County (CA) Fire Department and has more than 31 years of fire service experience. He is the author of 101 Tips to Ace Your Promotional Exam (Fire Engineering, 2021) and Courage Under Fire Leadership (Fire Engineering, 2023).
