Bill Manning`s editorial certainly takes aim at a number of different regimes in the fire service.
I am not certain if it was written for effect or as a true commentary on how he feels. Either way, there are a number of points that were made and a few shots that were taken that I do not feel are fair (whatever that means) or accurate.
The most disappointing is the thinly veiled criticism of many of the advances of the Phoenix Fire Department. The back of every unit in the Phoenix Fire Department has a decal saying, “Urban Survival–Fire and Life Safety Program, Community Service Division of the PFD.” This is not an advertisement for the latest-inspired noir film. If time is spent to investigate the project and its application and development in the community, one would come away impressed that the PFD has integrated the efforts of the fire department into many varying but needed areas of the community.
As far as culture change is concerned, please explain the culture change to the thousands of U. S. career firefighters who have been laid off, downsized, or plain fired in the past few years as the culture of municipal management has changed. The PFD has chosen, and many others have opted to follow in its path, a proactive path to search out and initiate tasks and assignments that will deeply integrate the organization into the community. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that if the community-at-large (citizens groups, elected and appointed officials, and so on) view the entire spectrum of fire department activities as needed, the community will then buy into the entire fire department funding package. Voila! It all fits into place. More funds equals more manpower and other capital expenditures (pretty fire pumpers and ladders, and so on). So, if you help the little old lady with an apparently minor problem (which may be major to her), she remembers you when you have a funding/manpower problem. Then, all those extra persons (firefighters trained as EMS/haz-mat/high-angle/collapse/prevention/laundry, etc.) can be used where we occasionally need them quickest and most intensely–the real big one.
By the way, it should come as no big surprise that coming to terms with “customers” instead of “those formerly referred to as victims” represents a departure from commonly accepted firefighting practices and principles. When we spend some time examining the mission (another big word with intense meaning) of what we do and how we do it, we really need to examine the effects, positive and negative, of those being affected. If calling the poor folks who are having really bad days “customers” instead of victims helps us visualize their plight in a positive light and aids us in formulating a new and improved way to make their worst day just a little better, then let`s go for it. And speaking from personal experience, when you tell the person having the bad experience not to worry, that right now your only job in the whole world is to treat him as a valued customer, the most important customer you ever had … believe me, such customers listen, they thank you, and you can almost sense their blood pressure dropping. Being a valued customer is a concept that even the most upset fire victim can understand …. Nowhere in any customer service manual I have ever read does it instruct the fire department to relegate effective aggressive firefighting techniques to a secondary nature. Putting a family in my vehicle while their roof burns into oblivion and offering them the use of my cellular phone and whatever other resources my department has available is just good common sense and decency … more of us need to do it. Happily, more of us are beginning to do just that.
It is sad to see how the fire service in general is changing. City managers, mayors, and even voters are just not as willing to accept our budgets and our plans as they once were. Maybe it`s time to “re-invent the fire service” (sounds like a great book). We can do a better job of serving the citizens who depend on our services, and if we don`t keep up with our newly critical municipal governing bodies, we will be left in the dirt. Manning is correct. No words will ever extinguish a fire, but if we don`t equalize the playing field with our recently educated and updated municipal and citizen bases, we won`t be in the game at all …. we need to get in the game with the big boys and their big words, or we`re going be on the outside looking in and wondering where we went wrong.
Recently, the local city fire department here was downsized (fancy word for “chopped up”) from four engines, two trucks, and a rescue staffed by 100-plus career firefighters to three engines, one truck, and fewer than 80 total personnel. That was while fire duty and total alarms were increasing and we were doing a magnificent job of stopping almost any fire that came our way. I`ll bet those laid-off firefighters, and the remaining ones also, wish they had someone on their side throwing some big words around to support their efforts and ultimately the entire community. The mayor and city council weren`t bad people; they just didn`t get anyone from the fire department to speak on their terms (big words) and explain the magic we do so well. We need more big words to get our message across to those who don`t understand, “We made the hall, knocked it down, moved in, and blasted that sucker!”
Glenn D. Usdin
Fire Chief
Lancaster Township (PA) Fire Department
