Professional and Personal Assessment
A routine doctor’s appointment and scheduled vehicle maintenance are both considered assessments to ensure things are in good operating order and to identify issues that need correcting. The same concept should be applied to us to ensure we are maintaining the highest level of professional development. This assessment, although subjective, can be an effective measurement strategy or resource for personal assessments or promotional and development opportunities.
An individual professional or personal assessment can help identify strengths and weaknesses; recognize strong assets to support progress and value; recognize weak or vulnerable areas that need additional growth; and identify abilities based on a broad spectrum from personality, character, education, and experience. The ingredients to effectively measure our professional or personal assessment are based on Knowledge, Skill, Ability, and Personality (KSAP). The fire service has many valuable traits, but the KSAP traits separately and together recognize successful leadership and development.
Knowledge is facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. A knowledgeable firefighter is often one who is highly educated and experienced in the fire service—seasoned, you may say. This person normally has a vast knowledge base on all levels from mastering the basics to fire behavior, strategy and tactics, and more. A knowledgeable firefighter is often known as the member we reference when we need the answers. It’s okay to be new or green in the fire service; everyone starts at the same place. Frequently, we confuse being around the fire station or being an active member with being knowledgeable; this is sometimes not the case, as there is a difference in knowledge and comfortability. Knowledgeable generally comes with time on the job and on the training ground and is gained from learning from every difficult experience. Do you know it?
Skill is the ability to do something well, the ability to use one’s knowledge to execute or perform. A firefighter with skill is one who can complete the necessary tasks of a firefighter, who is able to endure the physical and mental challenges of the fire service, and who sets the example of how the skills should be completed. A skilled firefighter doesn’t fumble with his self-contained breathing apparatus, isn’t hesitant about progressing into a burning structure, and is confident on a hoseline. Can you do it?
Ability is the possession of the means or skill to do something with talent or proficiency in a particular area. A firefighter with ability is one who can effectively manage, is normally self-disciplined and organized, can lead and make decisions based on the best outcome of the common goal, can control the environment and adversely affect the success, represents the fire service or organization positively, has great communication skills, recognizes and praises others, and has the potential to manage success. Many people are in officer or leadership positions who don’t have the values and attributes that describe ability. Many of these individuals don’t create confidence in their peers. Can you control it?
Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character—the individual difference in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. A firefighter with a good personality is normally someone who is a likable person, brings a positive energy, and gets along well and works well with others. A person with a negative personality can create a difficult work environment and negatively affect productivity. Personality can easily be the most subjective ingredient in the KSAP recipe, as it can change with mood, behavior, or situation. How a person reacts or responds can often be confused with personality. The personality is the overall happiness, caring, and purpose of the intent. Are you likable?
Although knowledge, skill, ability, and personality are the main ingredients in the KSAP recipe, several other notable and common attributes of firefighters should also be assessed such as dedication, communication skills, courage, physical fitness, patience, tolerance, mechanical aptitude, and public image.
Chief officers, fire officers, and organizational leaders as well as all fire personnel should apply the KSAP assessment for personal attributes for promotional and progressive applications. The KSAP can and should be used as a self-assessment tool to keep us in best working order as well. The KSAP assessment is a subject-measuring tool that can identify strengths and weaknesses to create a foundation of awareness. If you are assessing for promotional purposes or individual purpose, continue to work on yourself by following the KSAP qualities and traits.
Eric Jones
Captain/Training Officer
Scottsburg (IN) Fire Department
“Proud to Serve”
I just read Bobby Halton’s “Outstanding, Happy to Be Here and Proud to Serve” (Editor’s Opinion, September 2022). It was one of his best columns to date. I loved the reference to “Bolivian underwater interpretive dance.” He almost sounds like me: I use “underwater basket weaving classes” many times to reference what useless people do to be more useless.
Ron Kanterman
Executive Inspector
Fire Department of New York Bureau of Fire Prevention
Same Team
Recently, I overheard a conversation in my firehouse that was getting a little heated; who knows what the conversation was actually about. The important part is that another firefighter stepped in and said, “Hey, guys, we’re on the same team here.” His comment immediately defused the situation, and the shift went on without issue.
The comment “same team” stuck with me for quite a while. So many times, I hear people criticizing others because of some minuscule mistake they made years ago.
This reminds me of the cancel culture in which we find ourselves: Mess up once and your career is scarred forever, never able to truly get a clean slate.
This has always confused me because isn’t the goal in life to get a little better each day? Doesn’t every firefighter deserve the same opportunity? Even the greenest probie can’t stay green forever. Surely that member who slept in or made a silly mistake is worthy of redeeming himself through hard work and other positive actions. Put yourself in his situation. No one is perfect; you, too, made plenty of mistakes along the way. Who are you to judge?
Talking about someone behind his back accomplishes nothing. I am guilty of this myself and find myself doing it from time to time. My new approach is to try and help that person become who he wants to be—take a special interest; tell him what he is doing wrong; and, most importantly, help him learn and grow.
Too often in the firehouse, we forget we are on the same team. It’s so easy to tear each other down that we forget we need to build each other up.
Shane Marstiller
Fire Apparatus Operator
Hilton Head (SC) Fire Rescue
Firefighter or “Firerescuer”?
I began my fire service career in July 1958 as a volunteer fireman (yes, “fireman” or the plural “firemen” was the title applied to the job at that time). In the early to mid-1960s, there became spreading fervor to change that title to “firefighter.” The only reason I ever heard for doing this was that “firefighter” was more descriptive of what we did and that some people might confuse the title as applied to us with that of railroad firemen. I remember wondering at the time if the name “engine” was also on the way out, but that never happened.
The name “firefighter” gained support and has been the (politically) correct title applied to the job now for well over 50 years. Though “firefighter” has served the service well for a long time, I suggest that it’s time for it to be replaced. “Firefighter” is not at all descriptive of what our members do on the job today. Many fire/rescue departments are approaching or have passed the point where 90 percent of all the emergencies they respond to are rescue/EMS calls.
Therefore, I believe the time has come for the job title to be changed to “FIRERESCUER” or “FIRESCUER.” This new title would be a much more descriptive term of the job our people do. It would surely take a while for it to catch on (firefighter did), but I believe it would be a more positive identification of today’s fire service personnel. It seems to me that “firefighter” is shortchanging the people of the fire service today in the limited public image it projects. And, just maybe, the term “fire service” also needs to be changed to “FIRERESCUE” (“FIRESCUE”?) SERVICE.
Mickey Jackson
Chief (Ret.)
Fayetteville (AR) Fire Department
