Decedent Affairs
Because of my longtime affiliation with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), I read the article “Public Safety Decedent Affairs” by Paul Fawcett (December 2021) with deep interest. First and foremost, he’s spot on with his thinking and his ideas. I’d like to simply add a few things in the interest of the fire service at large.
Fawcett mentioned that personal effects should be bagged and secured. It is as important to bag and secure all fire department equipment (turnout gear, self-contained breathing apparatus, radio, and so on), as it is the firefighter’s personal effects. Multiple agencies will most likely be investigating the cause of this fireground tragedy—e.g., the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, state and local authorities, and perhaps law enforcement—and will most probably want to examine the personal protective equipment and allied equipment.
When “taking care of our own,” consider that the NFFF has programs of support including chief-to-chief, IC-to-IC networks, and others. Looking at benefits, it’s imperative that someone notifies the Department of Justice-Bureau of Justice Assistance to report the incident and start the ball rolling to apply for the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program (www.psob.gov). The PSOB is funded by the federal government and provides a one-time, tax-free payment to qualified family members of public safety officers (firefighters, police, fire-police, deployed Federal Emergency Management Agency workers, U.S. Forest Service, and others).
When funeral planning, don’t reinvent the wheel. The NFFF has solid generic protocols, and Fire Engineering published a pamphlet years ago authored by Battalion Chief (Ret.) William C. Peters from the Jersey City (NJ) Fire Department on how to conduct a fire department funeral.
To this end, the LAST (Local Assistance State Team) program of the NFFF has all of this information and more. Its mission is to assist fire departments and the families of firefighters who died in the line of duty, particularly with the PSOB process. There is a LAST in every state to assist when needed. If you need assistance or would like information or to arrange training programs, contact Chief Ian Bennett, LAST program coordinator for the NFFF, at Ibennett@firehero.org. Also, visit www.firehero.org for LAST information.
Thanks to Fawcett for moving this conversation forward and encouraging the fire service to be prepared for the unthinkable.
Ron Kanterman
Incident Commander
NFFF Memorial Weekend
More on October Editor’s Opinion
I am just catching up on my reading. “Mandatory vs. Voluntary Choice vs. Compulsion, Part 2” (Bobby Halton, Editor’s Opinion, October 2021) was spot on and was exactly my reaction as well! Keep up the good work!
Steve Hirsch
Training Chief
Sheridan County (KS) Fire Department
How Loud Is Your Opinion?
More often than not, emergency services personnel have strong opinions about most things. From politics to transitional fire attack, we all have an opinion. Recently, it seems that transitional fire attacks are for lesser firefighters and incident commanders, but for others it is the safest tactic for our crews. Either way, the opinions are strong and even vehemently strong.
A University College of London professor [Travers, M. (2020). “Is ‘Belief Superiority’ the Common Thread That Links Extreme Liberals and Conservatives?” Forbes] experimented with more than 700 U.S. adults. Each person was asked to estimate the number of white dots in a black box. The gamified experiment forced the participants to guess the number of white dots in each box. If the person guessed correctly, there was a small financial reward, but each person was allowed but not required to ask for more information for a smaller payout if they guessed correctly. When the participants asked for more information, they received a better view of the box and could quickly figure out how many white dots were contained therein.
Furthermore, participants were asked where they landed on the political spectrum. Interestingly, those participants with far left- or right-leaning dogmas were less likely to ask for more information. Subsequently, the far-leaning individuals turned in fewer correct answers.
“Belief superiority” is when people think their opinion is superior to others’ opinions and is different than “belief confidence,” where people think their opinion is correct. People who develop belief superiority tend to think their idea or opinion is the only correct opinion.
When belief-superior people thought their opinion was superior to others, these people demonstrated a tremendous gap between their perceived and actual knowledge [Hall, M., Raimi, K. (2018). “Is Belief Superiority Justified by Superior Knowledge?” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology]. Moreover, in further experiments by different researchers, it was discovered that people with the highest belief superiority neglected to search for more information about the subject and suffered from the illusion that they knew more than others about the topic.
Translating this into the real world is simple: If you exhibit belief superiority, you are more likely to believe you are right, making you less likely to seek additional information. Even feelings of uncertainty will not trigger behavior that seeks out the correct information.
We can all point to that person with intense opinions, or the “know-it-all,” but is your opinion louder than others? It is crucial to examine our individual belief structures. Do you have opinions that are louder than others? There is a difference between being passionate and belief superiority.
The act of collaboration is nearly impossible with leaders who have belief superiority. Trust is the currency of effective collaboration, and you must be able to share power in a collaborative arrangement or a simple conversation. Belief-superior leaders generally do not have the trust of people on their team. It takes trust to express an opinion; if you are likely to be looked down on because of your opinion, then trust is not a part of your team.
Leaders who impart belief superiority stifle risk taking. Belief-superior leaders exasperate the embarrassment factor when a follower takes a risk and fails. “See, I told you so,” from the belief-superior leader will not foster a learning environment that collaboration needs to survive. This ties easily into trust. When team members cannot risk their opinion or an idea contrary to the belief-superior leader, risks are not taken.
Conflict in any collaborative effort is inevitable. However, when belief-superior leaders have to be correct and go to great lengths to convince everyone in the group they are correct, it is exhausting to others. Other people in the group do not have the energy to put up a “fight” to argue their idea. Subsequently, conflict is avoided, which is what the belief-superior leader tries to achieve.
There is hope. The research also showed that people with belief-superior behavior could change when confronted with this information. Consider this the confrontation. Evaluate yourself, which helps develop emotional intelligence. Recognize that when we are right about a topic and when others support our beliefs, we feel good about ourselves, contributing to why we avoid people who disagree with us.
Challenge yourself to hear others with different viewpoints, and do so with an open mind. Study belief superiority and emotional intelligence. Leaders are life-long learners, and it is never too late to recognize it yourself, train your mind, and change your behavior.
Todd Donovan, BS, FO, NRP
Lieutenant/Paramedic/CERT Liaison
English Range Road Fire Station
Derry, New Hampshire
