Staffing is a common issue many fire departments face today. Not only is the fire service dealing with a staffing shortage in terms of having the required or desired number of firefighters on duty or responding to calls, but more so with finding people who even want to be a firefighter.
With this problematic shortage also comes the issue of backfilling the ranks with qualified people to move up into officer roles, as many firefighters are retiring. The question that each department must ask: how shallow is our depth chart? This question relates to the firefighters who are going to be the future of the department.
In my own department, this question has been asked and the answer is not a positive one in one sense: the depth chart is very shallow. Our rank and file are very young, with the top tier being an officer and the next two tiers being the acting officers. Below that tier are the firefighters who are junior in terms of classification of rank. In our fire department, right below the acting officers are firefighters who have just completed their probationary time and are now a 4th Class firefighter.
The issue I am describing is not common to all departments but is common to small departments who do not have enough personnel employed or members who are a part of the department. Our department is a new full-time (within the last five years) fire department complemented by a handful of volunteer firefighters used to support daily operational responses. There has been an exodus of firefighters over the last five years, resulting in a shallow depth chart.
As we look to the future, we are looking at the depth chart to determine how we are going to prepare for the future as growth occurs at a steady rate. We need to look at developing current firefighters into future officers. The first question that we need to ask is: At what point do you start to develop future officers?
Where to Begin
In our situation, we need to start right away, as soon as possible. This may start with the current acting officers and with the firefighters who are right below them. By starting early, we are trying to establish a good pool of candidates, members who will be able to step up into the role with confidence, competency, and strength. Waiting for the open positions to appear will be too late for both the department and the individual. They will not be prepared to even go through the promotional process, let alone be in the officer role permanently. This will be a setup for failure.
The second question is: How do you develop them? One way is to interview them or speak with the individual privately to find out if they have any desire to be an officer. This interview or meeting can be informal and can be done as part of a greater purpose, such as a workplace performance review. Some of the questions that can be asked are: What are some of their goals for their career? What are their plans for the next five or 10 years within the fire service? With the answers supplied by the potential candidates, it spurs other questions to try and dig deeper to find out more about what they want to do and how you can assist them.
One question that needs to be asked is: What can the fire department do to assist you with your goals? This question will help to identify specifics that can either be accommodated by the current officers or by the chief officers. It will also assist with setting a path to take to reach the goal of becoming an officer.
The Power of Ownership
Another way to assist with developing future officers is to foster ownership of the fire service by individuals at an early stage in their career. This can be instituted on day 1 of their career, with some of the foundations of ownership being laid in recruit training. From there, it can be increased year by year with additional responsibility being delegated to the individuals to assist with their development. This can be in the way of small projects or tasks that can be handled by the firefighters with the oversight of the officer cadre. Officers will be able to see what strengths and weaknesses they may have based upon the observations of the firefighters completing the various assignments. This will also assist with developing their strengths and correcting their weaknesses.
Giving members more opportunities for leadership at the firefighter level will also assist with their development. This can be in the way of training topics to lead, public education events to lead, leading preplanning of buildings with the crew, and other outside events that may be presented or scheduled. The potential candidate can also be sent outside the department to attend training classes or other department-related events as a representative of the department. This will assist with buying into more of the ownership aspect of the fire service.
Another way to assist members with their development is to encourage them to absorb as much as they can in knowledge, skills, day-to-day functions, department goals, etc. This can only be done when they are included in the department’s daily operations more than merely a firefighter–these members are being invited to the inner circle to see things from a different perspective and to be more involved with the decision and operations of the department.
The current officers of the department will need to lead by example to assist with fostering ownership. While walking the talk, they will be showing the potential future officers what it means to be an officer, what it takes to be an officer, and how to conduct themselves as an officer. By using the law of influence, they will hopefully influence the potential candidates in a positive way—negative influences, on the other hand, can very easily discourage a person from wanting to become an officer. Good officers who lead by example will hopefully also attract future officers by being a magnet to attract the same type of person who will emulate the same qualities of a good officer or leader.
Training and Experience
Obviously, future officers’ development will involve training them in certain disciplines that are required to be an officer. This will include Instructor 1 and 2, Officer 1 and 2, health and safety, incident safety officer duties, legislation, incident command, firefighting tactics and fire operations, and anything else that will assist with their cognitive development for the position. These training classes will need to be provided by the department to all future candidates, not just a select few. Allowing all to go through these classes becomes a vetting process of sorts to observe what critical thinking skills each person possesses and how individuals meet the challenges of homework, rigorous class assignments, and their interpersonal skills. Going through educational components may deter some people from wanting to be an officer, which would be better to realize early rather than when one is sitting in the officer seat.
What are some of the issues in developing future officers? There are a few key issues that are present and will interfere with their development. One is lack of experience on the fireground. With a staff comprised of mostly younger firefighters, fireground experience will be lacking. This in turn hinders their decision-making abilities, since they do not have previous situations to draw on. It also ties into having a hard time relating to tactical concepts.
Another issue will be limited life experience, which may be a stumbling block for future officers. Members will not know how to handle or deal with certain issues in the fire station or with the public. They may not have the thick skin required to be an officer or have the tenacity to make hard decisions for the crew as needed. Limited life experience will be a weakness for them and can only be strengthened over time as they mature and grow in their position.
While there is no perfect solution to the issues that many fire departments face, there can be a process or program developed from within to help develop future officers. It all starts with answering the question: how shallow is our depth chart?
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is a firefighter with the Fort Gratiot (MI) Fire Department. He is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, and India, and at FDIC. He is also the lead author of Residential Fire Rescue (Fire Engineering Books & Video). He can be contacted at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
