The Company Officer’s Role in Public Information

By Stuart Marrs

Firefighters across America are held in high esteem. Our communities expect us to show up and do what others are afraid to do. When the dust settles, they use words like “heroic” and “brave” to describe us. However, I’ve found something that makes the fiercest firefighter tremble with fear, something that makes the most confident captain stammer and stumble over his words, something that makes the chief pull his helmet down low and hide behind his tactical sunglasses: the local news reporter and her camera.

Admit it. We’re afraid of that 23-year-old junior reporter and her ability to broadcast our actions and words on the 5, 6, and 10 o’clock news.

I want to change that mindset. I want local fire department management to allow company officers to engage with local media outlets so citizens and community leaders understand the value of a professional fire department. I believe this change—like many other changes needed in the fire service—depends on our company officers.

(1) Photo by author.

Company Officers Are Tactical Public Information Officers (PIOs)

Company officers are proven tactical operators, but they don’t usually approach public information as a tactical objective. Telling the fire department’s story at every opportunity, especially when firefighters are successful and the customer is safer, improves the fire department’s position in the community.

Every emergency scene is an opportunity to tell the story of your department and its members. However, not every emergency scene requires a dedicated PIO. At most scenes that draw the attention of local media—car wrecks, reported structure fires, alarm activations, and so on—a company officer should complete the tactical objective of interacting with the media. Just like a bumper debrief has become a standard part of our demobilizations, a check-in with any media on the scene should be conducted before we return to quarters.

As a captain at the College Station (TX) Fire Department, I have used this approach to control the narrative in the media and tell a compelling story to my community. I studied communication and organizational leadership at Texas A&M University, and I serve as the department’s PIO. We engage with the public through traditional and social media almost daily. Although there is a definite role for the PIO in any fire department—more on that later—I’m pushing the responsibility of on-scene media interactions out to the officers who are already responding to the scene.

Company officers become the de facto point of contact for media and reporters at an emergency scene. Who is better suited to explain the situation and tell the story than the company officer who just mitigated an emergency? At a practical, tactical level, this is how it works.

Consider this scenario: An engine and ambulance are dispatched to a three-car collision at 3rd and Main. It’s 3:15 p.m., and a school bus was also sitting at the intersection but was not hit. A bystander named Joe Potato witnesses the wreck but sees several other people on their phones and assumes one of them is calling 911. Mr. Potato uses his phone to snap some pictures and tweets them out with the hashtags #carwreck #schoolbus #redlightcamera #breakingnews.

The news director of the local TV news hears the call over his scanner and catches the tweet. He assigns a field reporter to go see what happened. He tells the reporter there might be a school bus involved and someone probably ran a red light.

During the response, the dispatcher clarifies that the school bus was not involved and had continued on its afternoon drop-off route.

A few minutes later, as the crew finishes loading two patients in the ambulance, the captain notices a reporter deploying her tripod and camera across the intersection. She’s in a safe location, out of the way, but has a terrible view of the scene. She’s hesitant to get too close because last year a police officer yelled at her for “contaminating his scene.” The wreck caused minor injuries and the fire crew is waiting for a tow truck.

The captain has several options. He could ignore the reporter and hide behind the engine—she’ll get her footage and eventually go away. He could call his department PIO and wait around for him to arrive. Or, he could go engage the reporter, escort her closer to the scene for some better pictures, and answer some basic questions. The interview might go like this:

Captain: “Hey, ma’am, if you come with me, I can get you closer for a better shot.”

Reporter: “Oh, really? Thanks! What happened here today?”

Captain: “Well, the engine and ambulance from Station 7 got dispatched to this car wreck and got on scene in about 4 minutes. My crew had to use our extrication tool the Jaws of Life® to pop the passenger door open and the ambulance crew is transporting two patients.”

Reporter: “Are the patients severely hurt? What kind of injuries?”

Captain [keeping it generic and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant]: “The patients have some minor injuries and need further medical attention. Our paramedics are treating them and transporting them to a local hospital.”

Reporter: “I only saw one ambulance. How many patients can go in one ambulance?”

Captain: “Each fire department ambulance is designed to safely transport two injured patients.”

Reporter: “I heard a school bus was here. Was a school bus involved?”

Captain: “No, no school bus was involved.”

Reporter: “Is this a dangerous intersection? Did someone run a red light?”

Captain (realizing the Streets Department would be upset if he said the intersection was a deathtrap, deflects the question): “You may want to follow up with the police department about any red-light violations. My crew responded to this intersection last month for a similar car wreck. We were glad to see that the occupants of both cars today were wearing seat belts, which lessens the severity of injuries in a car wreck. Always wear your seat belt! Do you want a close-up of the damage before the tow truck gets here?”

At this point, he has accomplished his objective of showing the department’s actions in a positive light. He has communicated that the firefighters used specialized equipment to help a patient, the department has ambulances and paramedics who can be on the scene quickly, and a safety/public education message about wearing seat belts.

Because he was tactical about engaging the reporter, she got her story and got the facts. Her news director will be happy, and his department will look good on the evening news.

If she had found Mr. Potato and interviewed him as an eyewitness, the story might have been that the fire department didn’t arrive in time to evaluate a busload of school children and the “ambulance drivers” had to cram all the badly mangled patients into the back of one ambulance.

When we reach out to the media, we can control the narrative. This approach has made my department more responsive to the local media and more visible in the community.

Visibility Is Survivability

As stated in Wingspread VI: Statements of National Significance to the United States Fire and Emergency Services, “Our ability to survive and thrive is dependent upon having the ability to communicate our value to the community.”¹

My fire department receives overwhelmingly positive feedback from the customers we interact with. The problem is that the customers who call 911 are not necessarily the same customers who make decisions that impact the level of fire service needed for the community.

Voters, civic leaders, and other influential community members need to see the value of their fire and emergency medical services (EMS) regularly. An extremely effective way to accomplish this is to empower company officers to act as tactical PIOs whenever they encounter reporters at a scene. Voters and other engaged community members watch and read the news. We should be jumping at the opportunity to get on camera, not hiding on the other side of the fire engine.

Even when reporters are busy chasing another scoop, company officers can still tell their story. Snapping a few shots of your crew in action (when the scene is calm and it’s appropriate) to share on the department’s social media platforms is a powerful way to stay visible. Sometimes, local media or media personalities will even pick up the story from your post and repost it to their audience. Make sure you understand and follow the policies that guide your department’s social media activity.

Know What the Media Needs

The news media needs an interesting story, but they’d love to capture something sensational. Company officers are equipped to give the media the information they need. This is usually limited to some interesting facts and some relevant details. The reporter’s task is to get a story about something interesting that is happening in the community right now. The news director wants that story to be interesting for the audience.

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that reporters are always on the lookout for something sensational. They want video of someone’s house burning down or a medical helicopter landing in the middle of the highway. These types of videos keep the viewer’s attention and generate clicks on news Web sites, but don’t let your guard down, because they’re also happy to get you on camera saying something sensational. So, share the interesting information, but don’t overstep your bounds.

Share Information, But Don’t Overstep Your Bounds

I firmly believe company officers have the capacity to handle routine media requests and share information about their activity at an emergency scene, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t warn against common pitfalls and stumbling blocks. If you engage reporters at an emergency scene, you become the expert in their eyes. You are presenting yourself as the department spokesperson at that moment. Because of that, they may sneak in a question that is best answered by the department’s dedicated PIO or even the fire chief. Watch out for the following types of questions:

Questions that are loaded, presumptive, or not directly related to the current incident.
Questions another agency (such as the police department) should answer.
Questions about department policy or positions on a local issue.

In the scenario above, the reporter pulls the double-question trick by asking, “Is this a dangerous intersection? Did someone run a red light?” The first part of this question is loaded. The answer would involve some historical response data analysis and a review of EMS records from incidents at the same location. This is information the company officer will not have readily available. Instead, he can refocus the narrative to what he knows for certain. In the scenario, he mentions that his crew has responded to this intersection before and that the motorists had their seat belts on.

In the scenario, the reporter asks if a motorist ran a red light. On the surface, this is a question about a police matter, and the captain directs the reporter to someone else who can most appropriately answer that question (although the police officer will likely state that any possible violations are “under investigation”). Even if the captain knows the answer, he should stick to information that is within his realm. Beware of questions that have a deeper meaning.

Did you catch the #redlightcamera in Joe Potato’s tweet? In my community, red-light cameras were a hot-button issue for a few years. These cameras created a division and much debate about public safety and constitutional rights. This is NOT a question our company officers should be addressing. In the scenario, the captain stuck to the facts and steered the narrative away from the red-light camera issue by focusing on a safety message instead. You might feel like a politician by dodging the reporter’s questions, but remember, your goal is to highlight the good things your fire department does for the community. In the scenario, the captain controls the narrative and keeps it positive by offering a safety tip and a reminder to wear seat belts.

You can easily adapt my scenario above to a routine call in your community. You may even have someone in mind who qualifies as a Mr. Potato.

Pepper the Interview with Interesting Facts and Safety Tips

One of the easiest ways to change the course of the interview is to pepper in safety tips. If you’re working a car wreck, work these simple slogans into the interview, “Don’t drive inTEXTicated” or “One text or call can wreck it all.” You’re not necessarily saying texting caused the wreck you just cleaned up, but you are using that wreck to draw attention to the issue of distracted driving.

If you’re at a kitchen fire scene, remind people in the news audience, “The National Fire Protection Association says, ‘Keep an eye on what you fry.’” Safety tips need to be short and memorable, without assigning guilt or blame, so keep it positive. That old troublemaker Joe Potato may have been negligent and burned up his kitchen, but there’s no value in deriding him over it.

Keeping It Positive and Sharing the Credit

If you find yourself in front of a camera, microphone, or newspaper reporter after you have mitigated an emergency, keep your comments and statements positive. If bystanders took action before you arrived, acknowledge and thank the bystanders for their help. If another agency provided mutual aid, give that agency a “shout out” (its citizens are watching too). If you just completed training on vehicle extrication last week and you used those skills at the scene, mention it.

Know When to Call in the Designated PIO

Believe it or not, there’s always a chance some feisty young reporter with too much gumption will knock on the firehouse door and want “just a quick word” for her story that’s due in two hours. Reporters should not be showing up unannounced at our stations. If they do, your PIO needs to get in touch with their news director and clarify some expectations. If you find yourself in this situation, give the reporter the designated PIO’s phone number to handle the aggressive reporter.

Multiagency responses, calls that involve firefighter injuries or deaths, and mass casualties are examples of a media interview the company officer should immediately pass on to the department’s designated PIO or fire chief. Requests for interviews on policy, position, or employee matters should also go straight to the chief or his designee. Facilitating access to the fire chief helps build the relationship and partnership with local media outlets.

Build a Partnership and Build Trust

If we as company officers do not become comfortable engaging with our local media, then we will not influence the stories they tell about us. However, if we invite them in for a closer look at our operations, and if we partner with them and build trust, we can demonstrate to our community the full value of a professional fire department.

Endnote

1. Wingspread VI: Statements of National Significance to the United States Fire and Emergency Services, p. 8.

Stuart Marrs is a captain and the public information officer for the College Station (TX) Fire Department and has been a firefighter for more than 14 years. He joined College Station in 2009. He manages the department’s accreditation, recruiting, and public information. He previously was a firefighter for the Huntsville (TX) Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s in organizational leadership from Texas A&M Commerce and studied communication from Texas A&M University.