Resolving Conflict in the Combination Fire Department

By MIKE PIPER

Is there conflict between the volunteer and the career firefighters in your combination department? If so, which side is to blame? The answer probably is both sides! Fortunately, the peaceful coexistence of career and volunteer firefighters in a combination fire department is possible.

First, make a fair assessment of the source of the conflict. Often, conflicts are the results of career firefighters treating volunteers as amateurs and volunteers envying career firefighters. If this “mixed” group of firefighters lacks visionary leadership, clear expectations, accountability, and good communication skills, a thriving culture of contention is inevitable. Fortunately, fostering the organizational development of these characteristics can result in a functional, cohesive, and collaborative mixed group of career and volunteer firefighters who are perfectly aligned with the organization’s mission. Following are the strategy and tactics for achieving a peaceful coexistence between career and volunteer firefighters in the combination fire department.

PROVIDE VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

Good leaders are genuinely committed to the organization’s mission, and for a combination fire department to thrive, visionary leadership must start at the top. The chief of the combination fire department must be genuinely committed to its vision, mission, and values. The chief who is focused on promoting a career fire department or preserving a volunteer fire department may be contributing to the conflict between the organization’s career and volunteer firefighters. The chief who also values protecting feelings more than protecting the public is especially vulnerable to becoming part of the conflict rather than part of the solution. Every leader in the combination department needs to treat every department member with dignity and respect, regardless of position, experience level, or classification as career or volunteer.

RELATED

The Volunteer/Combination Fire Service: Surviving the Quicksand

Organizational Response to Conflict in the Fire Service

VCOS Releases Report on Transition in Volunteer and Combination Fire Departments

The Volunteer Firefighter Training Crisis—and a Solution

Good leaders are also good listeners and embrace “The Golden Rule.” Leaders in these departments must be clearly aligned with what the department needs to be rather than what it wants to be to provide the highest quality of service possible to the community. Good leaders focus on the broader interest of improving community fire protection. They understand that they are part of something much bigger than themselves and acknowledge that their own ideas and opinions about career and volunteer firefighters are only part of the solution to getting along.

DEFINE AND ENFORCE EXPECTATIONS

Avoiding conflict in a combination fire department involves defining and enforcing clear expectations. Organizational culture needs to support this department. Expectations or ground rules need to be defined, and everyone must be held accountable for adhering or not adhering to these rules. Segregation of career and volunteer personnel will not result in collaboration. Derogatory statements or comments cannot be tolerated, and mutual respect is imperative. In addition, no member can hold another member’s chosen profession against him; likewise, no member can be blamed for his occupation, for whatever reason. Career firefighters need to respect that volunteer firefighters make many sacrifices by contributing to the department without compensation. Volunteer firefighters cannot hold grudges against those who are career firefighters. Without exception, officers in these departments need to be professionals, setting the tone and enforcing these expectations. It won’t work if there are different behavior rules and expectations for career and volunteer members.

Although behavioral expectations for career and volunteer firefighters must be equal, the department must also acknowledge and understand that-as a general rule-volunteers cannot be expected to possess the same level of training and experience as their career counterparts. Some people invariably possess more experience or training than others in any given organization. Do all career firefighters in your organization possess the exact same amount of experience and number of certifications? Of course not!

What needs to be consistent, however, are the minimum certification levels for any given position, regardless of a member’s classification. Training and physical activities during every shift should also be consistent for both types of personnel. Double standards, such as requiring career personnel to participate in training and physical fitness activities while on duty and exempting volunteers from the same, will invariably encourage firehouse conflicts.

Also, in terms of expectations, the combination fire department cannot have separate formal rules, policies, procedures, or guidelines for career and volunteer firefighters. Short of committing less time on duty, volunteers cannot be held to lower standards than career personnel. The department must be a single organization with a single mission and set of values supported by a single set of policies and procedures or guidelines. Again, double standards and disparate policies will not produce collaboration and cooperation among members. It also won’t work if all-career and all-volunteer fire stations exist. Integrating career and volunteer firefighters on every company is your best bet for fostering collaboration; segregation won’t result in collaboration.

It may be controversial, but anointing volunteer officers will likely encourage conflict in a combination department. It is a fact that career members in these departments generally acquire more experience and training than their volunteer counterparts. Engaging in an activity for 40 or 56 hours a week rather than during evenings and weekends is likely to enhance a member’s training and experience level. When leaders possess less experience and training than those they are charged to lead, conflict and disparate ideas are bound to arise.

FOSTER CONSTRUCTIVE COMMUNICATION

Communication is sometimes regarded as the most important skill in the fire service, and rightfully so. More than talking, however, good communication involves listening. Career and volunteer firefighters must listen to the needs, desires, and concerns of their teammates rather than blurting on about their own. This is easier said than done; constructive communication means engaging in conversations with an open mind, being cognizant of any paradigms that you may possess, and refraining from making disrespectful comments or statements. Honesty, kindness, encouragement, and restraint are especially necessary for resolving conflict between career and volunteer personnel. This does not mean that career and volunteer personnel may not have differences of opinion from time to time. Differences of opinion within the constraints of visionary leadership and clear expectations are natural and healthy within a department and should be encouraged. Fostering constructive communication means conveying differences in a respectful manner, regardless of a firefighter’s classification.

The evolution and expansion of a combination department take years and are very arduous and challenging processes. There will be casualties; an accurate assessment of the source of conflict is imperative.

MIKE PIPER is a 21-year fire service veteran and the deputy chief of the Arvada (CO) Fire Protection District. He has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Colorado and an associate degree in fire science technology from Red Rocks Community College. Piper is a certified fire officer III and is also a 2013 graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program.

 Originally ran September 1, 2014, in Volume 167, Issue 9.