Things Are Not Always As They Seem

Only 24 days of shopping left until Christmas. However, for something a little deeper, how about a discussion on keeping your head in the game. For my battalion's quick training training today, I sent them a discussion on “sudden event” situations. Case in point: On Firefighterclosecalls.com, there was an article on a PA propane explosion that gave some interesting observations about the situation that unfolded after this sudden event. My question to my team was, "Are you prepared for a sudden 'game-changing' event during your operations?"

As responders, we go into so many calls with our own expectations as to how things are going to work. I am just as guilty of it as anyone else- it is human nature. We have to, however, shake loose some of our preconceived beliefs as to what we think is occurring vs. what is actually occurring. How do we do this? By getting facts through a proper size-up and maintaining good situational awareness. But even then, in the real world, the facts as we understand them may not be what is actually occurring.

Using a very real case in point from the other morning: While overhauling a fire the other shift, a number of us saw what looked to be an increasing smoke condition after we thought the fire was extinguished. Now there’s nothing wrong with that- the point in doing a complete overhaul is to uncover stuff like that (so we don't have to come back later). If we had ignored the condition, or lied to ourselves about the situation and convinced ourselves that it was nothing, those decisions would have been wrong. But everything about the evidence led us to believe we had hidden fire someplace. We developed a plan to root it out, we had lines in place, but no matter what area we pulled, we found that the smoke continued.

Finally, we decided to increase the amount of ventilation in order to find out if we were dealing with pockets of smoke instead of a fire. This proved to be the case and the smoke ended. But it is a good example of seeing something you think is one thing and finding it to be something completely different.

It is almost contrary to human nature to see events unfold in a certain way 99 times, and not expect it to occur the same way for the next time. As a veteran firefighter, however, I know it will be on the 100th time that things go differently and Murphy will pay us a litle visit.

Like every other aspect of our job, we need to prepare ourselves mentally for how to overcome that complacency and act appropriately on the new evidence. This is appropriate not only for emergency response, but in our daily operations. Don't assume for a minute that because you have seen something progress a certain way virtually every time that you have all of the facts.

Whenver you are working on solving a problem, use a good basic plan of action, know the strengths of the people who are working with you and challenge them to use those strengths, and most of all, don’t be afraid to roll with a revised plan. After all, situations change and if you fail to adjust, you are likely going to end up as part of the problem.

Customer Service

This is a post I wrote originally for my blog at FirefighterNation.com:

Customer relations are essential for any department operating in this day and age, as our customers (read: taxpayers) are more educated and have higher expectations of the emergency services. These expectations come from watching television shows that portray us in a certain light as well as more information going out in the form of public education efforts.There are considerable efforts being made by leaders in our industry to increase our professionalism. We need to consciously market our concepts in a positive way.

Likewise, there are expectations not only when dealing with the public, but with internal customers as well:In our organization, we have adopted objectives for personnel that read like these:

• Fire and Rescue personnel shall give high priority to customer satisfaction by anticipating customer needs, time constraints and their desired outcome.
• We must listen to customers, seek to understand them, and empathize with the customer’s perspective, especially treating the customer with respect.
• We must strive to consistently respond to customer requests in a courteous, efficient and timely manner.
• Fire and Rescue personnel shall demonstrate a commitment to meeting customer requirements with a sense of urgency, proactively following through to resolve issues.
• We must create realistic expectations and regularly inform our customers of status/progress, provide options/alternatives if needed, and successfully help our customers understand and accept negative outcomes.
• A big part of all of our jobs is to support our other team members in meeting their customers’ expectations.

You all know what good customer service feels like and you all know what it’s like to have bad customer service. I suggest to you that professionalism begins at using our skills, abilities and past experience to improve service quality and to provide excellent service not just to the taxpayers, but to your colleagues.

We need to make it part of our personal mission to exceed at helping people when they need help- that’s why we got into this business to begin with. Often, when we get called, someone else is having a bad day. Our job is to try to help solve that situation, or at least to lend a hand in making it a little better. When supervisors ask you to perform a task, even though sometimes we don’t feel up to it, remember that it’s all part of a bigger picture and realize that we need to serve our customers in many ways, some of which may not be immediately obvious to each of us.

The impact you have isn't just felt in your local departments, but across the nation as well. When you make it known that you are a firefighter, you are, like it or not, representing all of us in this business, career or volunteer. It's a huge responsibility, but something you can handle.

Remember, when you are interacting with that civilian, are you treating that person like you would want to be treated yourself in a similar circumstance? You have an obligation to all of us to represent the profession in a positive light and to try to aid when possible, and to try to assist someone in finding solutions to their problems when you can't.

Rebel or Revolutionary - You Choose

As posted from my blog at FirefighterNation.com with some updates:

With all of the change going on in the atmosphere, I was contemplating the difference between being a rebel and a revolutionary. It seems to me that there are plenty of firefighters who are a little mixed up and don't understand the difference. The problem is that while revolutionaries effect change in a situation, rebels simply refuse to obey.

Why should that matter? When we are agitating for change in our current situation, being a revolutionary suggests turning or moving, which is hopefully a positive thing. Rebelling doesn't suggest anything positive at all. I know firefighters who think that their rebellious actions suggest something courageuous or heroic, where I am suggesting that those individuals aren't any of that at all. In fact, many of the "rebels" I have encountered are resisting change for good because it upsets their version of the status quo.

If you are pushing against the status quo in order to make positive change, you are sure to meet with resistance from those who are comfortable in that little rut they have dug. Anything you may do to move them from it is going to be perceived as threatening to their happiness and they may lash out at you. They are not going to understand your motives or they may not want to understand. Things may even get dangerous, for your career or for you personally.

The winds of change are blowing and we can either flex with them and survive, or resist them and be broken off at the trunk. We in emergency services need to understand our entire environment and be revolutionaries, to think about things in ways we never thought of them before, for the good of our profession.