My Board

Called to gun shots heard on the first floor, apartment A.  Upon arrival, residence were evacuating first floor and second floor.  PD arrived on scene same time.  Medic crew went to the apartment the callers stated the shot were heard from, PD began clearing the rest of the apartments.  The caller did give the correct apartment number.  Found one pt, DOA.  At the time thought we were doing the right thing by going to attempt to help the person. In hind sight we should have staged and waited for PD to clear the entire building before putting ourselves in a scene that was not safe.   

Man you were definitely lucky but i completely understand running in to help and then realizing the risk later in that situation. Glad it worked out for you!

I do not agree with the author of this article that states that interior structural firefighting will go away. I do think that there will be a reduction in the use of interior firefighting. As a profession we have become smarter at how we fight fires, firefighters are more aware of the toxins that they are exposed to during a fire and take the appropriate measures to minimize their exposure to these nasty toxins.

I do agree that we must make public fire life safety education and code enforcement components of our job description. We must continue to educate the community through our prevention programs to reduce fires in our homes and business with-in our community.

I am with you Larry! I believe a well ran prevention bureau will communicate to the public the importance of fire prevention; in return lessen our risk of catching the cancer. I believe having a prevention officer who is passionate about fire prevention can make a large impact on the community.     

Problem: Senioritis 
Description: As a newly promoted supervisor I struggled with trying to figure out the guys on my shift.  During this time I did notice one of the crew members seemed to be more relaxed and really didn’t fulfill the Senior Firefighter role on shift.  My supervisor came to me and mentioning that he had noticed it too.  As a new supervisor I truly struggled of how to approach the situation and address my concerns with the crew member. I latterly thought about it for days. It that time of the year for the department’s evaluations, so I figured I would address it then.

How I handled the situation:  During the crew members evaluation I spoke of how myself and my supervisor has noticed his behavior. The crew member agreed that he needed to step up and lead and that he wasn’t aware of his behavior until it being addressed in this setting. The crew member has since proven himself many times and has become a true Senior Firefighter on shift. 

What I Learned:  I learned a few lessons during this situation. I could have pulled the crew member aside any time before the yearly evaluation and addressed the issue. Note, that His behavior did not play a role on his evaluation.  He met all expectations. I believed that he could have exceeded in some areas.  I learned that allowing some time to think of how to address the situation and not having a shotgun reaction helped in the two of us getting on the same page.  I learned that sometimes the employee just needed a reminder of the expectations in his role.

As a supervisor I have had to learn the difference between a so called problem employee and an employee with a different personality than myself. What I may think is a problem employee could be just that our personalities don’t align and that shouldn’t count against the employee.  Just because they do something different than I would, doesn’t make them a bad employee.  As long as we reach our expectation of each other, there should be no problem.

A Stafford

What strategies do you use to manage your time effectively?
On a daily basis I like to use a hand written list and have it sitting in a place I will see throughout the day. I can mark items off as I complete them and it can be a visual reminder as to what still needs to be done. For long term I keep a master calendar that has both work and personnel items in it.

What are some of the biggest obstacles to managing your time effectively ?
Dealing with things that need to be done but are not necessarily goal related. Both in work and at home.

What can you do to remove some of theses obstacles?
They are not going to go away so you try to prioritize the best you can.

I have found that keeping a daily list has helped me accomplish what needs to be done too.