Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by justin d. boehmer on July 10, 2009 at 7:32pm

HAVE ur dispatch call out a clean up at ur station for all available firefighters thats what the department i used 2 be on did

Permalink Reply by ashfire on July 10, 2009 at 8:01pm

I have learn since I was a rookie you don't leave anything that is going to save your life not ready for service. The minute you back that unit in the station and park it you fill SCBAs clean mask and fill water tanks wash apparatus. Winter time we may just rinse units off if its too cold to wash them and wait for it to warm up a bit and then fully clean them. Tools should be cleaned on the fireground before they go back in the cabinets on a unit.
There is no maid in your fire station and you sure are not going to hire one to clean up after your crew. How about calling their mothers to come clean the fire station after they get back and tell them their children can't clean up after themselves. Maybe the ladies aux might enjoy cleaning the station.
You could give those ideas to your members to see what they think.
Put a sign up that says "We don't have a maid and your mother doesn't live or work here. Clean it up youself."
We use to have members that would throw dirty dishes in the trash than clean someone's else dirty dishes.

Permalink Reply by Douglas Crowell, Jr. on July 10, 2009 at 8:30pm

That is what I am down to doing. I have run out of options. I would like to find a motivator to make them want to clean up after themselves. (Its ashame that it would come down to this!!!)

Permalink Reply by Eddie Rogers on July 11, 2009 at 3:38am

Just remind them that cleaning up is part of the job. Harp on it until they get the message. Ridiculous but necessary I guess

Permalink Reply by ashfire on July 11, 2009 at 9:40am

If you can't get your officers below you to help you out are they really helping you or are they part of the problem? Make them the drill sgt in charge of cleaning.
Like I said when I became a new member the first thing was that I had to help clean something to make the senior members decide if I was good enough to be a member.
Do you have junior members 16 to 18? They have to earn their membership by doing what needs to be done around the fire station and be sure they keep their school work up and grades. Bad grades could mean suspension or limited activities or extra work around the station until their grades improve.
I know you may have senior members in a hurry to get somewhere after a call but they could do something easy before they put their coat and helmet away. Pull the SCBA they used and put it where other members can fill them and clean the mask.
These are just some ideas you can try.
The fire service is like the military. You have officers and you have soldiers. Someone has to give orders and someone has to follow them.

Permalink Reply by Kirk D. Baughman on July 11, 2009 at 9:25pm

i'am an officer to and we have the same problem. we started signing station dutys to our members each week. we have some that do 100 to 50 percent and some that does nothing. i wish we could take the ones that don't help and kick them off. we are starting to write members up that don't do station duties and after three they are gone. to me it seems like the guys that like to come and play and go on calls but not wanting to help clean the building and trucks are just a waste of time.

Permalink Reply by Shanna Davis on July 13, 2009 at 10:46am

On my department, no one goes home until everything is cleaned, picked up, put away, serviced, etc. after a call.
The driver of each apparatus that went out is responsible for that unit being ready for service again. If something is wrong with that unit on the next call, the captain goes back to see who drove it last and you get reminded that its your responsibility to have that unit ready for service.
We really don't have much of a problem with this on my dept. and everyone is pretty good about doing their part. We have a couple of ALS people who won't do much and seem to think its up to the rest of us to deal with but other than that out of 26 members the rest are pretty good.
I would start telling everyone in trainings etc. that no one goes home until units are ready for service again. As for the station itself, start a roster and rotate everyone in some fashion to handle the station duties, cleanup, etc.
On my dept. we have to run at least 90 calls every six months. If we need calls we can come down to the station and clean the dayroom, restrooms, offices, etc. and get extra call credits. So, you might think of some way to offer extra credit for doing some of this station work and duties.
Another way we get extra cleaning, etc. done around the station is allowing high school students who need community service hours in order to graduate come over and clean the station, the apparatus, etc.

Permalink Reply by Chief Dino on July 16, 2009 at 5:30pm

I'm the maintenance chief for my dept, and our bylaws state that the capt and lt of each unit is responsible for the upkeep of his rig, including all tools, ppe, cleanliness and simple maintenance (fluids mostly) we had a structure fire earlier this week and found a SCBA mask had been put back into service without being cleaned, and the pass batteries had died on both airpacks. I don't know about anybody else, but I wouldn't want to use a filthy mask.

Permalink Reply by Douglas Crowell, Jr. on July 19, 2009 at 9:23am

I think part of my problem may be that my other officers (higher than me) think we cannot write up volunteers because they will just quit and we cannot loose any more people. (We only have about 15 that will show up) My feeling is that if we these people cannot care for the equipment that may save thier (and my) life, then I do not want them to be there. We can always call for mutual aid if wee need more help.

Permalink Reply by Douglas Crowell, Jr. on July 22, 2009 at 9:22pm

I tried this this week during a station cleaning/truck maintinence detail. I kept anyone that was just standing and talking, cleaning something. I think people were frustrated by this, but we got a lot of the station clean. I am also hanging clean up lists and signs in the bathrooms about cleaning up after yourself. Thanks for the advice!

Permalink Reply by G. Hove on July 23, 2009 at 4:37pm

This is an ongoing problem at any hall, we use the membership to police themselves. Any Crew who leaves a rig dirty or in any other state other than ready to respond finds thenself under the watchfull eye of the rest of the depatment, it's a pride thing with the guys or call it a tradition. As a Capt. I do a walkaround the rigs after a call or training to ensure that the equipment is clean and ready to respond and do not release the members untill it is completed. This not to say some things slip by but you can be sure when things do someone is asking who was the last crew to use the truck.
We also have called dispatch to send a pageout to non responding members to assist in the clean up on a long call. This has always worked great and the members who show up they are prasied by the membership for their assistance.

Permalink Reply by firegirl73 on August 3, 2009 at 2:39pm

We are not released by officers until everything is cleaned up and back in service. If you need to leave for whatever reason, discuss it with an officer and usually it's not a problem- unless it's a habit. There are still some that just go or don't help but when it comes to a position opening or an award to be given- those are the people who are not chosen. We have a weekly work/drill night and 2 or 3 nights a month includes cleaning or equipment maintanence. If we have a drill or training; sometimes not everyone will participate in a drill so they will stay back and do housekeeping. Hope this helps. The officers seldom write members up but they will if needed. Those who love the fire service do what they need to do, those who don't really care probably shouldn't be there anyway.

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