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Brothers and Sisters.. I need some help..
All,
My volunteer department is facing something that I believe is pretty wide spread across the volunteer fire service field and I need some help in figuring out how to deal with it.. We have a firefighter who has been with the department for close to 50 years. He is in his early 70's. He is a past Chief and sitting Board of Directors member. He has made quite an impact on the department. His contributions to the department is something that will live LONG after he is gone. He is a fantastic gentleman and is willing to help in ANY way possible. He is as much a grand-father to everyone as he is a member of the department.
Now, having said that. Here is the delima. He has become what I consider a "liability". He is an unsafe driver of apparatus, he is unable to keep up with changing communications (radios, pagers, computers software, etc), he is unable to fight fire, unable to operate apparatus pumps, he has lived in our community for 70 years and is still unable to locate an address, he is a state certified "First Responder" and his patient care is slipping to the point that I'd not allow him to care for my family and I doubt that he could do his skills if he was unassisted. There are many more issues, but I don't want to bore you with more of the same sort of issues. I approached the rest of our officers and mentioned creating a "Lifetime Member" status for him and more or less just allow him to assist with station work, traffic control, support functions on a fire scene, etc. When this was mentioned, it started a firestorm of hell in the meeting.
SO this is where I need everyone's help. How on Earth do I work to remedy the situation when no one else has the testicular fortitude to address the problem?
My volunteer department is facing something that I believe is pretty wide spread across the volunteer fire service field and I need some help in figuring out how to deal with it.. We have a firefighter who has been with the department for close to 50 years. He is in his early 70's. He is a past Chief and sitting Board of Directors member. He has made quite an impact on the department. His contributions to the department is something that will live LONG after he is gone. He is a fantastic gentleman and is willing to help in ANY way possible. He is as much a grand-father to everyone as he is a member of the department.
Now, having said that. Here is the delima. He has become what I consider a "liability". He is an unsafe driver of apparatus, he is unable to keep up with changing communications (radios, pagers, computers software, etc), he is unable to fight fire, unable to operate apparatus pumps, he has lived in our community for 70 years and is still unable to locate an address, he is a state certified "First Responder" and his patient care is slipping to the point that I'd not allow him to care for my family and I doubt that he could do his skills if he was unassisted. There are many more issues, but I don't want to bore you with more of the same sort of issues. I approached the rest of our officers and mentioned creating a "Lifetime Member" status for him and more or less just allow him to assist with station work, traffic control, support functions on a fire scene, etc. When this was mentioned, it started a firestorm of hell in the meeting.
SO this is where I need everyone's help. How on Earth do I work to remedy the situation when no one else has the testicular fortitude to address the problem?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Fire Chick on
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i believe u and ur line officers should take him to the side and talk to him alone... advise him that u believe he may not be able to do what he used to... make him a non active member and maybe if he would like he can still come on calls in pov and help with traffic or something small... i know a department that had this prob. and when they pulled him to the side to talk to him about it... he said i knew it was comin but he just didnt want to admit it... and til this day he is first one at the station, he answers the calls, waits til the truck is out the door, and either goes out to help wit small things, or stays at station incase anything else is needed... maybe ur guy knows it, it is just hard for him to admit because he has been doing it so long
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Valentine on
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I believe you have true concerns but your chief officers also need to see the problems you are.I'm sure most of the members who gave you grief ,feel with all he has done that he can continue on but he should know his linitations. He still wants to be an important part of your Dept, but feels that if he stops doing the emergency calls he will be done. I think that is just human nature. I hope that you are sticking to your beliefs and hope that your fellow members will see that you are not trying to get rid of him, but doing the best for him and the Dept. Good Luck
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