How is ranking decided in your department? This qestion isnt meant to be negitive, or stupid in any way just wanting to know how other departments do this.
Here is another, not so popular, way of deciding officers. When a position is vacant, we have a meeting conducted under Robert's Rules to select nominees. The floor is then open for discussion, followed by a secret ballot election. Some people may not agree with this style, but it does work for us.
We hold yearly elections for all positions. We have station elections first for engineers, safety officer, board member and station captain. Then we have a general election among all membership for headquaters positions like Chief, asst Chief, battalion Chiefs, and safety officer. Then the members that have been elected to the board of directors position elect the president, vice president, etc. A lot of people may not like this method but we have standards that all who run must meet before being eliglible, and it has worked well for many years.
I don't know if you are only addressing volunteer or paid departments, but ours is full-time paid and this is how we do promotions. When a position comes open (retirement, resignation or termination) anyone with the qualifications for that position must fill out an application that includes a letter of intent. Then there is a written test, a skills test specific to the open position (pumping trucks, scene command, etc.), and then finally an outside oral review board conducted by officers from neighboring departments. After all tests are done, the points from each test are added up and the person with the highest points gets the position. Its kind of extensive, but we make sure the people can do the job minimums before they take the position.
We must have quilifications prior to applying when a promotion process comes up. For example Lt. must have Officer I&II,Strats & Tactics, And a couple others I don't know off the top of my head. Plus a applicant must have enough time on the job to apply..LT. must have at least 8yrs on the job to get a Lt. spot. Not to say they can't go through the process, this is encouraged as it helps them prepare for when they do have the time on they need.
Befor any one askes..FFI &II,EMT-B..Are part of our recruit class.
Along with the pre recs. there's wrritten exam and oral interviews and exam. Once you get your Lt. You may or may not get a Co. We have about 12 roveing Lts.
There is no one ranker than Mike in our Department, not even the Chief.....Man is he ever rank...he can clear a room in seconds with the gas that he can pass......Oh...not what you meant....? LOL
We are a small volunteer department that runs 125 to 150 calls a year. Once a year we have an annual meeting. At that meeting all 5 captains, 2 assistant chiefs and the chiefs jobs are up for grabs. If anyone wants to keep their position then they have to speak up and if nobody else wants it then its theirs. If someone wants to take over as an officer then it is voted on by the whole department...