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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 Eric on
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It sounds like this man would be a wealth of fire knowledge after having all of these years in the service. If he is, I'm sure that along with the respect he has earned over the years from top to bottom makes it so people would listen to him. Just an Idea if those hold true and if his knowledge does fit the job, but what about making him a safety officer? Again, I don't know this man's background or how much he does truly know, but that was just an idea that I had that may help. Just my thoughts.
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Permalink Reply by Lt. Ballinger on
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I take there are no guidelines in place for this on your dept. Our department has guidelines in place saying once you reach the age of 65 you must retire from active duty unless approved otherwise by the mayor. Otherwise I can sympathise with you. I had one of my firefighters that had 30+ years in the fire service but was getting to be a liability to himself and the others because he had the mind set he could still keep up with the younger guys going on interior attacks. The captain was his close friend so it I decided I would have the talk with him as not to cause hard feelings between the two of them. I just explained to him due to his previous injuries to his knee and ankle and that he has problems walking I thought it was best he didn't pack up anymore and take a back seat to the younger guys when it comes to doing the physical part of the job. I told him he earned the "cushy jobs" and told him he was to drive our grass truck which serves as a personel carrier most of the time and when we get structure fires he could make sure of what equipment was pulled from the tower and make sure it was all back on or accounted for before we leave. He assumed if he couldn't do everything that there was no use for him anymore and we would get rid of him. We have another guy who can't do anything firefighting wise anymore so all he does is use his van to help block traffic, brings bottled water, coffee, and wet towels to the fire scenes for us. He is perfectly happy doing that and it is a job needing to be done.
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Permalink Reply by Lou Anne on
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Well it is not easy but safety must come first. He is what we have done in the past. We ordered them a plaque to show appreciation for the years of service. We had a dinner in their Honor and then we typed up a letter asking that they reduce their response to the department. And explain that you are looking out for his safety and others. Tell him he is more then welcome to attend meetings and other activities at the station. What everyone else needs to look at is the liability if he should wreck the unit with others in it and what could possibly happen if he should make the wrong descision in patient care. Maybe someone needs to check with your insurance company, this may change some peoples outlook on the whole issue. You could also give him the responsibiity of be a training officer. Let him be involved but just not at the level of patient care and driving
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Permalink Reply by Richard S. Miller on
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It sounds to me as if the Fire Company needs to take a look at revising or up-dating By-Laws and S.O.G.'s . My department has membership catagories to cover everyone who wishes to volunteer their time from the Life Member down to the Probationary Mmeber. I would visit several surrounding Volunteer Fire Companies and ask for copies of their By-Laws & S.O.G.'s and go before the Board of Directors of your Company and ask for a committee to be formed to research proposals for changes.
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Permalink Reply by METALHEAD on
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The issue about the driving may be solved through your insurance company. they may deem him a risk and not be allowed to drive trucks anymore. as for the rest. ive witnessed a few senior guys not being able to step aside and support the company in different aspects. No one wants to have to tell someone they cant do something, its just an ugly situation. the best thing i have is what was mentioned before, go to him in confidence and make him believe that you have a big problem with your training and need the big guy to help out. its the truth. he has allot of wisdom and has the t-shirt(BEEN THERE, DONE THAT). it may turn out better than u think. as for the ones that wont touch it with a ten foot pole. if something goes wrong, they will only have u to turn to and say "IM sorry...You were right." by then its too late.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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Well...oftimes in life we NEED to do something that just doesn't sit well...if he has become a liability then someone needs to sit down one on one with him and explain the concerns....NO...Do NOT "put him out to pasture"...I am sure there are things that he can still do..whether it be traffic control, rehab, or helping with equipment and the maintenance of the Firehouse...He does need to come off the drivers list (this will not be easy for either of you)..But if he has been there all this time he surely knows that it may be time to step down....IF he decides to leave the Department make sure that you recognize him for his dedication and years of service at the next dinner, banquet or even county awards....sounds to me like maybe Firefighter of the year or something along this line might be in order....unless of course someone else deserves it for a "Life save" or something....Don't let anyone forget what he has done for the community or the Department.....Stay safe...I don't envy you for your job.....Paul
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Permalink Reply by Sam on
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create an auxilairy something where response is only needed on an on call base something where he is still aloud to help with work details around the station and can come to the scene when called by an officer but when he shows his roll would be in support of firefighters. Example prolonged duration on structure fire he could bring water,food and raggs for soaking water for rehab. He could help at rehab by assissting firefighters with don and doff of gear etc. Buy some coolers,raggs,misting fan,chairs and a canopy tent for shade and when you call him to the scene it is his job to set up everything in a designated area. You prob get the idea hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by 144Truck on
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First... If the rest of the department doesn't see a problem with this elder member, there is not much that will be done about it... But in my world, the buck ultimately stops with me, and the difficult task of dealing with a member emeritus and past Chief would fall on my desk. This is a delicate matter indeed, and requires special handling before someone is injured. This includes the line troops AND the elder member.
There are a couple of things we did solve some similar problems.....
We have a requirement that ALL line personnel receive a fitness for duty physical conforming to NFPA specs yearly. We also require that all line personnel requalify yearly on all of the apparatus if they are engineers. We had a fairly sizable contingent of people who did not wish to take these steps due to age, etc. who wanted to remain as regular members of the department and not move to "Associate" stauts.
We opted to create a "Senior Member" status which allowed these folks to maintain their member status, have a voice and vote at the busines meetings, but exempt them from physicals, vehicle operator requirements, SCBA testing, fit testing, etc.
This has worked for us.
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Forgot to mention that our "Senior Members" are non response status once they opt for that class of membership
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Permalink Reply by Rhys Emery on
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Letting him take pics is a great idea that is what my granddad did for about 5 years after he could not safely help on the fireground. He thought it was a blast and like the firefighter in quetion he served a long time some 38 years. but my granddad was the one to realize that he could not do his job effectively anylonger. so try and have your Chief and other officers convince him that he is still vauleble just in another job with in the dept. and everything should work out fine. And yes Iam a young ff and understand that we need the vetrens to show us the way. and yes we can be as hazard if not trained right or to cocky. so let this man still serve by showing the young bucks how to do it right.
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Permalink Reply by Ed on
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We use this guy like CRAZY for his experience and his knowledge. We just need to back him off of front-run AT LEAST..
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