I am a 5yr. member of a completely vol. fire dept. that is lacking in leadership. What I mean is I have been told by officers : "what do you want me to do ? suspend them? " when I have gone to them with problems of other members not following the rules. I'm not talking about petty at the station B.S. either. It just frustrates me to no end. It seems to be the mentality that if we say something to a "wrong doer" that no-one will show up anymore.

So how does your dept. handle discipline.

SIGNED: COMPLETELY FRUSTRATED !

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Replies to This Discussion

There are a few ways of doing this the way we use and (not that often) is you get a reprimand in you personal file after two reprimands you come talk to the chief and explain what the problem is, this is fore miner offences if not a miner offence then you are coming to my office right away. Reprimands are good for me. If I do have to suspend, or a removal of rank or dismissals, I have something to back my up.
There Needs to be someone on the department to be the head guy the chief to put a stop too it. Isn't thats what they are there for if none of the other officers say anything. Or it should be addressed as a group at your monthly fire deptment meeting so no one is singled out!
Excellent Mike! perfect! As hard as it may be to get people to join the service, its critical that those who do join, know the rules and can and do live by them. Those who can't, are dangerous and really, it does put a huge black mark on the service.
Probably the most inteligent and accurate posting to this issue. Good job Hondo.
" The trainings and the way things were done 20 or 30 years ago won't fly any more." BINGO!!
Hang in there Countney. Things will get better.
YEA suspend them- tell them why and hand out a suspention. if they quit oh well at least you are rid of a problem but as the suspending officer you had better have your ducks in a row (ie witnesses and the backing of other dept. officers and a dam good reason.

Just my 2 cents
Jeff
p.s. remember the fire dosen't know the differance between a fulltimer and a volenteer
Thanks.
I have seen both sides of this. During one stint as an Officer, several years ago, I wanted to suspend someone, not for what he did but for how he reacted to a verbal reprimand for what he did. The Chief did not back me up, but within days suspended the same member for a different offense.

Later on I got suspended once, and to tell you the truth, it really had no effect on me one way or the other. It did not cost me anything, gave me a week's vacation from the place and ended up depriving the department of an active member for a week. I have also seen it where other members stay away in sympathy or solidarity with a suspended member, when the issue is prominent enough. This also has the effect of reducing your overall manpower. So I am now not convinced that suspensions work in the volunteer setting.
Depending on what the infraction was, we use a progressive discipline system.
Company Officer duties:
1st time - verbal warning
2nd - written (this stays in the folder for 6 months)
3rd - written ( goes into your perminate folder and Chief is made aware )
4th - goes directly to the Chief
* Again it depends on the severity of the infraction
I have only had to counsel 1 member, and his attitude changed incredibly.
I keep hearing "Full timers" and "volunteers" this and that bull junk. FIREFIGHTERS ARE FIREFIGHTERS payed or not, just do the job or quit (get out). The only difference is that some of us get paid and even the volunteers get compensated and paid, I am a volunteer at my dept and my last check was real nice. Not to mention the experience your getting in order to move on. Come on folks we are all firefighters, Lets act like one!!! Respect what you do. after all why did you join in the first place.
I have the same problem, I don't know what the answer is but i feel that the people that dont put the time in and dont show up to the trainings they have no place to be a firefighter. I have about 25 volunteers and about 10 that show up to the training and 5 that show up on a call. It gets real old that they only show up to the real fires not fire alarms that are going off. Is it truly lack of leadership or is it the firfighters fault by not giving the people that dont show up a hard time or give them the dirty jobs on scene. How do you fix people that just dont care, you cant send them to there room or take away there birthday. So when you find out how to fix this let me know... Thank you
LMAO---WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???? IN OUR DEPT.,WE HAVE A SELECT GROUP OF OLDER MEMEBERS THAT RUN THE DEPT.---BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND CHIEFS---SOPS????---THE OLD GUY IS "STILL" REVISING THEM.....DISIPLINE????-----SOME GET IT--- OTHER OLDER MEMBERS DONT---WE HAVE NO LEADERSHIP---TRAINING IS ALSO A JOKE.....

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