Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rolf Peterson on March 1, 2008 at 2:47pm

New Fire Chief,

There are a few key things that a Chief must be or follow to be able to make even the slightest difference. I Chief must make every effort to be 100% honest with his department. Don't sugar coat facts, be straight with them.

Train them to the highest level of readiness possible, and require 100% participation (physically) by every member including yourself. Completely understand your departments limitations and when to call for help. Educate your leadership, ensure your officers are well qualified for thier positions, if they are not, get them there. Demand 100% from them all and give them 100% of yourself.

Are you qualified to lead a department? If not you better get that done asap. Are you a superb Incident Commander, if not you better become one. Keep your firefighters safe at all costs. Do not put your firefighters at risk in an empty dwelling with rescue clear. If there are dangers developing go defensive.

Start a firefighter safety initiative on your department. You cannot be self serving and be a good Chief.

Permalink Reply by Adam on March 1, 2008 at 6:42pm

Thank you for you insight

Permalink Reply by David McElroy on March 3, 2008 at 7:34pm

Congrats on your new position
I'm not a fan of elected officers especially Chief officers, The problem with being an elected officer is what qualifications must you have to be considered to be elected to an officer position especially a Chief Officer position.Most elected positions become popularity contests and the other thing is if the person elected to say a Chief's Position is a great Chief and does great things next thing you know he gets voted out the following year and the new person elected takes all the good things that were done and doesnt continue them.

As far as advise the first thing I would say is be a leader and lead by example, I was once told never tell your personnel to do something you would never do yourself. Set the pace through training and make training fun and make the guys want to come back for more. Also surround yourself with good and experianced people, A Chief is only as good as the guys he has under him. Safety must be a priority and make sure your people eat,drink and sleep Safety. Use FirefighterCloseCalls.Com and make sure your people do too.Make sure your Department has SOG's in place if not get them in place.

Involve your personnel especially your officers in the day to day operations, but you must manage the direction in which the department moves. Get Training and Education, I'm not sure what you have for experiance and education but you can never get enough education (Knowledge is Power). Make sure your personnel are trained and certified and train..train train . A great way to get quality training for your personnel is find a local FOOLS Chapter and join as well as get your personnel to join as well.

Good luck and if you have further questions feel free to drop me a line

Stay Safe...Make it Safe
Dave

Permalink Reply by Adam on March 3, 2008 at 9:07pm

Well i am hoping our department doesnt think it is a popularity vote. As an example i tihnk in past 30yrs we have only had 5 others as chief so we do last for more than a year. I have been Asst Chief for past 2 yrs and before that i was a Captian and Lt. I agree with the idea of leading by example, that is how i have been for past 11 yrs that i have been on dept. We are a rural volunteer dept so time constraints and family life are tuff to juggle. As far as schooling i have had a fair amount now i want more in Dept leadership office training and classes like that. I appreiciate your advise and will try my best to lead by example.

Permalink Reply by capt4021 on March 13, 2008 at 10:33am

One thing you gotta remember some advice that was handed down to me from my dad who is a Past Chief and my uncles who are all Past Chiefs. Don't send your men where you wouldn't go. And if your being and asshole your doing your job right. And its always lonely at the top. And do whats best for your department and your community, and one thing thats going on everywhere is dont set double standards for certain people it will only cause you problems in the long run. Congrats on the position.

Permalink Reply by jeremy mankin on May 17, 2008 at 1:19pm

this is the first thing i did. have meeting with all our officers and let them know what u expect from them and they expect from u. and Lesten to the old memebers they still know more than u sometimes. and gain the respect of all our memebers. and last if they screw up then u screw up our memeber are only as good as the people leading them!!!!!

Permalink Reply by Craig France on May 22, 2008 at 4:33pm

Listen carefully to your members , and listen to their wants and needs,
And most of all stay neutrial ,, dont get pulled inti the Good ol boy club,

Permalink Reply by Jason F. Anderson on February 11, 2009 at 11:46pm

First, Congratulations on your promotion. I myself, recently attained the position of Chief of Department for my small VFD. 30 total members running just short of 300 calls last year.

The best advice I can give is this. Use every opportunity that is afforded to you, as a time to learn. A leader that can continually learn alongside his crews will gain respect quicker and in the end everyone benefits from the increased collective knowledge. I am 32 years old, and one of my assistants is in his late 50s/early 60s. He is a 20 year veteran of the fire service and probably one of the most valuable assests that I have at my disposal. It has been mentioned on previous posts to use the experience of others. Sir, that can NOT be stressed enough. And lastly, empower your officers to make executive decisions commensurate with their position. This will reduce the amount of "petty" issues that you yourself have to deal with so that you can stay focused on the more important aspects of running your department; in turn, your officers will be more understanding of the position you are in.

Good Luck, stay safe, and train your crews to come home safely. Their families depend on them...and you.

Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on February 12, 2009 at 12:04am

Learn to appreciate what you have and accentuate them. Your greatest resource is the Volunteers yo have or will acquire. Stand up and be the leader they have entrusted in you and defend them at all cost.

Permalink Reply by Tom Ricotta on February 12, 2009 at 10:20pm

First off, Congratulations! Rising up to take on any role above that of just the average grunt takes a set. Not to mock grunts or call anyone average (because that is the roll I am playing right now) but anyone can say how they think it should be done, but only one person has that responsibility to make that decision. And right now TAG! You are it. Running only 41 calls a year is going to make it difficult for you, and your members, to gain a lot of "field experience". I know I originally came from a company that didn't run many over that. So you are going to have to train a lot to get proficient at just the simplest of takes. (i.e. donning gear, flaking lines, etc) the same for commanding a scene. You are going to train yourself too. Take advantage of this World Wide Web, and read up on as much as you can on tactics, and strategies, and even leadership. There are a ton of websites, and videos out here to help you learn. Make training interesting and interactive. The more value you members feel that they are getting out of it, the more apt they are to come back and get deeper involved. Give your members enough training that they can be proficient without running 1000 calls a year. Then when you do get those 41 calls and they feel confident about performing the job right, they will feel that same confidence in you. Good luck, and have fun.