Diversity & Inclusion
Building fire and EMS departments that reflect and serve everyone.
Diversity and Inclusion: What’s Your Fire Department’s Plan?
Diversity is about counting people. Inclusion is about making people count. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the container – the place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different. To achieve success today and tomorrow in meeting the challenges it faces, a fire department needs a group of people who think differently – in a place that's safe to share those differences.
More on Pregnant Firefighters–And It’s Not Good!
Thank you to all of you who read last week’s post and Liked it and sent along your comments on…
Clan Behavior and its Influence on Fire Service Culture
I submit for your consideration that fire department leaders will not find the “fix” until they recognize that those new members (outsiders) are being exposed to the behaviors and expectations of the firehouse clan from Day #1 with a department. Who’s teaching them in those entry-level training programs? Who’s working with them at the firehouse when they come on board?
Harassment is about power, it’s always about power
Maybe, just maybe, we'll all start taking a much different view of claims of sexual harassment--and all other forms of harassment in the workplace for that matter—and especially those brought forth by women in the fire service.
Organizational Climate: Another “Weather” Report
Much is being written and discussed about the fire service and its culture of risk-taking and the influence of that culture on firefighter deaths and injuries. But there is also the culture of the firehouse, and that’s the culture that’s influencing the inappropriate behaviors, on and off the job, that are resulting in careers being ruined, lawsuits being filed, and in the worst cases, firefighters taking their own lives.
Sexual Harassment of Female Firefighters: New Year, Same Old Headlines
Come again? Without admitting guilt? I don’t know about the average citizen, but when I see a local government paying $1.75 million to a plaintiff in a sexual harassment case, I see “guilty”, how about you?
Are we truly brothers and sisters in the fire service?
But the problem of acceptance in the fire service goes beyond that experienced by women. People of color (men and women), those who are gay or transsexual or just somehow just “different” are not as readily accepted—if they ever are—by the white male majority.
I’m a fire service feminist
Before the fire service can move forward in recruiting and retaining more women the overall culture in many organizations must change. We have to eradicate the "idea" that the fire service is a male-dominated vocation or avocation. Yes, right now that's a true statement because of sheer numbers and the fact that men predominantly occupy leadership roles in fire departments.
The Coming “Tsunami”: Sexual Harassment Litigation
In just the past few days another woman firefighter filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue Department claiming not only that was she sexually harassed and stalked by her captain, but she was retaliated against when she reported his behavior. That’s right, the same department that Nicole Mittendorff worked for before she took her own life.
The Fire Camp for Girls Experience
The confidence that I gained to be able to work through any tough situation, not just firefighting situations. I’ll never forget the slogan that was on our camp T-shirts and all the equipment that we used, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll understand. Involve me and I’ll remember.” Been more than four years now and I still remember that.
Firefighter Recruitment for Today
I’m seeing more postings on social media platforms, e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, promoting social media infographicfirefighter employment opportunities in various locations around the USA and Canada. That’s a good thing, for sure, because if people don’t even know about the opportunities that are out there…but I don’t think that using social media to promote job announcements is any kind of “silver bullet” for fire service organizations looking to attract quality people to their “tribe.”
Fire Service BrotHERhood: A Story
The tragic deaths recently of two members of the Kansas City, Missouri Fire Department shook the fire service community and reminded us once again of the hazards of the job. In the aftermath, there have been many displays of the brotHERhood of the fire service in action, and none more touching than this.