Fire Service Management
Running a fire and EMS organization: management science, legal issues, risk and customer service.
Why this is wrong on many levels
Am I “jumping the gun” on this one? We don’t know all the facts of the case, that’s for sure, but I know one thing from my career in the municipal fire service: You don’t conduct an extensive investigation of an incident, and produce a 200-page report that documents that investigation, because you didn’t have anything better to do.
Curators of the Organizational Culture
However, the more I look at news stories involving FEMS organizations that have been “ripped from today’s headlines”, through this “lens”—that of the organizational leader as a curator of organizational culture—I can’t help but feel…something must have been missing from their system of “law and order”.
Reducing Organizational Risk in Your Department
…And all of these present serious reputation risks that can hurt a department's ability to raise money, gain support for projects or attract quality candidates. What Fire and EMS organization anywhere needs to take that kind of “hit”!
What’s that spot on your back?
About a week ago, after I finished showering, Mrs. Avsec was standing nearby (everything is nearby in our “comfy” one-bedroom apartment here in Alexandria) and she asked, “What’s that spot on your back?”
A Tale of Customer Care
Every engine, truck and ambulance in the CFEMS response fleet has hotel voucher forms on board that are honored—through prior agreements with the establishment—to provide immediate lodging for one night. The officer on-scene completes the voucher and then a staff officer on scene is tasked with “resident relocation”, i.e., going to the hotel with those folks—and providing transportation if necessary—to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
More Customer Service Skills for Firefighters–The Wrap-Up
Reminds me of the story of what happens when you throw several lobsters into a lobster pot to cook. When one of the crustaceans tries to climb out of the pot, the other lobsters pull them back into the boiling water.
Customer Service Skills 4 Firefighters: Part II
When you take action to help the citizen, ask yourself, “If called upon to do, can I honestly say that I would have done the same for any member of my family?”
What Customer Service Skills Does a Firefighter Need?
But in 2013, how many of our organizations are training their people from Day #1 to be their “face of customer service”? I’m not saying that the firefighting curriculum that constitutes the majority of entry level training is not pertinent, it is. I am saying that now, more than ever before, 24/7/365 organizations only have one chance to make a good impression…and in most cases we don’t get to choose who makes that customer contact.
How’s the water in your pool?
I can’t remember the first time I heard this phrase, and I couldn’t tell you how many times I heard it since, but it’s one I never forget. Perhaps you’ve heard it, too? Employees don’t leave the company. They leave their boss. Author Unknown
Stopping Food-on-the-Stove Fires with a Team Approach
Many developers and builders may not be aware that they can obtain up to 5 DCA Websitepoints—as part of their Development Design Criteria—when they include HEHLT on the electric ranges for their project.
19 Brother Firefighters Die in Arizona
In memory of our brother firefighters from the Prescott, AZ Hotshot Crew who lost their lives in the service to others during a firefight outside Yarnell,…
We Don’t Need Sensitivity Training…We Need More Leadership Training
Gender issues. Did you know that researchers have found that when a large percentage of both men and women hear those two words, what they really “hear” is “woman’s issues.”