Taking Pride in the Fire Service

By Brian Meroney
Published Tuesday, February 5, 2013
From www.firefighternation.com

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with a group of firefighters of varied age and rank who were taking a fire officer class I was teaching. While we were eating, an older captain sitting at the end of the table brought all conversation to a halt when he asked: “Where did the pride go in the fire service?”
I sat back in my chair and thought about his question, but I didn’t provide an answer because I wanted to hear what the others in the group would say. No one ever answered the question and I wondered why. As I thought about it, I wondered what the captain considered pride. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to ask him his definition of pride and how he thought it was tied to the fire service. While I can’t answer for the captain, I can try to share what pride means to me.

Self-Evaluation
Firefighting is a proud and noble calling that brings men and women together who have the common goal of protecting lives and property. There are over 1.1 million firefighters in the United States, and more than 70 percent of them are volunteers. That said, even those of us who have been given the opportunity to become career firefighters don’t do what we do for the money—our calling is a privilege and an honor.
Each firefighter has their own reason for why they joined the fire service, something that drives and motivates them each day to put on the uniform and lay it all on the line. So I want you to answer a few questions to see if you would have been able to answer the captain’s question:

• Do you take satisfaction and pleasure from being a firefighter?
• Do you worry more about the job you’re performing or the pay you’re receiving?
• Do you respect the other firefighters, officers and chiefs on the job?
• Do you demonstrate professionalism in everything you do related to the job, both on and off duty?
• Do you have integrity as a firefighter?
• Are you dedicated to improving yourself, your crew and your department?
• Do you settle for anything less than excellence and perfection when it comes to your performance as a firefighter?

These are a few questions to think about when you consider your level of pride in the fire service. When considering your answers, you should also contemplate the answers that you think the rest of your department would provide.
Definitions
Pride can be defined as pleasure or satisfaction in an act, possession or relationship. With that definition in mind, I’ve broken down the word, letter by letter, to demonstrate what it means to take pride in our profession.
P:professional, pillars of the community, proper

• Being professional begins as a state of mind. You realize that you should treat every person the way you would want to be treated in an emergency situation, while maintaining the highest level of readiness and providing every service available to a person in need.
• The community considers the fire department a pillar of the community, a reliable source of security protecting them from unforeseen danger and hazards.
• Whether it’s speaking to community members or behaving in a professional manner during day-to-day operations, as part of the job, firefighters must understand and demonstrate proper behavior.

R: respect, response, readiness, reliability

• A firefighter must respect the uniform, other firefighters, the ranks within their department, their community and those who have come before us. We must respect the memory of every firefighter who has made the supreme sacrifice and learn from it.
• A firefighter must prepare to respond to any situation by training and continuously reviewing mastered skills.
• The readiness of the fire service is always under the microscope, so firefighters must prove time and time again that they are ready and willing to perform at the highest level.
• The public presumes, and rightly so, that the fire department and its members are reliable; they expect that when they call, we will show up in a timely manner and handle, fix or solve just about anything.

I: integrity, initiative, intelligence

• A firefighter must have a level of integrity that exceeds everyone else. The public invites us into their homes without hesitation during emergencies, trusting us as they would their own family.
• Firefighters must take the initiative on the fireground when help is needed, and on the drill ground to ensure they’re prepared for whatever event may occur.
• The public expects the fire department to be staffed by intelligent personnel; to make this a reality, we must continue to educate ourselves and keep up with technology.

D: dedication, development, delivery

• If I have to explain what it means to be a dedicated firefighter, then you need to take a long look at yourself and seriously consider whether this is the job for you.
• Not every firefighter is ready for every task or job, so we need to work to help develop firefighters who can become officers and subject experts within our departments.
• The way we deliver our services to the public speaks volumes about who we are as firefighters and as individuals. If we treat every person like family, we’ve done our job right.

E: experience, experts, excellence

• Firefighters can gain experience not only on the job, but also from formal classes, departmental trainings and other firefighters. We as a fire service should never disregard a member who has retired—they are one of our greatest assets.
• As the fire service has taken on more responsibilities and handles additional, specialized tasks and jobs, we should send personnel to formal classes so that we develop experts in fields such as hazardous materials, bomb squad or arson investigation.
• All firefighters should settle for nothing less than pure excellence while performing any and all department functions. Firefighters, and fire departments, work to overcome the obstacles that will stop or hinder them as they strive for excellence.

Final Words
As for my answer to the captain’s question, I would say: Pride in the fire service never left. I would then explain that it is our duty to educate, inform and maintain that pride. If someone is griping and complaining about the job, stop them. Those people may need to be reminded about how great it is to be a firefighter, how important our job is and what it means to so many of us.
Pride is a personal commitment; it is an attitude that separates excellence from mediocrity. Take pride in what you do by doing it better than anyone else. Remember: People look up to you, so don’t let them down.