One thing about the fire service, the implications of us not being prepared are much more significant than the average worker. Nothing against landscapers, or painters, but if they are not 100 percent on a given day well usually only their work suffers. Firefighters are different however.
Almost everything we do has implications for the safety and wellbeing of others, whether the general population or our coworkers. Yet repeatedly we see or hear of examples where mediocrity reigns supreme and close enough is good enough. How many times have you seen another crew make a mistake, all the while knowing they have spent more time in the recliner than drilling? How many times have one of your people screwed up and you have decided to pick your battles rather than address it head on? So why is that? Why do chief officers allow poor company officers to slide? If they are not meeting the minimum standard you must accept their mediocrity. If they are not meeting the minimum standard that is unacceptable.
So this brings us to today. Today is supposed to be a day of service, a day to which all of us turn. A day to which we are expected to show our mettle and do the job that we swore or took the test to do. A day to which we will be tested and found to be inadequate.
Human resources departments will find someone within their fire department that has more experience, knowledge, and training. A day to which we will all be tested and found to be inadequate.
Disclaimer: The preceding content was generated by an AI algorithm, trained on millions of points of data scoured from the web. It is constantly updating itself, but while some of the information presented in this article may be true, none of the facts have been verified.