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Improving Fire Department Morale at the Company Level

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This article is part of the “Owning the Job” series here on FireCritic.com. Read more articles from the “Owning the Job” series here.

Recently, I was giving the task of putting on a presentation for my promotional process. The presentation was 10 minutes long and the topic was “Present 3 ideas to improve morale in the department”. I decided to talk about the following: Positive Reinforcement from Management, Pay for Performance, and Utilizing Social Media more (shocker there). I won’t bore you with an in depth look at my presentation. I focused on issues related to Administration improving morale. I could have split it up, I wasn’t placing blame. The problem was identified already. The solution was not.

What I would like to discuss is the opposite…How do we improve morale at the company level?

How can We Improve Morale from the Ground Up?

Illustration by Paul Combs. “Drawn by Fire” on Facebook

Below is a list of ideas to improve morale. Some might make minor dents in the problem; Others might make a huge difference. Most of these will work in all types of Fire and/or EMS Departments.

If you have read this far in the article, you are interested in improving morale. I wish you the best and I am available for questions. Feel free to offer your own ideas in the comments.

Professionalism

  • Look professional
  • Act professional
  • Be professional
  • Be positive, smile, and laugh often
  • Leave your ego at home

Camaraderie

  • Hang out together on duty: Eat together, workout together, train together. Get together before/after morning checks to discuss local news, what everyone did on their day(s) off etc.
  • Hang out together off duty: Have your coworkers over for dinner and include their families. Get together at a local park for a picnic. 
  • Invite another firehouse over for a friendly game of basketball, training, cornhole, or dinner.
  • Be positive: Be nice, be friendly, be a friend. Not everyone has the best days every day at the firehouse…some have to ride the medic unit time to time!
  • Motivate others: Be mindful of the strengths and weaknesses of others.

Company Pride

  • Create a logo or mascot for your firehouse. Get patches, shirts, coins, chips, and/or stickers made. (NM-Coin.com for coins and TheChipSite.com for chips)
  • Build a custom firehouse kitchen table. (examples here)
  • Have Wall Shields make you a custom wall shield for your firehouse. They do kitchen tables too!
  • Clean all of the tools on your rig together. Paint them up in a paint scheme unique to your firehouse.
  • Check out FirehousePride.com for some other examples.
  • Look and dress professional. Lose the “I fight what you fear” or “Big Johnson” t-shirt and where a uniform shirt with the rest of the crew.
  • Check out “Turning a Fire Station into a Firehouse”
  • Check out my firehouses custom kitchen table here
  • Social Media: Create a Facebook page, twitter account, instagram account, blog, or other social media account for your firehouse and/or fire department. Share information that other firefighters might enjoy as well as the community. Show off your pride, invite the community into your firehouse. Create communication, relationships, and conversation with others. Be seen!
  • Open House: Have an open house annually or each month for your community to come in and see their firehouse!

Training

  • Territory: Put a map up and see how much each person can get. Then go out and drive it. Pay attention to hydrants, long hose lays, building construction, oddities.
  • Equipment: Go over new equipment and old equipment. Get it off the rig and go over it with everyone. You might know something others don’t and vice versa.
  • Tools: Discuss what tools you have and why. Discuss other uses for tools and identify tools you might like to have on your apparatus…then try to acquire them.
  • Apparatus: Quiz each other on what gear is in which compartment on the apparatus. This will bring everyone up to speed on where things are properly placed.
  • Formal Classes: Keep an eye out for available classes in your area and encourage your Brothers and Sisters to attend the class with you.
  • Informal Classes: Identify topics your company wants to learn and refresh on. Then, identify different company members to teach the classes to the company. Follow through and schedule the classes on duty.
  • Critiques: When you get back from the big one, schedule a critique in the firehouse of the incident. Be positive, use constructive critisism when needed, and identify areas that your company needs to train on more often.

Apparatus

  • Wash the rig when it needs it.
  • Clean the dash and vacuum and/or wash out the interior regularly. Fire apparatus can get real dirty real quick. The same with EMS apparatus.
  • Wash out the compartments regularly.
  • Thoroughly check the apparatus each day.
  • Identify issues and make corrections and/or write it up for future maintenance.

Firehouse Integrity

  • Don’t complain about other shifts at shift change. If there is a complaint, take it to your company officer to handle.
  • Clean up after yourself.
  • Clean as you expect the other crews to clean when you aren’t there.
  • Leave the firehouse and apparatus cleaner than it was the day before.
  • Get a subscription to fire service magazines and leave them around the firehouse for others to read.

Speak up, listen, and understand

  • Speak up for yourself. Make yourself heard when you need to.
  • Listen when others are speaking. Listen to other ideas.
  • Understand what others are saying and why they are saying it.

Health and Fitness

  • Workout together. Change up the workouts to the needs of your company.
  • Eat healthy foods. Cook things that everyone enjoys, but make it healthy.
  • Workout on your days off. Some of the guys in my department get together to ride bikes on our greenway, run 5k races, and workout at the local gym together.
  • Be positive. Understand that not everyone is trying to kill it in the gym. The fact that some are in the gym is a huge improvement for some.

Probably the biggest thing you can do is have a positive attitude…which is also one of the hardest when morale is low.

The ideas below were shared on The Fire Critic’s Facebook Page:

  1. Schedule training at the beginning of the shift when you’re fresh and not burn out. This also sets the tone for the remaining part of the shift… You made being a fireman more important than washing the ambulance… Guys will see that! (Jamie Goodlet)
  2. Sit around and talk more as a crew. This helps build camaraderie. Don’t just talk about anything, again, the focus has to be on firefighting. Call all the guys out of their individual rooms or corners of the station all to one place and let the stories begin. (Jamie Goodlet)
  3. Good, quality, practical training… It has to be practical and fun or nobody is going to want to do it. Invest some time into planning the trainings and make it more of an event than a spontaneous drill. (Jamie Goodlet)
  4. Lead by Example. Even if you’re not the senior Guy or the boss, lead! If something needs to be done do it. If the rigs are dirty clean them. When you are at the Firehouse it is yours. IF YOU CARRY A RUSTY TOOL THEN YOU LOOK LIKE A RUSTY TOOL! (Michael Kiernan)
  5. Stick together. Be the epitome of camaraderie - gather (regularly) together – the bigger the group the better – “regular” night at a local restaurant, bar-b-q’s – rotate to each others house, etc. “BE” without admin. (Kevin Wilkes)
  6. Water Battles – Make time to have fun when possible. (Jan Sudmersen)
  7. Integrity. Positive attitude. Trust. Don’t get caught up in the gossip/ politics. Do your job, know your job.
  8. Take some pride and ownership. Be the person that’s always wanting to train and learn, take pride in even the boring work (cleaning toilets). Be the role model of a good firefighter. That is infectious it can even spread up the ranks. Take pride in your company, make up a slogan, have t shirts and patches made… (Eric Bollar)
  9. Don’t fall into the “negativity” trap. All it takes is one positive person to bring everybody up (Craig Patti)
  10. Have a small cook out at the station invite the members and there families. (Buddy Jackson)
  11. Be your ‘brothers’ keeper. Constant positive outlook and let them know you see their strong work and efforts. Amazing how far a simple ‘attaboy’ carries morale. Amazing that so many upper management types never seen to get that. (Brodie Verworn)
  12. Remain positive – attitude is contagious. One person with a positive attitude can change an entire company. A positive company can change an entire battalion. A positive battalion can change an entire shift. A positive shift can change an entire department. That’s all it takes. (Tom Stanton)
  13. Little contests in house (engine 1 v engine 2) doing simple skills (hose rolling, knots, push-ups, ladder drills, etc…) so that you are getting training but also getting some bounding and brotherhood from the contests. (RJ RescueHumor)
  14. Individual Company Pride! (Bryan Gallup)
  15. Cookouts involving the guys at the house and family maybe even the neighbourhood (Alex Johnson)
  16. Always be positive and supportive of new members and I courage and if needed push them along to get classes. Show respect to all members weather that be junior firefighters or the oldest fire police member. Don’t get involved in the “click” bull shit and talk smack about other members behind their backs. If a member has a screw up on a scene don’t scream and yell at them pull them aside later and talk through what happened and how it could be done differently, because the screaming and telling drives members away. (Garrett Yager)
  17. Find better training and partner up people that dont like each other and make them work through it. Everyone has to understand they are on the same team at the end of the day. (Brian Jackson)
  18. Eat meals together. Train together. Pride and ownership. (Jeff Hardy Jr.)
  19. A little fire service/department or company history goes along way for some good morale. Guys feel good to know they’re part of something that has been much greater than themselves for a long time in our nation. (Ty Damron)
  20. Upbeat, jumping in to help And share, encourage, ask questions and try to improve myself which hopefully will improve others. Lead by example. (Irene Silknetter Fitzkee)
  21. Train compete and involve ur family outside firehouse w firehouse family. (Jaymie Robles)
  22. Leaders stand next to the company and show them how to do it or encourage the guy doing the job. (William Gates)
  23. Be supportive both in the station and in the community. Care about the people on your team, not just as team members, but as human beings. LISTEN…sometime people just need to talk. (Stacey Nicholas)
  24. Train! Learning new techniques or reinforcing old ones always motivates people! (Jamie Burgess)
  25. Positive reinforcement and focus on positive compliments. (TJ Vandermark)
Posted by on May 23, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Funding & Staffing, Must Read, News, Owning the Job, Training, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another Milestone for Willie and I at the Swoope VFC Annual Banquet

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In our travels, Willie (IronFiremen.com) and I have talked about getting into speaking together. Over the past year, we have discussed it and began plotting our course. We realized that this isn’t something that would be a piece of cake, yet we were willing to get started. Months of dragging our feet while we were busy doing other things had us putting off the effort to getting started.

Willie and I with the SVFC

In short, our speaking would be “motivational” but we had only identified a brief outline of our core values Pride, Respect, Honor, Tradition, and Brotherhood. We identified these words as what we are about and they help in our motivation to be better firefighters and individuals. We placed them on the edge of our brotherhood chips.

Then two things happened. I attended Rick Lasky’s “Pride and Ownership” and a firefighter I didn’t know invited me to speak at a department I had never heard of.

Willie and I with the plaques the SVFC presented to us.

It took me a couple of weeks to ensure that my wife wouldn’t disown me for wanting to do speaking gig on my birthday and the course was set. I told the firefighter, Chris Botkin, that I would speak at the Swoope Volunteer Fire Company’s annual banquet with one stipulation…Willie would be speaking as well. Chris said we were welcome to come as a team.

Now we had to create some semblance of our thoughts in a matter of weeks. To be honest, due to our schedules, we did most of our outline and talking points on the way up the road last night. The notes and emails back and forth weren’t even used in the end. It was a matter of those core values. Don’t get me wrong, we had prepared several rough drafts of talking points, but we hadn’t collaborated our thoughts face to face. We were prepared except for the one thing we had no control over…would we be able to pull off speaking together.

This must have been ONE HELLUVA story!

This could be make it or break it to see if Willie and I can share the same stage and talk…and make sense. I am an optimist, so my thoughts were that we would get up there and everything would work itself out. Luckily, speaking several times over the past year had enabled me to learn how to get comfortable and not be nervous. I am not sure about Willie, but he did just fine.

The men and women of the Swoope Volunteer Fire Company were very warm and welcoming. We got to meet many of the members before dinner. After dinner, we enjoyed the awards and some words from their Deputy Chief.

After the awards, we did our thing. I think we did a great job. From the feedback we got, we did a decent job as well. I couldn’t have asked for a better venue for Willie and I to get started.

We talked about what we are passionate about…the job. Whether you are a volunteer or a career firefighter, we don’t really care. “The Job” as

They actually invited our wives...luckily our wives invited us!

we call it by default is what we do. It encompasses firefighting in a simplistic format that firefighters can understand. We shared our passion and explained how we remain passionate. We used examples of how we keep learning and moving forward. We were also able to use examples simply from what we saw that night. They get it! Don’t get me wrong, Willie and I have a lot of work to do to polish our material and delivery!

We will be able to expand on our speaking topics in the future. Until then, enjoy my musings on “Owning the Job” right here on The Fire Critic.

To be honest, we owe a lot to the Swoope VFC. They made us feel welcome, they treated us like one of their own, and they were more than hospitable.

Willie and I with Swoope's Deputy Chief Kevin Wilkes.

What a great group of firefighters they have at Swoope. The department was incorporated in 1980 after being started about a year prior. They are just one of the many departments located in Augusta County, Virginia. I got to meet other members of departments from the area including the Fire Chief of the City of Staunton and the former Fire Chief of Augusta County. As a matter of fact, one of Roanoke’s own is now the Deputy Chief of Augusta County. Mike Armstrong retired from Roanoke just this past month and began in Augusta County. I worked for Mike when he first made Captain. I wish him the best in Augusta.

Needless to say, the event was a huge success for the SVFC. I foresee great things for the department in the future. They have made significant improvements in the past several years including just recently adding storage racks for their gear at the station.

They get Pride, Respect, Honor, Tradition, and Brotherhood. And, if this whole speaking gig works out for Willie and I, they can say they popped our cherry!

We are proud to call them Brothers!

The Swoope VFC Annual Banquet Video is below!

 

 

 

 

It was my birthday. They got me a cake!

Chris Botkin and I. Chris is the one who got Willie and I to speak.

Posted by on January 30, 2012 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, News, Owning the Job, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Owning the Job. Part V – A Cup of Coffee

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Read all of the “Owning the Job” articles here

Many firefighters enjoy coffee.

FireGeezer is always talking about putting the coffee on after his Morning Lineup:

Now let’s check out our own equipment and get ready for the day.  I’ll get the coffee started and see you back in the day room in a little while.

From what I understand, when he was on the job he would enjoy the morning lineup and offer some interesting news to his firefighters each morning (prior to the blog).

The Tailboard Blog offers this on his about page: Grab a cup of cahfee regula and have a seat on The Tailboard.

What is it about that darn coffee?

This post is about two things

  • Enjoying “coffee time” each morning whether you drink coffee or not
  • Welcoming visitors into your station

Enjoying “Coffee Time”

Roanoke Firehouse #3 Bunn-o-matic CW Series three burner coffee maker. Yeah, we are proud of her! Stop in and enjoy a cup of joe!

Most of us don’t actually have a defined “line-up” in the morning when we get to work (or when duty crew starts for volunteers). We simply meander on in to the firehouse sometime hopefully before the bell rings. Back in the day, firefighters would dress out in their uniforms and stand for inspection. After the inspection, the firefighters would get the rundown of the days activities, chores, and other news from the Captain.

I am not sure I would mind it either way. I do enjoy “coffee time”. We show up and say hello to the off going shift, get some coffee, and listen to what happened the day before. There are some great stories to be heard each and every morning at our firehouse.

Enjoy that time, listen to what is being said. Jump on the “one upper” when he sits there chomping at the bit to tell a “better” story!

One thing that I am trying to change in my firehouse (on my shift and starting with me) is the complaining about the other shifts. I don’t think our shift does it too much, nor do the other shifts. Trust me, we typically have something to jump on them about…but what good does it do. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying not to fret them at all. We just need to tone it down a bit. Let the Captains handle any of the actual serious stuff that needs to be taken care of. After all, everybody can’t be on A-shift!

If you are the rookie, or the least senior firefighter…make sure their is coffee on!

Welcoming Visitors

This is actually the first thing I brought up to my company after attending “Pride and Ownership”. We all sat down and I went over some things I think we can do better. Welcoming guests is one of them.

Whether it is someone dropping off cookies, looking for directions, a neighboring crew, a retiree, an off duty firefighter, or Chiefs we should welcome them into OUR firehouse. After all, when someone comes to your house do you just let them walk in without greeting them? I didn’t think so.

Remember, a high percentage of people only see us when we are in the fire trucks. Make sure that if they stop in at the firehouse they get a warm welcome!

If it is a retiree or Chief, everyone should be notified. Everyone should then come and greet the individual(s). Shake hands, and someone should offer them coffee.

I did get one interesting question…

Let’s say you have a Chief who nobody likes. Do you ignore them or not treat them with respect? NO. Remember, you must respect the rank. You don’t have to respect the person, but always respect the rank.

What about someone who you just don’t get along with…both of you can’t stand each other. Shake their hand. Trust me, if you walk over and shake their hand and welcome them in your firehouse or do the same in theirs they might just start to get it…that we can still be Brothers even though we don’t get along.

I have been in a lot of firehouses. The only thing I regret is not drinking that cup of coffee. From now on, when I am offered a cup of coffee, I will drink it. It shows that I feel welcome in THEIR firehouse.

As loud as I can be, as much as I can cut-up, as much as I enjoy conversation and seeing other firehouses…for some reason, I always walk around like I am on eggshells in other peoples firehouse.

Oh, and one more thing when visiting other firehouses…don’t overextend your stay. Get in, enjoy your time, and leave before the conversation lags! You never know, they might have something planned and don’t want to push you out the door.

By the way, I drink my coffee black…

Posted by on January 26, 2012 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, News, Owning the Job • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Owning the Job. Part IV – Misunderstood Requirements

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Read all of the “Owning the Job” articles here

Maybe you have seen these…

Before I get started…here is my disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these personally and I am not speaking on their behalf. I am offering my opinion of what they mean to me and sharing that with you in this collection of thoughts. Before you read on, please understand that I appreciate smart aggressive firefighting, it is what I live. I think there are some small things that some firefighters view as others trying to change the way we fight fire…I view them as tools for making us better and understand they must be understood properly and implemented into our game plan. They don’t really make us “safe”, they make us “smarter”. 

Let no man’s ghost return to say, “My training let me down.” — Aaron Heller, Captain, Hamilton Township Fire District 9, New Jersey

I have seen plenty written on these topics, initiatives if you will. I have read, dissected, and think I have a decent understanding of what they are and where they came from.

At the very basic level, most of these came from the loss of a firefighter(s). They have been formulated by best practices, lessons learned, and blood spilled. In fact, they are mostly committee based and I can only imagine the conversations when some of these were nailed down.

I remember the first time I read the “Rules of Engagement”. My thought was something like “You mean to tell me I am expected to go through these 1 at a time when I roll up on a fire…before any action?”. I imagine others might have thought the same thing.

My second thought was…hell, I already do most of that. Then I began reflecting on each rule of engagement. These things are a piece of cake if you are willing to understand them and add them as a tool in the toolbox.

Rules of Engagement for Firefighters (there is a longer section for incident commanders)

1. Size up your tactical area of operation.
2. Determine the occupant survival profile.
3. DO NOT risk your life for lives or property that cannot be saved.
4. Extend LIMITED risk to protect SAVABLE property.
5. Extend VIGILANT and MEASURED risk to protect and rescue SAVABLE lives.
6. Go in together, stay together, come out together.
7. Maintain continuous awareness of your air supply, situation, location and fire conditions.
8. Constantly monitor fireground communications for critical radio reports.
9. You are required to report unsafe practices or conditions that can harm you. Stop, evaluate and decide.
10. You are required to abandon your position and retreat before deteriorating conditions can harm you.
11. Declare a Mayday as soon as you THINK you are in danger.

Hell, it doesn’t get much more basic and clearer than that. As a matter of fact, it is like firefighters wrote it. Why in the World would a firefighter scoff at these? This isn’t asking too much. This guidance could streamline some of the thought processes for firefighters in the heat of the battle.

I fight what you fear

Really? You have a shirt that says “you fight what I fear”? Take it off. Chances are you don’t. Chances are that when confronted with a fire, you fear it too. You should. Fire is dangerous. We do a dangerous job. We aren’t dangerous. We shouldn’t be. The shirt should read “When confronted with what you fear (fire), I take calculated risks to ensure that I save lives and property”.

16 Initiatives

There are some great teachers out there who teach on the basis of content. Then there are others who teach on basis of some $50 words put together to make people think What the F#$% is that? Firefighters are just that…Firefighters. The majority have a high school education. Talk to them in a way they will understand. Make sure it makes sense. The 16 Life Safety Initiatives do just that. Read them here. No, really…read them. Take the time to read them and share them with your guys. Trust me, the minds who put that together weren’t wasting their time. The abbreviated ”cliffs notes” are here. Fire Department members should be using them to guide their focus in planning for the future. We can’t change the past, we can have an effect on the future. They are guidelines.

Did someone say SAFETY again?

Deal with it. Until the end of time, we are going to be pressed to be safe. It is only right. We have a dangerous job. I know that, you know that, THEY know that. Have you ever wondered if pencil pushers are asked to be safe? No, because their mundane jobs aren’t dangerous. We need to get over getting hurt feelings when asked to be safe. We need to understand that being safe is not asking too much.

Whoa…is The Fire Critic bowing down to the Safety Nazi’s? Not a chance.

Don’t get me wrong, some of us can go too far. They are the ones who need to be educated as well. We need to be safe and they need to have an understanding that our jobs are dangerous. Being safe and having a dangerous job are different…and can be accomplished at the same time. That is where we become S.A.F.E. firefighters (to borrow a term from here). Smart Aggressive Fundamental Efficient. It may not encompass everything, but I think it hits the nail on the head pretty well.

Trust me, to ask firefighters to be safe is not the same as asking for a company of yard-breathers. The goal is to go home in the morning…of course without a silhouette of the skyline burning behind us.

What about laying it all on the line?

Ah…here is something that people DO NOT like talking about. What about giving our lives for others. I mean, entering a situation where the outcome might be death. Hell, I don’t know how to explain it (remember, nobody talks about it). This is the stuff of heros. I mean the events that make firefighters call other firefighters heros. Whether the outcome is everyone going home or nobody going home, these are the events who define “Firefighters”.

Like doing a search for a victim in less than plausible conditions, yet where someone might still be viable. Yeah…what the hell does that mean? Hell, I don’t know. Have you ever been to a scripted fire? Yet…have you ever heard of victims being found in a room that could still sustain life, yet all around it looked like the face of hell?

These are the moments when we have to base our decisions on everything we know…and we find out we know more than we thought.

No one was ever called a hero for saving a couch against all odds.

Arm Chair Quarterbacking

We are all guilty of picking apart incidents we weren’t at. I do it. We would have done it better. We would have done it differently. Some organizations were built to dissect actions of others to find issues that might be prevented in the future. Tactical firefighting culture has been improved by dissecting incidents which have effected the fire service. We learn, we adjust, we train, we implement. Think of the Denver drill or other drills similar. The creation of the Rapid Intervention Team is another.

Seat Belt Pledge

Apparatus design will continue to change until we get firefighters using their seat belts. I know…it is difficult putting on your seat belt when gearing up in the back of the rig because every second counts and we have to be in the combat ready position when the driver pulls the air brake. What if you wreck on the way there?

The seat belt pledge means a lot to me. I drive, I am always buckled up. I am a decent driver…but not everyone is. By “not everyone is” I mean the other drivers you pass on your way to a call. I had the scare of my career this last cycle. I thought that a woman and possibly children were about to die because they pulled out in front of us. Luckily, I was able to keep it from happening. Were my guys belted in? I am not sure. I doubt it though. I am working on the seat belt pledge…I am working on our culture in my firehouse.

Are you working on yours?

Posted by on January 24, 2012 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, News, Owning the Job, Training, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Owning the Job. Part III – The Power of a Firefighter’s Wave

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Read all of the “Owning the Job” articles here

Sidenote: This column was formerly named “Pride and Ownership”. I decided to rename it “Owning the Job”. I did this to maintain a differentiation between this column and the great class and book “Pride and Ownership” by Chief Rick Lasky. 

I drive the fire engine…that is my job. Many don’t get that a Lt.’s job is to drive, but that is how it works in my department and that is my rank. I act if the Captain is off.

I know my territory. I know it pretty darn well. That includes my 2nd due, much of the 3rd due. Also noted is that some of my 1st due is automatic aid to the County.

photo by author

I do have to stay focused on everything. You just never know when we will get a call, so I have to be ready to make my way through traffic. I stay in lesser congested lanes when possible and am always paying attention to other drivers.

When responding (lights and sirens) I am even more focused.

One thing that I never miss is the opportunity to reciprocate a wave from a young child, or make sure I wave if they are looking but not actually waving. That will typically get a smile on the child’s face and a wave in return.

That small gesture, which only takes a couple of seconds is very powerful. How powerful you might ask? Hell I don’t know, I am a firefighter not a statistician. I do know that a simple wave can make a profound impact on that child even if it is for a short moment in their life.

In addition, think about how their parents (or whoever is in the car with them) might think about a firefighter taking a moment to wave to their child.

Here is my political spin…those parents might be taxpayers. They pay our salaries, they vote, they are just as impressionable as the children!

In all the hustle and bustle of our lives, getting children to and from school events, sporting events, the parents events they (the children) get to enjoy a wave from a firefighter in a big red fire truck! Your fire apparatus IS red isn’t it?

Whether or not that child is a Run to the Curb Kid or not doesn’t matter.

I am not sure what it is, but I absolutely love waving at children when I am driving. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t look like we are in a parade or anything…I just do it when I get the chance…every time I get the chance! I can only imagine the waves that I miss while driving. After all, I can’t see everything.

What about you? Do you take the time to wave?

I actually wrote this post back in November. I had just got back to the station after waving to a child in the fire engine. I put my thoughts down in this post, but never published it. I think it fits now.

Posted by on January 19, 2012 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, News, Owning the Job • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,