I PICKED A FIGHT YESTERDAY, REALLY, ANOTHER CHIEF AND HIS LACKEY

Authored by CFT Team Member, Chief Ian Schulte

Really, another Chief Officer and his lackey I’ve never met said something that set me off.

That because I wear my hat backwards in training, I should be sent home. That somehow wearing your hat backwards demonstrates a lack of standards, a lack of professionalism, and the intent was that both my instructors and I should be ashamed of our conduct.

For months, I’ve wondered how we’ve devolved so far as an industry. How it became “us versus them”, “the line versus admin” and it became abundantly clear to me yesterday, that this is how: outdated ideologies.

I don’t know of many departments swimming in candidates simply for existing. If you want to be drowning in applicants you need 3 things:

1. A good work schedule (48/96 or ideally 24/72 to create a better home life).

2. A good culture (aggressive firemanship, and good leadership).

3. Good equipment to serve the community.

Somehow, many people with my tenure in this profession or older don’t get it. This isn’t the same landscape as when we joined, there aren’t people lining up out the door to do this. Adhering to strict dogmas of “professionalism” from generations past does nothing but further the divide between the new era of firefighter and administration.

Those who fail to adapt become obsolete, and these attitudes lend to a failing industry. I cannot say I’m surprised when I see perpetual turnover.

Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean I am perfect, nor is my house. I am not a man in a glass house afraid to throw stones. We have (in my opinion) a poor schedule (24/48 with no kelly), we struggle with our own communication and leadership issues (as does every department) that we are working through, but we absolutely have the most well-designed equipment I’ve ever used.

However, regardless of imperfections, that doesn’t mean we should not push to be better. We should push to divest ourselves of outdated notions, that we should force others to conform to notions of professionalism that does nothing to positively impact the industry.

The public doesn’t care. They don’t care if your fire department shows up or mine, the only thing they want is someone who is physically and mentally competent to fix their life-altering problem. They don’t care if you have shorts or pants, tattoos or clear skin, polo’s, button-downs or t-shirts. To have higher standards of training will always beat higher standards of look, as there’s a lot of well-dressed fire departments that burn buildings to the ground because their absolute mismanagement of priorities.

To my fellow leaders, you don’t have to agree with me, it is your right. I am not perfect, I am opinionated, probably a little arrogant, and willing to fight with anyone over my beliefs. However, I implore you to take into deep thought about your priorities, to see if your priorities meet the expectations of the incoming generation. A simple litmus test:

-Does it impact the public?

-Does it impact the floor?

-Does it impact the mission?

Look at it objectively. Does a decision impact the stakeholders, and if it does, is it positive or negative?

This fight was never about a hat. The hat is merely a symbol for stalwart ideologies that are contributing to the low recruitment and retention in a failing industry which has clung for far too long in white-collar notions of professionalism.

Let’s get to work, we’ve got a job to fix.

-Ian Shulte