Last month I wrote an online column entitled, "Chiefs Behaving Badly," in which I reported on several fire chiefs who recently found themselves in serious legal trouble. In response to that column, readers questioned whether fire chiefs should be subjected to codes of conduct and held to higher standards.
Those questions lead to other pertinent questions, such as: Should a fire department maintain a double standard, one for chiefs and one for other personnel? Should a fire chief and a firefighter receive the same discipline for conduct unbecoming a public servant?
Being a trained member of the fire and emergency services does not automatically make you a professional. A professional upholds the values and standards of the profession. In this regard, emergency service personnel have an obligation to the citizens and communities they serve — and to their peers — to act in accordance with those values and standards. Trust, once lost, is difficult to rebuild.
Unfortunately, there still exist fire chiefs who believe that due to their position and tenure in an organization they are immune from scrutiny. However, the reality is that most departments have at least one elephant in the room.
Has there been an increase in chiefs behaving badly of late, or is it just being talked about more? After 23 years of writing about fire chiefs, I think the answer is the latter. One critical difference today compared with the past is the new media that proliferates today. I've known chiefs whose good rapport with reporters could get a story softened that would reflect poorly on the fire department. Today, not only are infractions chronicled in Internet blogs, in Facebook postings, in so-called “tweets” and in e-newsletters, but also in camera-phone videos that quickly are uploaded to YouTube for the world to watch. For each instance of bad news bared on the Web, there are hundreds of positive stories — but we rarely hear about those.
Cultural change in the fire service is everyone's responsibility. Every individual in a department should have the ability to speak up without fear of retaliation or repercussions. The moral compass may waver, but it always will point in one direction, no matter how you spin it.
Three years ago, the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association brought together a group of fire-service leaders to discuss social, cultural and ethical issues in the fire service nationwide. The distinguished group of individuals labored over many discussions and adjustments to produce a white paper titled, "Fire Service Reputation Management."
This paper offers no solutions, but identifies numerous important issues, including: cheating on exams, firefighter arson, theft of department funds, misuse of equipment and facilities, alcohol and substance abuse, harassment and discrimination. The paper defines leadership and provides a framework for the development of a code of ethics. It will be available for download later this month at www.firefighterbehavior.com and on our Web site. As the fire service has done with safety issues, seatbelts and near-miss incidents, the time has come to encourage adoption of a fire-service code of ethics and encourage adherence and sanctions.
Where do we go from here? Cumberland's paper is a step in the right direction, as is the International Association of Fire Chiefs' Code of Ethics. If your department has not adopted a code of conduct or a code of ethics, you are vulnerable. As Chief Ron Coleman has stated, “Departments that do not have a code of conduct can expect anything to happen.”
How vulnerable is your department?
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