People and politics, it seems, are the stress causers and exercise the main stress reliever, but our survey responses range all across the challenges chiefs face.

"Morale can rise or fall seemingly independent of pay, working conditions, recognition for work performed, or any other identifiable reason." - Chief Mario Trevino, Las Vegas FD

Our new bimonthly reader survey debuts with questions any chief can relate to. We thank our respondents for taking a few minutes to give us their feedback.

Chief Jay Reardon, Northbrook (Ill.) Fire Department, says his three top stressors are:

* "Those who are given more than ample time to think a problem through, attend multiple meetings without comment and at the final stages of decision-making become obstructionists (commonly known as hokey-pokey syndrome: left leg in, left leg out ...);"

* "Those who, regardless of outcome and consequences, place personal agendas ahead of the team as a whole;" and

* "Those who display their power (real or imagined) through arrogance, intimidation and their self-established right to be irresponsible."

Asst. Chief Michael Kuk, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., attributes much of his stress to a handful of "blue shirts who have too much free time on their hands.... You really can't order them to do something productive," like studying, he continues. "Only by being a constant good example can you hope that they'll pick up on your positive activities, instead of watching tv or moping around finding fault with everything."

Chief Tim McGrath, Brookfield (Wis.) Fire Department, focused on the slowness with which local government handles change initiatives, specifically "local political leaders who talk about being on the cutting edge when in fact they don't encourage risk-taking and have little tolerance for the challenges associated with change." His solution: "Don't lose sight of your vision."

Staff leadership causes the most stress for Chief Bill Hewitt, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He wrote that "Focusing on positive staff/management relations ... requires hard work in the areas of communication, empowerment, risk-taking and being able to disagree without being disagreeable."

Chief Larry Donner, Boulder (Colo.) Fire Department, spoke for most chiefs when he wrote: "On those rare occasions where disciplinary action is taken, the very same co-workers who complain about an invididual become his or her supporters. In most cases, they want management to fix the problem without affixing any responsibility to the individual involved."

Volunteer chiefs, not surprisingly, had their own concerns. Chief Bill Jenaway, King of Prussia (Pa.) Volunteer Fire Company, pegged his greatest challenge as marketing his department to a public that tends to think of it only when there's an emergency. The flip side, he added, is getting members to understand why they need to stay "in the public eye."

Like many of his firefighters, Eric Ward, chief of Blue Twp. Fire-Rescue, Manhattan, Kan., works more than one part-time job, on top of his family and fire department responsibilities. "As I look at the great potential we have but cannot meet due to time constraints, I find that very frustrating."

A couple of chiefs declined to blame job stress on external forces. Chief Bob Buhs, Orland Fire Protection District, Orland Park, Ill., wrote, "When I reflect on those days of being `overwhelmed,' I have found that my management style digressed into `crisis management.' I became reactive and stressed. My solution was to aggressively reapply my organizational skills of planning, organizing and delegating."

After questioning at some length, tongue mostly in cheek, whether the concept of job stress is even valid ("If you can't bite hard, don't run with the big dogs!"), Cortez Lawrence, deputy director of public safety for Auburn, Ala., offered this: "Most people in relatively high-level positions enjoy the challenges that go with them and don't think of them as stress."

As for exercise, the survey responses do little to dispel the stereotype of the golf-playing fire chief. On the other hand, respondents' sports and activities range from hiking, jogging and cyling to dirt bikes and flying a small plane (it "requires total concentration and forces one to think of things other than fires," says Chief Pete Prewitt, Lufkin (Texas) Fire & ems).

The next most popular stress reliever is spending time with spouse and family, especially time away with them (preferably somewhere not in one's cell-phone service area, one chief added). Several respondents extolled networking with other chiefs, both as an opportunity to vent and as a way to pick up some solutions to management problems. Adds Chief Tony Pini, Santa Rosa (Calif.) Fire Department, "I could not survive without my sense of humor."

Finally, if people are a prime cause of stress, animals can be at least a temporary cure. Chief Mark Wallace, Golden (Colo.) Fire Department, likes to play with his two dogs, "who have no idea about the concept of stress."