Chiefs and administrators of combination fire departments often are confronted with part-time members who don't like to practice but always show up to play at game time — or don't show up for the big game at all. For example, a fire-department member may call and say that he can't attend a scheduled training session because of a prior commitment. But all of my department's training sessions are planned several months in advance, so I find myself asking, at what point do such personnel quit being an asset and begin to be a liability?

Fire-department administrators who currently are or have been associated with any combination, paid, on-call or volunteer department not only are well-aware of the difficulty associated with getting many part-time personnel to take their training seriously, but the continued problem of making sure they show up for the scheduled training in the first place. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that most departments who use part-time people are constantly trying to strengthen the department roster by appointing more personnel. A proactive chief in a combination department always is looking to find good, part-time personnel to supplement the full-time employees and assist on the fire scene. Discharging, suspending or terminating any employee goes against the goal of putting personnel on the fire scene and conflicts with the thought that all personnel are a resource and can be used on the scene of a working structure fire. Administrators may make excuses subconsciously as to why an employee deserves to stay on the department a bit longer, or may look for ways to continue to carry the inactive member on the roster without meeting the same criteria that is expected of other members.

But how many times should a paid, on-call employee be allowed to miss a scheduled training session without being placed on suspension or ultimately terminated from the department? What type of an excuse is a valid excuse for missing training? These are extremely difficult questions to answer and any chief who is doing the right thing is probably facing these questions on a fairly regular basis.

Face the Issue Head On

To face the issue with an open mind, there are several questions that an administrator must answer relative to individual firefighting personnel. Although none of these questions come with easy answers, combined they will help you decide whether your employee is an asset to your organization or has possibly become a liability to your department.

Employee attitude. A look at the attitude of the employee will help you decide if he is worth a continued effort on your part. Does the employee still appear to be motivated on the fire scene, or is he really there just because it is the perceived cool thing to do? Is the employee helping on the scene or is he in the way of those who are trying to accomplish their tasks? Taking a good look at this aspect may help you make the ultimate decision on the future of the employee.

Employee participation at incidents. The best way to learn is by doing. In the fire service, this can be interpreted to mean that the best way of learning about the fire service is by working at a fire scene. In other words, if personnel are not showing up for calls when the tone goes off, then they are not learning. Administrators of paid, on-call and volunteer departments know how important it is to have personnel who participate when the tone goes off. These same administrators recognize the fact that the fire department is not, nor should it be, the number- one priority on their personnel's list of priorities. Family, church and social life all are needed by personnel. However, they must find a way to blend these aspects, while still being an important asset to the fire department. In short, if personnel are not participating on calls, then they are not learning and probably need to re-evaluate their priorities.

Employee participation in training

Throughout history, probably the single, toughest position in the fire service is the job of training officer. Finding training material, developing a training curriculum and making sure everyone takes part in these learning scenarios is a difficult task for any training officer of an organized fire department. From the large department of 1,000 employees or more to the small department of fewer than 20 employees, finding a training subject and then getting everyone to participate in a training session is very difficult. Personnel who don't show up for training send a very clear message to not only the fire department administration, but also to the firefighters. Personnel who don't want to participate in training, really don't care about the safety of themselves or their co-workers. Simply stated, a lack of training leads to fireground injuries and possibly to deaths. Keep your eyes open for individuals of this type. They are a definite risk to your organization.

Are all personnel meeting the minimum training requirements? Governmental immunity that has protected fire and EMS units from liability for years no longer can be taken for granted. Over the last three decades, court decisions have begun to find against governmental units. Many of these cases revolve around a failure to comply with state and federal mandates. How best can fire departments comply with state and federal mandates? The simplest method is through regularly scheduled training sessions. In other words, the fastest way to reduce fire department risk and liability is to make sure that all personnel meet a minimum training requirement. Required training must include all personnel. If they are not attending training and meeting a minimum level of training, personnel will become a risk to the department very quickly.

Make the Decision

Making a decision to adequately protect your department through a review of personnel activity will more than likely be both a popular and unpopular stance to take. Those personnel who are motivated and participate in the department activities will, for the most part, be grateful that people who are not participating are being taken to task. It is not fair for those who take time to participate in training and other department activities to have to work alongside other less-motivated employees — who will still call themselves firefighters — who are not meeting the same criteria. Obviously the removal or suspension of people will not be a popular stance to take from the viewpoint of those who are underperforming. Be prepared for them to show their dislike for this decision. By taking this stance in the name of safety you, as the administrator, have common sense and logic on your side.

Fire-department administrators must make those decisions necessary to protect their departments and department members from risk. This includes decisions associated with allowing untrained and undertrained personnel to continue as members of fire departments, even though we know that it may lead to negative personnel relations. Although the most obvious fix for this risk may be a difficult one, especially in small departments where all members have developed lasting friendships, it is still necessary for the protection of your department, and most importantly your personnel.

There are many difficult tasks in the fire service, but none as difficult as an injury or death notification of a family member. To allow untrained or undertrained personnel to continue to work on the fire scene does nothing to reduce the probability that someday you will be needed for one of these very unsettling notifications. A notification such as this becomes even more difficult when it possibly could have been avoided, because it resulted from untrained or undertrained personnel.

---

Rick Royston is chief of the Delhi Township (Ohio) Fire Department. He spent 25 years as the township's building inspector and director of Community Development. Royston is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program.

Related Stories

• Risky Business
• Firefighter education is everyone's responsibility