Minimum Statndards for Officer

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dewey Schmidt on March 30, 2009 at 3:03pm

I see the trend of smaller departments appointing or letting personnel promote to the next level with little or no experience or time in grade. As mentioned in the previous discussion this has to start from the top... Fire Chief, City Manager, City Council, etc. Nothing can take the place of experience and time on the job. Education is not given the priority it should be. However, I forget where any textbook spoke of or outlined a procedure for a bomb leveling a 9 story building in our City. I realize that the Fire Chief, City Manager, City Council, etc. must promote or appoint someone that they believe in and trust to do the job. I believe that we should tend to follow the recommended standards established by the NFPA. They may not be a true fit for each department but they are guidelines to assist all fire service activities.

Permalink Reply by Ben Stevens on March 30, 2009 at 3:05pm

We definately need minimum standards for fire officers. We don't require them in the volunteer service because "we are just volunteers" and "who would ever question a guy who is helping our his community?" That is the attitude that my dept. has. We do have minimum qualifications BUT you can be waved from them if the president feels that you have been around long enough to not need the training. If your not his buddy then you always need the classes.
Our requirements were more than they are now, we relaxed them because they felt that there were not enough people qualified for the jobs.

There may not have been many qualified people but those who were qualified had the training they would need for their position. Now that the requirements are not as much we have more people qualified to run but are we getting the best person or are we getting the most popular?