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Part timers with rank

The district I work for is combination with part time for fill in. The question of the day round here is Should you respect the rank (Capt. LT.) of a volunteer when they work in a different capacity such as part time, if the full time Capt is off. We have 2 thoughts, 1 A Capt. is a Capt. regardless of a check, if they are capable enough to be in charge for free why not when working part time ( fill in ) 2 What about the full timers who are there every day, knowing the routine of the day, and how else to have the ff's gain knowledge on running the shift.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Hoevelmann on February 20, 2009 at 5:59pm

We have the same situation. We have a full-time chief with 9 full time paid ff's. There is a captain on each shift. In addition, we have two part time deputy chiefs, one over training and one over fire prevention/inspections (which is me). Our attitude is rank is rank. There are many contributing factors to consider: 1) Many cannot afford to leave a good paying job in the private sector to get a paying job on a fire dept. but their knowledge and experience is second to none. 2) I know many career officers that are slugs and have no business being in charge of an army of ants but a volunteer who has the hunger and expereince could lead a group very effectively. It is up to the upper management to make this distinction and mandate that officers are officers, whether paid or not.
Jason

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