The administration of a Fire Department is fraught with many headaches, whether they are financial, technical issues, personnel, politics, public relations, or other local issues; the Chief administrator faces a whole host of responsibilities every day. In reality, Fire Department operations these days aren’t simple. It would be really nice if all we had to do was run out and squirt water on a fire now and then. But today’s Departments are involved in not only the basic fire operations but also EMS, inspections, public education, and local issues.
As previously noted, the intrusion of various politicians and judges is becoming a significant influence on Fire Department Management and Operations.
The technical issues are pretty much a mature technology these days, even with the latest developments of such innovations as CAFS, various foam systems, HazMat, larger and larger pumps and engines, and the increasing complexity of the electronics on the apparatus.
Further, there is a long list of regulatory, advisory, and legal agencies and standards that either directly affect a Fire Department or come under their jurisdiction. The list of mnemonics and acronyms is long, with UL (Underwriter’s Laboratory), CSA (Canadian Standards Association), BSA (British Standards Association), FM (Factory Mutual), OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), Federal and State EPAs (Environmental Protection Administration) and DEQs (Department of Environmental Quality), ANSI (American National Standards Institute), various and sundry Building Codes such as BOCA (Building Officials Congress of America), SBC (Southern Building Code and numerous local and State Codes), and the mother of all fire codes the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). And, obviously, in various parts of the world there are numerous other Standards-making organisations, laws, regulations, and standards. Those in the EU (European Union) alone account for reams and reams of paperwork. And interspersed with all these are anti-discrimination laws dealing with age, gender, sexual orientation, race, handicaps (ADA – Americans for Disability Act), religion, and other real or alleged policies or actions that discriminate.
While the Chief Officer and even staff members cannot be expected to keep up with all these regulations and standards, they are ultimately responsible for adherence to them. And, anytime a problem arises, one can be certain to face a phalanx of lawyers and bureaucrats intent on placing blame and wanting money. While all these standards are not necessarily the ‘law’, they are usually the de facto law regardless of an authority with jurisdiction having adopted them. And certainly any item that is from a governing body is ‘the law’: These various publications and policies may be considered ‘consensus’ standards whether referenced or not and fall under a General Duty Clause of working conditions.
In fact, many times over the years, lawyers and judges have had more influence on the Fire Service than is readily appreciated. Whether for simple cases of negligence or for operational problems, the magnitude and costs of litigation are quite formidable. In the US it seems that anybody can sue anybody for anything, with the defendant facing significant expenditures for defense even though the lawsuit may be frivolous or without merit. In the US plaintiff’s lawyers generally work on a contingency basis; they indeed have a vested interest in an outcome. In the UK and other countries, the plaintiff is on the hook for various expenses and the legal team is not working on a contingency basis, which somewhat limits lawsuits.
In addition to the various day-to-day contacts with governing bodies (politicians) there is an increasingly involved judiciary that is affecting the entire scope of Fire Department operations. Over the years there have been numerous involvements of judges, mostly Federal Judges in the USA that have simply dictated personnel policies and even operational procedures and administrative policies. Many of these have overpowered local government decisions and resources.
The most common involvement of the judiciary has been in the area of personnel. While the larger American cities, such as New York, Chicago, Birmingham, and Los Angeles have been involved in such matters for many years there are several issues that are really in the news these days.
The mother of all personnel issues is presently centred in New York City, where the FDNY (Fire Department of New York) is under several judicial orders relating to personnel and equipment.
A New York Judge ordered FDNY Apparatus older than ten years to be removed from service. While there is such a Union contract clause relating to first line apparatus, the judge extended it to ALL vehicles, even those that are considered non-emergency response units. The FDNY is compiling figures to determine the cost of this order and how to abide by it.
And a Judge awarded lawyers representing the Vulcan Society of Black Fire-fighters who fought the City of New York for an FDNY Discrimination case to be awarded $3 million, although this was well below the $7.7 million that was requested. The argument was that the City of New York, via the FDNY, intentionally discriminated against Blacks and Hispanics. In addition the judge appointed an independent monitor to oversee sweeping changes in the FDNY’s recruitment and hiring practices. This monitor is to be paid more than $2 million and is expected to be on the job for about ten years.
But then an Appellant Court overturned the original decision and order but will keep the Court ordered monitor and an oversight regime. The City still faces a large financial hit that some estimate to be over $128 million – compensating minority fire-fighter applicants who took the test and were never offered a job.
The latest recruit class is composed of many people who did not pass basic entrance exams in previous years a federal judge ordered the FDNY to alter basic entrance requirements to allow persons who were ‘unfairly denied’ a job by low test scores or lack of physical fitness to be recruited.
Recently, a judge ordered the FDNY to recruit a definite ratio of Hispanic, African-American and Caucasian candidates. Furthermore, he was rather critical of the standards at the Academy, which include running a mile and a half in 12 minutes. He stated, “when is the last time a Fire-fighter needed to run that distance? They ride in fire trucks.” He also criticised the need to study building construction and Hazardous Materials, where some recruits had problems with the academics, as, after all, “fire-fighters squirt water on fires, they don’t need to know all that.”
The personnel issue getting the most attention is that of a 31-year-old female recruit that was among five women out of a recruit class of 285 new fire-fighters who graduated from the recruit class in May 2013. This made her one of 35 women in the Department of 11,000+ members. While she was allowed to graduate from 18 weeks of probationary training she failed to run the 1.5 miles in 12 minutes (without gear and PPE) as required by Academy standards. A foot injury was claimed but the FDNY let her graduate anyway, with five more deadlines over the next six months. She never worked a shift at her assigned station. None of the repeated tries were successful. Both male and female FDNY members have been critical of the relaxed standards with the President of Merit Matters, a fire-fighter group that opposes hiring quotas stating: “It’s not because she’s a woman, but because she couldn’t meet the standards.” In fact the FDNY assigned ‘mentors’ to the recruits to give them pep talks and tips on achieving success in training. Reports state that this particular female recruit called it quits, as have several other recruits. If they resign in lieu of being terminated, they retain the right to reapply to the next Academy class.
The writing has been on the wall for some time. The delicate balance between achieving social goals, adherence to legal requirements and policies, and various outside influences continues to be a source of concern and importance to the Chief Fire Executive and staff.
Certainly fair and correct employment policies are necessary, but then the standards related to doing a fire-fighter’s job is also of paramount importance. Not only do unqualified and inadequate personnel pose a danger to themselves, but they may cause a real operational and safety problem to members of a fire-fighting team. Such will also affect the overall ability of a Fire-fighting team to do their job.
But it must be recognised that standards making organisations, law makers, and others must ensure their criteria is realistic and achievable. After all, Mother Nature is pretty consistent, the laws of physics are very consistent, and the resources needed to confront emergency situations are well known. Hopefully the attention to pursuing a delicate balance is an achievable and all should work towards such an accomplishment. All personnel in a Fire Department bear a responsibility to treat everyone fairly and to do it safely.
