Faded Soul

And god forbid, it's one of the guys that drops from a sudden cardiac arrest... that you knew, worked with, trained with and grew up with. I can't imagine a stronger reason to have than to prevent the death of one of your own. That is a very disturbing thought...

Well... why should it be a joke. There should be stricter and tougher standards on education for those that are in charge. It shouldn't matter paid of volunteer (and many boast of being an 'unpaid professional'- a term I think is at times thrown around to casually, because I find it highly doubtful some departments have NO CONCEPT of a 'professionalism'.) But I've posted a few times on stating how Chiefs, Lts, Capts and what not NEED HIGHER EDUCATION and experience other than being a fire fighter (mostly the vol. departments). It should be a standard that you have AT LEAST a 2 year degree from an accredited college ( You don't have to work in degree field. But it shows to an employer your not some dopey drop out, or to a town official you know where to go to find things.) So I think it would be important for various officers in a dept to have years and years of experience before they take the step of being a chief... or an Lt, or capt... I think they should also have an degree (Associates at the least). Again... I think that you fail your own people/department when you don't have any higher education ( associates or more). It's more of a mistake if you can't manage people on a small scale, than what makes someone worthy of becoming a chief or officer in ANY department...

Hm Firecapt32... perhaps tougher standards ( education wise- laws, updates, memos... training, maybe a minimum education deg. standard too? Perhaps an Associates IF that.) and for being an officer (paid or volunteer) need to be put in place? Maybe some who view it as a childish power play fantasy of "Oh! look at me I get a brand new chiefs car on the tax payers dime" need to be more concerned about looking out for the members of their FD over their egos and inflation of their egos. There should most definitely be higher standards on those in the position of Officers, Board of Directors and last but no where near least... the FIRE CHIEFS. There will hopefully be many lessons and a lot of learning to go around for all parties involved.
I just hope this horribly tragic wake up call is learned from...

Some of the traits I would think make a " great fire fighter".... honor, integrity.
Selflessness, courage to do the right when maybe no one else has the "balls" ( as some men have put it) To do the right thing ( takes courage to run into a flaming building sure, but more to be be a person of integrity and ones word). They also must know that learning never stops; no matter how old or young they are or their brother/sister firefighter is that willingly shares information with them about a class or experience. They should have a degree of humility about what they do in and out of fire department. One last thing... one of my role models in the martial arts always reminded me.... you have two ears, two eyes and one mouth... so you should listen and watch twice as much as you speak.

Some of the traits I would think make a " great fire fighter".... honor, integrity.
Selflessness, courage to do the right when maybe no one else has the "balls" ( as some men have put it) To do the right thing ( takes courage to run into a flaming building sure, but more to be be a person of integrity and ones word). They also must know that learning never stops; no matter how old or young they are or their brother/sister firefighter is that willingly shares information with them about a class or experience. They should have a degree of humility about what they do in and out of fire department. One last thing... one of my role models in the martial arts always reminded me.... you have two ears, two eyes and one mouth... so you should listen and watch twice as much as you speak.