Command Vehicle When Chiefs Are Away

[Viper 139]

I'm basing this on a volunteer department with a Chief and two Assistant Chiefs, all with department issued command vehicles.

When all Chiefs are away, planned (vacation, business, work, other travel, etc) and are out of the district and unable to respond for an extended period, does the Command Vehicle get loaned to the next in line officer, such as a Captain for use while they are Acting Chief?

Our department, if the Chiefs are all away, all the Command Vehicles sit in their driveways at home or at the firehouse. I'm trying to change that so our line officers have the Command Vehicle when they need to step up to that level. Does any department have this protocol?

[COH Bulldog 82]

They should be handed down to the next officer in the line.

I won't comment on what happens where I live.

[SECTMB 612]

I can't guarantee things haven't changed, I've been 'retired' for several years, but in Briarcliff the Chiefs did not pass off their vehicles to Company officers in their absence. In addition to the Chief and his Assistants, there are numerous Deputy Chiefs (Past Chiefs) who will respond in their POV's to assume command.

Should no Chief or Deputy respond, command is by the Sr. Company officer. In the absence of any officers, command is by the Sr. member of the Company. I'm not familiar with any incident in which any of the above scenarios created a disagreement or discussion as to who was in command.

But, if you're down three Chiefs, can your Dept. afford to have more people responding directly to the scene? Somebody has to be on the apparatus. We have also had Deputy Chiefs who would respond to the firehouse rather than to the scene because as Drivers it guaranteed apparatus on the road.

There is most certainly an advantage to have an Officer on scene to size things up prior to the arrival of the apparatus, but you don't want him/her standing there waiting for apparatus that is waiting for drivers. All our officers are drivers.

Edited January 16, 2016 by SECTMB

[Remember585 815]

Our Chiefs generally give their cars to Deputy Chiefs when they know they'll be out of service / out of town for more then 24 hours.

Chief's vehicles should be considered a department vehicle and if the person they are usually assigned to isn't going to be around (work, vacation, illness, etc.) and isn't able to do their duties, then it should be given to someone who can use it.

[danb 10]

we have 3 Chiefs all from different companies. If as the chief from my company I go away for 48 hrs or more the car gets passed to captain from my house. If he doesn't want to take it/can't it gets given to one of the other captains. If they dont take it it generally gets passed to a LT but that could change to a past chief based on the current climate in the department

[antiquefirelt 994]

Huh, here we have a Command SUV that is assigned to the ranking officer (Fire Chief). It has numerous pieces of equipment and information stored in it that could be very useful at most incidents, therefore it is always made available when the ranking officer is not to be available. If your Chief's don't give up the buggy, how do they justify the costs of all the equipment carried? At that point it's just a perk of the "job".

[10512 214]

The fact that you are asking on this forum and the fact that the cars are left in the driveways indicates the problem is your Department does not have a plan "B" .
The problem is not what to do with the Command vehicles.
The problem is to fix the management who cannot figure out you always need to have a plan "B".
Once that is solved, the issue of who gets the Command vehicles will solve itself.

Edited January 17, 2016 by 10512

[Gomer 25]

My department recently had 2 Chiefs go out to pre-construction on our new truck. The other one was working. They gave it to the seniormost Captain the car to use, especially since it has most of our command equipment with it and the Captain could arrive and figure out what he needs sooner.