Sunday, February 15, 2015

Are you the best Firefighter you can be or are you just showing up?


Photo Credit to Kim Fitzsimmons 
So this is my first attempt at a Blog.

Pride and Tradition is something that in some departments excel in and then other departments seem that they cannot even fathom the words.  That being said, Are you the best Firefighter you can be or just getting that check.  That seems like a simple question doesn't it?  But are you the best you can be?  Think about it, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. Are you willing to acknowledge those weaknesses?  What are you doing to work on those weaknesses?  You have to be 100% honest with yourself.   I have been fortunate to have some great fire service mentors in my life. When I work on my problem tasks and I am not getting the results I am looking for I call these guys. 
We are always advancing forward; we do not want to take that step back.  To quote Chief Rick Lasky “take pride in your department”. How do you take pride in your department?  Are you coming in and making sure that you and your crew are combat ready before the bells go off.  Are you doing it by learning the tricks of the trade? TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN, talk to those “Salty” guys who have love for the job and are not there for the paycheck but because they WANT to be there.  Be willing to do what it takes to learn those skills. When you see the truck is dirty WASH IT, I could talk to you about Pride and Tradition all day but you have to learn what those two words mean to you, Pride and Tradition.  The fire service is a very special organization and one that is second to none. The public trusts us. They trust us with everything! Not only do we owe it to the public but we owe it to our department, house and crew. Firefighters have worked hard to get the fire service to where it is at today; for that very reason, we need to protect it. We need to protect what we’re all about.
We need to ask ourselves some questions. We need to be honest with ourselves.
Chief Jim Payne and Capt. Arthur Ashley passing on the knowledge
Who owns your fire department?
Do you own your fire department?
Do you have that pride, that love for the job, or do you just show up?
There’s nothing else in the world like being a firefighter. It is the best job in the world!   

Go to the house tomorrow and be the BEST firefighter you can be.


5 comments:

  1. Nice article. Thank you for your service.

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  2. Awesome blog. It's things like this that are for the guys and gals who are stuck in a routine need to look at what they're doing and stoke the fire so to speak.

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  3. Nicely written with a strong message that goes beyond the privilege of being a firefighter.

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  4. Great message for all in the fire service. Thanks for sharing.

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