Camaraderie in your Dept

[Sgnl50]

I work for a career industrial department. We provide Fire/EMS/Hazmat. The scheudale is split up between 3 working shifts. Unfortunatly there is a total lack of camaraderie and brotherhood within our department. This can be attributed to a couple different things. Poor leadership in the past, lay-offs and just a general lack of moral. We are union through the IAFF but even our union seems to have very little strengh. Is anyone in a similiar situation or has anyone delt with this issue. It makes going to work a very unpleasnat experiance at times. We just got a new Chief so I hope things will change

Stay Well, Stay Safe
Matt

[arff42]

Matt:

The last part says it all. With a new Chief, you have the opportunity to make changes for the better. At my last job, we got a new chief and he is awesome. The moral went thru the roof and everyone worked awesome together. Establish a possitive relationship with your new chief.

Kev

[firespec35]

Comraderie at my place on the surface is not the best. We are very cliqueish especially because we do 8 hr shifts. 2nd and 3rd are a little closer. When something happens though we pull together. For example We had a guy's wife die a couple of years ago and he was taken care of as good as or better than his municipal FD took care of him.

[joshball]

We have the best working relationships here.
Back stabbing, rumor mills, laziness, wow I could keep going but I had better get back to work. Wouldn't want someone to tell on me.

I've noticed at my plant, we have really died down on the action over the past 5 years, seems that is when we started tearing each other apart.

[bloggins]

Industrial firefighting is a strange animal. Dead houses aren't uncommon- people go to work, get their paychecks and go home. When the jobs come up occasionally they work together and generally work together well. Save your passion for your volunteer gig at home. At least SOMEONE appreciates the experience you have.

Horrible morale, being treated like insolent children, poor decision making, lack of commitment, bad communication, micromanagement and lack of experience are all a hell of a price to pay for a decent check at the end of two weeks- In my experience this is probably the hardest way to make a buck, with marrying into money taking a close second.

I can sit here and complain all day... but I guess that's the price we pay for selling our pride for a decent check. Fortunately the crew I have makes it sufferable- and we work really well together... but other than that I'm not sure I could say I've ever been more embarassed to be a member of anything. Seldom have I ever experienced any organization so relentlessly in pursuit of imperfection. We need an overhaul, big time.

[Brian003996]

Matt, I work over at hamilton and our morral and comaroderie isn't the best either. There are some things coming up that I feel will change that but I don't find that uncommon in smaller departments. Not everyone see's eye to eye and not everyone wants to go out to the bar together. Not saying anything about you specificaly but sometimes people who make ripples in the water get put out a bit more that others. The one thing that I have noticed is that when we need the others, we get them. I may not have a lot to say to some folks here but that all goes away when something happens(good or bad). In the meantime, try to get comaradarie with the folks you can and maybe some of the others will join in. And also remember, Brothers don't always get along, but they are still brothers.

[FloresTFD]

Matt,
There will always be a difference of opinion. Most will state the difference between Municipal and Industrial. There are heartaches on both sides of the fence, and Industrial Depts. will always believe that the grass is always greener on the Municipal side. I have worked for both and have this to say;
Your dept. is what you make of it. One will always complain about present conditions, and when faced with change, will complain about that. Industrial Dept.'s should be focused on Fire Prevention, and trained for Fire Protection. Reason being, if a fire starts in your facility, you weren't doing your job efficiently, most of the time. If everyone took pride in their work, and stopped listening to those that continuosly degrade their dept., you will be happy, wherever you are. You save lives by not having to fight fire every day. People go home, people you are there to protect. Take pride in that. Only a few of us have decided to do what we do, and if they don't like it, hit the road, we didn't need you anyway.
You can build your dept. on your shift first, then as a whole. Train together off-site. Go to a training weekend your state puts on out of town with your shift. You spend time together that you can not spend on shift. You will see who they really are outside of work, and you can build on that.
For what it's worth, I'm an Asst. Chief for our dept, and I read these posts with the intent to shed a little light on those that can't seem to find it. Things will always change, trust me on that one, and they may not always be for the best, but guess what, they will change again. We have a little saying, maybe you've heard it, "Adapt and Overcome". Yeah, that one. Follow those words, and live by them. Or, maybe you can listen to the others and settle for the hand that you were dealt. Either way, you hold your future in your hands. Work side by side with your brothers, and they will love you for it. Begin to tear each other down, and your dead where you stand. I'll get off my soapbox now.

Have a good shift,
G. Flores
Asst. Chief
Toyota Fire Rescue

[HIGHLANDFIREUK]

HI , I am a ex retained firefighter from scotland and i am a big fire enthusiast .
My intrest is in industrial fire departments. I would be greatfull for any infor mation on industrial fire departments.


Thank you


andrewmcgillivray

[MasFoam81]

One of my observations in being an industrial firefighter for twenty years is that many members, especially the younger ones, compare themselves to their municipal colleagues and feel their own organization is less than adequate somehow. They see pinning ceremonies, class A uniforms, funeral processions, retirement parties and the perception of a close knit community. The grass seems alot greener over there. I have two brothers in two differnet municipal departments and let me tell you they have all of the same morale problems we have. Worse in some cases. The rumor-mill, back-stabbing, laziness, lack of leadership are all present in municipal departments.

We do alot of training with the municpal departmant outside of our gate and many of us are friends as well. We know each other by face and I have been told many times that they thank god that we're here to deal with the two-ton gorilla of a refinery in their jurisdiction.

Our industrial department has tried to close the tradition gap between municipals and industrials by having banquets, uniforms, etc., but I've found over my carreer that our skill-set as firefighters is far and above those of most municipal departments. All of our members are haz-mat techs, EMT, FF-1 and 2, many of us instruct at Texas A&M fire school, rescue systems techs, Industrial Hygiene techs, confined space rescue techs, etc. etc. We get far more training and travel much more than our municipal brothers.

One thing we don't have is call volume. This is a good thing in a huge refinery but can add to FF frustration. Keep busy with training, fire and entry permitting, Industrial Hygiene, incident investigation and building fire inspection among other things.

[1835Wayne]

I work at a steel mill. We have the same crappy morale and bad attitudes about having to work here. We are also saddled with doing security work. Talk about a sore spot!

I am an officer here and have as many, if not more security tasks as I do fire and EMS. Most days we manage to get all the work done we are supposed to in our 8 hours, but then there are others where my crew leaves me hanging in front of my bosses, and I have to try to explain WHY things did or didn't happen.

It is a nightmare, and yet, I love the job. We work together remarkably well considering how few fires we have. Most of the time we are responding to FA box alarms that come in to our Gamewell. We rush about placing and inspecting over 4,000 extinguishers, doing security checks of buildings, and responding to calls.

Yet, we all chipped in and purchased a grill this spring and regularly cook out together during our shift. We laugh, joke and enjoy each others company(most days)!!

It is without a doubt, a different animal as an industrial FF, but it can be every bit as rewarding.