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At my department's monthly meeting, it was decided to give a former department member the distinction of 'honorary firefighter'. We will call this guy 'Capt. Chris.' Honorary firefighter is a little 'Thank you' given to members who have given time, effort, and served with distinction within the department. I voted against Capt. Chris getting the honor, as did three other individuals, but majority ruled. I plan to re-open this issue when we have our January meeting, when asked if anyone wants to address the 'old minutes'/old business, as I feel Capt. Chris is not worthy of being called 'honorary firefighter.'
Here's my issue with this 'honor': Capt. Chris was with the deparment for quite sometime. 10+ years, if I recall. He was a captain when he was fired for his behavior. Capt. Chris was one of a handful of members who didn't agree with the way the department was being run, would run his mouth in public, but wouldn't approach chief about the issues, and on a few occasions lost his cool on scenes. At one incident, Capt. Chris was running ems at a fire scene and decided to start telling the firefighters what they should be doing He was also quoted in a newspaper article while still in the position of an officer, openly attacking cheif. a little history lesson...our chief has been with our dept. for three years. He is our first full-time chief. There is a small group of detractors that had created a huge amount of problems because they didn't agree with some of the changes he brought about. A mediator ws brought in, a study was done, and in an open city board meeting, it was decided unanimously that the chief's contract would be renewed. Capt. Chris stated in a local newspaper "im dissappointed that the chief's contract was renewed but I plan to stay on the department and do everything I can to make sure he gets removed." yeah..real bright, in my opinion. It should be noted, Capt. Chris applied for the chief's position, but obviously didn't get hired. His behavior continued on a downward slide. Capt. Chris opened his mouth about me, which I took issue with him face to face, and figured we were good, after that. In the end, our trustees sat him down, had enough of his behavior and the fact that he had not made his % of calls and fired him. A few months later, 'capt. chris' sent an email out to everyone on the dept. 'thanking' the chief for not showing up ("no call, no show") at a safety related event hosted by his employer, where the dept. was committed to bringins our ladder truck. He basically ripped the chief again in print. Funny thing was, i organized the event, not chief, and because the employee at Capt. Chris' employer didn't inform me that she was no longer at a particular office and number, I wasn't able to contact her to let her know we didn't have a big enough crew or drivers to get the ladder truck to the event. I again spoke to Capt. Chris face to face at an EMS meeting, away from everyone with a non-fire dept. witness present about his email to everyone. He completely lost it! The tone of the conversation esculated, he stormed out of the garage, stopped by chief (who also runs ems calls) and verbally attacked him in front of EVERYONE..dropped an 'F-Bomb' and everything..before storming out of the ems station.
SO...I personally think that because Capt. Chris was a.) fired and b.) because his behavior isn't exactly what I call 'honorable', he shouldn't be recieving the title of 'honorary fireman.' In my opinion, it really 'dilutes' or diminishes the achievements of all the others that have earned the title of 'honorary firefighter.' The other thing that bothers me is prior to me addressing the email Capt. Chris sent out to everyone, another firefighter spoke out against the behavior of Capt. Chris. YET that same firefighter voted for Capt. Chris to be an 'Honorary Firefighter.' I plan on looking at our bi-laws, and also, because it was decided in December of 2008 to use 'better business practices' to run the dept., look at that model to try and block him from getting this honor.
The way I see it, if someone was fired..especially if they didn't conduct themselves properly, why would you honor them? It makes no sense. What does everyone think? Thanks for your time.
Here's my issue with this 'honor': Capt. Chris was with the deparment for quite sometime. 10+ years, if I recall. He was a captain when he was fired for his behavior. Capt. Chris was one of a handful of members who didn't agree with the way the department was being run, would run his mouth in public, but wouldn't approach chief about the issues, and on a few occasions lost his cool on scenes. At one incident, Capt. Chris was running ems at a fire scene and decided to start telling the firefighters what they should be doing He was also quoted in a newspaper article while still in the position of an officer, openly attacking cheif. a little history lesson...our chief has been with our dept. for three years. He is our first full-time chief. There is a small group of detractors that had created a huge amount of problems because they didn't agree with some of the changes he brought about. A mediator ws brought in, a study was done, and in an open city board meeting, it was decided unanimously that the chief's contract would be renewed. Capt. Chris stated in a local newspaper "im dissappointed that the chief's contract was renewed but I plan to stay on the department and do everything I can to make sure he gets removed." yeah..real bright, in my opinion. It should be noted, Capt. Chris applied for the chief's position, but obviously didn't get hired. His behavior continued on a downward slide. Capt. Chris opened his mouth about me, which I took issue with him face to face, and figured we were good, after that. In the end, our trustees sat him down, had enough of his behavior and the fact that he had not made his % of calls and fired him. A few months later, 'capt. chris' sent an email out to everyone on the dept. 'thanking' the chief for not showing up ("no call, no show") at a safety related event hosted by his employer, where the dept. was committed to bringins our ladder truck. He basically ripped the chief again in print. Funny thing was, i organized the event, not chief, and because the employee at Capt. Chris' employer didn't inform me that she was no longer at a particular office and number, I wasn't able to contact her to let her know we didn't have a big enough crew or drivers to get the ladder truck to the event. I again spoke to Capt. Chris face to face at an EMS meeting, away from everyone with a non-fire dept. witness present about his email to everyone. He completely lost it! The tone of the conversation esculated, he stormed out of the garage, stopped by chief (who also runs ems calls) and verbally attacked him in front of EVERYONE..dropped an 'F-Bomb' and everything..before storming out of the ems station.
SO...I personally think that because Capt. Chris was a.) fired and b.) because his behavior isn't exactly what I call 'honorable', he shouldn't be recieving the title of 'honorary fireman.' In my opinion, it really 'dilutes' or diminishes the achievements of all the others that have earned the title of 'honorary firefighter.' The other thing that bothers me is prior to me addressing the email Capt. Chris sent out to everyone, another firefighter spoke out against the behavior of Capt. Chris. YET that same firefighter voted for Capt. Chris to be an 'Honorary Firefighter.' I plan on looking at our bi-laws, and also, because it was decided in December of 2008 to use 'better business practices' to run the dept., look at that model to try and block him from getting this honor.
The way I see it, if someone was fired..especially if they didn't conduct themselves properly, why would you honor them? It makes no sense. What does everyone think? Thanks for your time.
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