chiefs living out of town

[rcbadabing182]

This question is for all the volunteer's out there.I live in a dept were we have a rule.And it basically states that you cant hold the position of chief and live out of town.we ahve this one chief that has scammed the system for the past 2 years now claiming he lives at his house in town and not in his "wifes" house which out of district..he's cheating the system..we all know it but cant prove it except for the fact that when he's not at work you can pass by his "wifes" house to find the chiefs car parked in front..should this be accepted.why have company and department procedures and by-laws if people are just going to do what they want anyway..i'm looking for some ways of posible catching him or if we should just change the rules.thank you replies on this matter..

[Firelover]

Are rule of thumb is "You gotta live in the response district". Our deputy (combo dept) lives just on the other side of town limits, as do other FF, but it's well within our response zone. To me, if the "wife's" house is in the response district, then no harm is done!

[Chief79]

Why do you have this rule? Does it apply only to the Chief? Personally I do not see why you would have such a rule unless it is to help with the man-powere situation and if that is the case the rule should apply to all personnel. Let us know why the rule was adopted.

[rcbadabing182]

chief79 our dept by laws state that to hold the position of chief you must live in the fire district..it has nothing to do with man power for the chief since they all have thier vehicles anyway..we have 3 companys in town and each has there own rules on members living out of town.but one thing we do have is a bylaw stating that to run and hold the position of chief you must live in town..thats the way it always has been..those are the rules..it's not fare that one person should break them and get away with it

[Turk II]

From the way your talking, it kind of sounds like you're looking for an excuse or a way to get the chief out of office.... is there any other problem with the chief other than he lives over the line?

I don't see a problem with a chief living out of town as long as he's "close enough" to respond to alarms when needed. After all - that's why he has his own car with lights and siren on it, right?

Before you oust a person who may (or may not be) a very valuable part of your department better make sure you don't do something you regret at a latter time. Easy to through someone out... impossible to get them back.

- Turk II

[Jr_ AssistChief]

Where the chiefs live is a major issue. In one of my companies, the chiefs of the station live in the center of the district, down the street from the firehouse. They make all of the calls, whether they be alarms or structures. With my other department, all of the head chiefs of the three stations live in the town were I live, which is the next town over from our response area. They, including my dad, make the minimal amount of calls, and really shouldn't be chiefs except for the things they do off of the fireground. In this scenario, instead of the chiefs doing their on scene responsibilities, the captains and leutenants take over and seem to be the leaders of the department. This is not the way it should be and I wish that this department wiould change its policy.

[toneloc177]

Hey bing, I know what you mean.

In my dept we had a similar situation. A chief from our other company tried to change a departmental bylaw, which would have allowed him to run for chief. It failed . . . miserably! So he put in the change again, . . . nope, didn't pass again. A third time? No, he just changed his "home" address to a relative within our response district and ran anyway. Somehow he got the position of chief (quess the other guys he ran against were'nt favored by the masses). Everyone knows he is living in another town, and yet this seems 'acceptable'.

Well then why have bylaws? I've never been an officer but I think this year I'll run for first deputy chief. Why not right? Who needs rules? Hey, I'd like to have my own car w/ lights and neat radios, i could probably do the job just as well as anyone else.

Wouldn't that suck, responding from your 'residence' to a call at the far end of your district, and getting into an MVA outside of it?

[NYSmokey]

If the chief has all of the qualifications needed and his residence is within a "reasonable" distance of the district line who cares. What is a reasonable distance you might ask? I'd say somewhere between 5-10 miles from the station. It depends on where you are. Obviously if it is a densely populated area that would not be effective due to response times. However if you live in the middle of nowhere, traffic would not be a huge concern.

I'm not a chief but I tried to get a house in the town I volunteer in. It's too expensive these days. I would have liked to live a stone's throw away from the station. But why would I buy a small house in town when I could get a bigger house the next town over. I'm still within 5 minutes of our district and I don't bother with my blue light.

It's hard enough to retain good, qualified people these days. We should work with people who may have to move due to economic hardship, etc. If they are close to the station, just over some line, they should be allowed to volunteer. Our town doesn't have townspeople fighting to volunteer. As a courtesy, we usually ask the neighboring fire chief if they mind us taking one of their residents. Hasn't been a problem so far.

Just my two cents


Stay safe everyone!

[rudedog]

Sounds like some one has an axe to grind with the Chief. In this day and age , unfortunely a chiefs most important duties take place away from the fire grounds.

[distchief60b]

I agree that it should not matter unless the "chief" lives and unreasonable amount of distance away. Then the key question is I suppose...what is reasonable?

As long as he pulls his duty and responds to calls then whats the problem. And as far as the Lieutenants and Captains picking up the ball and running...well...that is how they learn. If the Chief "commands" every call...how do the others ever learn?

Now...if state law says you can not do it...then...that is different... Not only is he deceiving the department...he is violating the law? Is is a misdemeanor or felony?

[rcbadabing182]

yes there are other problems with the chief besides him violating the by law....we have 3 company's in town..and he cant stand the one that i'm in..he has made that load and clear to everyone but us..we have to hear it from other people...

[toneloc177]

being that your company is on this guys bad side (for whatever reason) is another thing you'll have to think about. if you want him out (of being one of your chiefs) you'll have to go about it making sure to cross every t and dot every i, seeing as how he is blatantly breaking your department bylaws (as per you). Otherwise, if your 'coup' fails, he'll come down even harder on you guys.

bottom line, you should sit down with a bunch of the senior guys in your company and see what their perspective on it is before you open up a can of worms, or put yourself and company in a bad position. sometimes (and i'm not saying that this is one of them), the best thing to do is . . . nothing.

[ 09-10-2001: Message edited by: toneloc177 ]

[xchief]

In my Department you must live within a 20 mile radius to be an operational officer from Lt.thru Chief.Thats why I'm xchief I moved.