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I’m not a bad fire service leader…am I? Unfortunately, much of what’s written about leadership paints it as a neat and tidy skill set. That if you follow a simple algorithm or read a leadership blog, you’ll reach your objective 100% of the time. In...

Why We Must Build Our In The Fire Station Leadership Skills 90% of our time and energy as fire officers happens away from the fire ground. – John Dixon Most of us fire officers spend the bulk of our training learning how to lead on the fire ground, yet most of their issues...

The volunteer fire service faces unique challenges in just about all aspects of operations, particularly when it comes to safety. We do the same job with less training, often times older equipment, and with fewer people. Normally we do not have a person to devote to the sole task...

What Exactly Is Leadership Self-Awareness? There are many challenges of being a leader and successful fire service leaders are those that understand the meaning of self-awareness. Leadership self-awareness is a  self-“a no holds barred-honest to the core”-examination....

Have you ever heard of “the dark side” of leadership? This is not a term we hear in leadership conversations or read about, but the reality is that it exists and impacts department growth. Authentic and true leaders are those that want to make a difference in the...

Slow down! We need to look at the clues and cues of what is happening around us. Is the room that we are operating in showing signs of an impending flashover? Is the temperature in the compartment that we are operating within increasing by the second? What information is the...

Just What Should They Be Doing? We often hear of the truck officer as a “supervisor” of the truck team. I have come to learn that this position requires far more than an ability to supervise or direct firefighters. They are a link in the chain, an integral part of the team, and...

Being a volunteer fire chief with a rather large response area (26 square miles); I am not only often first due on an alarm but also might be tasked with operating alone for some time before the “cavalry” shows up. Whether it be an EMS alarm, motor vehicle accident or structure...