Division essay

This essay will be very relevant to my life in the recent past. I will discuss what it takes to be a good Fire Officer. This is relevant because for the past two weeks I have been feverishly studying for the Lieutenants exam for the Bangor Fire department where I work. The test was last Thursday and my life has been filled with anxiety and turmoil in preparation and anticipation of this test. In reality, I have been seriously preparing for this test for the last three years and this has lead me through a lot of soul searching and the question of whether I would make a good officer. Some of the qualities I feel make a good Fire Officer are professional, technical knowledge in all aspects of the job, having leadership qualities, and having good decision making abilities.

To have professional knowledge and technical knowledge are two different things but go hand in hand when it comes to being an officer. The technical knowledge aspect is extremely important in that the job can be so diverse in its settings from one moment to the next. A large portion of the job now is Emergency Medical Services or EMS. Having advanced training in this field is essential for a good officer today because that is the majority of the call volume. Further more, technical knowledge is essential in other areas of the job that can be highly technical in nature. For example, Hazardous Materials or Haz-Mat and building construction are two of the areas that are highly technical in nature. Poor knowledge base in these area can lead to the wrong tactics and strategies being used at an incident and putting firefighters and the public in further danger. Understanding how a building is put together, can help an officer predict when it will fall down. Likewise, understanding Haz-Mat will prevent you from spreading a chemical spill, or knowing that it is better to let some chemicals burn. The professional knowledge aspect is what I would call the understanding and savvy to understand the unfortunate political part of the job. By this I mean the inter-department politics as well as the municipal, state, and federal politics that are an unfortunate but a necessary part of the job.

Now as far as the leadership aspect, some will say that good leaders are made and others will say that good leaders are born. Being a good leader can be somewhat subjective in its definition, but I believe is largely made up of personal characteristics. My vision of a good leader is someone that people want to work for, someone that others seek them out to be associate with. Respect is an essential part of being a good leader and that may be the most difficult part to obtain. Some believe that just by having the title or rank you gain respect through the position. I disagree, I feel respect is earned and that once you have earned their respect, your workers they will follow you anywhere. Trust is another part of being a good leader, in that your workers have to trust you when you ask them to do something difficult. Honesty and humility are important traits that play directly into respect and trust. If your are honest to your subordinates and treat them honestly, you will gain their trust. If you can admit when you are wrong and understand that you are not perfect, others will respect you for that and you will gain their respect.

Lastly, you have to make good decisions, and I believe that this is something that you are born with. Some have it and some don't. The initial decisions a Fire Officer makes can determine the outcome of the whole incident. The philosophy is that the decisions you make in the first ten minutes of an incident, determine what will happen in the first hour, and the decisions you make in the first hour decide what will happen in the first day of the incident, and so on. Decision making is directly related to the other points I have made about a good officer. If you do not have the technical knowledge about an some aspect of the job you will make the wrong decisions when faced with a situation. If you don't know that putting water on burning Magnesium causes the Hydrogen and Oxygen molecules to separate thus making the fire more intense, you can get people hurt and cause more damage. Deciding to put water on it and the resulting bright flash and intense heat will cause your subordinates to be scared and not trust you and in turn loose respect. Deciding to reprimand one employee differently than another for the same infraction will cause your subordinates to loose both respect and trust for you as well.

The test I took last Thursday was a pivotal point in my life and career. This test is only a small part in the steps to promotion but it was a big hurdle for me and a lot of other guys. It was extremely important because the test in not given regularly and the last one was several years ago. I am very proud of my results and I will just say that I did well on the test. I had to prioritize things in my daily life so I could have time to study, like taking care of my kids and forgoing some of the work for this class. I didn't like doing it but it payed off. I feel that I have what it takes to be a good officer and I am excited about my prospects. All the aspects that I have discussed are all distinct in themselves but are also contingent upon each of the others. If you don't have the knowledge, you will make bad decisions, and your guys won't respect you. It is a delicate balance of these traits as well as others to make a good Fire Officer, lacking any one of these traits will put the rest off balance. I have seen good leaders who make poor decisions, and very knowledgeable men who are poor leaders, and great tactical decisions made by guys you cannot trust. Only time will tell if I poses the things that will make me a good officer.