Governments all over, whether state, municipal, or national have a responsibility to protect the general welfare of the public against any threat. Citizens accept certain restrictions on their behavior and pay taxes to protect themselves and others. The fire service gets its authority from the governing entity responsible for protecting the public.
Website Review of Fire Service in the United States.
• About 1.1 million firefighters
• 75% of career firefighters service communities of 25,000 or larger
• Half of the volunteers serve rural areas with populations of 2,500 or smaller
• Approximately 30,000 Fire Departments
• The fire department uses a paramilitary style of leadership.
• Firefighters operate under a rank system, which establishes
…show more content…
Each supervisory answers to only one boss. This ensures that everyone is answerable to the Fire Chief and establishes a direct route of responsibility from the Chief to the Firefighter. This also works in conjunction with Fayol’s span of control principle and is expanded on by Luther Gulick. The number of persons under control must be limited, and that limit, according to Gulick, “varies with the unique abilities of the superior, the nature of the work, size of the organization, and the level of authority (Tomkins, 2005).
Span of Control
The number of people that one person can supervise effectively.
Some experts believe that span of control should extend to no more than five people in a complex environment. The head of the Fire department known as the fire chief is accountable to the leader of the governing body such as the mayor, commissioner, city or county manager, or city council. Communication movement in this type of system flows only up and down the chain, from superior to subordinate and back. In the fire service, this allows the opportunity to have all orders given at the highest level of command follow downward to the proper level necessary to carry the goal out, while all in the chain are aware of the actions and their effect on the overall
221). As Tansik and Elliot pointed out the relationship and individual’s ‘in a higher level in which the organizational chart includes their job descriptions and title of commanding position. Additionally, the figure also suggests that the chain of command organizational highlights that the sheriff’s office is embodying the military style rank structures of hierarchy. Unlike the chief of police in Tampa, Florida, who has to report to the city manager or the Mayer, Sheriff Gee, however, is in charge of the entire County, and at the same time overseeing both the sheriff’s office operations and the detention department. As he is an elected official he is the “chief law enforcement officer of the agency” (P. 243). On the other hand, the appointed chief deputy/undersheriff is José M. Docobo, is the single commanding officer with the blessing of the Sheriff’s and overseeing the entire operations. (P.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department (WCSD) has a wide span of control. However in terms of the number of direct reporting employees, the sergeant in the jail division has the broadest span of control. Wide spans of control promote efficiency, productivity, and are cost effec...
The chain of command is the line of authority that extends from the highest to the lowest levels of the organization.
So you are a new recruit/rookie/probies. Well then congrats on your achievement of completing the fire academy training. Remember everyone was once in your shoes. When you are hired on to a department. The people of that department, you could be serving with for maybe 10 or more years. To help prepare you for your career in the fire service here is ten thing you must know.
An effective mission statement at a fire department can be incredibly influential on the morale of the personnel—which as a result, can dramatically improve the performance of personnel when put into practice. Furthermore, because of the importance of a fire department’s mission statement, there should be a considerable amount of thought put into the drafting of one; and one of the most vital parts of an effective mission statement is to make sure that it can be put into practice. With that being said, the mission statement at my fire department is “One Team, One Group, One Fight”.
Within a Company under the Battalion level there is a necessity for accountability for every solider that is assigned to that unit. With the given chain of command to those companies there is a figure head to that company and she or she is the representation of that company. She or she governs and directions the company as well ensures the accountability for her or hers individuals assigned. Within that company we have such formations to receive information and to ensure the safety as well as the accountability of the soldiers that are assigned to that company.
The first element is “vertical coordination.” (Bolman, 2013, p. 49) This vertical coordination in my issue is happening between external constituencies. Many area hospitals were diverting MH patients to our Level One Trauma Center, Harborview, overwhelming the Emergency Department. The elements in vertical coordination are “authority, rules and policies, planning and control systems.” (Bolman, 2013, pp. 51-54) The formal “authority” in this issue is WA State Central Region EMS and Trauma Council with Harborview Hospital being its leader. Harborview’s authority in King County has been established well before this issue arose. A top-down ap...
In A final thought if the government agencies would have followed up on what there supposed to do ; this might of saved some lives. They also should not take all the blame for this though. If the landlord was having such a problem with tenant. He should of contacted the proper authorities and had him removed or correct the fire hazards. Unfortunately it takes thing like this two happen before laws are enforced or corrected.
In 1973, one of the most influential reports to ever come out of the fire service was created. This report would change the fire service forever and still to this day have a great impact on the way things are done in the fire service. One of the most impacted sectors within the fire service is the way firefighters perceive and implement fire prevention strategies and techniques. This report was called “America Burning” and was published by the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. The report was sent directly to the president of the United States of America, who at the current time was Richard
Firefighters are more than friends. You can't fight fires with friends. To fight fires you need a brotherhood. The men and women of the fire service across the globe consider each other family, this is one of the grand traditions of the fire department. Firefighters are constantly looking out for one another, thinking about the things they do and how it may affect the other’s lives and safety. Life safety is of the highest priority in the business of fire rescue. To achieve a safety standard there are many tasks that fire personnel are expected to carry out, for both a personal and a team related purpose. One of these tasks is the daily inspection of the fire apparatus upon arrival to the fire station. This task is with most certainty the most essential process that fire personnel are responsible for in order to get through the shift safely and efficiently.
Most of us would like to think of ourselves as decent, helpful people. We proclaim that we would never turn our backs on someone in obvious need of help-or would we? In fact, any of us, when faced with a person who seems to be in trouble, do nothing. To explain this, the term bystander effect was coined by sociologist and psychologists. It is a psycho-social phenomenon that suggest the more people there are present at a scene of emergency, the less likely they are to help. In the mind of the individuals in the group, a common unconscious thought occurs: “This group is really big; surely someone has dealt with the situation or eventually will”. Basically, the mere presence of bystanders reduces the chances of intervention, and reduces the likelihood
Varone, J. C. (2012). Legal considerations for fire & emergency services (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar.
The hardest skill for a manager to master sometimes is delegation. It is a skill that, at the root, is fundamental in the ultimate success in whatever endeavor one would encounter. Delegation is very important, especially in the business that I am in, the parcel industry. United Parcel Service is a multibillion dollar corporation where I am currently employed. Within its structure, without those who can properly delegate, it would be virtually impossible to manage its many processes effectively. It actually starts at the top of the chain, the corporate level. Within our corporate setting, we have different elements that are rolled up into what one would call a balanced scorecard. The scorecard consists of four major elements, business, people, turnover, and technology. Regional Managers role out the elements that is pertinent to their particular sector of the operation. These are delegated to those at the district level (managers). The hierarchy is as follows Corporate, regional, district, division, center. I personally fall into the category under center management. The center manager rolls out tasks to the full-time supervisors who then, in turn, roll out tasks to me as a part time supervisor. The jobs and tasks that I am personally responsible for directly correlate with those who are at the top of the chain, just at a smaller portion. The absolute key in delegation would be to have solid controls in place for accountability. You will notice that this will be a recurring theme within this paper. Without accountability within the infrastructure, can there really be success in delegation in any industry?
As a direct result of this, launching a full investigation into this police department wouldn’t be entirely resourceful due to the scope of this organization’s employees; although it would assist in the efforts to remove all corruption. However, there are positive efforts we can make in the form of a more effective hierarchy. The span of control concept refers to the number of officers or subordinates that one supervisor can properly and effectively monitor (Gaines and Worrall, 2012). The traditional police methods of supervision exerted a large presence of authority and control towards their many subordinates in an attempt to reduce negative behavior and waste and in turn increase productivity (Gaines and Worrall, 2012). It is important for us to note the ratio of supervisor to subordinates as this ratio can show us if a department head has a number of subordinates that is too large to properly manage. If this ratio becomes too high a supervisor will encounter troubles with devoting
Broadly speaking, the two main types are hierarchical and non-hierarchical. Therefore each worker/group of workers only has to report to, or take commands from, one person; also known as the unity of command. The workers are usually separated into different sections, depending on what their role is.