Today's article may seem like it is all over the place, but bare with me. Right now I have so many thoughts and there are so many things going on locally as well as nationally. Locally, our new Fire Chief started a few days ago, so that is exciting. Nationally, we have had too many LODDs, MAYDAYs, and firefighter injures lately. I will hit a few major points and provide a few videos to help with my rant. So here we go...
I have written about "Brotherhood" many times on here before. The reason I have is because there seems to be many in our service that need to be educated on what the "Brotherhood" actually is. This is disappointing. Although it is encouraging to find there are still those coming into our service that want to be educated about the "Brotherhood".
In name of "Brotherhood" I decided a while back that I would get more involved with my Local here. I even ran for a small elected position in the Local and what do you know I actually won. People ask me all the time why I do this blog and why I am trying to be more involved in the Local. The answer is simple, yet complicated. I will explain.
The simple answer is "It's just my turn". It is just my time to help out our Local and department in any way I can. Our Local, as with most Locals around the world, are actually run by a core of individuals. The individuals are usually the more senior men and women of their department and union and have been doing so for many years. In the last seven years at our Local the faces of the network of individuals that actually get the job done have been the same. Well with these individuals on the back side of their career in the department as well as the Local, if I do not learn what they know, if I do not take in everything they have to offer then it will be lost when they leave. So it is not only my turn but also my duty to take what these men and women have built (good or bad) and try and make it even better. It is also my turn to make sure there are new and younger individuals behind me wanting to carry the same torch.
Now for the complicated part...As I was doing some background work before making my decision to get involved with our Local, I spoke with many individuals that use to participate heavily in the Local. My question to them was "Why are you not as involved now?" Their response, which was almost always the same, was that the Local does not do anything. Now you have to dig alittle deeper after getting a response like that, because obviously the Local does stuff. But what stuff?
After understanding their response, my decision was made. I decided that I was going to attempt to make sure our Local is doing something. Something does not mean meeting twice a month to argue about the kind of breakfast that was bought or how much money was spent on tacos. Something means making sure this Local is fighting for what is best not just for its members, but the department as a whole. Budget cuts, staffing reductions, pension changes are all issues that are affecting departments world wide, even ours. We must fight against these issues.
But this fight must be taken out of the safeguard of the Local Hall. Of course Locals and their members can meet there and bitch all they want about whatever they want, BUT we have to move our fight outside. We have got to speak up and be heard. And to do this is easy...
We speak out to everyone we can, especially the media and the public. We educate as we speak. The general public and the citizens that are served need to be educated on fire prevention, ems prevention, etc. Wanna know the easiest way to rescue someone? Tell them to buckle their seat belt. It is that easy and they deserve for us to educate them on that. We must promote our cause and our needs. Promoting what we do on a daily basis is something the general public has no clue of. It is something they should know and should be reminded of often. It is not always running into a burning structure or doing CPR (although they must know about that too), but it is testing fire hydrants making sure they work properly. It studying maps, fire station duties, presentations, surveys, etc. These are the things that keep the public safe and they have no idea we even do them.
Letting the public know what we need to effectively do our job safely is something we must promote. Letting the public know the difference and the consequences of what can happen when a fire engine/truck is reduced in staffing is something they deserve to know.
So now you know why I write this blog and have gotten involved with our Local. To create change, change for the better of our department. Will I come to the realization that some of those before me did, in that the Local does not do anything? Hopefully not. But it is my turn to at least try.
If my blog reaches one set of eyes and inspires just one person to make a small change in the way they live, think or train then I have accomplished my goal. Change comes in small steps. When you take multiple small steps you will see major change. Let's keep stepping...
Below are 2 videos where people are speaking up, promoting our cause and expressing our needs. Now lets spread the word.
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