Pelican Hook and Ladder Co.

To: All Fire Department Personnel,There will be a Fire Instructor I class taught at LSU FETI October 6-10, 2008. This class is limited to Company Officers and below, not yet signed up for the DROP. Firefighter 1 certification is required. Please respond by return e-mail or inter-departmental memo if you are interested in attending. Please include your name, rank, shift, assignment, certifications, contact information. The class size is limited, first come first serve. The deadline to request attendance is Wednesday July 16, 2008.

Should physical fitness be requirement in a firefighter’s job. Many other organizations such as police and military require that an annual physical fitness evaluation be completed. In addition to these physical capabilities examination (running, push-ups, sit-ups, pull ups, etc) some organizations require that employees stay within an ideal weight or body fat requirement. It is argued that these requirements keep an employee healthier, and better looking in the public eye. As for physical fitness test being a requirement of the job. Why not? I can’t conjure up one plausible reason for it not to be a requirement of the job. Many would argue its not needed because firefighting requires a different kind of physical ability than running, push ups, etc. I will agree that the ability to run doesn’t automatically correlate to a firefighter being more capable than another, but it does correlate to a firefighter with more endurance. Also the ability to perform push ups, sit ups, and pull ups does ensure that employees have the necessary core strength to handle their own weight during physical labor. Now, how do most organizations determine what the minimum physical fitness requirements are? The most common standard is the Cooper Institute Standard which holds what the minimum number or time should be per age and gender. A few organizations have dictated that the requirement be directly required to the position in which the employee holds. In other words a private in the fire service would have a most stringent standard to pass than a captain. This would be regardless of the employee’s age. Some may think that the law doesn’t allow this to happen. This practice has been challenged and passed in the Supreme Court as certain jobs are exempt from age discrimination when exigent circumstances are present in that career field. What this means is certain jobs require a minimum degree of ability, and the courts recognized this and allow an acceptance in these cases only. Now with that being said the requirements are tied to the position. A captain would have a more lack standard to pass than a private because it is accepted that he/she would have a higher degree of knowledge and experience which is gained in a trade off of physical ability within that position.
No matter which method you believe to be fairer, both require that we do more than we are doing now. Remember we are paid to provide a service to the citizens we protect and in providing that protection we are charged with maximizing our potential. What I mean is we owe it to the citizens to be in shape and better able to perform our job. We also owe it to each other. A fit work force translates to a healthier and possibly safer workforce. Ask yourself, who do you want coming to get you when you are in trouble, the fat out of shape firefighter or the fully fit ready to go firefighter? Now put the shoe on the other foot, which one of these firefighters are you?

Remember its not a department requirement, but it is a job requirement.

A Learning Organization: An organizational culture that embraces a never-ending drive for continuous improvement, as highlighted by people at every level in the organization continually increasing their capacity to produce good results and constantly learning from others as a means to systematically and deliberately realize operational excellence.

What attributes might a learning organization have? Fundamentally, members of the organization must hold the shared assumption that learning is a good thing, worth investing in, and learning to learn is a skill to be mastered. To master that skill, five attributes to consider are as follows:

1. Proactivity assumption - Be proactive problem solvers and learners.

Instead of complaining, do something to offer a solution.

2. A commitment to learning to learn – To get feedback and to take the time to reflect, analyze, and assimilate that feedback.

Communicate within your crew on each members performance and professinalism. Captains provide professinal gudiance to subordinates and subordinates advise Captains on thier areas of possible improvement.

3. Positive assumptions about human nature – Learning leaders must have faith in people and must believe that, ultimately, human nature is basically good.

Look for the things your co-workers do right. Look for their positives and promote those traits, anyone can point out negatives.

4. Commitment to truth through pragmatism and inquiry – There must be a shared assumption that solutions to problems derive from a deep belief in inquiry and a pragmatic search for truth.

Do not be afraid of critisism. To fall short of a task or goal is not to fail, to fail is to cease attempting that task or goal again.

5. Orientation toward the future – One must think far enough ahead to be able to assess the systemic consequences of different courses of action.

The price you pay now will determine your dividends in the future.

Questions for Thought

• Do you value firefighters who report problems?
• Does management recognize and reward the analyzers and problem solvers?
• Do you or your organization second-guess itself?
• Does your station have a strong accountability culture and a bias toward action?
• Is high value placed on trending low-level events to uncover latent organizational problems that add up to bigger problems?
• Is the corrective action program seen as a burden that is to be used only when necessary?

(Information is cited from the INPO OE / CAA Performance Improvement Digest 2008-02)

lsue-super-articulation-agreement-07-08_form.pdf

Degree Check- out sheet

Mr. Steve Gervais with LSUE will be at headquarters in classroom #2 from 10 am to 2 pm on May 23rd, 28th, and 29th(A,B, & C shift days). Anyone interested in attending LSUE classes is encouraged to come by on the listed dates and time, to sign up and receive pertinent information on upcoming classes. Mr. Gervais will be able to determine how much college credit you will receive from fire service certificates and prior college experiences. YOU MUST bring any NFA course certificates, college transcripts and fire service certificates with you on the day you attend in order for Mr. Gervais to advise you on the awarding of any credit. Do not expect to pull this information from training on one of these days as there might not be enough time. If you need information on certificates contact LSU FETI or the training division to see about procuring a copy of lost or missing certificates. I have two forms that can be filled out prior to your attendance to assist in speeding up the process. Contact me via e-mail and I will send them back to you as soon as I get a chance. Any questions can be forwarded back to myself or one of the other training officers.

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone to wear proper PPE, recently in Charleston, South Carolina fines were levied against the city and the fire department because firefighters involved in the fatal Sofa King fire did not wear full PPE/SCBA.  I bring this up not because of the fines but because it is a nationally accepted standard to wear it and wear it properly.  PPE is an ensemble, one piece does not work without the others.  It is designed to protect you against thermal insult and asphyxiation.  I do not care about any of that.  Wear it so at the end of your shift you can go home to your families, that is the bottom line.  Charleston lost 9 firefighters saving sofas. You have to protect  yourself before you can protect others.  Be safe and wear proper PPE. 

Great link from the wildland fires on the west coast.  Turn the volume up and listen to the communications.

http://www.latimes.com/la-burnover-f,0,732907.flash?coll=la-home-center 

why_we_do_what_we_do_jeff_ponds.pdf

Check out this presentation. Watch the smoke from the confined attic fire.  This is why we ventilate.