NEW YORK — Seven FDNY firefighters were disciplined for violating the FDNY’s “zero tolerance” hazing policy following a hazing incident of an African-American firefighter. Although the department withheld the identities of those involved, the New York Post (see this article for full story) reported that the incident involved a prank in which “they put the […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Chief William Jolley
Transitional Fire Attack – Are you and inny or an outy?
I recall a house fire I responded to many years ago. A gas leak in the garage got to the gas water heater pilot light and before long the garage was well involved. The owner opened the garage door to try to get his car out but couldn’t. Going from the back of the house […]
Continue reading
Don’t Fail To Plan, Or You Will Surely Plan To Fail
In January of 2006, I was deployed with one other officer from pour department to Hancock County Mississippi to manage the planning section of the emergency operations center (EOC) for ten days. Although Hurricane Katrina had made landfall four months earlier on August 29, 2014, Hancock County was so severely damaged that the EOC was […]
Continue reading
Employee and Organizational Morale
As leaders, we should constantly monitor our organizations morale and make adjustments as necessary. What are some of the steps, policies, mannerisms, or lead by example tips we as leaders can do to help build and maintain morale? Professionalism It is always important to look professional. Personnel should not be showing up at emergency scenes with shirts that […]
Continue reading
Residential Fire Sprinklers
In January of this year, a family of six died in a fire in a relatively new home (built in 2005). Investigation showed it was electrical in nature and a dry Christmas tree contributed to the fast building and spreading fire. All six were determined to have died from smoke inhalation. There were smoke alarms […]
Continue reading
A Perspective On Women In The Fire Service
Recently there was an article in the local newspaper regarding harassment charges brought forward by several women that work for a local and large, fire department. Some of those charges included the fact that there were not separate sleeping arrangements for men and women at a majority of the stations. The department I worked for has had […]
Continue reading
Fire Prevention/Public Education – Where Do You Stand Or Sit
35 years ago, my department had very little to do with Public Education. There was a Prevention Division, but no real accountability on what businesses got inspected or how often. It was not uncommon to have a business go for seven or more years without a visit from an inspector. In the early 1980’s, a […]
Continue reading
Trust
Trust. Only a five letter word, yet it carries so much weight. When we leave home in our own vehicle for work or travel, we automatically are trusting of the other drivers on the highway. On a two-lane road we trust that the driver coming towards us will stay in his lane. On a larger […]
Continue reading
Motivation
Motivation can be defined as a term used to explain behavior. Motivation drives people’s actions, desires, and needs. A motive is what prompts the person to act in a certain way, or have a tendency to exhibit a specific behavior. So, how can we, as leaders, motivate our people? Here are two schools of thought. […]
Continue reading
Leadership, Another View
“Leadership is the privilege to have the responsibility to direct the actions of others in carrying out the purposes of the organization, at varying levels of authority and with accountability for both successful and failed endeavors”. What leader made this statement? It sounds modern and something right out of current leadership books. Actually, the statement […]
Continue reading