I’m sure we have all seen the headlines at some time. The city names have been left out but you might find one to put your city’s name in. Here are just a few; fire department and union spar over station closures fire chief states weekend sick use is ‘disturbing, costly’ Judge sides with firefighters […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Chief William Jolley
New Leadership – The First 100 Days
“However the economy is doing, a challenge for leaders in the twenty-first century is attracting and retaining not just employees, but the best employees—and more important, how to motivate them so that they work with passion, energy, and enthusiasm. But very few people with brains, skills, and initiative appear. The timeless challenge in the real […]
Continue reading
Changes – Time may change me, But I can’t change time (David Bowie)
There are those who say that people never change. And if you are talking strictly about personalities, that might be true, but I don’t think so. Everyone changes with time. Environments that we work in change so we change or alter our behaviors to match the changing environment. Most of us get married at some […]
Continue reading
The Driver Engineer – What Drives Them
From the minute I completed my probation I wanted to be a driver engineer. I began shadowing the driver at the station I was at and asked questions, a lot of questions. I was fortunate enough to be at a station with one of the best drivers the department had at the time. Cliff took […]
Continue reading
Forcible Entry
Without gaining entry into a structure where a suspected or confirmed fire is, the fire cannot be located and extinguished, searches cannot be made, and extension of fire cannot be checked. There may be one or more firefighters assigned to forcing entry (commercial property), or the first firefighter to the door (residence) is expected to […]
Continue reading
Can you be a fire employee and the leader and or member of a motorcycle gang?
There is a recent story out of Florida that’s has generated a lot of discussion. According to WFTS-TV’s I-Team, two fire captains, from two different departments, are chapter presidents of two different motorcycle gangs. One is with the Pagans and the other with the Outlaws. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) defines “outlaw motorcycle gangs” (OMG) […]
Continue reading
A revisit to Women in the Fire Service
In April of 2015, I wrote an article on my perspective of women in the fire service. In the article I spoke regarding a local department that recently had harassment charges brought forward by several women. Some of those charges included the fact that there were not separate sleeping arrangements for men and women at […]
Continue reading
First on Scene
Have you ever sat at a red light and in your side view mirror you see someone coming up too fast to stop at the light, and then you realize they have no intention to stop. Immediately you look at traffic coming through the green light and at that moment, what we like to call […]
Continue reading
I wish my mind would forget what my eyes have seen (Dave Parnell, Detroit Fire Department)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – PTSD PTSD develops differently from person to person. While the symptoms of PTSD most commonly develop very soon after or even days following the traumatic event, it can sometimes take weeks, months, or even years before they appear. PTSD is commonly associated with the trauma suffered after serious injury to oneself […]
Continue reading
Brotherhood – Are you united, or just lined up?
When presented with the question of what does Brotherhood (specifically in the fire service) mean to me, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how difficult it was to describe. I attempted to define it but found that also was difficult to do. A good analogy for me goes something like this; […]
Continue reading