Owning the Job

Below are just some of the videos that were recommended by the FB Brothers. I will add that this article was a quick idea I had after all of the great examples shared...and then I sat down and watched all of the videos, one by one. I was holding it together until the Pipes started playing on the Kyle Wilson Tribute video...then I lost it.

Chief Steve Kraft spoke in a keynote at FDIC (video below). I didn't get to see it in person, but Jonah Smith shared it on The Hose Jockey. In it, Chief talks about looking at yourself, not others. It is a motivational speech and hits the mark. I think everyone will be able to get something out of it.

This could be make it or break it to see if Willie and I can share the same stage and talk...and make sense. I am an optimist, so my thoughts were that we would get up there and everything would work itself out.

Whether it is someone dropping off cookies, looking for directions, a neighboring crew, a retiree, an off duty firefighter, or Chiefs we should welcome them into OUR firehouse. After all, when someone comes to your house do you just let them walk in without greeting them? I didn't think so.

Before you read on, please understand that I appreciate smart aggressive firefighting, it is what I live. I think there are some small things that some firefighters view as others trying to change the way we fight fire...I view them as tools for making us better and understand they must be understood properly and implemented into our game plan. They don't really make us "safe", they make us "smarter".

In all the hustle and bustle of our lives, getting children to and from school events, sporting events, the parents events they (the children) get to enjoy a wave from a firefighter in a big red fire truck! Your fire apparatus IS red isn't it?

To what do we owe the men who founded our department? The honor, respect, dignity, integrity, pride, tradition, loyalty, and brotherhood that created it? Why am I sitting here almost 125 years after the first fire department in Roanoke was created seeking ways to bring back the best of what it has been? What has been lost? Where can we find it?

Low morale, bad attitudes, lacking leadership, loss of traditions, lack of pride, no honor, too little integrity, loss of camaraderie, too little respect, no discipline...I could go on. Hopefully the building blocks are still there and I can help salvage the hull of what is a great fire department.