I am absolutely not diminishing the work of the exceptional leaders that are out there today, from men and women, visible minorities and the LGBTQ communities, and anyone I may have missed only by my pure ignorance. It is the ground swell of work they are doing that will realign the direction of the “freighter” we call the fire service.

We can change the culture in the fire service, but not through solutions like policy or procedure or training or lawsuits. The change must come from the “majority stakeholders” in the fire service: Men. Men must take responsibility and ownership for the problems we face in the fire service. And right now, they must also take responsibility for seeking and implementing the solutions.

I believe that public safety agencies have an implicit obligation to keep our citizens informed and educated about impending harm, e.g., hurricanes, tornados, severe flooding and the like. But more than that, when necessary, we also have an obligation to give them unambiguous instructions on what actions they need to take to protect their lives.

Good radio communications are critical for safe, efficient and effective operations on the emergency scene. How many times has poor incident communications been cited as a significant factor in NIOSH investigations of firefighter fatalities on the fireground?

People say that we learn from our mistakes. Not necessarily true according to research. That research shows that we’ll act according to the “model” that our brain finds when we confront a situation. So the question becomes: do you want them to come up with a positive model or a negative model?

Firefighter Jones was caught off-guard by this aggressive action (physical assault) on the part of the homeowner. After shoving Firefighter Jones to the ground, the assailant (homeowner) moved away from the scene and was subsequently detained by local law enforcement.

It is your responsibility to teach respect, pride, accountability, teamwork, and ownership. You have to encourage and motivate your team to be decision makers by paying attention to the simplest details. As the leader, it is your obligation to pay attention to the little things and hold your crew accountable for their actions. They will never accomplish the big tasks if they have not completed the little things.

In just the past few days another woman firefighter filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue Department claiming not only that was she sexually harassed and stalked by her captain, but she was retaliated against when she reported his behavior. That’s right, the same department that Nicole Mittendorff worked for before she took her own life.

Those local governmental leaders should have sent a “loud and clear” message to not just the members of the fire department, but all of its governmental employees by terminating the employment of the three officers who failed at having the self-discipline required of a leader.

The “explosion” of accessible and affordable on-line training and education is a topic that is “near and dear” to my heart. First of all, I’ve always been a “training guy”: I loved training to become a better firefighter and EMS provider and I loved being an instructor who helped “kindle” the same passion in others.