When you talk to the rp when you get on scene don’t treat them like a 5 year old, if the rp tells you they can see the fire walk with them to where the fire is visible, if the rp says they tried to hike into the fire that should be a clue that something of concern is down there. Don’t treat people like shit. You represent that agency on the side of your rig for good or bad. This was a rant from my experience this evening.
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I agree, you should always treat people well. I try to get as much information out of the RP as I can. Sometimes they can tell you a huge amount of information from access to when it started to fire behavior to the history of fire in the area. There is important information you can gather from them for an investigator too. More important than that, having a fire right there can be a stressful expierence, and there is no reason to to treat someone with care and respect.
Edit: There is also the rare instance that the RP may have been involved with starting the fire. Maintaining a positive relationship is important for keeping their cooperation. Either way, documenting what they first saw, when they saw it, and keeping their contact information can be very important to an investigation.
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Did you tell them that? No way I would tolerate that sort of customer service.
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The guy in the passenger seat on the first engine got told when he started getting snippy about access because they wanted to get an engine down there to it. I told him either acorn drive or the private road but your still gonna have to hike in. I ended talking with the 2nd engine operator he actually listened and got fairly close to the fire. A professional standards complaint is being filed.
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Lol I would have brought you ATAK and say point on the map and show me where it is. There is no reason to belittle, short or rude to our customers.
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Unfortunately I’m seeing and hearing about these attitudes way more often than in the past… guess it’s part of the new generation’s make up…
I make it a point to instill in all my crew members, we provide customer services and the public is who pays our salary. Treat all with respect.
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The new generation sometimes brings a little bit of ego which creates some animosity, there’s still a little of that around here because of the creek fire.
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I saw attitude in the old generation as well! The ones prior to the 80’s. When you are young and learning the ropes you learn from people with good and bad attitudes! You choose how to pattern your behavior! Not all go to the good side! Customer service is forgotten in the Fire Service at times. Sounds like the individual needs to be reminded where his pay check comes from!
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Good discussion however a little odd, who would ever knowingly tick off the public, I started in the early 80’s CDF, CDF took public interaction very serious…like no joke…you work for the tax payers and lets not forget that…and they were 100% right, after one year I jumped to the USFS, and guess what, the same for the green trucks, all throughout my career we took our contacts with the public very serious, if you want to test the water then just have John/Jane Q public register a complaint with the DR, you will be in the district office so fast that it will take 10 minutes for your butt to catch up to you. I sure hope things have not changed that much but our new reality would suggest otherwise…Aughhhhhhhh!
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Effective communication is a critical component of situational awareness. Firefighters need to exchange information with their team members, incident commanders, and other agencies involved in the firefighting effort. Timely and clear communication ensures that everyone is aware of changes in the situation, evolving tactics, and potential risks. Communication is key - It is never okay to talk down to someone as far as I am concerned.
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100% Well said…
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Just decided to let the issue go after a little self reflection from my experience as a public servant and knowing I’ve done the same thing more than once in 17 years. As hard as we try to avoid doing that sometimes it just happens, everyone is allowed to have an off day.
I figured out the fire was actually something another neighbor was doing on his side of the property line…DAVE!? Dave’s not here.
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I would have thought that this post was going to go CRAZY. Guess we are perhaps not addictional phone pokers. The stress level from land/property owners is understandable. They may have never experienced that in thier life. We work for the public(myself enjoyably) and all paid by all of our taxes. No more satisfaction when we can keep them small. "What are you going to do about this"unload and go after it. Sometimes you want to say watch this but, that would be bad form.
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