Where are you coming from?

[athl1881]

I was told that the house fire / investigation of smoke on Old Forge Rd.,that chief martin had his fountain dale chief's helmet and a waynesboro coat. Then last week he ran the command of the woodring lane house fire with no turn gear from the front porch.

First are you calling him chief 2 or 3 and if both of his fire companies are on the scene is he running them both at the same time. What happened to span of control and accountability.

The last chief gave a good friend of mine a blast for wearing his "own" coat that had another fire company's name on it! He was told that he had to change it, not wear it or get time on the street. So much for past practice and sitting standards.

What is next two wifes, two countries, two gods?
"You can't be true to two" I think that was a county song!

[Firefighter33]

well 1881 good to know you can come here for answers instead of going to the firehouse or the firechief himself for answers....i commend you.

As for the position in itself. Its a paid position, a part time position at that., dont you see a lot of paid firefighters volunteering somewhere else? I think you do....you gonna complain about that? As far as i remember, the last few fire calls ive been on.....Dave has been there. The reported apartment building fire a few weeks ago on a sunday night, 6 FIREFIGHTERS FROM Co. 2 SHOWED UP, guess what, the fire chief was there. Were you there?

As for the coat/helmet deal, i was there, he used his fountaindale gear. Both companies were there, i dont see a problem.

If it's not a 2 Box, and he's there wearing Adams 3 gear, i would probably take a good guess hes representing fountaindale.......again, where is the problem? I dont see any control or accountability problems.

The reflection from the past fire chief has absolutly nothing to do with this post at all. So we can just forgo all that.

And as for two WIVES....not wifes, two countries, two gods comment, again i see no relevance here...........

So what im saying is.................find out the facts, before you come here to stir the pot. If you have a problem with my post, and u dont know who i am, PM me or ask and i'm sure youll be told. It's not hard to figure out who the Asst. Ambulance Chief in Waynesboro is.

Tata.......and until the next time.....

[HMWMDSpecialist]

First of all Jeff is accurate with his statements. Both events occured. Do I give a rats butt what dave martin does....NOPE as long as he stays outta my way and doesn't hinder the men from doing their work. Oh you forgot to mention the 2 in and a one man rit team outside. But before you had the one man rit you had one man in and when another engine showed up it was 2 in and one out. Make sure if your going to rub the wound with salt don't forget to add the juicy stuff to make it complete.......

Second since when is the assistant AMBULANCE Chief the PIO for the fire department. You are surely a big dave fan so I guess your views are slanted and I don't think your response is valid either. So YOU should get your facts straight before you type.

excuse me while I get some popcorn for this showdown.

[volunteerfireman]

I love to watch people fight over such important things... I'm not a member of 2 companies so I won't comment on being loyal to 2 companies. As long as the chief knows that when he is in our first due, he's our chief, thats my concern. My question is why is Chief 2/3 running command in a 4 box? Where's their officers? And why is 4 running the lower half of Franklin and the upper half of Washington county on their calls?

[Firefighter33]

eh whatever.......im not going any further. I never claimed anything on the woodring lane incident......i wasnt there. I was on the old forge call.

As long as hes chief on waynesboro calls in waynesboros first due im happy. I'll leave it at that. Waynesboro is a place in its own...............

Unfortounatly im a member of 2 companies....Waynesboro Fire and Waynesboro EMS. I am very active in both and plan on continuing since i have an interest in both Fire and EMS, since EMS is 70% of the fire service anymore. Guess its hard to be loyal to one place since the fire dept. doesnt like the amb. squad for some reason.

As far as the PIO for the department, nope dont think i was tryin to do that, just trying to see the man get the credit he deserves in a place that i hear nothing but bad about him at. Firehouse politics and bullsh*t is out of hand, i dont understand it, never will. I guess i just dont understand why someone has to come here to complainer but cant do it in person to the person hes complaining about.

O well.......enjoy your popcorn les........

[leroyjboner]

THE ONLY REASON THAT THE ASST. AMB CHIEF LIKES THE CHIEF IS , THEY LOOK EYE TO EYE WITHOUT HAVING TO STRETCH YOU KNOW THE HEIGHT THING

[HMWMDSpecialist]

Now thats funny. Midget staredown.

And I like extra butter flavor and no you can't hurt the fat kids feelings.

[ResTech]

wow... what a saga... I haven't run in Waynesboro for awhile and am so glad my career dept does not have this stuff to contend with. I haven't posted for a long time so thought I'd offer an unbiased viewpoint....

With the issue of wearing another companies gear.... in itself is it a huge deal? I would say no. But what it symbolizes is much greater and is what grinds at people. When your the top level leader (ie fire chief) of a department (especially new to the rank) you should always be identified as the FIRE CHIEF of YOUR department when your on a call... especially when ur new to the position because we all know this new person is under a microscope. This shows dedication to your position, your department, and your team. Personnel want to know (and see) that their Fire Chief is 110% devoted to the department.

For example, what if you went to work at McDonalds wearing a Hardee's uniform? Its still a uniform and you can do your job the same but it doesn't show belonging to the company or your co-workers. And guaranteed, your gonna get some stares and people aren't going to like it even though they know you work for the same company and are on the same team. Hopefully that analogy makes the point.

When personnel are on a call and look over and see their leader wearing the helmet of another department, it signals something of a negative nature inherently. Again, even more so when this person is a new Fire Chief and personalities are split on like/dislike.

As for the other issues.... no turn-out gear?? again... as an IC full TOG prob wasn't absolutely needed but it comes with the position... SET and BE THE EXAMPLE! and STAY OFF THE FRONT PORCH. If you have a true command structure in place and want to know whats going on call your operations officer. Again, set the example of being a good IC and follow procedure every time.

I dont see how the helmet issue has anything to do with span of control or accountability.... but do think the Chief really should be wearing Waynesboro gear on Waynesboro calls....

Just my view.... (hey, Im bored at work!)

[HMWMDSpecialist]

Welcome back from the beyond ResTech.

There are several issues here and it is about who you represent at a particular time and place. There are 2 different events and they are beginning to get mixed together.

1. Old Forge Road Call- mix of gear. I don't know if the man was there on a 2 piece or a 3 piece. Doesn't matter to me not a bit. It wasn't like he was doing anything there anyway.( From what I saw) This was of course what I saw after exiting the dwelling when the WORK was done. Could have just been a mistake and he grabbed the wrong helmet or coat. But I will say in this instance I saw him directing members of both departments that he serves and yes it exceeds the span of control. Who knows and basically whatever.

2. Woodring Lane call- Running front porch command and no gear. I was NOT there but my members were and I believe them when they relay to the events they encountered. So as reported by my guys the chief was on the front porch of a dwelling on fire without the protection of PPE or BA. 1 of his company 3 members inside by himself. My guys arrive 1 is sent in and the other is advised to remain out that he is the 1 man RIT.

ResTech has said accountability and setting the example. That burden falls on the chief. He has to make this happen and no one else.


And now a statement about and for the Y.B.S. (yard breathers society)

[commonsense]

Who cares what gear the man wear's as long as the job get's done,,
I have seen dept's wear one chief is wear Chief helmet & Asst.Chief Coat and is neither of them,,
So as long as his doing his job let him do it,,
That is why I hate Election time for Volunteer Dept.'s anymore,
My thoughts no one else's,,,
I thought of that sitting on the porch today,,,
Be safe out there,,,

[HMWMDSpecialist]

Stay on the porch old man or the hit squad will be comming to brake your hip.

[commonsense]

What do you mean by that,,,,
I'm working for Kaza Fire Equipment now,,
www.kazafire.com
Have a great day,,,

[Bill]

Ebensburg, huh?

That's a long way up Rt. 219 in the back county to commute. You'll need chains in the winter!

Best of luck in your new position Dale! ;D



Dayum, totally off topic again!

[BigFoot]

Just to open up one more "can of worms", this comes under some of the standardization issues we have in this county.

Which identification tag you use should match the gear you wear. But then, we can not come up with a county wide color code for helmets. Some departments let everyone wear the honored "white hat" while others use a white shield. Some departments only allow the chiefs wear the white, while others allow everyone, even sergeants. This creates a regular state of ICS confusion.

It is very difficult to lead two organizations, creates a very challenging "span of control".

Foot