A Student...
The other day in conversation I referred to my self as a student of the fire service. The person I was speaking with looked a little skeptical and said, but you were a chief, and now you are an instructor...what do you mean a student?
I then reflected a minute and I started to think about what the phrase means actually, and what it meant to me might not mean the same to someone else.
Webster defines a student as "someone who studies" and "an attentive observer".
Let's just use that attentive observer part for just a minute.
Whether you are an instructor, or a training officer, or just a fire officer, or even a senior member of your department, there are a whole bunch"of attentive observers" that you encounter every day.
Your people will pay lots of attention to your actions and your words. They will remember your actions always, and they will sometimes remember your words.
As you mentor new students and younger members of your department, make them be observers of many things and not just get a narrow focus. They should take classes in many subjects from a wide array of instructors.
I am seeing a horrible disturbing trend occurring in the fire service today.
Students are learning techniques form major fire service instructors that operate with much larger resources in terms of manpower and apparatus then they have in their own department. These students are in awe of these big city role models and will follow them as "groupies" wherever they can. Some of these folks are becoming legends. Do not mistake me for one minute, these senior experienced personnel are exactly who we want to expose our people to, but next week when I talk about instructors, they should temper their message so it may apply better and more universally.
Students do not want to spend five minutes in a classroom. They need to do the hands on stuff because that is what we need to learn. That is what "real firefighters" do. There is no question that this is a vocational career and we should get as many hands on applications as possible but I see many young members that want to learn advanced and complex manual tasks, and they are not even sure why or if they apply to them and their department. These students have gotten only have the message.
I have a colleague that uses a phrase (which he probably stole too!) that says "I know you read the chapter, but did you finish the book?" This saying applies so much to our younger students. They are convinced that they can get by and they are the best judge of what knowledge they will need.
So...back to me for a minute...(Hey it's my website I can do that), what kind of student of the fire service am I?
I do not know if I am a good one or a bad one but here are some things that I do....use them if you wish, laugh if you must.
I personally subscribe to four major trade journals and generally read them cover to cover each month.
I check multiple fire service website daily and those that update weekly I check often.
I read every( That's right ) Every NIOSH report that crosses my desk and research those that I hear about and have not seen. Not the abstract the entire report and I look at the pictures and the diagrams.
If a LODD occurs, I check the website of the department that the member belonged to to see if I can determine anything about the culture and style and operation of that department.
When a crazy idea enters my head or I am made aware of a significant fire service event I will always pass it on, and develop conversation with a significant number of my colleagues so we may discuss, share and learn from one another.
If a new concept comes up I will test it myself or see if we can get a group together that will test it and report back.
I have an extensive library of fire service textbooks and I continue to buy them at my own expense. I have read many of them multiple times and many are worn ragged from going back to them often.
I share information with others.
I am not sure if any of that makes me a "good" student of the fire service, but it certainly does make me an "attentive observer".
What kind of student of the fire service are you?