Written by Lou Wilde on 2010-01-28 10:09:47
There are a lot of great traditions in our fire departments across this country many of which contribute to the great culture that attracts us to this job in the first place.
Drinking in the fire station however, is one of those traditions that needs to be removed. I think the community and department would be on thin ice for providing employees/ members a given night to meet (practice night), a location to meet (fire station), and a minimum drink quota with a stipulation. Then we would expect that they don\\\'t fulfill their duty if they have had more that the authorized amount of alcohol.
As an Operations Chief, I think that our members are responsible enough not to respond if they are half in the bag. What I do think about is the member who has two gulps of beer then gets paged out and in the course of their duty, they belch beer into the customers face. Would I want the firefighter to lie to the customer when asked if he was drinking? Would i want him to try to explain our policy of say 2 drinks max? What about when I get the phone call the next day asking the same questions?
How would we feel about the appliance repair man that shows up to work in our home when he tells us his boss is ok if he has only had two drinks? No offence to repair men but they don\\\'t save lives and property.
Has your fire department ever been called to question on its tactics and strategy in court? Think about during the meetings with council and your risk management people examining the operations and what could have been done from water supply to overhaul. Was damage contained to the same level of another similar equipped and staffed department? Did your staff do everything expected of them in the performance of their duties? Now lets bring in the fact that one or some of the members has consumed alcohol prior to responding from the fire station. Do you see where your problems have just compounded?
Good luck with that trial.
Traditions are great but some like pulling the fire trucks with horses and alcohol in the fire station no longer have their place. |
