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Flashpoint

June 4, 2013, Toronto – Two weeks ago, I wrote about the leadership crisis
facing the Boston Fire Department. Chief Steve Abraira was faced with
an open revolt among his senior officers. Thirteen deputy chiefs wrote a
letter to the mayor of Boston, criticizing Abraira for failing to take
command of fire department operations at the marathon bombing scene on
April 15. The letter was subsequently leaked to the media, making public
the assertion that the chief’s response to the marathon bombings was
inadequate and part of a pattern of shirking responsibility during
emergencies.

Abraira’s public response was that his policy was not to take command
when his line officers have the situation under control, as per standard
North American best practice in incident management. This position was
backed up by fire commissioner Rodrick Fraser, who solidly supported
Abraira.

In my blog, I said that the immediate issue was insubordination on the
part of the disgruntled 13, but that Abraira and Fraser had had the
better part of two years to communicate their incident management vision
to the troops. Was this an ongoing leadership deficit or an acute
crisis of poor followership? Was this the end result of group
intransigence, steadfastly refusing to co-operate with the first Boston
fire chief to be hired from outside the organization?

Well, it really doesn’t matter now. Abraira has tendered his
resignation, effective June 7. Regardless of the reasons and who’s
position was right or wrong, it would be nearly impossible for Abraira
to continue effectively under the current circumstances. I don’t know
the man, but I hope that he evaluated the situation as objectively as he
could, and simply decided that he didn’t need the hassle. Although he
may have been able to lead 13 horses to water, he couldn’t necessarily
make them think.

That task will now fall to Deputy Chief John Hasson, a 40-year veteran
of the department who has been appointed by Fraser as acting chief.
Hasson is a signatory to the letter of non-confidence in Abraira. Maybe
he is in place as an administrative housekeeper until a permanent fire
chief is hired, but having publicly taken an extreme position will make
it very difficult for Hasson to lead any meaningful healing process. His
senior staff, the rest of the Boston Fire Department and the city
council will be expecting quick and decisive leadership. Clearly, it
looked easy enough when the letter to the mayor was written. The public
release of that letter, which brought this whole affair into the
sunlight, will now ensure that all of the North American fire service
will be watching closely as well.

In 1789, master’s mate Fletcher Christian didn’t like the way the HMS
Bounty was being run by commanding Lt. William Bligh, so he rallied the
rest of the malcontents and took over the ship. By 1808, Christian was
variously said to have died of natural causes, committed suicide, gone
insane or been murdered. Bligh was governor of New South Wales.

Just sayin’.

Retired District Chief Peter Sells writes, speaks and consults on
fire service management and professional development across North
America and internationally. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of
Toronto and an MBA from the University of Windsor. He sits on the
advisory council of the Institution of Fire Engineers, Canada branch.
Peter is president of NivoNuvo Consulting, Inc, specializing in
fire-service management. Contact him at peter.nivonuvo@gmail.com and
follow him on Twitter at @NivoNuvo.