Advanced Fire Administration - Essay Example

Advanced fire administration The fire fighting unit developed in ancient Rome as the most important emergency responseunit in the society. It has gradually advanced its services within the years; it started as simple unit with its main role as putting out fires and rescuing those trapped in burning buildings, but it has now advanced its services to helping in other emergencies. In fire fighting saving the human life is the topmost priority of the fire fighters. Each area has to have a strategic response fire unit. The time, which the fire fighters take to respond, can determine the fate of another human’s life. The effectiveness of each unit depends on the mode of administration, and the better a unit is to another unit shows how different the administration is (Randy 34). Such knowledge and virtues in fire fighting are what led me into the fire fighting department. With over twenty eight years experience in fire fighting, I worked from a junior fire fighter rising through the administrative ranks over the years due to my experience and ethics. The chief of police recognized and respected me over the years due to the services I led my unit to offer. It started with frontline supervision and rose to command with many daring rescues. The team leadership I provided with the support and trust of my unit led to effective decisions in hard and demanding environment. I started as an active fire fighter in 1983 where I held the ranks of lieutenant and captain by year 1989. In 1989, my administrative duties began after my election as the departmental third assistant chief by my colleagues. By the year 1989 to 1991 I had risen to the first assistant chief of the department, it was, therefore, a pleasant surprise when in 1992, my colleagues saw me as best suited for the position of fire chief. I held this position for four years before serving as the vice president and fire ground safety officer to the fire company between 1996 and 2009 (Randy 56). In 2010, I became president to the fire company, this company which is the C.E.O for the fire organization. Its responsibilities were to offer detailed plans, procedures, and standards for implementation at a volunteer fire department serving a unique population comprised of large and small businesses, single-family homes, high buildings, and municipal facilities. My duties as president were to offer expert technical knowledge, to train and safely lead approximately 50 volunteer firefighters and engage in controlling and extinguishing fires to protect property. I also aided in rescuing people endangered by fire, reducing and trying to eliminate potential fire hazards, controlling hazardous materials incidents, coordinating emergency medical services, training volunteers in fire protection and prevention, operating and maintaining fire communications equipment, and advising on improvements to structures for better fire prevention. I also offered independent judgment to assess, quickly react, and adapt to a wide variety of volatile and dangerous situations and hazards. I directed firefighting activities at the scene. My other duties were to negotiate and coordinate responses to emergencies with other fire departments, police agencies and investigators. I managed the budget by analyzing discrepancies between forecasted and actual expenses and implementing corrective actions. Responsible for budget preparation, based on experience and the previous year’s data and anticipated population growth (Randy 13). I later served on the Rensselaer county radio committee responsible for implementing a state-of-the-art radio system to all fire and medical service agencies in Rensselaer County. I helped and conducted arson investigation and offered training to the fire fighters on how to handle new and sophisticated equipment. I was also frequently involved in giving construction permits and making sure all the buildings had the proper equipment in case of fire emergencies (Randy 49). In addition to what I learnt formally, experience helped gain knowledge on how to deal with your work partners and how to communicate effectively with your unit. This working experience helped me learn how important team work is. Severally one member of the team could fail to solve a problem due to its complication, therefore, a life or several lives depended on the ability to execute many ideas as a team. I learnt how to become a better leader and how to deal with your subordinate staff in all situations, but most importantly I gained the virtue of self-sacrifice and perfected my decision making as the leader. The numerous training sessions helped the trainees gain knowledge on how to extinguish all types of fires. I trained them that saving human life was the main duty; they learnt how to put out storey fires, bush fires and even craft fires. I trained using old discarded aircrafts on how to put out airplane fire and save as many people while doing so as they possibly could. Fire fighting involves risking one’s life constantly and trusting that your colleagues always have your back. This helped me come up with a code in the unit I was overseeing; it dictated the importance of team work throughout the unit. They learnt that getting into a burning house; saving someone’s life and exiting in perfect condition all depended on combined effort (Randy 64). I gained a lot of principles working for the fire department over the years, principles and skills that could never be learnt through formal education. Working for the fire department for such a long time made me face the challenges associated with fire fighting first hand. My experiences as a fire fighter amplified and made me understand in a better way what it means to say that the objectives of a fire fighter are to save; life, environment and property. I learnt how to detect the source of a fire and determine whether it is accidental or arson. I learnt that helping justice get served was the right thing and I even testified in court on arson cases. I helped in educating the public on what drills to carry out in case of a fire which helped in saving several lives and prevent careless fire outbreaks. As the technology continues to develop all over the world, in the fire department the development is still slow. Until recently, the fire department had no way of detecting fires in time, but installation of fire alarms under continuous monitoring on monitors at the department changed that. The major advantage of these alarms is that they sense fire before it becomes big, and they automatically trigger a water extinguishing system; that attempts to keep the fire in control before the arrival of the fire engine. This also alerts any people in the building, so they can get out as quickly as they can and avoid getting burnt. This development is advantageous, and more of this should be encouraged at the national level by the government. In the twenty eight years, I have had experience in fire fighting have made a major impact in life. Some virtues are not easy to gain but in this line of work, when one knows that any day could be their last makes one become a better person. I have learnt to appreciate family above anything else, and I to spend as much time as possible with them. Many people are also ignorant to the value of human life but being a fire fighter has helped see how valuable life is. It has turned me to a better leader as I progressively acquired higher leadership position. I have also improved in budgeting as all departmental funds have to go through me before I allocate them. Work cited Randy, R. Advanced fire administration. Prentice hall: New York, 2011. Read More