A while back I posted an invitation to anyone who would listen about coming to work here. I don’t know for sure what impact I had on the numbers, but we had hundreds of applications submitted. From there we provided access to written testing locations around the country, because we sincerely are interested in obtaining the best candidates available. Of those who passed the test, invitations were offered to take a firefighter candidate physical fitness assessment and oral interviews, which are being conducted this weekend. The next steps in the process involve the ranking of candidates on a list from which we draw to fill openings for roughly the next 18 months.

Even there the fun doesn’t stop. When we have an opening, we have to justify the need to fill that opening, which in this economy, sometimes is tougher because of our need to remain fiscally responsible to the citizens of the Island. But with an overwhelming desire to maintain our reputation as a world-class resort destination as well as an excellent community in which to live, public safety is responsibly maintained.

There are a few more steps along the way and when we hire you, there are a lot of expectations placed on you in the first year between requirements for National Registry and South Carolina EMT certifications, IFSAC Firefighter 1 and 2, and HAZMAT Operations certifications, and a whole host of others. Not to mention you are expected to be able to work as part of a team, be customer service oriented, and maintain your ability to do the job through physical fitness and mental preparedness.

It’s not a job for everyone and sometimes we lose a few along the way when they wash out. It’s not necessarily a reflection on their ability to do the job, but more so that we have very high expectations of our employees and it just isn’t for everyone.

The overall compensation package is good though, and we have innovative benefits like zero-interest computer loans, tuition reimbursement for degree-seeking individuals, and incentives for obtaining certain educational benchmarks like HAZMAT Technician or BCLS Instructor certifications. We have state-of-the-art fire apparatus and ambulances, having recently replaced the entire fleet, and opportunities for participation in special operations programs, as we host (in partnership with Bluffton Township Fire District) a state-designated regional HAZMAT Response Team as well as a regional US&R response team.

I wish I could be up there to welcome you and to tell you good luck, but I plan on enjoying the weekend with my family at home. We may walk from our home to the beach, or go for a bike ride on the miles of activity trails across the entire Island, or take part in one of the weekend festivals that go on frequently at Shelter Cove Park. This is a tremendous place to work and to live. Good luck and hopefully, if you want to work with us, we can find a way to work together.

Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue

EDITORS NOTE: THE PERIOD IN WHICH THIS APPLICATION WAS OPEN IS NOW EXPIRED.  I ASK THAT IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED IN A JOB WITH HILTON HEAD ISLAND FIRE AND RESCUE, THAT YOU CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR THESE OPPORTUNITIES IN APPROXIMATELY 12 TO 18 MONTHS.  AS A RESULT, THE LINKS TO THAT APPLICATION ARE NOW DISABLED.

The Town of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, has opened up the floodgates for anyone interested in applying for the position of firefighter.  I have worked for this agency since it was created from the merger of three other emergency providers in 1993, but I also worked for all three of those other agencies at one point or another since 1982.  I have stuck with this team for so long and continue to do so for at least one main reason: Because Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue’s leadership and personnel are committed to a vision of excellence and service and prove it regularly.

We have seven stations serving a world-class beach resort community with all-hazards emergency response.  Since 2008 we have completely replaced our entire fleet of 10 engines and in two months we will have completely replaced our fleet of 10 ambulances.  Our tillered aerial is also scheduled for upgrades within this budget year and the other TDA in the next five.

Everyone on the line is required to be cross-trained and certified.  By the first year, all newly hired firefighter/EMTs must carry at least an IFSAC or ProBoard Firefighter II credential and a National Registry EMT Basic credential.   Within your first year, a stack of other required credentials will quickly accumulate from the classes we send you to if you are hired and don’t have that training.  But that’s just the beginning of a long career in which education is encouraged.

Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue supports earning a college degree if you don’t yet have one, and more than a few personnel have gone on to graduate with degrees through the Town’s tuition reimbursement program. In addition to the number of personnel who regularly attend the National Fire Academy, our organization also boasts its share of Executive Fire Officer graduates.  HHIFR is well represented by a number of personnel who write, teach and consult on the national and international issues in emergency services.  We have representatives on NFPA and IAFC committees, national and state training committees, and serving as instructors of the South Carolina Fire Academy.  In fact, all line officers are required to maintain an instructor credential with the South Carolina Fire Academy in addition to a number of other certifications.

If you truly believe that our mission is to prevent disaster first, we are the department you want to be affiliated with.  Our building and fire codes are some of the strongest in the region and they are enforced by our excellent Fire Marshal’s Bureau as well as the Town’s Building and Codes Enforcement teams.  A great number of occupancies on the Island are protected by fire sprinklers and equipped with monitored alarm systems.  We have a very proactive outreach to youth through participation in school education programs.  Our personnel teach regular CPR and first aid courses to the public, and we had one of the first community-wide AED programs in the nation.  Disaster planning and management is conducted by the Town’s own Emergency Management staff, located in our Headquarters and working hand-in-hand with the rest of the team.  If all else fails and disaster does strike on the Island, citizens and visitors call our own enhanced 9-1-1 communications center, operated by public safety communicators who are also part of the HHIFR family.

Our CFAI-accredited department runs advanced life support ambulances along with our engine companies and we not only respond, but we transport as well.  Hilton Head Island Fire and Rescue co-hosts (with our brothers at Bluffton Township Fire District)  one of five recognized US&R Regional Response Teams in the South Carolina US&R Program as well as the regional HAZMAT Emergency Response Team, with responsibilities as part of the state-wide counter-terrorism response plan.  We have a brand-new training facility with a tower and propane props, our own fleet maintenance facility, and are in the process of rebuilding our fifth station out of seven, with the remaining two scheduled for demolition and re-construction in the next three to five years.

Hilton Head Island is a unique place to live and work.  While the United States Census lists Hilton Head Island with a population of 48,000, the average daily population exceeds 100,000 when you add in visitors, workers, day-trippers, and at peak can be up to 275,000.  The residents of the Island are very particular about their level of expectations. There are many CEOs, managers, military leaders, and retired executives who call Hilton Head Island home, as well as native Islanders, young families, and immigrants.  We have to serve all of them with a very high standard of care, no matter what their emergency is.  It is what we expect from our personnel, 24/7.

I have passed on more than a few opportunities when after reflection, I realize how good it is here and how much I enjoy it here.  We have amazing personnel working with us and we have a very supportive community to work in.  If you would like an opportunity to work with this team, please check out the links I have embedded in this post to learn more about us and our community, and take the time to apply.  As a parting note: While sharing this information via my blog does not qualify me for a referral bonus (I have to actually KNOW you), I’d rather that if given the opportunity, you mention that you found this process through the Firehouse Zen site.  My request is simply to illustrate the power of networking through this type of media.

Good luck! And click here if you haven’t already for the application site!

There are those of us who would do a lot of things for our sports teams. It's a good reason not to make dumb bets.

I have prepared a special Valentine’s Day gift for Fire Daily’s John Mitchell.  The Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup win last year would have been made that much more sweet for John had the slimebag who bet with him (that would be me) paid off in a more timely manner. Of course, it helps that the Flyers are doing pretty well right now, so that eases the sting for me a little.

However, I’m a man who knows that like fine wine, the best gifts sometimes need time to mature. Thus, the balance of my debt to you, is right here, for all you Blackhawks fans to enjoy. Enjoy this little ditty, straight from my breakfast table.

Now, for you haters, I at least tried to make my effort look a little sporty by draping my Notre Dame flag behind me.  This would also be a tribute to another group of friends and Blackhawks fans, the family and crew at Hinchey’s Chicago Bar and Grill here on beautiful Hilton Head Island, where they treat us like family and host the Notre Dame Club of Hilton Head Island events.  So a little shoutout to them as well, because they’re nice to me even though I’m a big fan of the Broad Street Bullies.

But anyway, it’s just as well, for had I owned a Blackhawks flag instead of the flag of the Fighting Irish, I could have probably used that, although I’m pretty sure I would have used THAT for something else where you need something soft, durable, and easy to wad up.  In honor of the Hawks, I even contemplated a sheet with a rattle-can homage (pronounced oh-MAJE, for you Blackhawk fans) of Chief Whats-His-Name to drape behind me.  This, however, would have required an effort which I wasn’t prepared to exert, although I’m sure the spray paint would have made you Chicago fans feel right at home. The fumes would have also probably caused a much more entertaining video for me, at least (and the headache afterwards would have reminded me of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, but I digress).

So here’s to you: Happy V-Day Chicago and all you other Chicagoites, huddled around whatever it is you huddle around up there in the Arctic Circle (and including my Chicago-dwelling sister-in-law and my traitorous youngest daughter who in a fit of alliance with her Aunt Patrice, jumped on the Chicago bandwagon),  I hoist a Heileman’s in your honor.  I submit to you, Blackhawks fans, and bow in your general direction (that would be North from here). Enjoy.

Picture from FireRescue1.com

Not long ago I was asked by Jamie Thompson over at FireRescue1.com to write an article on fire suppression.  While I wrote it a few weeks before, it published yesterday.  But yesterday morning, before the newsletter with my article  came out, I was reading the FireRescue1 article on the Chinese water cannon and this inspired my morning “message to the troops” to be about innovation and change.  Of course, the point of my article was about innovation and change, so it was good timing.

I have been having some pretty in-depth discussions lately regarding change as related to technology.  There are people who feel like all of this technology is overwhelming and distressing and changes should be avoided.  There are those who think technology will solve all the ills of the world.  And then there are many who see technology as being a useful tool that when applied to the right situation, can produce wonderful results, and conversely, be misapplied and create major disaster.  Some think that there should be more emphasis on the basics, which would supplant the need for technological shifts.  And there are those like me who see potential in these changes and wonder how we could harness the power of both to provide safer and more effective service.

While the water cannon discussion illustrates an interesting discussion on technology, the comments reflected several differing opinions, and while I noted that there was a lot of discussion about what it wouldn’t do, I only saw one serious commenter reflecting on what it might be able to do.  Many think that innovation stops at invention.  In fact, innovation can really be considered having a new birth there.  Because once something is invented, there are usually a few individuals out there testing it, finding out its limits, and trying to envision what this new development might mean to them.  And they tweak and refine and experiment, and then, voila, we have a new way of doing things.

Innovation has plenty of effect on your daily life, but you have to take some time and appreciate that effect, because we tend to take it for granted.  How many things were invented that aren’t necessarily used for the original intent?  In the fire service, we take things all day long and make them do things they probably weren’t designed to do (which isn’t always good).  How much better would our organizations be if, instead of looking at the problems, we saw the challenges and rose to solve those issues instead?  If we took into consideration the changes we have made and came up with ways to even improve farther on those ideas?

While honing our technique is desirable to improve performance, as one commenter on my article suggested, and he goes on to suggest that CAFS and other fancy things can’t overcome poor technique, I agree in part and principle.  But I disagree on a different level, that is, from the aspect that if we have good technique AND technological improvement, we can have an exponentially beneficial effect on solving problems.  Good technique AND good tools create a force multiplier.

Solutions for problems are all around us; we just need to take the time to find them.  Knowing where we come from is important, because it helps us to understand where we want to be.  But abandoning good technique for promotion of good technology is NOT the answer.  The answer lies in both, and knowing that in order to improve our condition, we must take advantage of all of the opportunities that come our way, if not to stretch out from that point, to know that this is NOT the way to go.  We all must experiment and learn and understand.  But most of all, we have to be open to the ideas and see them with clear vision.

Seven days until the 2010 Hilton Head Island Buddy Walk! (Saturday, October 30) Make your plans to attend from 3 to 5 PM, behind The Mall at Shelter Cove, Hilton Head Island, SC

Buddy Walks are held all over the nation to educate about Down syndrome and ours is no different.  Our organization, Caroline & Friends, is a little different however, because we are not a traditional support group but an advocacy and education organization.  Through our website right now, and supplemented by literature in the future, we continue to look for best practices in research and therapies to help families point their loved ones with Down syndrome toward achieving their full potential.   This is our fifth annual Buddy Walk and we continue to grow in size, but we have a lot of fun and there’s food, music, and trick-or-treating out there.

If you happen to know of a family who wants more information on what’s being done out there, or just wants to talk to another person who has been through the experience, point them toward the site.  If you happen to be on Hilton Head Island next Saturday, I will be the one running around coordinating things, wearing the orange t-shirt that says, “Caroline’s Dad”.  I hope to see you there.

You can choose to keep your head in the sand or come up for air. It's really YOUR choice.

In an uncharacteristic Firehouse Zen moment, I’m going to share some not-so-heartwarming news with you: If you fail to evolve, you will die. It’s not all about cheerleading and mentoring. Some of this motivation has to come from the subject themselves. If you are not intrinsically motivated, you can only be kicked in the head so many times before it’s time for us to move on to someone who genuinely WANTS to succeed.

I am inspired by this post from the New York Times that discusses what is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect — our incompetence masks our ability to recognize our incompetence. In essence, some people are so stupid, that they don’t even recognize that they are that stupid.

It’s like the contemporary fire officer who continues to discuss his or her lousy computer skills.  Do you know one?  While twenty years ago, it might not have been a big deal, but virtually everything we do these days as a company or chief officer requires a certain understanding of how to complete forms, create documents and memos, and to analyze data.

I don’t know of a single department in the nation who is still using a typewriter to perform these tasks, although I’m sure someone will pipe up and claim that distinction.  Unless you are some superstar fireground tactician, I don’t know anyone so gifted that they can forgo the skills required to cover the administrative requirements of the job, and those skills include basic computer use.  Claiming you can’t work a computer just doesn’t cut it in the 21st Century; if you are so confused by a word processing program that you can’t manage to put out a coherent memo, it might be time for a career change.

But this isn’t a rant about not being able to use a computer.  The point is that as times evolve, so do our jobs.  You can complain about it and moan about it all you want, but the expectations placed on us as leaders require us to understand and manage change. You may not be an early adopter, in fact, you might be the last one dragged kicking and screaming to the next level, but at some point, you must make the change or expect to become irrelevant.  As a company officer, your redeeming skill might have been that you could last the longest in a smoky room without puking your guts up, but now that we have methods to skip that desired attribute, you’d better polish some of your other abilities up soon else you will be yesterday’s news.

We must constantly evaluate our knowledge, skills, and abilities and determine what we can do to evolve.  If we fail to do that, we are dooming ourselves to obsolescence. If retirement is within your sixty-day window, that might not matter to you, but if you plan on hanging in for the next few years, I suggest you learn more.  You have to be smart enough to realize you don’t know everything and certainly not so stupid that you think you do.

I hear about all-hazards response all the time, but do we draw the line at “hazards”, or do we raise the bar a little? While I don’t advocate anyone in our jurisdiction calling 9-1-1 because they need help completing their tax return, if a situation really does affect our customer that they had to dial that number, aren’t we charged with understanding how this is perceived as an emergency before saying we won’t help?

My wife owns a flooring company. While a floor product delivery may not constitute an emergency issue to you, to her company, when a customer needs a product someplace at sometime, if it isn’t there, it creates issues that may effectively stop the completion of the project, be it a remodel or new construction.  This week, a delivery had to go from the manufacturer directly to the project location in another state.  To the trucking company, excellent customer service was a non-issue: After neglecting to send the materials in a truck with a lift gate, they decided, “Oh well, you’ll just have to wait until we can get a truck to do that later.”  Later being three days later.

They had a pretty blase attitude about the whole thing, despite the fact that they were contracted to deliver something, they had an obligation to deliver it at a certain time and place, and being the subject matter experts on shipping, should have probably realized that they weren’t going to just hand-carry 3900 pounds of product off the truck (especially since they had to use a fork-lift to get it on there). Then to compound the issue, they weren’t very careful about how the product was loaded and they damaged some of the pieces. Again, “Oh, well…”

Dedication to customer service requires a “can do” attitude; it might seem to be outside your scope of practice, but depending on what your marketing strategy happens to be – and make no mistake about it, your mission statement and vision is your marketing strategy when you are fighting for ever-dwindling tax funds or donations – your organization will be faced with very specific situations in which you will have to stretch your resources to “make it happen”.  In our case, we rented a truck, picked up the material from the trucking company and delivered it ourselves.  The customer was completely thrilled.

In my wife’s company, we hope our efforts will be recognized in customer loyalty and a willingness to pass the word on. In emergency services, we hope that the care we take with each challenge is shared loudly when budget time or the annual fundraiser comes around.  You can draw the line where you choose, but in these times of limited funds, can you afford to ignore the added value of extraordinary customer service? It is extra effort that will distance you from the rest of the pack.  When a decision must be made between funding an analysis of the migratory path of earthworms in your community and cutting firefighters, that’s ammo you can’t afford to ignore. The next time you are drooling over your wish list and realizing you can’t afford things, remember the choices you made as to where you drew that customer service line.

Change is never easy, but if you can accept that it is inevitably occurring and embrace the change,  transition can be easier.  People put too much emphasis on remaining constant.  There is an impermanence in everything.  People come and go, the environment we operate in is constantly evolving, and new ways of doing things are discovered every day.  We can hold on to the past forever, but it won’t change the fact that the rest of the world is moving on around us.

Effective leadership requires us to understand the changes and be flexible with them. Effective leadership requires us to understand ourselves to find why we resist certain challenges.  If we can be open to possibilities and willing to explore them, we can solve anything and do anything.

While I created Firehouse Zen to educate others, my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Firefighter Nation accounts have become essentially my “research sources”.  The more minds I can get exposure to, the more likely it is I am going to get an idea from somewhere, or be able to answer a question, or just generally help.  While there are still a few skeptics, I know of many who find this new frontier exciting and intriguing.  It is apparent that electronic media and social networks have really begun to find a place in the emergency service world, if used correctly.

Knowledge is most certainly power; your network is the essential element in communicating that knowledge.  It used to be that you would have to attend dozens of conferences a year to connect with others, now I can do it from the desk in my office, or on a good day, on my porch with my toes in the pool.  Day after day, social media is revolutionizing our industry.  The more people you can connect with, the more likely you are to have an answer if called upon.

Although these applications were designed for socialization, many of us realize the utility of having access to names from all over the globe.  These contacts are not only from within our ranks but from business, NGOs, military, and a host of other classifications we once didn’t have ready access to, people who may have faced similar challenges and can provide insight, or people who might at least know a source for further inquiry.  While there are downsides, there are upsides we haven’t even begun to touch on yet.  I continue to add pretty much anyone who asks to “friend” me, mostly because I’m not looking for exclusion, I’m looking for inclusion.  I want anyone who wants to gain access to what I know to be able to, and likewise if they have something to share with me, to be able to do so easily.

So here’s to you, my Facebook buds, my LinkedIn compadres, and all of the rest of you out there who provide me a secure base of information, education, and friendship.  And to those of you who aren’t yet, feel free to come by and friend me, because while today you might have something I need, hopefully someday there’ll be something I do to return the favor.  Reach out and meet some people.  Like they say at Disney, “It’s a small world after all”.

How it does is that it clearly illustrates the law of unintended circumstances.  I’d be willing to bet you that no one involved in this story desired to kill off 60 turtles and had no idea that their simple luminary tribute to the sanctity of marriage would touch off what ended up on the AP news feed.  But as a result of something they did, or might also be the case in our situation in fire and emergency services, didn’t do, there was heartache, conflict, and even injury and death.

Actions are taken in our fire stations and on emergency scenes on a daily basis that sometimes go badly, and I would venture to guess that 99.9% of actions that resulted in poor outcomes were purely unintentional.  However unintentional these actions (or inactions) are, though, our actions may have wide-ranging impact on our entire organization.  Our actions or inactions may not even be noticed today, or could end up as front page news.  We must constantly be vigilant of the actions we take and how they affect our current situation, and even more importantly, our team, our agency, and our customers.  What may seem insignificant to us may end up costing someone their life later.

Working together as a team, we have to have the courage and the ability to say, “Hey, that doesn’t look right” to our colleagues, and they should also be able to say it to us.  It’s a basic tenet of crew resource management.  Fostering this attitude in your team requires cultural and social change, especially in our traditional paramilitary hierarchy.  Our most important role in this concept is awareness of the things we do and importantly enough, to do things right, as well as to be open to the suggestion from others that we should be doing something differently.

Being in the position of a transformational leader requires more than being right, it requires us to be open to the idea that we might not be.  As part of a team, when we make a mistake, we must strive to understand what occurred and what the results were, so that we and others don’t repeat that mistake.  When we mistakenly lay off blame we don’t really learn from the mistake. 

I had a driver once who had a minor accident with the apparatus we were assigned to.  It was obviously a result of a failure for someone else to do their job.  But he owned that situation and every time he pulled out of the station from then on out, I noticed him looking to insure it never happened again.  It is imperative for us to understand our shortcomings (hey, I have many), own them, and resolve to do better next time. 

I’d say that if that couple ever does decide to re-visit our Island again, they’ll never forget to blow out the candles when leaving the beach.  It’s called a watershed moment,  In our lives, it is one thing, but when we have one of these events occur while operating as part of a team we are tasked with leading, it is a requirement that we critique it, learn from it, and resolve to not let it happen again.