What a great FSPA Kitchen Table Meeting We Had Today!

By: Robert Avsec, FSPA Operations Chief

Absolutely the best FSPA Kitchen Table Meeting that I’ve had the pleasure of hosting! Thanks to today’s participants–And boy were they actively present!– Burt Clark, Tim Soule, Dr. Silvia DeGirolamo, Rick Griggs, Dr. Michelle Laasi, and Dr. Roxanne (Not currently a FSPA member, but I think we may have “set the hook!). Four fire service guys and three psychologists!

Topic of discussion was fire service retirement and if you’ve not read my most recent blog on this website, What Makes Retirement from the Fire Service Different?, please do so. We covered much ground in today’s chat and my “takeaway” was this: All firefighter are not the same.

I know that we’ve talked about the differences that may exist between career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, and combination paid/volunteer firefighters and our discussion covered another dimension: How within a fire department one’s peer group “shrinks” as they promote because as one promotes they must keep a proper balance between friendship and leadership when it comes to their direct reports. By the time one attains the rank of Chief of a Department, they have no peer group within the organization.

The above organizational chart for a typical career fire department illustrates just how much a fire chief is an “island unto themself” because everyone else in the department is a subordinate in rank.

That can become problematic when an individual may be struggling with a mental or behavioral health issue because they don’t have a peer to turn to and a fire chief is not going to consult a member of the department’s Peer Support Group that’s composed of only junior officers and firefighters. So, to whom does a fire chief turn?

I don’t have the answer, I just pose the question. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts!